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Agenda item

Committee Chairs Reports and Members Questions

Report to follow.

Minutes:

Cllr Bridge requested that the full minutes for this item were recorded.   

 

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 were received from Cllr White.  His first question was as follows:

To the Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:

In the last complete financial period for which figures are available, what was the average weekly income collected from parking changes collected at Coptfold Road Car Park?

Response from Cllr Kendall, Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:

 

The average weekly income received in years 2022/23 for the Multi Story Car Park is as followed:

Season tickets - £1,654.67

Parking Income - £2,399.34

Total = £4,054.01

Councillor White had a supplementary question:

 

There have been a number of complaints from residents or observations from residents that the charging machines haven't been working at Coptfold Road Car Park certainly since the 14th of September, I know one of my colleagues has got photographic evidence that there was a sign up saying we couldn't collect the money.  Does the Chair know on how many days in the last three months we've not been collecting that money and how much that has cost the Council and what are we

doing about it. 

 

Response from Cllr Kendall, Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:

 

We aware of it um we had some problems from about the beginning of September  which I highlighted and we were hoping these were going to be short-term issues.  There are some operational issues there with the ticket machines which are

being resolved.  Unfortunately it's not quite as simple as we'd have hoped.  When the contract was signed, it was signed a few years ago there are various contracts maintenance agreements service agreements that were signed up to and we've had to obviously work through what we can get done.  I  would say in terms of cost, I'm happy to be corrected but I'd have thought somewhere between £10-14K could be the potential loss at this moment in time, that's the situation we're in but action is being taken has been taken over this last few weeks.  It's not been quite as simple as hopeful. 

 

Miss branes added, we have been aware that there are issues with the system at the Multi Storey Car Park.  We are working with the engineers to get the system back up and running and get it online.  The car park is a pay on foot car park therefore we cannot take payment at the moment because of tickets not being produced.  What we are doing is working with the engineers, following that if the system is still not able to get up and running we could close the car park to those that pay on foot - season ticket holders could still have access as well as the residence of Beckett's House, but what that does mean is we would have to have an officer man the system. 

For the season tickets that are paid, we would give them an additional time on their permits rather than refund them.  We will extend their permits with the amount of

time that the payment system has been down - that then reduces the financial impact onto the council because it's only the pay on foot that we're currently losing now.  We are looking to what we can and at the same time on how to enhance our system there so we are looking at getting the AMPR system for a better payment system that will make the car park secure so there are resolutions.

 

 

Councillor white presented his second question:

To the Chair of Clean & Green Committee:

 

What is the target collection rate for emptying the most heavily used litter bins in the borough and what do the council’s records monitoring the delivery of this service show in terms of how frequently this has been achieved, and how often it has not, across the past three months?

 

Response from Cllr Aspinell, Chair of Clean & Green Committee:

There is no chair of “Environment Committee” – I am the Chair of Clean and Green Committee – Cllr Rigby will read my response: 

Thank you Councillor White for the question; The bins are on a set schedule, those target areas that are considered to have heaviest footfall and therefore legitimate use, such as the Highstreets and shop fronts are emptied once a day for 6 days of the week, with the exception of Brentwood and Shenfield highstreets that are also emptied on a Sunday. 

 

The collections have been emptied on schedule as per the plan in the last 3 months. 

 

Councillor White had a supplementary question:

 

Given the state of overflowing litter bins in a number of places around the borough, would you please share those records?

 

Councillor Aspinell agreed to this. 

 

Cllr Slade put a question to the Chair of Housing, Health & Community:

 

Brentwood Borough Council awarded Axis a Strategic Asset Management contract made up of 10 initial years I understand.  The scope of work comprises of reactive repairs and maintenance avoids planned and technical work and heating systems

with specialist works to include asbestos removal Roofing and damp works.  Again, I understand the services covered the entirety of Brentwood Borough council's Housing stock.  At the time, Axis Director of Maintenance Tim Hayes commented on the contract wins, we are more than confident that we can enhance their existing

