The Deputy Mayor, Cllr Miss Sanders, MOVED and Cllr Hossack SECONDED and it was RESOLVED that Cllr Reed should act as Vice-chair for the duration of the meeting.

The Deputy Mayor advised that, in relation to Item 8 – Memorials or Petitions – the petition originally included in the published agenda had been withdrawn, also that Item 11 – Honorary Titles – would be considered following Item 6 – Minutes of the Emergency Committee.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Clarke and Morrissey.

No declarations of interest were made at this stage.

The Deputy Mayor followed by Cllrs Hossack, Aspinell, Gareth Barratt,  Keeble and Mrs McKinlay paid tribute to fellow Councillor John Kerslake who had passed away unexpectedly in October and would be much missed.  Cllr Kerslake had served as Ward Councillor for Hutton Central since 2012 and was Deputy Leader of the Council from 2016 to 2019.

A minute’s silence was observed in Cllr Kerslake’s memory.

The Deputy Mayor reported that she had attended a small ceremony to raise the Flag of Remembrance to mark the fortnight leading up to Armistice Day and attended the War Memorial to lay a wreath on Remembrance Day on behalf of the residents of Brentwood and observe a two minutes’ silence to reflect on those who gave their lives in the line of duty.

She had presented gifts and certificates to the top 5 Active Essex Activity Heroes who had demonstrated community passion and volunteering.

She advised that 3 December would see the first online virtual Lighting Up event and the launch of the Nutcracker Trail around Brentwood, Ingatestone and Shenfield.

Cllr Miss Sanders MOVED and Cllr Reed SECONDED an AMENDMENT under Procedure Rule 8.2.1 to the minutes of the 7 October 2020 Ordinary Council meeting as follows:

Minute 532 to state ‘Returning to the substantive motion, following a full debate a recorded vote was requested and the MOTION was CARRIED’.

In response to a Member’s request for councillors’ names to be included in the outcome of the recorded vote, the Monitoring Officer advised that only the number of votes and political group could be recorded in the minutes for an exempt item.

Members APPROVED the amended minutes of the 7 October 2020 Ordinary Council meeting as a true record.

Minutes of the Emergency Committee held on 5^th June 2020

Minutes of the Emergency Committee held on 18^th November 2020 – to follow

The minutes of the Emergency Committee meetings held on 5 June 2020 and 18 November 2020 were APPROVED as true records.

Members were reminded that the titles of ‘Freeman of the Borough/ Freewoman of the Borough/ Freedom of the Borough and Aldermen’ were honorary when the Council recognised distinguished service to the Borough.

Holders of such titles might attend and take part in such civic ceremonies as the Council might from time to time decide, but shall not, as such, have the right to attend meetings of the Council or their Committees or to receive any allowances or other payments.

Cllr Hossack MOVED and Cllr Aspinell SECONDED the recommendations within the report and following tributes being paid, it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:

1. That, in pursuance of section 249(5) of the Local Government Act 1972 and in recognition of being a person of distinction and a person who has, in the opinion of the Council, rendered eminent services to the Borough, the Council admits Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, Mr Dennis Rensch MBE OLM DL to be Honorary Freeman of the Borough. 

2.The presentation of this Honorary Title will take place at Annual Council on 20^th May 2021.

Six Public Questions had been received, as follows:

From Mrs Pat Smith:

1.     Regarding the Covid19 pandemic and support for vulnerable people in Brentwood:

Given that social care has been subjected to huge cuts by central government and as a result many vulnerable and disabled Essex people have been priced out of basic care, by Essex County Council - what are Brentwood Council’s areas of responsibility to such people in Brentwood during the Covid19 pandemic, especially during lockdown, and in what ways did the council ensure that everybody was reached and their basic needs were met?

Cllr Hossack responded as follows:

Brentwood Borough Council does not have responsibility for adult social services or education – these fall within the remit of the Tier One authority – Essex County Council. 

From the outset of the Covid19  pandemic housing have sought to provide support, guidance and signposting to all of our residents especially those most vulnerable and elderly.  Officers made over 1500 calls to those vulnerable and elderly regardless of tenure to establish needs and offer reassurance.  This continues to take place on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to those who wish to receive additional support.  All of our processes are being reviewed and amended where necessary in order to adapt to the changing landscape.  Regular communication is also sent out by post including information leaflets and letters.

Sheltered Housing

All sheltered housing residents were contacted in the first week of the March lockdown to discover what access they had to other support networks.  Those with either very little or no other access to additional support were prioritised to be contacted on a daily basis to ensure they were well, not only physically but also had access to any food or medical supplies, and ensuring their mental wellbeing needs were met.  Residents who were fortunate to have a strong network of support around them were contacted on a weekly basis to check that all was still well with them and their families.

Although a very challenging time, it enabled us to discover more about our residents.  It also enabled us to develop closer relationships with other organisations who were offering their services which was a great benefit to some of the residents who enjoyed having doorstep deliveries of little extras that were being donated by local shops.   

We also made contact with all of our community alarm customers and offered the same support to them, which was not a responsibility but something we were happy to offer and something which was very much appreciated. 

During the lockdown staff have also developed a monthly magazine which is disseminated to all sheltered residents and we are working with organisations to support our residents’ health and wellbeing, through garden and physical activity projects. 

Housing Needs & Homelessness

At the start of lockdown our Housing Advice and Homeless Prevention Officers were instructed with the support of the Temporary Accommodation Officer to contact all residents in temporary accommodation to ensure they had sufficient support during this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 601.

The petition submitted has now been withdrawn. 

Notice of a petition being presented was originally included in the agenda pack but was withdrawn before the meeting. 

There were no memorials.

