Agenda and minutes

To present former councillors who were nominated at the Annual meeting with their Alderman and Alderwoman certificates.

The Chair welcomed former Councillors Cant, Godwin and Morson and congratulated them on their appointments as Honorary Alderman and Alderwomen of Uttlesford District Council. He presented each with a certificate of office for their distinguished service to the public and the Council.

Council showed its appreciation with a standing ovation.

Vincent Thompson, Vere Isham and Graham King addressed Council.

Councillor Coletta spoke as a member of a public on Item 13 - the member motion relating to Railway Ticket Office Closures. He had given notice of an other registrable interest as a member of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) Union.

A summary of their statements has been appended to these minutes.

To receive any apologies and declarations of interest.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bagnall, Davey, Donald and Freeman.

Councillor Coletta declared an other registrable interest in relation to Item 13 – Railway Ticket Office Closures as a member of the RMT. He said he would recuse himself from the item and leave the meeting at the relevant time. He had already exercised his right to speak on the matter as a member of the public.

Councillor Evans, in respect of Item 6 and the rivers and water questions, said he owned part of Stebbing Brook.

To receive the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 May 2023 were approved as a correct record.

To receive any announcements from the Chair.

Councillor Asker entered the meeting at 7.20pm.

The Chair listed the ten civic engagements he had attended since the previous meeting in May. He also announced his charities for the year, the Uttlesford Dementia Action Alliance and Accuro Stride. He also said he would be fundraising by visiting every ward in the district and invited councillors to join him.

To receive matters of report from the Leader and members of the Executive.

The Leader provided an update on the Local Government Association conference she had attended and said she had spoken to a number of leaders with airports in their authorities with a view of a more joined up approach to issues such as welcoming incoming refugees.; She said volunteers and officers at Stansted Airport had handled the Ukraine and Sudan evacuations magnificently. Furthermore, she noted the written rivers and waters questions and said there would be more time to deal with these properly at a session of scrutiny. She also asked members to complete the training survey feedback forms.

Councillor Reeve provided an update on waste services and said there had been a number of glitches of late with waste collections, attributed to past vacancies, getting new staff members up to speed and structural changes relating to where the waste was processed. He said all vacancies, bar one, had now been filled and he was confident that problems with collections would now be resolved going forward.

Councillor Coote provided an update on Reynolds Court and fire safety measures. He said in recent weeks officers had met with the contractor to ascertain how the issues would be fixed. He said the contractor would now trial safety measures on one flat which would be tested by independent experts. The contractor had agreed to complete the works as quickly as possible and a new tester would be onsite by next week. A meeting was also held on Monday to update residents. Once the work had been complete, the fire service would be notified and the waking watch would be stopped and the contractor would be asked to compensate residents.

 Councillor Dean asked to meet with Councillor Reeve regarding the disruptions to the waste collection service. Councillor Reeve said he was always available.

Councillor Sell requested that each Cabinet member produce a written report for Council.

In response to questions from Councillor Barker, Councillor Evans said he was optimistic about the Council moving out of designation following discussions with the peer review panel and further news would be issued on Friday. He said the major application appeal statistics had gone down below the 10% mark and the council was no longer on the “naughty step”. In regards to the fee for the Stansted Airport expansion application, he said the fees which would have been incurred had the Council not been in designation was £43,590.

Councillor Gooding requested that the Council inform the Fire Service of the issues with compartmentation at Reynolds Court if they had not already done so.

In response to a question from Councillor Criscione regarding the waking watch at Reynolds Court, Councillor Coote agreed that the contractor should be paying for the full costs.

Councillor Gregory thanked Councilor Coote for his honesty; he said he was disappointed with the written responses to his questions from Councillor Evans

Councillor Emanuel said she was reassured by the independent safety assessments at Reynolds Court but felt the contractor should be held accountable and the council  ...  view the full minutes text for item C27

To receive questions from members for the Executive and committee chairs.

In response to Councillor Barker’s questions of clarification which related to the list of executive responsibilities and the members’ bulletin, the Leader said she had discussed the issue with the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer and the Leader would be responsible for any unlisted functions. She said further information on Cabinet member profiles and listed responsibilities had been issued on social media and the members’ bulletin by the Communication team.   