service and bring added benefits to the wider community with a former Chair of the Community, Health and Housing Committee commenting it was important that we were able to find a partner that offers value for money and excellent customer service.  In my first year as a Councillor from 2022 -2023 I was a member of both Community Health and Housing and Audit and Scrutiny Committees, from the reports presented to both committees it became evident we were not enhancing the existing service nor providing excellent service with a number of formal complaints raised.  As reflected on Facebook with residents posts, anyone having issues with Axis repairs, the lack of communication and delays and repair along with communication is terrible an attitude of some is awful.  Sadly it's also been my experience as a pavement repair on Brentwood Borough Council housing land I requested in June via the members portal as of 5pm this evening has not been actioned nor have there been communication as to the reasons of the delay.  As the current member of the Housing, Health and Community Committee and a former member of the Audit & Scrutiny Committee, I have grave concerns how the contract of Axis negatively impacts residents and therefore both committees, as has recently demonstrated with the recent KPIs presented at Audit & Scrutiny Committee meeting yesterday evening. Members of the Audit & Scrutiny Committee also raise their concerns with my fellow ward member asking the Chair to consider the contract and performance of Axis be held to account by the Audit & Scrutiny Committee.  I understand with Housing, Health and Community Committee requesting Axis’ attendance, the Chair made a decision that Audit & Scrutiny did not need to include the Axis contract on the Audit and Scrutiny work program for the year, however as a Councillor and a member and former member of the affected committees, it is clear that Axis need to be answerable responsible and fully held to account.  Therefore, I ask that the Leader considered the creation of an Axis Working Group to work with Audit & Scrutiny members to address and resolve the issues which impact both committees, and moreover to ensure our residents are provided at the level of service they deserve. 

 

Response from Cllr Dr Barrett, Chair of Housing, Health & Community:

Obviously the Axis contract predates this Administration and my time as Chair.  We are in this for until it expires but we are looking at ways to improve it because we all do know and it was discussed at the Housing Committee that we are unhappy with the performance.  I will consider a working group but I will take that away with officers and come back to you.  As a point of principle though, I do think that there is an important scrutiny function of the Audit& Scrutiny Committee, that is separate from a policy committee and therefore those functions should not be merged together but absolutely.  I think also it's important that we continue to hold Axis to account in a public forum where obviously we've already seen some results in them actually coming back to us with an Improvement plan.

 

Cllr Hirst put a question to the chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee: 

 

It became clear at the meeting of Audit & Scrutiny yesterday that we have a problem with our Auditors actually providing the capacity to complete or needing to start our audit of the 22/23 accounts.  The question is, will the council extricate itself from the existing five-year agreement with the public sector audit appointers so that we can complete our 22/23 audit on a timely basis. 

 

Response from Cllr Kendall, Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:

 

The issues we're facing are the issues faced by councils across the country as you know, we are not alone in this situation.  I spoke to Mr Willis this afternoon about this issue, we're currently reviewing the situation so we will give you a written response in

terms of where we're at, but we're reviewing all the options that we've got because

this issue has dragged on for far too long and you know we're far from happy with the situation.  If we were unique, if it was just us, it'd be one thing but it's councils across the country with basically exactly the same issue.  So we're looking at what options are open to us and we'll give you a response. 

 

Councillor Hirst had a point of information, he said that he represented three of the local authorities which are outside of the PSA arrangements and all three of those are up to date with their accounts.

 

Councillor Reedput a question to the chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:   

 

It became clear in the Audit & Scrutiny Committee meeting yesterday that our treasury management strategy does not currently have a focus on social and government issues in the way that we are governing our investments.  Could I please ask the Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee to clarify which body of the council reviews our treasury management strategy before it is put to Full Council for approval; and could I ask if he could arrange for there to be a joint working group between that body and the Council.

 

Response from Cllr Kendall, Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:

 

The honest answer is I don't know but I will find out for you and we'll come back and give you a response but it would be helpful with that type of question if we had a little bit more warning. 

 

 

 

Councillor Russell put a question to the Chair of Clean & Green Committee:

 

Residents and businesses have noticed the deterioration of the street scene over the last few months with general litter and overgrown vegetation and weeds.  Will the Leader of the Council and the Chair of Clean and Green Committee call once more

on our partners at Rochford to fill the gaps on the depot resources or recruit agency staff to bolster the under-resourced depot.

 

Response from Cllr Aspinell, Chair of Clean & Green Committee:

The situation is well known, it is something that we've inherited from the previous administration and it's something that we're taking very seriously.  I've looked at various options of getting further support in these sectors and our director is

working strenuously to come to some sort of resolution.  I will let all members know when that has been resolved. 

