Local Councils' Liaison Committee - Thursday 19 March 2026, 7:00pm - Epping Forest District Council webcasts

Local Councils' Liaison Committee
Thursday, 19th March 2026 at 7:00pm 

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  1. Cllr Louise Mead
  2. Cllr Louise Mead
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  1. Serena Shani
  2. Cllr Louise Mead
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  1. David Wixley Loughton
  2. Cllr Louise Mead
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  1. Paula Maginnis
  2. Cllr Louise Mead
  3. Epping Town
  4. Paula Maginnis
  5. Cllr Louise Mead
  6. Cllr Richard Morgan
  7. Paula Maginnis
  8. Cllr Louise Mead
  9. Cllr Darshan Sunger
  10. Paula Maginnis
  11. Cllr Darshan Sunger
  12. Cllr Louise Mead
  13. Paula Maginnis
  14. Cllr Louise Mead
  15. David Wixley Loughton
  16. Cllr Louise Mead
  17. Nazeing
  18. Paula Maginnis
  19. Cllr Louise Mead
  20. Ongar
  21. Cllr Louise Mead
  22. Theydon Bois
  23. Cllr Louise Mead
  24. David Wixley Loughton
  25. Cllr Louise Mead
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  1. ECC Cllr Lee Scott
  2. Cllr Louise Mead
  3. Serena Shani
  4. ECC Cllr Lee Scott
  5. Serena Shani
  6. ECC Cllr Lee Scott
  7. Serena Shani
  8. ECC Cllr Lee Scott
  9. Cllr Louise Mead
  10. Cllr Darshan Sunger
  11. ECC Cllr Lee Scott
  12. Cllr Louise Mead
  13. Epping Town
  14. ECC Cllr Lee Scott
  15. Cllr Louise Mead
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  1. Rosa Tanfield
  2. James Warwick
  3. Cllr Richard Morgan
  4. James Warwick
  5. Cllr Louise Mead
  6. David Wixley Loughton
  7. Rosa Tanfield
  8. David Wixley Loughton
  9. Rosa Tanfield
  10. David Wixley Loughton
  11. Rosa Tanfield
  12. David Wixley Loughton
  13. Rosa Tanfield
  14. David Wixley Loughton
  15. Rosa Tanfield
  16. Cllr Louise Mead
  17. Epping Town
  18. James Warwick
  19. Cllr Louise Mead
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  1. Andrew Small
  2. Cllr Louise Mead
  3. David Wixley Loughton
  4. Cllr Louise Mead
  5. Nazeing
  6. Andrew Small
  7. Nazeing
  8. Andrew Small
  9. Cllr Louise Mead
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  1. Matt Winslow
  2. Theydon Bois
  3. Matt Winslow
  4. David Wixley Loughton
  5. Matt Winslow
  6. David Wixley Loughton
  7. Matt Winslow
  8. David Wixley Loughton
  9. Matt Winslow
  10. Cllr Louise Mead
  11. Theydon Bois
  12. Matt Winslow
  13. Cllr Louise Mead
  14. Matt Winslow
  15. Nazeing
  16. Matt Winslow
  17. Theydon Bois
  18. Matt Winslow
  19. Theydon Bois
  20. Matt Winslow
  21. David Wixley Loughton
  22. Matt Winslow
  23. Cllr Louise Mead
  24. Matt Winslow
  25. Cllr Louise Mead
  26. Matt Winslow
  27. Nazeing
  28. Matt Winslow
  29. Nazeing
  30. Matt Winslow
  31. David Wixley Loughton
  32. Matt Winslow
  33. David Wixley Loughton
  34. Matt Winslow
  35. David Wixley Loughton
  36. Matt Winslow
  37. Ongar
  38. Cllr Louise Mead
  39. Matt Winslow
  40. David Wixley Loughton
  41. Matt Winslow
  42. Cllr Louise Mead
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  1. Ongar
  2. Cllr Louise Mead
  3. Webcast Finished

Cllr Louise Mead - 0:00:00
Good evening everyone and a warm welcome to the local council liaison committee on the 19th of March 2026.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:00:26
My name is Councillor Louise Mead, I'm chairman of the council and I'll be chairing the meeting this evening.

1 Webcasting Introduction

Agenda item one is the webcasting introduction, so I'm required to read this for agenda item
one.
I'd like to remind everyone that this meeting will be filmed live or recorded and uploaded
to the internet and will be capable of repeated viewing.
Therefore, by participating in this meeting, you are consenting to being filmed and to
the possible use of those images and sound recordings.
If any public speakers on MS teams do not wish to have their image captured, they should
ensure that their video setting throughout the meeting is turned off and set to audio
only. Members and public speakers are reminded to turn on their microphones before speaking
and turn them off when they have finished. So I'm now going to give introductions. We
have Matt Winslow directing of planning on my left here, Andrew Small acting chief executive
of Irving Forest District Council on my far left, James Warwick, service director of contracts,
partnerships and procurement on the far far left and Rosa
Tansfield from TVS on the far far far left.
And we have Councillor Wicksley who is the Vice Chair today
on my right, Paul Mcginnis, Service Director for Corporate
Services to my far right, Serena Sharni from Democratic
Services and Steve Mitchell who will be doing the webcast
this evening.
We also have online for questions about Essex Highways,
a Councillor Lee Scott, Chair of the Epping Forest Local
Highways Panel.
May I remind you to put your hands up if you wish to speak and go through the chairmen
if you wish to respond to ensure the smooth running of the meeting so everyone can be
heard clearly.
Agenda item 2 is apologies for absence.

2 Apologies for Absence

Do we have any apologies for absence, please, Serena?
Serena Shani - 0:02:10
Yes, Chair.
Mark Squire from Loughton, Adrianna Jones from Stanford Rivers, Councillor Rackham and
Councillor Chris Whitbread, Beverly Rumsey as well
from Epping Town Council,
and Councillor Sun Gao will just be online.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:02:31
So agenda item number three is minutes

3 Minutes of Previous Meeting

of the previous meeting, pages four to six.
So apologies on behalf of democratic services
for the mix up with the minutes.
The wrong minutes were attached.
Our members in agreement that the minutes
to the local liaison, council liaison committee
held on the 8th of December is a true and accurate record.
Yeah, excuse me, Chair.
And it wasn't the 8th of December,
it was actually the 18th of September.
David Wixley Loughton - 0:03:00
You've got the date of the incorrect minutes
that are on the agenda.
So that's actually 18th of September.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:03:12
Thank you, thank you, yes.
So let's repeat that.
So are we happy to agree the minutes
from the 18th of September 2025.
That would agree.
Thank you.

4 Understanding Waste and Recycling Household Collections in Epping Forest

So there's a bit of a change with the agenda this evening.
I've agreed with officers that the agenda
will be moved around slightly to accommodate other meetings.
So what follows is item six, which will now be first,