Councillor Barker said she had not received the Members’ Bulletin.

In response to a question regarding the new evidence base documentation for the emerging Local Plan from Councillor Criscione, Councillor Evans said the Local Plan team would publish the relevant background documentation as soon as possible. He said a Local Plan Leadership Group meeting would take place next week.

In response to a question from Councillor Haynes regarding the commissioning of a landscape sensitivity study and heritage assessment, and whether this was newly commissioned, Councillor Evans confirmed it was and did include details on key views and heritage settings.

In response to Councillor Lemon’s question regarding the Youth Council, Councillor Sutton said schools were stretched and circumstances had changed since the pandemic, which in turn would result in a new approach. Meetings were ongoing with schools and she was working hard to support young people in the district.

Councillor Pavitt questioned whether officers asked water companies if the water supply was sustainable when processing major planning applications for new developments. He said the statistics demonstrated that they could not. He asked Councillor Evans to elaborate on what details were available to Planning Officers in this respect. In regards to question eight, Councillor Pavitt said the respond given did not answer his question at all and seemed to demonstrate that nothing had been done since the motion in question was passed in 2021.

In response, Councillor Evans said the Local Plan Leadership Group would be best placed to deal with the water supply details. In regards to planning applications, he said the Environment Agency had intervened in three applications in Cambridgeshire in relation to allocated sites. He said the Planning Committee Working Group could also look at this issue.

Councillor Gregory said the responses provided did not address his questions; he said the answers were deeply evasive and did not provide the level of detail written questions warranted.  

In response, Councillor Evans said he was not being evasive as the matter relied on the readiness of the evidence arising from ongoing water studies. That was the reason for a lack of specificity and as soon as the evidence was available a report would be considered by Local Plan Leadership Group.

In response to question ten regarding the date of the meeting with the Environment Agency and when members could expect a report, Councillor Evans said the meeting was being arranged by officers and made a commitment to bring a report to members following the said meeting.

In response to Councillor Criscione’s clarification question regarding further expert advice, Councillor Evans said the  ...  view the full minutes text for item C28

To consider matters concerning joint arrangements and external organisations.

No matters were received regarding Joint Arrangements.

To consider the protocol for selection of Panel Membership.

Councillor Oliver presented the report regarding the Protocol for selection of Panel Membership, on the recommendation of the Audit and Standards Committee. He said it would cover three panels; Licensing and Environmental Health Panels, Standards Panels and Appointment Panels. In the event that a Panel was required, officers would establish a pool of eligible and available members and, by default, defer the selection of members to the majority group and main opposition group leaders. There was enough flexibility built into the process to allow either group leader to offer their entitlement to the next largest opposition group. He proposed approval of the protocol.

Councillor Fiddy seconded the proposal.

Councillor Barker supported the proposal but asked to add a line to clarify the position regarding the election of a Chair for each Panel. The Chief Executive confirmed that this could be done.

Councillor Sell supported the proposal and asked that smaller groups be given an opportunity to be involved, as per the recent Appointments Panel meeting.  

            RESOLVED to adopt the protocol for appointing members to panels.

To consider the appointment of a Monitoring Officer.

Councillor Evans presented the report regarding the appointment of the Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal. He said it had been a competitive interview process and proposed approval of the appointment.

This was seconded by Councillor Barker. She commended the appointment.

            RESOLVED to appoint Nurainatta Katevu to the post of Head of Legal and

Monitoring Officer effective from a date to be determined by the Chief

Executive in consultation with the HR Manager.

To consider the appointment of an Independent Person.

Councillor Lees presented the report regarding the appointment of an Independent Person to act in the matter of a complaint at Standards Hearings. She proposed approval of the appointment.

Councillor Reeve seconded the appointment.

RESOLVED That the council appoints Gillian Holmes to the position of Independent Person under s28(7) of the Localism Act 2011 to act in the matter of a complaint at a Standards Hearing.

To consider the Member Motion as submitted by Councillor Barker regarding Heavy Good Vehicles and Satellite Navigation.

Councillor Barker presented her motion regarding Heavy Good Vehicles (HGVs) and satellite navigation. She said the Government needed to do something in order to prevent HGVs being stuck on byroads and under bridges in rural areas, causing great disruption.