 

Councillor Parker put a question to the Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:   

 

At the last FAIR Committee, Councillor Kendall referred to a report from Moody's

investor service which stated that Brentwood Council was 11th in the most indebted

authorities in relation to its size an income ratio of 9.7% income debts £226.  We should note that it's not seen as a problem for the past administration who had factored the debts and income into their past budgets.  Councillor Kendall was stated this week that Brentwood Council was already as already stated have been highlighted to those borrowings he went on to state “there is to reassure our residents, staff, councillors the council's medium-term financial strategy is robust and our governance process is robust.  The value of our assets far outweigh our overall debt and the returns we get from these assets provides the additional income that we invest back into Services we provide.  We also have mitigations in place to reduce the negative impact and unforeseen economic events”.  Taking into account the statements made by Councillor Kendall made on behalf of the coalition administration, would you agree that continuous comments made by him and others at the time they were in opposition concerning the council's financial position over at least the last four or five years was either due to the fact that they did not understand the safe hands the financial situation was in or was it just political posturing?  If so, does he not think that the word recovery or the title of the FAIR Committee should be removed.  I know it might be a bitter pill to swallow, would you not agree that the robustness he so fondly refers to was due to a Conservative administration and not the Coalition.

 

Response from Cllr Kendall, Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:

 

It’s very easy to just answer “no”.   The situation we have is this - we are

still finding out a number of issues regarding the finances of this Council.  I think one of the things that has become more likely evident is that under the previous administration a lot of things were channelled through one person; we have a more devolved operation here where chairs take on their responsibilities and it's taken very seriously and undertake them to the best levels they can.  We were asked about the Moody’s report which basically highlighted 20 Councils I think, we're at number nine.  What was concerning about the Moody report, it didn't look at the council's finances in the round.  If you actually look where we are based on our published accounts, we've got assets worth £549 million against debts of £192 million.  So from a simple

perspective we've got obviously more assets that we have on debt.  If you also

look at our total long-term debt as an average life of 30 years which provides us with a great deal of certainty because we have interest rates around about 2.3%, which in today's current environment is very low and we're happy with the overall the accounts and finances.  Our debt is high in relation to other Councils, our Capital program needs to be drilled down in great detail and there's a lot of capital spend there which is rolled over year after year after year and this is always to be looked at.  We are in the process at the moment of investigating other areas of finances to make sure that all members are aware of what the situation is because mostly, when you take over something, the previous government found this, you only find out information when you actually take over, we're finding out more and more through the various meetings that we're having.  I make no apologies for the last five years, our job was to hold you to account and to try and be constructive, your job is to do exactly the same with us - we'd expect nothing less - but is the overall financial picture rosie? - it's not how I would like it but it's what we've inherited and we'll deal with it, so as I say I made no apologies for where we are, I certainly wouldn't change the title of FAIR Committee and I think it makes it very clear Finance, Assets, Investment and Recovery from your period of office and that's what we're going to try and do. 

 

Councillor White put a question to the Chair of Clean & Green Committee:

 

There was a report on an internal audit on Tree Management which was

reported that Audit & Scrutiny last night - one of the observations of the internal audit team was that the Clean and Green Committee, previously Community, Environment and Enforcement Committee provides some oversight of the number of trees planted by the service - however our review of the three most recent meetings identified no

scrutiny has been implemented during regarding the absence of pre-inspections.  Can I ask the chair what he's doing about it please?

 

Councillor Marsh left the Chamber due to a pecuniary interest that her husband is a relevant Council officer on this matter.  

 

Response from Cllr Aspinell, Chair of Clean & Green Committee:

Yes, this is something else that we've discovered we've inherited - there hasn't been a decent tree survey done in Brentwood for the last 20 years.  We have a sorry state of affairs where we've only been a reactive Council rather a proactive Council.  We  as opposition at the time nominated many trees in our wards that we felt needed urgent attention some of those were never looked at some of those were ignored or through lack of manpower was never got round to.  County Council had a lot to do with that as well because they have responsibility for Highway trees maintenance and they allowed us to do their work for them as they've done in many other areas and there was just too much work not enough people and not enough attention to detail at the time from the relevant committees that was dealing with the trees.  Now we have a problem and the clues in our name, there's a lot of them about and there's a lot that could be in dangerous situations.  That’s why it was on the risk register I believe at the Audit & Scrutiny Committee.  We will welcome the report and now we will take action and I warned all the Councillors and the watching Millions on the web at the Clean and Green Committee that there was something coming down the road

that was going to cost us dearly - there will be a price to be paid for this and the FAIR Committee will be putting that into their budgets for next year.  There will be an immediate reaction to any that we find that are in a dangerous state but we will have to have a budget put aside for this work.  It’s going to be long, it's going to be detailed, and it will be done properly this time. 