6 Enhancing engagement with parish councils

followed by then item nine.
And just to let you know,
Unfortunately, we have apologies from the monitoring officer
who will be unable to attend the meeting this evening.
So item five is a cancelled.
So we're now going to go straight onto item six,
which is the enhancing engagement with parish councils.
I'm going to ask corporate services director,
Paul McGinnis to talk on the future plans
for the parish and town council engagement.
Thank you, chair.
Paula Maginnis - 0:04:11
This item came out of a meeting that Councillor Chris Whitbread, the leader,
Councillor Bolkcom and I had with a handful of town and parish clerks towards
the end of last year and we were discussing complaints or inquiries into
the council on what that potentially could look like going forward, as well as some engagement.
The outcome of that discussion and meeting was I was going to take away the items and
speak to other officers and bring it back to town and parish clerks. This is the first
opportunity that we've had to do that.
The slides, I think, because there are a number of people,
and the people that were involved in the original
discussions are not here this evening,
so the slides will be attached to the minutes of the meeting,
and they can pick it up from there.
And if there's further discussions that are required
in terms of clarifications, then obviously we're
happy to do that.
So starting...
I can't move the screen on, that's trouble.
Apologies. There we go.
Arrows. Okay, yeah.
Lovely. Thank you. Sorry about that.
One of the points that was raised by the clerks was having a single point of contact at the
council and somebody being able to take queries, taking them back into the organisation to
perhaps resolve. After some discussions we really don't have the resource to be able
to do that. We don't have that level of resource in the council to specifically allocate to
town and parish clerks to be able to have that level of contact within Epping Council.
The other consideration is that we have a process for our own members that do not involve
that level of one -to -one contact or have a named person to be able to contact for their
queries. So what I've done on this slide is just emphasise exactly how we would expect
a complaint to be raised either via our website using the online form, there's an email address
that people can use. There's a telephone number for our contact centre. If there are any inquiries
that Town and Parish clerks have, we've got a raft of information on our website. If there is a
complaint that needs to be escalated, you could also use the ward councillor,
and the ward councillor can use their member complaint process if that was deemed necessary.
I've also put on this slide here, because it's going to be attached to the minutes,
the contact details if there was a housing repair or ground maintenance issue that you
contact QALYS at these contact points either by email or telephone, directing to QALYS
for their queries and complaints.
So in terms of, we also talked about engagement and information coming out regularly from
the council to town and parish clerks.
What we have committed to do is to provide a weekly bulletin to clerks and they can disseminate
that to their members back into their town or parishes.
That will be on very similar lines to our member bulletin but we will take out information
as necessary. If there was something specifically for Epping Forest District Council, maybe
some sensitive information, we wouldn't forward that, but it would be weekly and it would
be updates. We also make the commitment that we will include a range of content into those
bulletins that make it worthwhile for town and parish clerks and to have that information
from us. If going forward local government reorganisation is going to be a significant
project and it's about keeping town and parishes updated even though it's not going to impact
directly, you do need to have that information and so we will ensure that LGR items are included
in that bulletin as well.
And in there, as members receive at the moment,
there will be updates on planning, applications,
appeals, licencing issues, et cetera.
So there's some fundamental day -to -day business
that will be included in that, plus other information items.
So that's it in terms of this item.
I'm happy to take questions and it is a shame that people that were part of that discussion
are not in here from the Town of Parrish perspective as well.
I think that likely to be disappointed that we can't find a resource but we really do
not have a resource that we can provide that is allocated to Town of Parrish clerks to
raise issues with.
Okay?
Yes.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:11:29
Thank you.
Can you just turn your microphone off?
Thank you.
So do we have any questions about that?
Yes, please.
Thank you.
Epping Town - 0:11:46
Yes, I think it's disappointing that there aren't more people here to hear the...
I was disappointed about more people here to hear what's being presented at the meeting.
I've always thought these meetings were very interesting and I think the seniority of the
officers who come is great and I don't understand why more parishes don't come to take the opportunity
to put their questions, but they're not here.
Hopefully, they'll be watching the webcast.
My question is about the bulletin.
You say, Paula, that it's going to be the members' bulletin
with bits taken out, and you're going
to add bits in for the parishes.
Are members also going to get the added in bits?
Because sometimes the bulletin's fairly short.
Paula Maginnis - 0:12:40
Oh, sorry.
Yes, absolutely.
We want to make sure that both receive the information apart from anything that is really
internal to Epping Forest that would relate just to our members.
Okay, thank you.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:13:01
Alright, are there any other questions on Agenda 6?
Yes, Councillor Morgan.
Thank you.
Can I just ask a question?
Cllr Richard Morgan - 0:13:06
Do the details of these meetings go out to the Clerk's or to the members who are sitting on the Committee?
Paula Maginnis - 0:13:20
Yes, I believe that yes the minutes they do go out to town clerks. Yes, they do. Yes.
Thank you Councillor Morgan. We have Councillor Sunger online who'd like to ask a question.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:13:33
Cllr Darshan Sunger - 0:13:42
Thank you Chairman. I just want to raise the question about our engagement with town parish
So I note that, could somebody clarify if you have the apologies from the clerk, Chibalt
Parish Clerk, because I spoke to him, he's the new clerk, so I don't know whether he
got that message, but he was hoping to attend the meeting, so he's not here today, but I
totally agree that we should be encouraging town and parish clerks to attend.
I know they're not here, many of them are not here tonight, but honestly as district
Councillors we often that that communication is broken because we can't have that joined up thinking
What's happening the district parish and town parks with district councillors because they seem to be left out of the loop
But those are not here tonight
It's disappointing that they're not here tonight
But is there anything we can do to make sure that let's say you do send an email that they've acknowledged it at least
There's a meeting on tonight
that's something we can possibly do with comms and all.
Thank you, Councillor Sunggart.
Paula Maginnis - 0:14:50
Yeah, well, I can liaise with our dem services colleagues
and comms, and also if we get the bulletin up and running,
we can make sure that that sort of information
is included in bulletin as well.
It'd just be a good exercise to find out
if what we've been using, the mechanism to get hold
Cllr Darshan Sunger - 0:15:10
of that all the informed about this meeting to our class didn't get to them why it didn't
get to them but whether they got the meeting that the meeting was taking place tonight
but I'm just thinking where the breakdown communication why they're not here it's just
that is it because they didn't receive the emails or is it because they didn't get the
notification but it'd be interesting to learn from that that's all I'm saying I know we're
move forward with the bulletins but those bulletins if they don't reach those people
then it's not worth sending them out right thank you council sunga did you want to come back again
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:15:47
hold on one moment i'm just going to ask paula if she would like to come back yeah again i'll
Paula Maginnis - 0:15:56
pick up with our dem services colleagues um and just make sure that we do um ensure that we um
that the town and parish clerks are aware of the meetings and they make sure
they're invited along in good time and town and parish clerks are here you must
know because otherwise you wouldn't be here this evening so if there's anything
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:16:24
that you can feed in that it may help then please let us know thank you
Councillor sunk I'm just going to go to Councillor Wicksie now who's had his hand
David Wixley Loughton - 0:16:34
Thank you. It's not really for me to defend town and parish clerks, but I do know that
two of them who can't be here this evening, they're for quite serious family issues. So
that's one of the reasons why two of them aren't here this evening. But I think it would
be desirable if there were more town and parish clerks attending these meetings, as well as
the council representatives from the towns and parishes it's very
disappointing that there aren't more here but there are genuine reasons why
two of them are the clerks aren't here.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:17:09
We're going to go to nazing. Did you have a question?
Nazeing - 0:17:14
Sorry I just wondered I understand that you haven't got the resources to have a
single point of contact now but as things move forward and we go into a
unitary thing, is this a temporary thing and will it improve or are we kind of stuck with
this as it is now?
Paula Maginnis - 0:17:36
I can't honestly answer what the arrangements will be once we move into our new groupings,
into our new unitaries.
Epping Forest will continue up until vesting day which is proposed the 1st of April 2028.
So up until that point these arrangements will be in place
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:17:58
I'm going back to the
Ongar - 0:18:04
Non attendance. I mean I've been a member of that on this council liaison committee for about well
ever since I was council ten years ago, and I'm you know, I'm disappointed with the
Attendance because I think I've been to a lot of the meetings and it would be you know
the hall would be full.
Anyway, I mean, the reason that ours on here,
it actually clashes with our council,
our annual, our, you know, monthly council meeting.
So obviously the clerk can't attend.
And I think there's, you know, Jason,
the chairman is also on this committee.
And I think it does, and it just clashes with,
so I think the September meeting, Claire,
always seems to clash with our, you know,
our council meeting.
So I've come along and I'm not attending the council meeting.
But obviously there's no other way that you can have it change the date.
Or maybe, I mean our council meeting is on the third Thursday of the month.
Is there any way of it, or it's just sort of set in stone
and that's when the meeting is.
Right, thank you. Maybe we could have a look at that.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:19:15
I don't think it's set in stone so we can have a look at different dates and try and
marry it up with as much as possible with the other parishes.
Did you want to?
Yeah, I don't want to come back on that because when I first attended the meetings weren't
Theydon Bois - 0:19:27
sure on a Monday and I have to say we moved our planning committee meeting at short notice
which takes place on Thursdays for me to be here.
Now we managed to do that but there was possibility as we in fact found that the councillor couldn't
make the Wednesday, we did it.
but we're finding that this is again not the best day for us on Thursday and I
think I'm right in saying
that when it was held on a Monday
there was actually more councillors here.
I think we found that certainly when we last attended a physical meeting of
the local councils
association, which David was there, that was very well attended wasn't it over in
Thornwood.
I think we do perhaps at the next meeting
that David hopefully might convene,
that we have a discussion about the date.
I think the other thing, we'd never actually seen all of the seats in the chamber filled,
and one of the things I might suggest if you can think about it is rather than spacing us all around here,
I think actually for what it's worth, it's always been the case
that perhaps we think of another way of coming in.
At one point you didn't put the name plates in front of us, but I think it is good so you know who we're speaking on behalf of.
But maybe we actually come in and sit perhaps in an arc having picked up the name,
because some of these smaller parishes, to be fair,
I don't think I've actually seen at the meetings.
They're probably watching online.
They may well be, again.
The larger parishes and town councils
often have regularly attended.
So I think perhaps David can take that back
on the next agenda to find out if, he's grinning,
if this day is perhaps not always the choice of day
and see what we can do.
Because I would hope to see at least a parish council.
myself I'm actually a parish councillor and I come along and I've come along
think to nearly all of them so and I do find it excellent in terms of the
information that we have but I will appreciate that I would like to see more
people in the chamber we get a better rapport if we do so if that's something
that can be resolved just bear in mind how busy the clerks are with meetings
it's the preparation of the meetings that takes a lot of time and we don't
always for the parishes have as much resource as you have with you know your
employees here, it's mostly the parish clerk that has to do most of the work.
If we can do that, that would be excellent.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
I'm definitely making a note of that.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:21:39
Councillor Ricksley wants to come back on.
David Wixley Loughton - 0:21:46
I think the day of the week is always going to be a problem because there are 24 town
and parish councils.
In the case of Loughton, we have meetings on Wednesday and I think sometimes on Tuesday
and sometimes on Monday.
but the Planning and Licencing Committee meetings are on a Monday but they're not so frequent.
But I was a bit... look, you know, before I came here tonight I was thinking about this very issue
because a date has to be decided on the next meeting.
So I've actually brought my diary along to try and arrange a suitable date.
But, you know, this is always a problem and I seem to suggest a Friday
and nobody wants to do anything on a Friday, so it's a tough job to sort out a suitable
date. But I'm sure that the lack of people being here tonight isn't all down because
they've all got meetings on a Thursday. It would be quite extraordinary if that was the
case, but maybe they have. I don't know. But you'd think they would send in their apologies
and say, we can't do a meeting on such and such a day because we have other meetings.
but I think it's silence, isn't it?
We don't know, but it's a thing
that I think the Epping Forest District Association
of local councils, we can get it on the agenda
for the next meeting.
And I've actually got the date of that next meeting
in my diary, which is behind me.
So I think we're gonna just have to have a look at it
and do the best we can, but Monday might be a good day
if other councils don't have a meeting on Monday
because we've only got to worry about the planning
and licencing committee meeting at the town council.
But it's not an easy thing to deal with.
We'll look into it and take it all back and consider it.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:23:34
Okay, thank you.
So there's no other questions for,
or points for agenda item six, no?
Nine, okay, great.
So we now want to agenda item nine.
Issues raised by local councils,

