Live broadcast to start at 7pm and available for repeat viewing.   

Apologies were received from Cllrs Dr Barrett, Murphy, Kendall, Fryd and Aspinell.

Cllr Cloke congratulated the Mayor on behalf of the Lib Dem Group on her recent marriage.

There were no declarations of interest at this stage.

The Mayor informed the Council:

It has been just over one month since I was formally was re-elected as Mayor for 2022/23 and I have already undertaken 15 engagements.  I would like to thank the Deputy Mayor for also attending a number of engagements on my behalf whilst I was away on Honeymoon following my wedding a week and a half ago.  

I enjoyed the Brentwood/Montbazon Town Twining visit meeting the Mayor of Montbazon and enjoying a great evening with them whilst there were here in Brentwood.

It was an honour to be part of the Beacon Lighting in Herongate to honour the Queens Platinum Jubilee.  This was a wonderful event for local residents which included performances from Brentwood Imperial Youth Band. 

Earlier this week, I was joined by representatives from Shenfield CCF, 124 Essex Transport Squadron and the British Legion to raise the flag ahead of Armed Forces Day. 

My upcoming Civic Service at Brentwood Cathedral takes place on 6^th September where I hope you will join me to welcome fellow Mayors and Chairman across Essex, representatives of local organisations and residents of Brentwood.

I am planning a number of upcoming charity events to fundraise for my chosen charities and hope to have your support across the year. 

Cllr Heard requested that his apologies at this meeting be recorded for the 16^th March 2022 Ordinary Council meeting. 

The Ordinary Council meeting held on 16^th March 2022 were APPROVED as a true record. The minutes contain a summary of the meeting, to view the full meeting, please visit https://youtu.be/qztoCTAXQCA

The Extra Ordinary Council meeting held on 23rd March 2022 were APPROVED as a true record. The minutes contain a summary of the meeting, to view the full meeting, please visit https://youtu.be/_01SM8FHbUE

Cllr Mynott requested that Item 6 of the agenda – Election Results – be recorded in the minutes.  The election results were tabled on the night of Annual Council. 

The Annual Council meeting held on the 18^th May 2022 were APPROVED as

a true record. The minutes contain a summary of the meeting.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, a member of the public resident within the Borough may ask a maximum of two questions relating to the business of the Council providing notice has been received by 10.00am two working days before the relevant meeting.

Five Public Questions had been received.

Mrs Gearon-Simm submitted two questions as follows:

1.            Brentwood Borough Council invited The Local Authority Association to produce a Corporate Peer challenge.  This investigated the performance of the Council.

The Corporate Peer Challenge recommended that:

Brentwood Borough Council (BBC), develops a partnership plan to ensure existing partnership arrangement are appraised and compared – with performances and value for money strong considerations.

BBC were also advised to consider these in light of new opportunities with Rochford or others which all provided greater resilience over the longer terms.

Has BBC developed such a partnership plan?

How much has the outsourcing of Council services to other local authorities cost Brentwood Council tax payer?

Cllr Hossack responded as followed:

I can advise that as part of last year’s Peer Review the Council’s partnership arrangements were discussed and the requirements for these going forwards, hence the recommendation made. The Council does have a Partnership Policy and accompanying procedures and as part of the Peer Review Action Plan we intend to review both the existing arrangements and future ones. The Peer Review Action Plan will include updates on the partnership recommendation, and this will be reported regularly to the Council’s PRED Committee.

With regards to your question on outsourcing of Council services to other local authorities I can advise that we a contract with Braintree District Council to provide our payroll services and have a partnership arrangement with Basildon Borough Council for our Revenue and Benefits Service and a Service Level Agreement with Thurrock Council to assist our Planning, Environmental Health and Licensing Services. 

The costs for these services are contained within the Council’s existing budgets and are set out in the Council's Statement of Accounts.

2.    Clause 99 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill strengthens the procedure for completion notices for planning permission.  It is clearly Government Policy to facilitate action to secure completion of development in accordance with approved plans.

Will you make representation for amending the Bill so that completion notices should also be introduced for Building Regulation application certifying that the works have been carried out according to the plans?

