Report 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 a 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.

Two written questions were submitted by Cllr Chilvers, as follows:

1. Last summer, during major building works in Shenfield, wheelchair users were forced to use the main road carriageway to travel as the footpath was completely blocked with no adequate access provided for them. 

Will the Chair of the Planning Committee confirm that Brentwood Borough Council policy will change by the start of the municipal year 2020/21 to ensure that this inequitable and dangerous situation cannot occur again? 

Cllr McCheyne responded as follows:

The LPA has no authority over highway land or the ability to insist on how it’s managed in this way.   It is a matter for the Highway Authority and the developer.   

2. During 2019, it was agreed by the then Leader of the Council that all Brentwood Borough Council buildings would display a sign saying “Assistance Dogs Welcome” (as is the law) and any now redundant signage would be removed. Can the current Leader of the Council confirm this is now in place?

Cllr Hossack responded as follows:

I can confirm this has been completed.

Two written questions were submitted by Cllr S Cloke which Cllr Chilvers read out in Cllr Cloke’s absence, as follows:

1. For over a decade, council meetings were webcast allowing Brentwood residents to watch live or to catch up later and making us a transparent council in this regard. 

In 2017 when the council moved out of the Town Hall temporarily, a motion was agreed - unanimously - that audio recordings would fill the void left due to difficulties arising from being nomadic. The promise was that visual recording would return. 

It has not yet returned and initially this was said to be due to staff training requirements. More recently a casework enquiry has informed us that a decision on its return has yet to be made. 

Please can the leader confirm when webcasting will return and that audio recording will continue until that time?

Cllr Hossack responded as follows:

The Motion passed was as below on the 19^th July 2017.

‘On 31st May 2017, after over 15 years of making Brentwood Council open and transparent to its residents, webcasting ceased.

Although it is understood that the contract has ended and the intention is to start it up in the future, there are many important decisions to be made over the coming months.

These days, we do not have to rely on a webcasting company to host our meetings.  Therefore, this council will work towards having an interim/cost effective solution in place to record its meetings as soon as possible.’

There is no commitment to return to video recordings.  It’s very simple, and I go back to the Corporate Plan, and value for money.  If I look at the figures for when we were video recording; figures were low and none.  Do I agree in principal that webcasting is good for democracy?  Yes it probably is and some people avail themselves on it.  But the cost is somewhere between £14,000 and £20,000 per year and the beneficiaries, according to those statistics, some months none and other months low, then I have to consider value for money for the taxpayer.  If we are going to invest in it then budget pressures need to be considered and something might have to give in order to put that on.  If I think £14,000 somewhere else could top up and benefit our community fund, help some local charities, help someone like MIND I would rather put the money into that than host an expensive service that benefits very few people.  So the point I’m making is we need to do the maths and look at it.  I am not saying “no”.  It should come to committee, do the maths, make a cost effective decision, if it’s a lot of benefit to a lot of people, it has a strong case, if it isn’t then it won’t happen as I need to look at financial due diligence or this council.

Total April 2015 – April 2016 

Live Viewers:  170

Archived Viewers: 297

NOTE:   These figures relate to viewers only and do not include the number of persons making ‘hits’ on the site i.e. Webcast visitors.

2.            Since Brentwood’s street lighting was switched off by Essex County Council, our residents have constantly been concerned that night crime has increased. Liberal Democrat councillors have raised the issue but the response has always been that there is no correlation. 

However, in the consultation response from Essex Police in the agenda for the Licensing sub-Committee on 14/11/2019 the following statement was made:

“Essex County Council have imposed part night lighting in Brentwood, which operates from midnight six days a week. Although it does currently not affect the high street, it could be a hazard to patrons leaving the area to seek public transport and trains nearby during the dark winter nights.”

Does the chair of licensing (and indeed the chair for that sub-committee) agree that the concerns of our police force - that seem to concur with those of our residents- should be passed to the Police & Crime Commissioner and ECC to inform any future review and that she will ensure this is done?

Cllr Hossack responded as follows:

The reality is the statement is in relation to a County matter, we are not a highways authority which accounts for lighting.  Cllr Hirst a premier authority we have the benefit of addressing this committee in terms of the opinion of the police on it.  It’s a policy for Essex and I know based on statistics that there is no evidence of detriment to crime.  This comment was made following a license application for Sugar Hut, and it says people exiting the club, should it be granted, would be in the High Street, where it is lit and where people are using public transport, and where other areas and transport hubs may be lit.  Nevertheless, our position has not changed and we will not be petitioning councillors to do anything they have not already done.