 

 

Councillor White put a question to the Chair of Housing, Health and Community Committee:

 

It was particularly important since it was just suggested that chairs last year didn't take the brief seriously, within Housing I did and I was proud of the fact that we managed after covid to finally get things like electrical inspections and gas inspections up above to the target.  At Audit & Scrutiny Committee last night, it was said that in terms of Housing having reached the target of 100% last quarter under the previous administration, I would add the gas servicing dipped below target and can I ask the Chair of Housing why that is and our measures in place to ensure it doesn't happen again.

 

 

Councillor Dr Barrett, the Chair of Housing, Health and Community Committee responded:

 

I wasn't at the Audit & Scrutiny Committee and I haven't had a chance to read the minutes yet so thank you for making me aware.  I'm looking into the reasons.

 

 

Councillor White put a question to the Chair of Audit & Scrutiny Committee:

 

Can I first of all thank him for yesterday's meeting, I think it was a productive one in which all members got to do their jobs.  One of the points which came up during discussion of Treasury Management, although it was it said that the two particular things I looked at when we're considering who to borrow from was financial risk and reputation it became clear during the discussion that there apparently are no checks in terms of the reputation ethical investment register checks and such like done from the organisations that we borrow from.  So I know that he seemed to indicate from the chair that he would be looking into it but can I ask him to confirm that is the case and that he'll be bringing forward a report to committee?

 

 Councillor Sankey, the chair of Audit & Scrutiny Committee responded:

 

Yes it was a very interesting meeting and I thought everybody contributed very well in that particular point.  Mr Willis hasn’t actually responded I don't see any of the email

but he did make the point where he confirmed that there are actually checks on counterparties.  He has suggested a way forward which I would like to explore with him and I actually agree with what he was proposing.

 

Councillor Wagland put a question to the Chair of Clean & Green Committee: 

 

In Ingatestone, we have as I think many people know the listed Church St Edmund and St Mary and on the path that runs along the front of that from the High Street which forms part of the route that most people take to get to the station.  This is very well trafficked and there is a bin or there was in terms of a functioning bin because that has been wrapped in black and yellow tape.  It is overflowing and I have received a number of complaints from residents about this particular bin, not least because of its setting and where it is but the fact it is creating a personal problem for me in fact because there is an assumption that this might be a matter for me in my

capacity as an Essex County Councillor.  But residents have confirmed what I've also ascertained from ECC that this is not an ECC bin, it's not an ECC footpath or owned by them.  So my question for the Chair of Clean and Green is when will this be repaired or replaced?

 

The Mayor clarified that in normal circumstances no question should be put to the chair relates exclusively toward an operational resident matter that could not otherwise be resolved by reasonable use of the casework system.  The Mayor confirmed with Councillor Wagland that as she had only just ascertained that it was not an ECC bin, she had not entered it into the casework system.  Therefore the Mayor refused the question until it had the chance to be answered as a ward matter in the member casework system.  

 

Councillor Bridge put a question to the Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:  

 

I'm a little bit confused about your answer frankly to Councillor Parker because you were quoted in the media only a few days ago saying our medium return financial plan is robust and yet you're saying here that we're still investigating, we're still looking into things, we're still recovering and if it's robust, why do we need to recover?

 

Response from Cllr Kendall, Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:

 

Based on what we know, and that's key, based on what we know at the moment, it is as robust as the finances can be.  As I say we're still investigating, we're looking at various issues if and when we have a situation when we need to highlight anything, rest assured we will bring this to your attention. 

 

Councillor Bridge put a question to the Vice Chair of Planning Committee:  

 

I was just asking would he join me to thank in particular relation for later item on the agenda, would you join me in thanking Essex County Council in particular the great effort they did under the then responsible Cabinet Member Councillor Lesley Wagland for the fantastic work that's been done in producing the CIL report which I believe is going to be worth £28 million to this Council?

 

Councillor M Cuthbert, Vice Chair of Planning Committee responded:

 

I'm not entirely sure which part of the report that you're talking about would you be able to clarify that (this was clarified as the CIL report) and which parts were Councillor Wagland involved in?