Cllr Hossack responded as followed:

Thank you for your question. I have sympathy with you on this, responsible developers and homeowners should ensure that the appropriate completion of development is confirmed in line with regulations. However, the Levelling Up Bill and Building Regulations are two quite separate legislative processes. I confirm that presently there is no requirement for homeowners to get a completion certificate issued within a certain timeframe. Once an application has commenced on site it remains open until complete. Often, this will mean that something is open until a homeowner comes to sell the property and searches confirm the work,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

No memorials or petitions were received.

Reports to follow.

Members can ask up to two questions to two different Chairs.

Any Member may ask a Chair a written or oral question on 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.

The period allowed for written and oral questions and answers will not exceed 60 minutes without leave of the Mayor.

Two written questions have been received from Cllr Dr Barrett, as follows:

To the Chair of Planning and Licensing and Audit and Scrutiny.

It was disappointing to see on the front page of our local newspapers that taxpayers money was required to compensate a resident for the council failing to enforce a planning condition decided in committee due to administrative errors. It was further disappointing to see this was resolved through the local ombudsman because the council's complaints procedure failed to act. What measures are put in place to stop this happening again?

Response

The situation and outcome are disappointing. This related to a planning application at 59 Crown Street, Brentwood, reference 18/00309/FUL. A complaint was received from a neighbouring resident regarding details of the screening provided as part of the development scheme. The complaint was investigated thoroughly in line with the councils’ formal complaints policy. A clear outcome was provided explaining certain technical complexities, such as the difference between the screening that had been provided and the limitations of taking enforcement action for things outside the decision notice approval. The complainant requested that the local government ombudsman review the case, as is their right.

The ombudsman conducted an assessment and concluded that the council was at fault. This was because plans for the balustrade and planters, which the complainant referred to, were not included in the initial decision notice. This meant that enforcement action to implement them could not be taken. Similarly, though the balustrade and planters were included in the plans for the conditions discharge that related to the privacy screen (reference 18/00309/COND/3), this did not relate to the matters of the condition, and though not within the formal decision notice, this would not have given the council the basis to enforce against the lack of these features.

The council reviewed the ombudsman decision. It was concluded that there were no grounds for challenge according to guidance, in terms of matters of law such as evidence inaccuracies or new information affecting the decision. Any legal challenge would have cost implications.

On review, there was an administrative error that meant the council could not require the applicant to adhere to the balcony drawings (other than the privacy screen), which impacted upon the complainant’s amenity. As a result, a formal apology was issued and £1,000 compensatory payment made to enable the installation of additional planting to screen the outlook from the balcony. Additional training has been provided for staff undertaking administration tasks, such as issuing decision notices, so that a repeat of this situation can be avoided  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Report to follow.

This report presented a revised Pay Policy Statement (PPS) for approval by Full Council (Appendix A of the Supplementary Agenda). A PPS must be in place for 2022/23 which had been approved by Full Council. This was initially approved on the 23 February 2022, however it had been reviewed as part of the partnership arrangements with Rochford District Council. Consequently, the PPS has been updated and will require further approval.

Cllr Hossack MOVED and Cllr Poppy SECONDED that the recommendations within the report. A vote was taken by a show of hands and was RESOLVED.

Members are asked to:

Approve and adopt the Pay Policy Statement at Appendix A (Supplementary Agenda).

Reasons for Recommendation

To comply with the statutory requirement to approve the Council’s Pay Policy.

Following a change to the Council’s Constitution on 25 January 2017, Councillors are now appointed to a number of outside organisations by Ordinary Council. Many of the outside organisations support and advance the broad objectives of the Authority. Representations come about either through the Authority initiating the appointment, or an organisation requesting a representative being nominated or a Charity Commission rule that a Council representative is appointed.

Following consideration of the list of nominations and to ensure effective use of Councillors resource and support for outside organisations, it is considered appropriate to categorise the list in the following:

· Statutory Representatives

· Trustee

· Council has interest whether financially or otherwise

· Others – point of contact

Where a Councillor is required to be a point of contact it is considered appropriate for the outside organisation and the Councillor to make contact and discuss the best approach.

The list of nominations for representatives/point of contact on outside organisations is presented at the Ordinary Council meeting each year for Members’ approval (Appendix A).