9 Issues Raised by Local Councils - Highways Authority

Highways Authority page 40, appendix 2. So we have Councillor Lee Scott online to
answer any questions. He's the chair of the local highways panel representing
Essex Highways. Councillor Scott did you want to say anything first or we just
find out if there's any questions?
Thank you, Chairman. Firstly, I actually am no longer a
ECC Cllr Lee Scott - 0:24:14
Highways Cabinet Member for over two years now. I'm now planning Housing and Regeneration,
but I do chair the Epping Forest LHP. The local highways panel is now not taking any
new projects on. They are funding for the final two years of Essex County Council the
projects that are already in and approved and going forward, but there will be new mechanisms
coming in after the election as it would be a matter for the incoming
administration whoever that might be. So I just wanted to say that's the reason
there are no new projects coming into the LHP's because then there is a
backlog and that backlog will be completed with monies allocated to it for those
projects that are ongoing. But I think it probably best if I just take questions if
that's okay Chen. Yes thank you Councillor Scott do we have any questions for
Councillor Scott regarding highways.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:25:09
Do you want to respond to the appendix two
that we have attached to our agenda?
I can't actually see it, I'm screwed at the same time.
Could you, perhaps somebody else.
Just hold on one moment, Councillor Scott.
We are going to read it out for you.
Apologies for the wait.
Serena Shani - 0:26:08
So one of the questions raised by local councils has been on...
Just bear with me one moment, I've got the wrong appendix up.
Has been, basically, can it be confirmed what the process is
if a Paris council or town council wishes to put forward
and fund a particular highway scheme, what's the new process?
I know you've just probably answered that.
I think I probably have answered that in the sense that there are processes in place for
ECC Cllr Lee Scott - 0:26:41
parish councils or town councils who wish to fund projects and they go through at the
moment directly into the highways department.
There will be a new mechanism coming out in a matter of a few weeks time but it hasn't
been announced yet.
So I'm afraid I can't actually answer that but what I would commit to doing is when that
comes in it will be sent out to all parish and town councils.
Just the last question.
Oh no, there's two more questions.
Serena Shani - 0:27:10
If a parish or town council wishes for ECC highways
to consider a new scheme which would be funded by ECC highways.
So again, I think it's.
ECC Cllr Lee Scott - 0:27:23
I think the answer to that is it would
have to go at this moment in time directly into ECC highways.
department for them to give a view on.
But in the future, I'm sure there will be a mechanism
in place for that.
In fact, I know that.
Okay, and just the last question that came from
Serena Shani - 0:27:40
the local councils was what happens between now
and when the new unitary is in place in terms
of the highway schemes?
As I say, as you described, like you said before,
ECC Cllr Lee Scott - 0:27:53
the investing day is April 1st, 2020.
The new unitary announcement on what they should see, we are told we should hear in
the next couple of weeks as to what the government has decided on the formation of those unitaries,
and there will be shadow elections for those unitaries planned for May 2027.
But in the interim, Essex Highways will continue to fulfil the role that it's been doing,
and then it will gradually be passed over to the new unitaries after the shadow
of the authorities are in place so that by vesting day each of the new unitaries
would have control of the highways for that area that they will represent. Thank you very much
Councillor Scott I'm just checking there's no other questions before we
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:28:38
move on. No? Oh we've got one online and Councillor Suncker. Thank you Chairman I
Cllr Darshan Sunger - 0:28:46
I just want to say on behalf of the residents of Chigua with Lambaugh Ward, I want to express
my gratitude to Councillor Lee Scott for the excellent work that you've been working with
the Chigua Parish Council as well and the councillors for what you've been doing. So
thank you on behalf of the residents and long may they continue in the new world after the
7th of May.
Okay, thank you.
ECC Cllr Lee Scott - 0:29:14
I think others, Chairman, I think others maybe decided if it continues or not, but thank you, Councillor Sunger, for your good wishes and I sincerely hope that it does continue as well.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:29:26
Okay, thank you. So, Councillor Scott, I don't think there's any, oh, there's one more question here, I think. Yes, Councillor Whitehouse.
Epping Town - 0:29:31
Thank you. I do think it's unsatisfactory that no system is being put in place. Hopefully this new mechanism that Councillor Scott is referring to will cover this.
But obviously we're getting inquiries about highway schemes
and for absolutely nothing to happen
for the next couple of years,
just means there'd be a great big backlog
in two years time.
It does seem the schemes are required now
should be on a list of priorities.
At least when the new authority comes along,
there is the one who's top of the list,
but hopefully it's new mechanism
that we're going to hear about in a few weeks time
will cover that.
Thank you.
Did you want to come back Councillor?
Yes, please.
ECC Cllr Lee Scott - 0:30:05
I think you misunderstood what I said.
What I said was that up until this thing though,
the Essex Highways will continue to do this
and there'll be a mechanism put in place
for certain projects to be put in for.
Not that nothing will happen for two years,
it will still be happening.
It's just that a new mechanism will come in
in replacement of a local highways panel funding.
So it will continue, works will be done
and projects will be taken on, just to clarify.
There won't be a hiatus.
Okay, thank you Councillor Scott.
I don't think there's any more questions,
So thank you very much for joining us this evening.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:30:37
Thank you very much, everyone.
Thank you.
So we're now going to go on to agenda item four,
which is understanding waste and recycling