 

Councillor Bridge clarified he was asking a general to the (Vice) Chair of Planning about the fact that there's still policy that has been was jointly led by Essex - we got

funding from Essex to do it and I wanted to acknowledge the work.  I was asking would you join me in so doing the work done by Essex in particular the responsible Cabinet Member at Essex at the time, Councillor Lesley Wagland, over the wonderful opportunity of the money this is going to bring the Council.

 

Councillor M Cuthbert continued, I'm happy to thank anyone who's been involved in the CIL assessment because I do think it's going to be an excellent thing for this

Council so I'm grateful for absolutely everyone's input who has been involved in this situation.

 

Councillor Davies put a question to the Chair of Finance, Assets, Investment and Recovery Committee:

 

Does he agree that all elected members of this Council should feel safe and protected in line with the art officer's safeguarding policies.  As local councillors we visit residents to better serve our community and address their needs.  If a resident is on the council's danger/high risk register should we not need to be made aware of this - of course would be confidential and used for a legitimate and lawful purpose on a need to know basis.  I'm assuming different teams in the council share safeguarding issues so why could it not be shared with Councillors

 

Response from Cllr Kendall, Chair of Finance, Assets, Investments and Recovery Committee:

 

I fully agree with Councillor Davis in terms of the point she's making in her question.  I think it's an important issue for all members across the chamber and is something that does need to be addressed.  I know other councils have policies on this and I think we need to review those.  If I'm able to, I'd like to refer to the Leader if he has anything to add. 

 

Councillor Aspinell, Leader of the Council added that he believed that we've seen some horrible examples of elected members getting murdered, assaulted, having horrible things done to them when they are identified as to where they are at any certain time or in fact where they live so I would plead with everyone, I would ask everyone here when you fill in your form for election, you put in “care of the Town Hall” - that is a perfectly sane thing to do.  I'll give you an example, I was elected in 1982 and in 1983 I had my young son pick up the phone got a stream of abuse from this lady nothing to do with me just because I was the first name on the council's phone number list alphabetically.  It become evident that you are putting yourself forward as a potential target and we should all look and respect that so at all stages I believe we should protect our anonymity and it's within our law because our addresses and our contact details are known, they don't have to be given out by this Council.  If we have as had been explained a risk register held by a certain department in the council that appertained to staff being aware, that there's someone that they have to take special measures of like go in twos to see this person, the ward members where that person is, I believe should be involved and should be told.  I think that's the due courtesy to us doing our job.  Also a couple of my members, have had people just knock on their doors, residents wanting to talk to them because they're their local councillor - that's okay in the extent if people know you because you've been around a long time, that's fine but when it's a stranger on your doorstep - who knows what could happen.  That's what happened to Cllr Davies not too long ago it's happened to me two or three times, so yes I think we should take this safeguarding more seriously than we have in the past.  I attended the safeguarding

seminar by the Council about four years ago but I don't believe the new Council has a new intake had that same thing, if it has then I apologise but it needs to be upgraded, it needs to be involved with Scrutiny.  I think maybe and we take a

stronger view about it in the more serious way in these very sad and troubled times.

 

Mr Stephenson added that there is a policy for officers and members and we treat them both the same.  There may be an issue around communication and training which I know we've arranged some sessions with members coming up very soon because with regard to the list you refer to, there is a confidential list.  It's protected on the Data Protection Act so we can't just share that with everybody.  If someone is looking to attend a property they refer to the process to find out - it's a need to know basis, there's not a long list of people that the council hold that van be circulated across the organisation.  We'd expect the same thing for members as

well and also the challenges for anybody to go into a property alone, we would not do that as officers, some members are sometimes put in a situation where possibly you're asked to come in to look into property and there is a risk so we all need to  look at how we can reassure you with our training and LGA training.  There is a cautionary advisory list for officers which can be referred to and we will look to

share with members if there is a requirement for that member.  This list is on a  need

to know basis as you can expect and is reviewed annually and it will be unfair to share that type of information with everybody because people might be aware of those residents for friendships or relationships.  There is some training and development around ensuring that members are fully aware of that process moving forward and I also recognise the challenges.  You are at risk and the same for officers or member on their own, it's your word against theirs if they're in

their property as well so we really would advise not to go alone but we also understand sometimes you are in a difficult position.  There will be further development and training and support members and just reassurance and support

where we can.