In January 2021, Council’s approved an amendment to Chapter 4, Paragraph 27 of the constitution to state:

27. Outside Bodies

27.1 Any person appointed by the Council to serve as our representative to an outside body shall be appointed until they resign, are dismissed or their successor is appointed. Members shall cease to hold appointments on the fourth day after the ordinary day of election unless they are re-elected as a Borough Member at the Election.

(a) The Council should not appoint where there is a conflict of office or interest

(b) The Council should not appoint where the appointment holds a risk that insolvency of the body would render the appointee debarred from office i.e. where the appointment is an effective directorship listed at Companies House.

27.2 The Chief Executive will:

(a) in consultation with the appropriate Group Leaders, revise as necessary appointments to outside bodies arising as a result of a vacancy or otherwise;

(b) in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Group Leaders, agree the allocation of appointments to any new outside bodies or organisations.

(c) ensure that the body meets the criteria for an appointee

27.3 The Appointee will:

(a) ensure a good flow of communication between the outside body and the council. This will include non-confidential matters that the appointee may consider to be of interest or significance to either party.

(b) upon request of the Chief Executive, provide an update on any disclosable matters pertaining to the outside body.

(c) be prepared to provide a brief report to the Audit & Scrutiny committee when requested to do so under the work programme.

A review of the Outside Organisations appointments was presented at Audit & Scrutiny Committee on 8th March 2022. Members requested that a Working Group be formed to review the appointments to Outside Organisations.

It was approved unanimously that the review would be added Work Programme for the purpose of evaluating and recommend the removal of any Outside Organisations to Ordinary Council for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

Three Notice of Motions had been received, as detailed in the report.

Motion 1 – Received on 1^st June 2022 @ 12:51

Mover:  Cllr Lewis                          Seconder: Cllr Naylor

Recent economic analysis suggests the numbers of electric vehicles in the UK will reach 10 million by 2030 and 15 million by 2035. By 2030, this may imply a total pool in Brentwood of 15,000 - 20,000 electric vehicles.

Brentwood currently has [3] public charging points. Given the importance of electric vehicles to our future environment and economy and the difficulty of many electric vehicle owners in accessing personal charging facilities, there is a strong case for public and private commercial provision of electric charging facilities.

This council requests that within 4 months of today’s date (or the next subsequent PRED committee thereafter), a report be prepared for PRED including an analysis of:

- current and future resident and business requirements for electric charging facilities in Brentwood 2022-2030

- options for the different types of public and private commercial provision of electric charging facilities in Brentwood including a comparative analysis of the costs, revenues, benefits and risks of each possibility

- an assessment of what other councils across the UK are doing in this area

- recommendations of next steps in regard to implementation of the required EV charging points for PRED committee to review, assess and approve.

Following a full discussion, a vote on the motion was taken by a show of hands and the motion was LOST. 

The meeting was adjourned at 20:50 for a 10 minute comfort break.

Motion 2 – Received on 3rd June 2022 @ 19:07

Mover:  Cllr Hones                        Seconder: Cllr Hossack

This council objects to the East Anglia Green proposals to run high voltage cable across East Anglia and subsequently through Essex and the Borough of Brentwood, to deliver offshore wind generated power from Norfolk through to Tilbury.

We are fortunate to have natural assets in the form of a coastline and the Thames Estuary by which offshore power can be delivered to a location on the Thames, with minimal disturbance to land.

The National Grid appear to have discounted offshore cabling and come up with a solution that cuts a scar right across east Anglia, with questionable logic as to how the construction of infrastructure and supply of necessary materials, could have a lower carbon delivery of the project when compared with offshore cable laying.

The green energy agenda should not be delivered at the expense of our landscapes and the project itself should seek to be delivered with the minimal emission of carbon possible.

This Council resolves to write to National Grid and the Secretary of State at BEIS, requesting current proposals are reconsidered for a less harmful option, extending the consultation period if necessary to include the case for offshore cable routing for the delivery of renewable power.

Following a full discussion, a vote on the motion was taken by a show of hands and the motion was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY. 

Motion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

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.

The meeting concluded at 9.37pm.