4 Understanding Waste and Recycling Household Collections in Epping Forest

household collections in Epping Forest, pages seven to 38.
So James Warwick is going to present this.
He's the service director and Rosa Tansfield from TVS,
who will give us an update on food and waste recycling
in Epping Forest.
Okay, well, hello everybody.
My name is Rosie Tanfield.
Rosa Tanfield - 0:31:09
I'm the Managing Director of Terra Verde Services.
I've been in place now for about eight months since the
company was set up back in November 24.
James and I are going to do a bit of a double act.
I will take the first section of this presentation and just
talk to you a little bit more about Terra Verde Services and
what we do and how we do it.
And then I'm going to hand over to James to talk a bit more
about some of the changes we've had or are about to do around waste changes, waste services.
So firstly, just a little bit of a, I'm going to talk to you about the responsibilities
around waste and recycling. So, because these responsibilities are shared between a number
of different organisations within Epping and across Essex as well. And to understand
these roles is key to seeing how the whole system works. So first of all, we've got the
Essex Waste Partnership. Now this is a county -wide partnership made up of Essex County Council
and the 12 district and borough and city councils. And its role is to set the overall strategic
direction for waste management in Essex, so developing in partnership the waste strategy
for Essex. Next we have the Waste Disposal Authority, which is Essex County Council.
Their role as the Waste Disposal Authority is the responsibility for what happens to
waste after it's collected.
So that includes how residual waste is disposed,
it's managing household recycling centres,
and making sure that waste is treated and processed
in line with environmental regulations.
Then you've got the Waste Collection Authority,
and that is Epping Forest District Council in this case.
And that means they're responsible for curbside collections
from homes and businesses.
They also manage the contracts
for the recycling material processing and obviously maintain fleet, etc. to undertake
that role. And then finally is Terra Verde services in these arrangements. And this is
the company that is here to deliver the day -to -day curbside collections on behalf of Epping Forest
District Council. And we operate all the vehicles, collect the waste and make sure the services
run as smoothly as possible without hopefully issues on the M25 like we've had this week,
which has caused some problems.
So together, these organisations form that integrated system
in terms of collecting waste.
Now, Terra Verde Services, as I said,
we were set up in November 24.
And I'm just going to talk a little bit
about the roles and relationships
we have between TVS and the council.
So TVS is a company wholly owned by Epping Forest District
Council.
It means the council owns 100 % of the shares.
As a result, we work really closely with the council, so our values are aligned and a lot
of the work that we do is intrinsically linked between the company, the council and also
Qolis.
We exist to do three things.
We are here to deliver high quality services to the residents of Epping Forest, to deliver
value for money and any return or reinvestment financial surpluses goes back into improving
those services and we make sure that a Ping Forest District Council meets all its statutory
obligations. We do two things. We collect waste and we clean streets and that's what
we fundamentally do. To do that, there are three fundamental things that we need to make
sure we look after. First is our staff and our fleet. We transferred approximately 140
staff into that new company and they are the backbone of what we, of how we deliver our
services. And we're really proud of what they do and how they do their work. We make sure
we look after them through things like an employee assistance programme, 24 hour GP
service and other benefits. We have a dedicated health and safety specialist because the work
that they do is incredibly important but can be quite dangerous and the work that we do
to look after their safety at things like comprehensive inductions, toolbox talks.
We also have cameras on all of our vehicles, on our refuse collection vehicles, 360 degrees
around the vehicles to make sure that they're safe in their work and we undertake weekly
and monthly inspections and audits.
Today we're going to talk to you about waste and recycling.
But as I said, it's not the only thing we do, and we can talk to you about that in a
future session.
But in terms of waste collections, they're managed by one operations manager and two
supervisors and they support the frontline team of 34 drivers and 50 loaders.
And as I say, these are the people that keep the services running.
On average, a single loader that collects the waste
and puts it into the back of the truck walks about 13 miles a day.
So just have a little bit to think about that at the end of your day today.
I do most days and I don't do anything like the walking that they do.
And obviously they're lifting thousands of bins across the whole district
and they're collecting for around four hundred and seventy thousand
individual collections every month. It is a physically demanding job that requires
strength, stamina and precision and they work in all conditions, so from heat
waves and storms and icy mornings. So there is lots going on behind the scenes
not just from the collections and they are the tip of the iceberg. It's a
complex operation and it does require planning technology but a dedicated
workforce that keeps our district clean. So what is it that we are collecting? So
hopefully this is fairly familiar to you. On a fortnightly basis from our
households we collect residual waste, so that's non -recyclable waste, the things
that can't be recycled, reused or repurposed. We do collect polystyrene as
an acceptable side waste, so we know how bulky that can be, it can fill up your
bin some quite significantly so we will collect that if it's left at the side of
a black bin and then recycling so residents have blue lidded wheelie bins
where we collect recycling material so that includes things like bottles, cans,
paper, cardboard etc. We do again collect sideways but only cardboard if it's been
flattened down it makes it as easy as possible for our crews to collect that
waste and put it into the vehicle safely.
We also make weekly collections of WE textiles and batteries, WTB.
So WE is small electrical items, so things like irons, hair dryers, etcetera, textiles,
so clothing, bedding, and batteries.
So just remember, we'll collect those if they're placed in a carrier bag on top of your garden
bin, the crews will collect that and there's a special compartment on the refuse truck
that those items go into. For flat blocks they have a larger bin as shown on the slide
there and we collect from flats as well to make sure we've got consistency across our
properties. Now I haven't mentioned garden or foods because I'm going to now kindly
James Warwick - 0:38:54
hand over to James. Thank you, Rosa. So I just wanted to give an update on kind of
food and garden waste. Rosa and I have done a couple of briefings to EFDC
councillors and we did do a session, I think it was in January, to town and
as well so we just some of you may have already heard some of this. So just a
little bit of background why we're separating food and garden waste. So when
it's mixed together it costs Essex County Council which is the disposal
authority much more to process and dispose of and separating the food waste
makes recycling easier and cheaper and helps reduce waste going to landfill.
We're also kind of aligning with other councils. We're the last
authority in Essex to still collect commingled food and waste and as of the 31st March,
Essex have got no disposal of outlets for commingled food and waste so we're separating.
Also I'm sure you're all aware at the same time we'll be introducing
garden waste subscription charge which means only those that use the service will pay for it.
Residents do have a choice on this.
If they don't want to subscribe, they can compost at home or take
garden waste to recycling centre.
So we're kind of doing all of this to try and manage
operational costs and improve service delivery.
So garden waste, there's the green lidded bin.
So the Garden Way subscription sign -ups opened on the 1st of February, predominantly online
via EFDC website.
However, any resident that has difficulty, our contact centre has been assisting and
has been taking payments as well.
Collections start 31st of March.
Cost is £60 a year.
They're fortnightly collections, so Garden Waste is moving from
weekly to fortnightly, and that will be throughout the year
except for two weeks over Christmas and the week after,
and that's to help us utilise resources on other services.
Residents can keep their current green lidd bin regardless of
whether they take out a subscription.
and additional bins and subscriptions are available.
So as mentioned, residents that opt in
and pay for go -and -wait subscription
receive a letter and a permit.
The permit will be sent by post
and taken approximately 14 days for that sticker to arrive.
The permit sticker will have residents address on there
new reference number printed on it. We will replace it if it goes missing up to two times a year.
The collection crew will cheque the bin for a permit sticker and use their hand -held systems
they got to cheque that the address has paid for this subscription and residents need to put that
permit sticker at the back of the wheeled bin below the handle. If there is no subscription
permit sticker and they're not on the records that the TVS crew has.
Collections will not take place even if the garden bin is presented.
What goes in?
So nothing's changing.
It's in terms of what can go in the garden waste bin, grass cuttings, plant cuttings
and weeds, shredded paper, hedge cuttings, twigs, small branches, flowers, barks and
leaves.
We don't include large amounts of soil, stones or invasive weeds as mentioned above.