Appendices to follow.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution a brief written report by each committee Chair covering their area of responsibility was provided for Members’ information at each Ordinary Council meeting.

Any Member might ask a Chair a written or oral question on

(a)  Any matter included in the Chair’s written report; or

(b)  Any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Council’s area and which falls within the area of responsibility of the Chair’s committee.

No written questions had been received from Members and the questions that were put to the Chairs at the meeting were responded to accordingly.

Report to follow.

Six Notices of Motion had been submitted in accordance with Rule 3 in Part 4.1 of the Constitution - Council Procedure Rules and were listed in order of the date received.

1. Cllr Nolan MOVED and Cllr Hossack SECONDED the following Motion:

Whilst recognising the primary focus of effort should be on getting the Brentwood Centre and our Community Halls back up and running for the benefit of the customers that use these facilities. At the appropriate time, this council resolves to produce a ‘lessons learned’ report following our former relationship with the BLT and to use this to further inform the considerations we have already given to operating models as part of our Leisure Strategy work to date.

Cllr Kendall MOVED and Cllr Aspinell SECONDED an AMENDMENT which Cllr Nolan DID NOT ACCEPT.

Members debated the AMENDMENT,  a vote was taken and the AMENDMENT was LOST.

Returning to the SUBSTANTIVE MOTION, during the debate Cllr Tumbridge MOVED and Cllr Hossack SECONDED that ‘the question now be put’ and the MOTION was CARRIED.

A vote was taken on the SUBSTANTIVE MOTION and the MOTION was CARRIED.

2.  Cllr Poppy MOVED and Cllr Hossack SECONDED the following MOTION:

I would like to ask that the CEO, and the MO review the policy of placing members as trustees on outside bodies. As part of the work of the Constitution Working Group (CWG).

Following a debate a vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

3.  Cllr Bridge MOVED and Cllr Mrs Pearson SECONDED the following MOTION:

This Council notes that its vehicle licensing policy was last updated in 2005. With developments in car technology, this means many modern hybrid and electrical vehicles cannot be licenced by officers as they do not directly meet the requirements of the existing policy. Therefore, this council resolves to update the policy, with a report on a new policy to be presented to a future Licensing Committee meeting, which would allow officers to exercise their discretion on these vehicles.

Cllr Tumbridge advised that prior to the meeting he had discussed with Cllr Bridge expanding the wording of the Motion which Cllr Bridge ACCEPTED and following a discussion a vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED as follows:

This Council notes that its vehicle licensing policy was last updated in 2005. With developments in car technology, this means many modern hybrid and electrical vehicles cannot be licenced by officers as they do not directly meet the requirements of the existing policy. Therefore, this council resolves to update the policy and in doing so will take the opportunity to review the entire policy to take account of all matters that might benefit from amendment  with a report on a new policy to be presented to a future Licensing Committee meeting, which would allow officers to exercise their discretion on these vehicles.

Cllr Jon Cloke requested that as well as electric vehicles being included in the policy, hydrogen and fuel cell powered vehicles should also be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 604.

During consideration of the previous item – Notices of Motion - in accordance with Procedure Rules 10.1 and 8.3.11 the Deputy Mayor MOVED and Cllr Reed SECONDED and the MOTION was CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY that the meeting continue beyond three hours and fifteen minutes and for a specified period of time – i.e. 60 minutes.

Report to follow.

The purpose of this report was to update Members on the present review of the Constitution.

Under Section 9P of the Local Government Act 2000, the Council was under a statutory duty to keep its Constitution under constant review ensuring its’ content was kept it up to date.

Monthly reviews of the Council’s Constitution took place with the Council’s Monitoring Officer and the Members of the Constitution Working Group (CWG).

The report set out several proposals for the revision of the following chapters/paragraphs within the Council’s Constitution:

·         Chapter 3, Part 3.1 – Powers and Delegations 2.10 Emergency Committee  (Appendix C)

·         Chapter 5, Part 5.2 – Planning Code of Good Practice/Planning Chapter (Appendix A & B)

·         Delegation(s) to staff – Telecommunications Networks (Appendix F)

·         Proposed addition of paragraph 12.2 (e) and Proposed change to Chapter 4 Rules of Procedure (Appendix D)

The cross-party Constitution Working Group (CWG) were consulted on the proposed changes required. The attached appendices reflected the significant and detailed contributions from the Working Group Members.

Cllr Hossack MOVED and Cllr Mynott SECONDED the RECOMMENDATIONS within the report with some additional wording to R3. Following a debate a vote was taken and the MOTION was CARRIED as follows:

Members agreed:

1.        To the amendments made to the Planning Code of Good Practice and Planning Chapter and adopt them within the Council’s Constitution set out in Appendices A and B.

2.         To the permanent inclusion of Chapter 3 at 2.10 the Emergency Committee (Section 40 Standing Orders) within Constitution as set out in Appendix C.

3.         That Delegated Authority be given to the Director of Planning and Economy and appropriate officers to determine planning applications relating to Telecommunications Networks within the Borough.  The appropriate officers to provide a process to the Planning Committee of how these matters will be decided either as a delegated decision or by way of referral to the Planning Committee.

4.       To adopt the proposed addition of paragraph 12.2 (e) and Proposed change to Chapter 4 Rules of Procedure within the Constitution as shown in Appendix D.

An item of business may only be considered where the Chair is of the opinion that, by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified in the Minutes, the item should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business, however the Deputy Mayor advised Members that Jean Sharp – Governance and Member Support Officer – was retiring having worked for Brentwood Borough Council for 23 years. The Deputy Mayor thanked Mrs Sharp for her years of service and wished her well in her retirement.

_________________________

The meeting ended at 23.20hrs