 

Councillor Barber put a question to the Chair of Clean & Green Committee:

 

Previously I've asked about the schedule for rolling out the electrical vehicle charges around the borough and I think at the last meeting I was told that there would be substantially more EV charges by the end of September.  Given that we're only a few days away from the end of the month could the Chair of Clean and Green please tell us how many additional new charges will be rolled out by the end of this week?

 

Response from Cllr Aspinell, Chair of Clean & Green Committee:

I haven't got that information, I apologise, I should have done.  know that two of the applications at two of the potential sites had to go to Planning Committee and I don't know what happened to them there.  I hope they were approved because we were told that they probably didn't need to go to Planning Committee in the first place but once the process was started we might as well finish.  I don't know and I do apologise. 

 

Also, dur to circumstances not all the working groups for Clean and Green met this last cycle, and so there will be some coming up and there is a new working group we're introducing under the Constitution for Clean and Green we can look at Highway matters so now that the Parish Councillors and local members are no longer part of the County Council's Local Highway Panel, we're going to start our own here and refer it on to the Local Highways Panel through myself or through Councillors Wagland or Willes in the future so that's just to put a marker down.  We are going to meet and all the Parish Councils who will be invited.

 

Councillor Barber put a question to the Chair of Community, Health and Housing Committee:

 

In previous meetings I've asked about the medical arrangements in Ingatestone, Fryerning and Mountnessing and we were assured that there that was centre

of the administration's platform.  Could I ask please are regular meetings being

held currently with the NHS specifically on the topic of medical provision within Ingatestone, Fryerning and Mountnessing about nursing and if so, how frequently are they meeting and how many meetings since the last Ordinary Council meeting?  

 

Councillor Dr Barrett, the Chair of Housing, Health and Community Committee responded:

 

We are still looking at working with NHS for the future provision across the borough as well as Ingatestone.  From myself, there hasn't been any communication meetings with the NHS at the moment, we are attempting to have more meetings with them although I believe the Chief Executive has been regularly meeting with the NHS and maybe he can update you on that issue.

 

Mr Stephenson added that with regard to the question, that the last meeting and previously I've met a number of times the Alliance Director this week and I'm meeting them again on the 14th ahead of the member All Member Briefing on the 16th October where they are looking to present information data on their approach to infrastructure and provision for the NHS across Brentwood which will pick up Ingatestone, Mountnessing and Fryerning as well.  There has been discussion about the need and they wanted to bring it up in the presentation but obviously there is local discussion around need for more GP provision and surgeries.  They've also got some data around a different provision of what the NHS are moving forward and it's not just necessarily just GP surgeries and GPs and they'll bring it up in the presentation on the 16th October.  I've got a preview of that but probably best to

have that presentation and perhaps a follow-up Q&A afterwards or bring back to a relevant Committee following the briefing.

 

 

Councillor Barber put a question to the Chair of Planning:

 

At a recent Planning Committee meeting, we had to re-run a planning decision on an item within my own ward and there have been I believe three significant procedural failures during planning meetings since the change of administration.  So my question to the Vice Chair of Planning is what training and Improvement is planned for the Chair and the Vice Chair of that committee to make sure that that doesn't happen again?

 

Councillor M Cuthbert, Vice Chair of Planning responded:

 

At present we have not been asked to take any additional training for that role.

 

Monitoring Officer Mrs Mayhew added, there’s been some talks with Steven Bell from Birketts who is going to do extra training and pick up the points that you've just mentioned.

 

Councillor Reed put a question to the Mayor:

 

When we met on Monday night as a group to discuss the agenda, this item hadn't been published.  Can I please ask that it is published a little bit earlier because it's given us no time to properly read the reports that were published yesterday.

 

The Mayor of Brentwood responded:

 

I can confirm from the Monitoring Officer that reports are compiled from the meetings and agendas of relevant committee meetings.  At this period the committee meetings were quite close to the Ordinary Council meeting indeed Audit & Scrutiny being an example that was only yesterday.  Going forward this will be updated and improved as appropriate and looking to make sure these narratives appear earlier for Councillors to have the opportunity to have oversight, this circumstance was limited by the narrow period of meetings before the Council and I do apologise for that.  There's actually no report here from the chair of Audit and Scrutiny because the meeting took place last night.  

 

 

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