Alternatives.
If residents do not want to take out a subscription, they can compost at home.
There's discounted compost bins through Love Essex website and there are free online courses
with more information.
And then recycling centres, the garden waste can be taken to the recycling centres free
of charge.
On to food waste.
So delivery of kitchen caddy, which is the smaller one,
and a curbside caddy, which is the one that is for outside
and presented for TVS to collect.
They're currently being delivered now.
So we start, I think we started at the end of January.
with the deliveries of the caddies and leaflets.
Approximately 75 % of residents
will have received their caddies.
I know that we're delivering in Loughton at the moment,
and we hope to have delivered all the kitchen caddies
to Loughton by next Wednesday.
And then I think the remaining,
generally the more rural areas are remaining so we will be focusing on those areas.
So properties with weld bins, we get one kitchen caddy, one curbside caddy and a leaflet to
explain how to use that.
As mentioned, those deliveries are taking place at the moment.
Once we have done that, we will move on to flats with communal bins that have a food
bin currently on site and a kitchen caddy and a leaflet to explain how to use that will
be given to residents that live in flats.
And then the next phase will be those flats where there are no communal bins at present.
we will be working with managing agents to kind of address how the best way to present
the waste and for us to collect the waste.
Food waste, apart from not putting your food waste within your garden waste, that will
go in the kitchen caddy, which you can then transfer to the curbside caddy, and that will
collected all year round on a weekly basis.
Again, similar to the garden, nothing's changing in terms of
what goes in your food waste caddy.
All of those items are perfectly acceptable to be put in the
food waste caddy.
So, yeah, this just illustrates the different caddies that are
being issued.
The smaller one is a seven -litre kitchen caddy to keep inside and
transfer any food waste in.
And then once that's filled, transfer it to the curbside
caddy.
and the curbside carry, the larger one is what we'll,
TVS will collect.
Am I doing this better?
I can.
So that's it really.
So just really on this slide,
it's just how we would ask you to support residents.
And that's kind of the message
that we're always trying to get out
is encourage residents to do the right thing,
which is put the waste in the right containers, recycle,
and put food waste in the food caddies.
They attached with, so this presentation is part
of the agenda and been sent out there.
There's also a toolkit, which we have previously shared
with members in town and parishes.
There is a lot more information in there, a lot of links to different things.
So feel free to share that with other councillors and residents.
Thank you.
Thank you, James and Rosa.
do we have any questions about that presentation at all? Yes Councillor Morgan.
Cllr Richard Morgan - 0:48:34
Where do the rubbish go for to a disposal? Once you've collected it where do the lorries take it to?
James Warwick - 0:48:39
So recycling recycling goes I'm sorry um recycling goes to um a recycling facility in Edmonton so
So we've had that, we've used that for our recycling
for a number of years under the previous contract.
That's where it went there.
That recycling facility enables us to collect
the recycling commingled in the wheel bin.
So that's why glasses can be included
and we don't have to separate paper and card.
And I know there has been, I've heard it mentioned several times that there potentially will
be another container coming, but there isn't.
There's no further container going.
All recycling will be collected and contained within the world bin.
That goes to Edmonton.
the food and gun goes and the refuge goes to a Harlow transfer station and
then it's taken somewhere in Essex but I don't actually know the location but
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:50:00
David Wixley Loughton - 0:50:03
yeah. Thank you I've actually got three questions but before I start on those I
I did listen to the online broadcast, which I think was a couple of months ago, and this
is basically a repeat of that.
But I did find that very helpful, so thanks for that.
I have a problem with the sound in here, so if you've answered something which I'm going
to ask a question about, my apologies.
but on page 14 of the agenda which refers to the weekly corrections just
remind me on what WTB stands for.
Sorry, what we as in? So we which is waste electrical items so things like
Rosa Tanfield - 0:50:52
hairdryers, irons, et cetera, textiles, and batteries.
Let me just make a note of that
because I won't remember it otherwise.
The other thing on that same page, I've not...
David Wixley Loughton - 0:51:09
The other thing on the same page is that
I've not seen a purple rack bin,
but these are only at flats, are they?
Right, so what purpose do they serve?
So yeah, they collect the wee textiles and batteries,
Rosa Tanfield - 0:51:28
but only at flats.
Okay.
Another thing I noticed,
David Wixley Loughton - 0:51:34
I think this particularly on page 30,
it's about textile recycling.
And it refers to, if you've got any textiles,
I've got quite a few old socks actually.
I've got to apparently put those in a plastic bag and put them on top of the green -leaded
bin.
But the thing is, I don't intend signing up to the green collection.
I'm going to compost everything.
So what do I do then?
Rosa Tanfield - 0:52:05
You can just leave it on a bin that you're putting out for collection.
As I said, and you may have not heard, the refuse collection vehicles have containers
that are built onto the vehicle.
So when they collect them, that's why they need to be in carrier bags.
They collect them and put them in the container and then they take them off to be disposed
of and then they'll get dealt with.
Right, so I don't have to worry about the colour of the bin.
Any one will do.
Right, okay.
David Wixley Loughton - 0:52:32
This is a general, got a couple of general questions.
I'm interested in recycling and composting and I once composted my dad's old sports coat
I have to say he wasn't wearing it at the time, but it was remarkable how quickly it composted.
So I think it must have been woollen and it composted very quickly.
Yes, I've never understood why bubble wrap can't be recycled or polystyrene.
Can you give an explanation for that?
Rosa Tanfield - 0:53:07
They're just incredibly difficult and I think it's, I don't know the exact answer, but it's
likely to do, there isn't sufficient enough demand for there to be companies that will
reprocess that material to the level that's generated from households.
So I think it's just a market demand piece and there's a lot of technology involved in
repossessing materials and a lot of investment that's needed.
So it's likely to be around those issues.
But we're driven.
What we can collect is driven by the material recycling
facilities that James has mentioned,
what they can take in order for them to reprocess it.
And we want to make sure that the contracts that we've got are
reprocessing those materials properly and correctly into the
right items and not taking everything and then doing
inappropriate things with those materials.
We want to make sure it's done properly.
So it's driven by that market demand.
And unfortunately, those kind of items, I think,
are more difficult to reprocess and more costly to do.
So did I just finish up in landfill then?
David Wixley Loughton - 0:54:15
Because I mean, there must be a vast amount of polystyrene,
because everything's packaged in it.
At the moment, where we're collecting it
from households, yes.
Rosa Tanfield - 0:54:23
Because the polystyrene will collect
if it's left at the side of a black residual bin.
and that will then go into our residual collections.
The same for bubble wrap as well.
But the government, through the scheme around simply recycling,
is pushing for flexible plastics as an acceptable recyclable material.
So we'll be looking at that over the coming year
to look at including that in our recycling materials.
It's not in there at the moment, but that's things like crisp packets or bread wrappers,
you know, the flexible crinkly type plastic.
That will be something that's what the government is encouraging councils to start looking at
and including in their household collections going forward.
Thank you.
That was your question?
Yeah, I might think so.
Okay, does anyone else have any questions?
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:55:14
Yes, Councillor Whitehouse.
Thank you.
Epping Town - 0:55:19
I think the questions and answers are very comprehensive, especially the videos and their
links as well.
I think you said to Council Wicks it was going on the website but I didn't quite catch that.
Was that right?
It's going on the website for people to see.
If not, I hope it will.
But there is an update, page 34, where you say are concessions being offered at the Council
meeting, the Liberal Democrats put forward an amendment for concessions and there is
a task and finish panel being set up, hopefully soon, to look at that.
So that just needs to be updated.
The other item is you didn't mention Hestion Sachs.
My block of flats received Hestion Sachs last week,
but unfortunately no leaflet with it
to explain what it was for.
And yes, a resident of it hasn't read it
because there's loads and loads of glass
all around the glass bin.
But you might like to just mention
what's happening about Hestion Sachs.
James Warwick - 0:56:14
I have to take that away and I'll get back to you on the Hessian sacks and then provide
information for the minutes of this meeting.
I don't have the information.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
No?
So thank you very much, James and Rachel.
Cllr Louise Mead - 0:56:32
Thank you for attending and answering those questions in the presentation.
We are now going on to agenda item 7.
As I said before, agenda 5 we are leaving out this evening.