Councillor Gooding seconded the motion.

Councillor Hargreaves had provided notice of an amendment and said the motion could be improved by requiring all HGVs to use specialist satnavs by law. He proposed an amendment as follows:

To remove the following wording:

“This Council therefore instructs the Chief Executive to write to the Government and

call on them to work with Satellite Navigation companies and others providing road

information to remove By Ways, By Roads and other similar roads from their

systems.”

And replace with:

“This Council therefore requests the Chief Executive to write to the Government

in support of the Local Government Association call to take urgent action to

require all HGV drivers by law to use specialist satnav devices rather than

currently only advising that they do. These are widely available devices which

include bridge heights, narrow roads, and roads unsuitable for trucks, so that

vehicles are only guided along suitable roads.”

Councillor Alex Reeve seconded the amendment.

Councillor Asker spoke in support of the amendment. She said driver error was also a factor in HGVs getting stuck and it was a wider issue than just satellite navigation.

Councillor Pavitt spoke in support of the amendment and said byways should not be removed from all satnavs, as they were used by cyclists, and it would be better to move towards bespoke satnavs for HGVs to resolve the issue.

Councillor Neil Reeve said he supported the sentiment behind Councillor Barker’s motion and something needed to be done.

The Chair looked to take the amendment to the vote.

Councillor Barker raised a point of clarification; she said Councillor Gooding wished to speak on the amendment and should be able to do so.

The Chief Executive said Councillor Gooding could speak on the substantive motion following a vote on the amendment.  

The Chair took the amendment to a vote.

The amendment was carried.

Councillor Gooding said he no longer had anything to say since the amendment had been carried. He asked for the Constitution to be looked at.

The Chair took the substantive motion to a vote. It was carried unanimously.

            RESOLVED:

This Council believes that HGVs using standard car Sat Navs collide with local infrastructure, such as railway bridges, or become stuck on narrow roads, causing major disruption and is costly to local communities. They often take significant amounts of time and resources to free, causing major congestion across the Essex road network generating more emissions and disrupting local rail services.

This Council therefore requests the Chief Executive to write to the Government in support of the Local Government Association call to take urgent action to require all HGV drivers by law to use specialist satnav devices rather than currently only advising that they do. These are widely available devices which include  ...  view the full minutes text for item C33

To consider the Member Motion as submitted by Councillor Sell regarding Railway Ticket Office Closures.

Councillor Coletta recused himself at 8.27pm and took no further part in the meeting.

The Chair asked members to note the altered motion as tabled by Councillor Sell and asked whether there was any objections to altering the motion. The meeting consented to proceed with the altered motion.

Councillor Sell presented his motion regarding Railway Ticket Office Closures. He said it was important for a human presence to be available at railway stations and cutting jobs would create an environment of “digital exclusion” which would disproportionately affect vulnerable people. He cited a resident who struggled with arthritis and digital screens and who called out such closures as ageist. He urged members to support the motion.

Councillor Dean seconded the motion and said ticket clerks were also vital in ensuring passengers got the best deal.

Councillor Moran spoke in support of the motion and commended Councillor Coletta’s speech in the public session. He said the need for a “trained human” was evident in his experience as a police officer who had attended life and death situations at stations. He added that staff were also helpful in directing tourists to the area to Uttlesford’s attractions.    

Councillor Hargreaves said modernisation was needed and the motion could have gone further, although he supported the sentiment. He said analysis was required to identify customer practices and where staff should be deployed.

Councillor Coote said he would support the motion and the issue was between the workers, the unions and their employers, and consultation should have been undertaken on a station by station basis.

In response to Councillor Asker’s comments regarding the need to address the situation in all stations, the Chair said the broader themes raised would be captured in the letter and consultation response.

The Chair moved to a vote. The motion was carried.

            RESOLVED:

This Council notes the plans by Greater Anglia to close the ticket offices at Stansted Mountfitchet, Elsenham, Newport and Audley End Railway stations. Therefore, the Council resolves to:

i.                 Respond to the consultation expressing our opposition to such closures, and;

ii.                Call on the Chief Executive to write to the Secretary State of Transport, copying in Kemi Badenoch MP, to express opposition to such closures.

The meeting was closed at 8.45pm.