Any one or more Members of the Council may, by notice received by the Monitoring Officer no later than 10.00 am eleven working days before the day of the Council meeting, require the Council to consider a motion about a matter relating to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Council’s area. A notice of motion may be accompanied by a statement of not more than 200 words setting out the reason for the proposed motion. 

The Monitoring Officer shall include all notices of motion and accompanying statements in the agenda for the next relevant meeting of Council in the order received.

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

Motion 1 – Received 2nd June 2023 @ 13:52

Mover: Cllr White   Seconder: Cllr Bridge

The Council notes:

• ‘Chairs Reports and Questions’ at Ordinary Council should provide democratic accountability of its leadership.

• Recently, Leaders have chaired PRED committees, allowing a very broad range of questions to be put to them. This may not be the case when a Leader chairs a Policy Committee with a more focused remit, or none at all.

• This motion therefore calls for immediate amendment to Procedural Rule 7.2 that limits the scope of questions to (and omits specific inclusion of) the Council Leader.

This council resolves to:

1. Require the council’s leader to be fully involvement in chairs questions sessions across all areas of Council activity to promote public trust, encourage robust discussions, and enable greater scrutiny of actions and policies;

2. Introduce with immediate effect changes to fully include the Council Leader in Ordinary Council’s ‘Chairs Report and Questions’ session (to be renamed Leaders and Chairs’ Report and Questions) to cover “all areas of Council responsibility within the council’s area”;

3. Request the monitoring officer, in liaison with the Constitution Working Group, to bring forward to the next Ordinary Council the necessary changes Procedural Rule 7 (Chair Report and Questions) to give effect to this change.

Cllr Mynott MOVED an AMENDMENT to move this motion under 8.3.7 (a) (i) of constitution to refer this matter to the Constitutional Working Group and SECONDED by Cllr Dr Barrett. 

The amendment was not accepted by the original mover Cllr White

A recorded vote was requested by Councillors; White, Russell, Poppy, Barber and Hirst.  A recorded vote was taken as follows:

FOR:  Cllrs Barrett, Haigh, Aspinell, Dr Barrett, M Cuthbert, N Cuthbert, Davies, Fulcher, Gorton, Kendall, Laplain, Lewis, Mayo, Munden, Mynott, Naylor, Rigby, Sankey, Worsfold (19)

AGAINST: Cllrs Barber, Bridge, Francois, Gelderbloem, Heard, Hirst, Marsh, McCheyne, Murphy, Parker, Poppy, Pound, Reed, Russell, Slade, Wagland, White, Wiles, (18)

ABSTAIN:  (0)

The AMENDED motion was CARRIED.and should be noted that the report on this referral to the CWG will be brought back to the next meeting of Council.

Motion 2 – Received on 2nd June 2023 @ 16:06

Mover: Cllr Kendall            Seconder: Cllr Naylor

Reasons for the Motion

Essex County Council introduced a policy of residents having to book to use the Recycling Centres in the Borough of Brentwood and across Essex in March 2023. Since then, a continued escalation in fly-tipping has been observed. Many residents have been turned away from the Recycling Centres if they have not made an appointment. Residents have also not been able to book appointments on the same day, and there have been limited options for multiple trips.

Brentwood Borough Council is financially responsible for clearing fly-tips on public land, and it is therefore impacting the Council's financial position. Whilst Essex County Council might be making savings, they come at a greater cost to Brentwood Council taxpayers, given that clean up costs are higher than the costs of legitimate waste disposal.

Brentwood Borough Council resolves to:

1. Call upon the Cabinet Member for Waste Reduction and Recycling at Essex County Council to reverse the decision that forces residents to book appointments when visiting Recycling Centres. The response to this request to be shared with Ordinary Council.

2. Call upon the officers to write to Essex County Council expressing this Council's opposition to the "booking" policy and asking for an urgent meeting between the Chair of the Clean & Green Committee and the Cabinet Member to discuss our concerns. The outcome of this meeting to be reported back to Ordinary Council.

3. Ask the Audit & Scrutiny Committee to open an investigation into this policy, it's impact on the number of fly-tips, the County Council's justification for this policy and the costs incurred to Brentwood taxpayers. The result of this investigation to be reported back to Ordinary Council.

The motion was CARRIED.

Motion 3 – Received on 4th June 2023 @ 20:04

Mover: Cllr Barber             Seconder: Cllr Russell

This council notes:

• Brentwood operates a much valued weekly black bag service for residents’ residual waste and this helps to maintain cleanliness and hygiene across our local community.

 • Weekly black bag collection ensures that residual waste is properly disposed of, reduces risk to health and environmental hazards from prolonged retention - including vermin and unpleasant odours.

• Many residents lack the necessary physical space in their properties that would be required to store black bags securely for longer.

• Any change to the frequency of residual waste collection has the potential to lead to increased instances of fly-tipping and vermin.

• The council has a strong record of promoting and supporting recycling across the Borough to help reduce landfill.

This council resolves to:

• reaffirm its commitment to providing a high-quality waste disposal service that meets the needs and expectations of residents;

• not make any significant change to the expenditure on black bag collections and maintain the current weekly collection service for residual waste;

• request that officers investigate opportunities to encourage further waste reduction and promote recycling which do not compromise the frequency of black bag collections

Cllr Dr Barrett MOVED an AMENDMENT and Cllr Aspinell SECONDED it to the following:

This council resolves to:

1.    Affirm the Administration’s commitment to providing a high-quality waste disposal service that meets the needs and expectations of its residents;

2.    Commit to maintaining Brentwood’s weekly black bag and food waste collection throughout the 2023/24 year and in the 2024/25 budget process;

3.    Request that officers investigate opportunities to encourage further waste reduction and promote recycling which do not compromise the frequency of black bag and food waste collections, and bring a report on this topic to a future meeting of the Clean and Green Committee.

This amendment was accepted by the original mover Cllr Barber. 

The amended motion was CARRIED.