7 An update on Local Government Reform

That is an update on local government reform.
I am going to ask Andrew Small who is going to give a verbal update on local government reform.
Andrew Small - 0:56:56
I'm going to give you a quick update on local government reorganisation in Essex.
I've got just one slide and everything I want to talk about is encapsulated within that
really.
So we're actually on the cusp of an important decision.
We're expecting the government's, although the
Secretary of State's minded to decision, next week,
we think.
It needs to be next week before parliamentary
recess for Easter, and also before the start of our
pre -election period.
So the government has to announce it before we go
into the run -up for local elections in May.
And if they miss next week's announcement, then
that puts the whole timetable back potentially.
So we expect to get quite a strong indicator
that it needs to come out next week.
And the minded to decision will tell us what the government,
which are the business cases that were all,
that were put forward across Essex earlier in the year,
which of those the government is minded to accept.
So whether that was three, four, two, four options,
in fact, or five unitary councils for greater Essex.
the government has to do is to make a decision.
The government has to do is to make a decision.
Once the government has made that
decision, then the government has to
the mind of the decision is the Secretary of State's intention
to make that decision, but it has to go through a parliamentary
process.
That's done through something called a structural change order
within that SCO next week as part of the overall announcement.
And then the SCO goes through a parliamentary debating process, which should end with the
legislation being made.
We anticipate sometime in the autumn or late autumn.
The indication is around November.
And that's again another crucial stage within the overall timetable.
That will be followed by shadow elections in May of 2027, at which point the new councils
will elect its first set of members for the one year running up until go live date and
the four years for the first four years of the new council.
So each council elected in May 2027 or each councillor will serve a five -year term in
effect.
I have included there two timelines, really.
One for the new unitary council and one for Epping Forest District Council to give you
an understanding of how the two run in parallel, in fact.
So what we are currently doing in terms of the new unitary council is working together
as councils across greater Essex, working towards making sure the information is available
that we think we will need once the decision is announced and we know who we're working
with. There's a lot of information that is relevant, you know, such as who, what contracts
are we into, are we entered into at the moment, what staff, you know, what assets do we have,
for example. All of that will be useful information to have as soon as the firing gun is fired
next week. So we've been working on that informally for, well, for many months actually now.
When we get the money to a decision, we're not compelled to work together with our new
partners, but the government strongly expects that we do.
So there will be a period of what's termed up there as voluntary joint committee arrangements,
where we form a loose governance arrangement, decision -making body, implementation team,
officer teams who will come together and work until such time as the structural change order
is made in November, at which point the legislation compels us to work together as a joint committee.
So between now and the structural change order being made, we'll work in a voluntary arrangement.
And then when the structural change order is made, we'll have a formal joint committee
arrangement and the conditions and control and voting rights that will be set out within
the structural change order. That will continue until May's elections in 2027, at which point
there will be an effective shadow council with its own elected councillors and the joint
committee will disappear and the shadow authority will replace it. The shadow authority will
run for one year up until the vesting date,
first of April, 2028,
and then the new council comes into existence.
Running in parallel to that
in terms of Epping Forest District Council.
So we're just about to go into elections in May, 2027,
where we have a third of our councillors up for election.
We are working voluntarily, as I've said previously,
We continue to do that after May's elections, but with a
different cohort of members to some extent.
But we can't be compelled to work with the new joint
committee, so we still have sovereignty.
We still make our own decisions if we wish to, but the government
will expect us to work with our joint committee.
neighbouring councils or proposed councils that we'll join up with.
When the formal joint committee comes into existence upon the making of the structural
change order, we'll have a duty and we'll be obligated to the formal joint committee
as a district council.
So our wings will be clipped to some extent in terms of what we can and cannot do as a
on spending or new contracts, we will have to refer those to the formal joint committee
and seek approval to do so. So basically make sure that there's nothing that we will do
as a council will fetter the start -up and running of the new unitary council so we can't
enter into any huge contracts without their blessing, for example. The shadow authority
is another level of control if you like over and above the District Council and
that will operate for one year and again we are I won't say subservient to the
shadow authority but we again we are limited in terms of what we can do and
we have to refer some of our key decisions to the shadow authority for
their blessing before we're allowed to do it so what I'm trying to demonstrate
I think is that the new unitary council post the magnitude decision next week
the new council gains authority and
autonomy over the next two years and
the Epping Forest District Council loses its ability
gradually to make key decisions over that time frame.
All up until the 31st of March, 2028, when the new council takes
place and the Epping
at this point in time. But I'm happy to answer any questions about LGR generally that any
Councillor or parish town Councillor might have. Thank you Chair. Thank you, thank you Andrew. Do
Cllr Louise Mead - 1:04:59
we have any questions on LGR? Any online? No. Yeah I just wonder if that can be attached to the minutes?
David Wixley Loughton - 1:05:11
Cllr Louise Mead - 1:05:13
No other questions?
No questions?
OK.
Oh, yes.
Nazeing - 1:05:22
I don't know if I've understood this correctly, but I read somewhere that whereas the 700
councillors now, they're going to be reduced to 200 and I've lost it now, 284.
So this seems as though there's a lot more mixture of different bodies now, or will be.
So how can we manage those on the reduction of counsellors?
And one counsellor is going to be responsible for a huge number of people.
It doesn't make sense to me, I'm sorry, but how will it work?
the
Andrew Small - 1:06:13
council, and the council is determined by a national body,
a
quang go of government, the local government boundaries
commission.
They will do a review as soon as local government reorganisation
is completed.
After the first of April, we will have a
2028 to determine what the right number of councillors is for each new council area.
But we know from their work in other areas that they've got a range which they think is suitable
and they have said that no more than 100 council laws for any council,
it's kind of the upper number really, so it's good for whatever is created and you know if you
take our footprint and add the footprints of other councils they bring us into consideration
that we know the total number of population served
is going to be much larger than it is currently.
But it can still be no more than, say, 100 Councillors
maximum.
So each of those Councillors will be serving many more
residents than they currently are.
But if I compare Essex County Council, for example,
which covers a population of 1 .5 million
and has 70 Councillors, I think it is,
That their ratio of councillor to a residency
is much higher than ours currently.
So there'll be somewhere, the final number
or the final ratio will be somewhere between
where it is today for us, somewhere it is somewhere today
for the county council.
There will be a unitary councillor number of residents
to each councillor which is somewhere
in between the two numbers.
The county council copes, but I don't,
I do understand that each new councillor will take on district council services and county
council services as well.
So they'll have a much bigger brief.
And that is one of the trade -offs I think of local government reorganisation.
You have probably councillors who are investing far more of their own time into the role of
being councillor than a councillor does today.
I think it's a good idea to have a role that's much more
like a professional councillor than today's, you know,
voluntary councillor.
But that's, you know, as I say, one of the trade -offs for
government reorganisation.
≫ One more question.
Nazeing - 1:08:48
The funding that the government are going to provide for the
next 30 years or whatever, they seem to have set a figure, if I read it correctly, for
the whole of Essex. But is it inflation linked or is it just a fixed figure that will reduce
in value over time?
Andrew Small - 1:09:16
I think the 30 year number that you're referring to is the amount of money that the Mayor of
So I think that's a 30 -year allocation that's been announced in the last three months or
so.
The budgets for the new unitary council will be an amalgam of all of the existing budgets
that currently make up part of Essex County Councils and all of the district councils
that form that new unitary area.
And that is, you know, redetermined each year in accordance with government policy.
And that may go up or it may go down depending upon how much money the government's got at
a particular point in time.
Okay, thank you.
Is there any other questions?
Cllr Louise Mead - 1:09:58
Thank you, Andrew, thank you for that.
We're going to move on to agenda item eight,
which is issues raised by local councils
with regards to planning.

8 Issues Raised by Local Councils - Planning

So on page 39 of the agenda appendix one,
we have some questions, and I think Matt Winslow
is going to answer some of those questions, yeah?
Thank you.
Hello, hello everyone.
Matt Winslow - 1:10:20
Chair, if I may, perhaps if I take each question at a time and I'll give an answer to those
and then if we have questions, well at each question, because otherwise I'm sure people
might be asking questions right at the end and we won't know which question they refer
to.
So just for the benefit of those watching on the broadcast, the first question that
was proposed, that was posed, sorry,
was what protection does the adopted
Epping Forest District Council local plan
provide against recent government updates
to the national planning policy framework,
including higher national housing targets and figures?
So I can understand why the question has been asked,
given the sort of landscape of change
that's happening nationally,
but it's important to remember and to reflect on
that the Epping Forest District Council local plan
has no legal basis to protect the district against national policy change or national
legislation change. The local plan is instead the legal starting point for determining planning
applications, but other material considerations may indicate that decisions should be taken
that are not in conformity with the Epping Forest District Council local plan. And that
has been a longstanding legal principle when determining planning applications.
When being prepared, however, local plans must align with national policy and guidance,
despite the fact that national policy feels at the moment it's in a constant state of
change.
And as those changes happen over time, that is where the local plan can start to be regarded
– or parts of it regarded – as being out of date and afforded less weight or limited
wait than they would have otherwise had when the plan was adopted.
Let's just reflect that it was only adopted in March 2023.
Updates to national policy, updates to guidance, any new legislation, they are material planning
considerations.
As part of that legal duty, they may start to trump what the council can do to consider
decisions against its local plan.
So, the council as the planning authority and any local plan update it prepares or any
new neighbourhood plan prepared by parishes must by law take into account the latest national
planning policy framework, any updated national guidance or legislation changes including
the new housing targets.
I'm happy to take questions on that first.
I'll go for this one.
I didn't ask all these questions on here.
I think if Adriana had been here,
Theydon Bois - 1:13:05
you probably would have got more feedback on this.
The question I'm going to ask is sort of related to this
because I tried to work out what this question was asking
other than what you've actually said.
One of the things that I was going to ask
is obviously your housing delivery test,
your five -year supply of land.
Now from time to time,
I think it's Councillor Ken Williamson
has made an announcement.
I think he's probably at a cabinet or for council meeting.
We've taken close note of where you say you are.
One thing I was going to raise with you though,
is I look at the appeal decisions every so often
And one thing that's coming through from some of the appeal decisions, even if it's not
determinative, is this issue of what the planning inspector, as a result of what either EFDC
has said, presumably at the time when the written representations went in, and also
the appellants team.
There's been a question over the housing delivery test that, perhaps to be fair, the appellants
team would like to go for, and what EFDC has said.
But what I notice is the Planning Inspector often refers to what has been officially notified.
And what I was going to ask you is what is meant by officially notified.
How often do you need to calibrate the housing delivery test and five -year supply of land?
And what do you do to officially notify it?
What's the Planning Inspector looking for in terms of their reference rather than what
the appellant or the authority is saying?
Matt Winslow - 1:14:32
The housing delivery test isn't calculated by the
Epping Forest District Council.
It's published by MHCLG as part of national planning statistics.
They review that and it's published periodically.
I think it's every two years.
I probably should know.
I think it's every two years.
It looks back over a period of time and in fact the most recent publication, I think
is a couple of years old now, so we're awaiting the new publication for that information.
As a local planning authority, we try to keep track of that information to see where we
might be and whether we will fall under the 75 % threshold because depending on the threshold
that we're meeting, it has consequences for the district council.
Obviously, from a housing delivery perspective, we need to be mindful that although the council
may be granting planning permissions in order to help and allocating land in order to help
housing delivery, a lion's share of housing delivery is not the responsibility of Epping
for us district council when it is happening
because house builders feel that the market can cope
with additional houses going into it.
So I think for some, the housing delivery test
for local planning authorities,
it feels quite a blunt instrument
that's hitting the local planning authority
and therefore the district council,
but it's not one that we have full influence over.
In terms of the five -year housing land supply,
We have to publish an update annually.
And we are due to publish an update
on the five -year housing land supply soon.
So we are by law, we have to carry out
an authority monitoring report,
which is done on an annual basis.
And that looks at the performance
of lots of different aspects
of the Epping Forest District Council Local Plan,
including housing delivery.
So I think in terms of the note as notified,
I think for housing delivery test,
it would be referring to when that's published
by the government, when the government update
the statistics, but in terms of the five -year land supply,
it says and when the council publishes
its annual information.
In respects of the five -year housing land supply,
yes, we publish that.
But what can happen during planning appeals, and you may or may not have noticed this in
some Epping Forest District Council and other local planning authorities' decisions, is
that the inspector, if the inspector feels that the evidence the planning authority submits
to determine whether or not the land supplier that it's arguing it has is there or not,
a new figure can come out of the appeal and then you get what's called an appeal -derived
figure, and the appeal -derived figure overrides the local
publication, and this tends to happen.
It's not always the case, but if you have a fairly healthy
five -year land supply, you're normally in a position as a
planning authority where the developer, the applicant would
agree a common ground at the appeal that there is a five -year
land supply, or it may be so low, or, you know, so low in
in terms of its reach to being five years,
that the applicant doesn't really want to argue
the dynamics, they just accept the fact
that it is under five years.
The arguments, difference of opinions perhaps tend to happen
when it's hovering around five years,
because that's where the gain effectively,
if you're an applicant, if you can argue
that the land supply isn't quite as high
as the local planning authority might be arguing it is,
that's where the gain is for them.
Thank you.
Is there any other quorum?
Yeah, just to clarify this,
David Wixley Loughton - 1:18:57
the local plan as it stands at the moment,
is that we got to provide 11 ,400 dwellings
up to the year 2033.
So in view of what the government's saying now,
Has that figure been increased substantially or do we have a figure for that?
Matt Winslow - 1:19:20
So yeah, so the, as a result of changes to the standard method for calculating housing
that the new government introduced just after it got power, all Councillors in Essex saw
their theoretical housing targets increased quite substantially.
I think perhaps for the purposes of the minutes, rather than me clarify with the wrong figure
right now, we'll include it in the minutes as to what that difference is.
But because the Epping Forest District Council local plan is within five years of being adopted,
we don't have to use those at the moment.
But there's always an incentive as part of national policy to keep plans up to date.
And one of those incentives is that,
I suppose incentive, but local planning authorities
are supposed to be keeping their plans up to date
and reviewing them on a sort of five -year cycle.
But the national housing targets will need to be considered
when the next version of the local plan is prepared.
Okay, I might be putting you on the spot here,
David Wixley Loughton - 1:20:32
but particularly as you're fairly new in the post,
But how realistic do you think these targets are?
How realistic is the government being?
I don't know if I can really answer the question about realism,
Matt Winslow - 1:20:48
because at the end of the day, it's national policy.
Although all of the land that's not in the urban areas or not inside the
settlements is most likely to be in the Greenbelt,
local plan, Greenbelt boundaries are set and reviewed at local plan level and it's the
local planning authorities responsibilities to look at what its development needs are
and where that should be allocated. And yeah, I think on the realism front, that's a methodology
that's set nationally. So I don't think I can really comment on that, I'm afraid.
I could comment but perhaps I should be diplomatic.
David Wixley Loughton - 1:21:34
So should we move on to the next question?
Matt Winslow - 1:21:42
So the second question was can EFDC provide an update on the status of the local plan review including timelines and current progress.
So the delivery timetable for a local plan update has to be set out in a statutory document called a local development scheme.
So, the local development scheme has to be maintained and there is one already for Epping
Forest District Council and we will provide that as an attachment to the minutes so that
you will have the detailed information.
But broadly speaking, this plans for the review, adoption and publication of an updated local
plan by the winter of 2030, so four years, four and a half years' time, with various
key milestones including public consultation before this.
That will include completing a review of which policies in the adopted local plan require
updating and undertaking public consultation.
The local development scheme has to be kept under review, however, we need to reflect
on the fact that national policy has changed, as we've just spoken about. Housing targets
have changed too. And we also need to reflect on the development performance in the district,
which was the Theydon Boyes question related to just now. So that local development scheme
will most certainly change over the course of the next year to reflect on the fact that
We have to keep it up to date.
And we need to consider as well that in terms of preparing the
local plan, we've got a new emerging planning policy
framework happening.
And to explain that in a little bit more detail,
the Planning and Infrastructure Act,
which was received for all the Senate last year,
introduced new legal requirements for new strategic
planning authorities to prepare what are called spatial development strategies and these go
over a bigger geography.
The updates to the national planning policy framework and specific national planning policy
guidance on these geographies was consulted on over the winter and that was carried out
across England.
The one that's relevant to Epping Forest is going to be known as the Greater Essex Spatial
Development Strategy and it's going to in the future sit with the Greater Essex
Combined County Authority which is the new body being set up by the
government under devolution plans and until that body is set up Essex County
Council, Thirruk Council and South End -on -Sea City Council are already
legally required to start preparing this spatial development strategy which will cover our
area.
It will introduce a new tier of planning into Greater Essex that hasn't really existed for
about 20 years.
So about 20 years ago there used to be something called a structure plan.
Those of you that have been around for a little while in terms of parish work may be reminded
of that.
They used to set housing, they used to set greenbelt boundaries and they used to basically
command that local plans are prepared to meet those requirements.
The new spatial development strategy will be doing something very similar.
The fundamental difference is that they will look forward over 30 years, so they are much
longer in the time horizon and we've never had that longer
forecast before.
They will have a responsibility for coordinating housing and
economic growth.
They will become an infrastructure investment
framework which will try to tie in the planning of infrastructure
with the funding requirements for infrastructure.
and they will also have an environmental management and conservation responsibility.
They will have the power to redistribute development needs to other authorities that cannot otherwise
meet their needs within their boundaries, and there are in Essex some that are in the
current geographies of local government that can't do that.
and they will have the ability to set the broad extent
of Greenbelt in the future.
This will be changing the relationship
of what local plans do and going forwards,
local plans will become more of a land allocation
and place shaping document.
You probably know that local plans at the moment
deal with the allocation of land,
but they also have a suite of development management
policies in them. The government have started the work to introduce national development
management policies so that local plans don't have to cover and repeat them local authority
to local authority. So the local plans in future will be setting the inner green belt
boundaries and they will have a responsibility of reviewing those as and when the local plans
prepared and fundamentally the local plans and neighbourhood plans that are being prepared
will have to be in general conformity with the spatial development strategy.
So they won't just be able to do their own thing, they will be, local plans will be tasked
with delivering the growth that is set at the greater Essex level and they'll be tasked
with allocating that land to make that land supply happen.
So, given that changing policy landscape, I think the Epping Forest District Council
local plan review will certainly start to be looked at from an evidence point of view
as us at the moment as Epping Forest District Council, but will become a project that's
also absorbed by the new unitary authority as part of local government reorganisation.
Okay, thank you.
Any questions?
Cllr Louise Mead - 1:28:07
Question, this local plan review, will it need to take into account, bearing in mind
Theydon Bois - 1:28:12
you're talking about a date of 2030, which is after that five -year review figure, will
it have to take into account the national housing figures and if so, what point?
It will and from the start of its review.
Matt Winslow - 1:28:24
Because the new local plans endure over, so the local plans will have a 20 -year time scale,
The spatial development strategies will have a 30 year time scale and they will have to
be prepared using the standard method for calculating housing needs which are the higher
figures.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Do you want to go on to the next question?
Cllr Louise Mead - 1:28:55
So the third question was can Epping Forest District Council provide an update on the
Matt Winslow - 1:28:59
Greenbelt review including timings and current progress?
So Arup, which is a planning consultancy, were commissioned by Epping Forest District
Council and Harlow District Council to conduct a joint Greenbelt review at the beginning
of October 2025.
And we're one of a number of local planning authorities that are undertaking these reviews
and they benefit from grant funding from the government.
After commissioning Arup, what they've done so far is they've reviewed the existing evidence
for us and they have produced a scoping report which they delivered towards the end of last
year.
That's identified there are some gaps in the period of time since the Greenbelt review
was last done.
And in January this year, they provided us with a,
we reached a broad agreement
on what the Greenbelt review should cover.
And we asked them to set that piece of work in motion.
So what they're gonna be doing is they're gonna be preparing
to methodology papers for the review.
Sorry, just the one for, sorry,
for Epping Forest District Council.
and we should be receiving those within the next month or so.
We are in, what that's gonna be doing is just as other
Greenbelt reviews have done, that will be tasked
with dividing the district into various land parcels,
which can then be assessed as part of the Greenbelt review.
What we're intending to do is undertake a period
of focused engagement involving statutory consultees,
including parishes, and those with relevant expertise who will be asked to comment on
those method statements.
That was originally going to be done in late March, early April.
However, on reflection, because of the local elections being carried out and the pre -election
period, we will not be doing that until the middle of May.
So following that focus piece of work,
the stage one of the study will be undertaken.
That will involve assessing each of those land parcels
and determining how they meet the purposes
of the green belt and to what extent they do.
That kind of approach has been used before testing
at examination and I don't see that necessarily being any
different in terms of its approach to other studies.
We're anticipating that that should be ready in the autumn
of this year.
Stage two of the research will then follow and that is going
to be looking at the new classification of grey belt,
which was a concept introduced by the new government in 2024.
I was trying to work out what the year was then.
2024.
So that accounts for the national policy
and guidance changes.
We most likely will be holding workshops for the stage two
of the study, but we don't have any details
on that at the moment.
So, whilst the timetable for stage two is yet to be finalised because it needs stage
one to report first, it's anticipated that the final Greenbelt review will be ready towards
the end of this year.
Okay, thank you.
We've got a question from Lady Boyne.
Oh, from Lady.
Yeah, go ahead.
Nazeing - 1:33:03
I live in the Greenbelt and I wondered is the consultation considering the people who
live in the Greenbelt because for example I can't build a garage because of the openness
of the Greenbelt but I'm paying the same amount of council tax as someone who doesn't live
in the Greenbelt and has all the facilities. I haven't got any street lamps, I haven't
I mean, there's lots of us, but it would be nice to be able to build an extension or have
a garage if, just like other people do outside of the Greenbelt.
I'm not talking about planning development in huge scale, just individual homes.
It would be nice if things could be relaxed a little bit so that you've got the same ability
as other people.
Sorry.
We're both getting used to these microphones going on and off.
Matt Winslow - 1:34:00
So this piece of work is fundamentally looking more at the extent of the Greenbelt in the
Epping Forest District and whether or not it meets the purposes that are set out in
national planning policy.
from that information councils then use that in order to inform where greenbelt
reviews may otherwise be allowed in the future so adjusting the greenbelt
boundaries to accommodate development. I think what you're talking about is more
to do with what we would then do when we take that information and start to
start to design local policies so at the moment the restrictions that you're
talking about, they're not just restrictions in Epping Forest District, they're restrictions
generally nationally that are because Greenbelt has, until certainly, until this Greybelt
concept came up a year and a half or so ago, Greenbelt is a very restrictive planning control
where subtle changes, very subtle changes to buildings and the way land is used has
generally been restricted by national policy.
So the type of, you're sort of asked,
your request would come when the local planning authority
be that Epping Forest District Council
or the new unitary authority starts preparing the updates
to the local plans to determine whether or not
further relaxation of the Greenbelt planning policies
can take place.
That being said, those,
And the type of changes that's happened in national greenbelt policy has not tended to
be around the subtle changes to properties that are already washed over by a greenbelt
designation.
it's tended to focus on where the classification of parcels of land and
whether or not they could be treated more favourably for bigger forces
development. I know that probably sounds a little bit unfair in the context of
things but that's really the extent of change so far.
Just go back what you're saying because I'll look at the webcast later. So in May
Theydon Bois - 1:36:35
what is it that we might be consulted on, the method statements? So in terms of
Matt Winslow - 1:36:42
the method statements this is to do with how the parcels of land are assessed, was
that right? Did I understand that? Just wondering what the method statement is.
Theydon Bois - 1:36:48
We did, obviously you had a stage 1, stage 2 Greenbelt review previously, the last
one was 2 .16, so I'm just wondering what the method statements are. I mean
obviously when they come out we'll look at it but I'm just wondering about that
because if that's something we need to be consulted on, parish and town councils,
obviously I'm sure we want to respond.
Thank you.
Yes, to my understanding that, apologies, to my understanding
that is what the, so the methodology papers are splitting
Matt Winslow - 1:37:16
out how stage one and stage two will be prepared and that's what
the focus period of engagement will be based on, will be asked,
people will be asked to comment on.
If that's any different to what I've just advised you, I will,
I checked with the team that are handling that on a more focused level and I will let
the clerk know so that it can be updated in the minutes.
Councillor Wicksley.
I take it that the motivation behind this is really to release my land which is in the
David Wixley Loughton - 1:37:49
green belt for building on.
Would that be a fair assessment?
Matt Winslow - 1:38:00
I think that's certainly behind why the government have funded local planning
authorities that have Greenbelt. They've given all the local
authorities a sum of money to sort of the burden of Greenbelt reviews and
doesn't have to fall solely on local taxpayers. I think the focus of this
is the difference with these type of Greenbelt reviews and why the
government is supporting them is to explore the new concept of grey belts and where grey
belts can therefore—grey belt, you know, I know that not everyone will necessarily
be sold on the idea that grey belt even exists or should be a thing, but grey belt does exist
in national policy.
If we don't start to explore what that means for Epping Forest District and Harlow, because
There's a piece of works looking at both of them.
Then the planning system through appeals
will start to determine it instead.
So this is trying to,
our desire as Epping Forest District Council
is to try to approach the matter of grey belt
on an informed basis,
rather than it happening to us
through a more indirect route.
But I'm sure the government's ambition for this
is that they do see Greybelt as being a source of future land supply.
There doesn't appear to be any other questions on that one, so do you want to go to number
four?
Cllr Louise Mead - 1:39:30
So question four was, can Epping Forest District Council provide an update on the process of
Matt Winslow - 1:39:41
section 106 funding in terms of who makes the decision as to what projects unallocated
funds can go to, i .e. are officers delegated the decision, are councillors, does it go
to committee, senior leaders, et cetera.
Whilst a response has been received by the interim section 106 officer confirming a need
for a more formalised process at EFDC, we would like to understand what the current
process is.
So, whilst there is a documented process for drawing down Section 106 agreements to ensure
they are spent within the terms of their legal agreement, other than the officer delegation
process, there is no other formal engagement process that takes place with third parties
to ask whether they can access those funds for projects in their areas.
This is something that I'm looking to change.
It's important that as much of the funds that are legitimately
negotiated and collected as part of development in the district
and are held for the purposes of investing and making sure that
the harms from development can otherwise be mitigated are spent.
There's a piece of work that we're doing in preparation for
what Andrew was talking about earlier in terms of local
government reorganisation, which is just to make sure that the
funds that we do hold, and we hold them as a custodian,
we aren't necessarily, we don't necessarily control how they're
spent because that's set out in the legal agreements which would
have been as part of the original planning applications.
What we do want to do, however, is determine the amount of money
that has less prescriptive fund requirements or less
prescriptive legal measures as to where that's to be spent.
So that if there are funding pots that are available for
different areas, we can over the course of the next year or so
start to devise a better way for parishes and communities to ask
for money from those pots.
but we have got to do a kind of due diligence exercise first to make sure
that we're not giving money away out of sequence with the legal agreements.
Okay any questions on that question?
Cllr Louise Mead - 1:42:22
No? Okay. Can Epping Forest District Council provide an update on the
Matt Winslow - 1:42:27
feedback to date regarding the community infrastructure levy and a rough time scale for progressing
to the next steps. A response on this matter has already been received from the planning
policy team which simply states we currently do not have any updates on the timelines.
So the consultation on the draught charging schedule that set out the proposed levy rates
had already taken place, that took place last year, and the challenge which the planning
policy team are describing by that answer, has been affected by the unprecedented number
of responses to that consultation.
So the Council's consultants, and they've done around 100 community infrastructure levies
across the country, we're the highest number of consultation responses they've ever had.
When these consultation responses are quite, they're more technical, they're from people
that understand the viability of development or perhaps might wish to challenge things
on that basis.
So the Council's consultants are reviewing the responses and are expected to share a
schedule of their findings after the May elections and may be suggesting that we make changes
to that draught charging schedule.
Now if the changes are necessary, if changes are necessary that are considered to be significant,
we will have to go back to Cabinet for approval to
re -consult on that charging schedule, because otherwise
we will find ourselves in a little bit of difficulty
at the examination in public.
So once the draught charging schedule is finalised, we
will then seek to submit it to the Secretary of State
in order for the Planning Inspectorate to commence an
examination in public.
If re -consultation on the charging schedule isn't
required. The examination in public is expected to take place in the autumn and winter or
winter of this year. And then following examination, the examiner will send a report making recommendations
as to whether the community infrastructure levy can be adopted with or without modifications.
All being well, we therefore hope to adopt and start implementing a seal charging schedule
in the spring or summer of next year.
And I've realised that the dates of that are vague to seasons
rather than months, but the examination in public,
once you submit it, just with, as is the case with local plans
and to some extent with neighbour plans as well,
you're in the hands of the examiner when they can schedule
that and the duration of it will also depend on how many people
wish to participate in the examination.
To prepare for it coming into effect, however, what we have recently done at Epping Forest
District Council is set up a project team that is now going to be looking at the back
office arrangements for setting up for charging sill alongside a new, something new called
the National Building Safety Levy.
And we have to collect that on new developments from the 1st
of October this year.
It's a legal requirement.
And we're also looking at how CIL and Section 106
contributions will work alongside each other.
And that's just to ensure that we're taking as much time as we
really need to design the processes and have the right
systems in place in order to collect and legally administer
community infrastructure levy.
I think it's probably just fair to also say,
just to manage expectations, that although community
infrastructure levy will be charged on, with certain
exceptions, will be chargeable on most development
that takes place inside the district, and by that I mean,
although there will be, where we've already negotiated
Section 106 agreements or planning permissions are
already in existence, they won't have CIL levied against them because we can't double
charge.
Where Section 106 has been negotiated as the mechanism to get contributions, we won't be
able to do that.
We won't be able to put CIL on top of that.
That's all factored in as part of the preparation work for CIL.
But what we will do is, well, what we need to bear in mind is that CIL is a gradual building
of funds.
So at the moment, CIL, if you're a parish with a neighbourhood plan and development
takes place within your area, that when a CIL is charged, you will be able to receive
25 % of the funds that are collected in your parish.
Where you don't have a neighbourhood plan,
you will be entitled to 15 % of the SIL funds.
But the reason I'm laying this on
in terms of managing expectations
is that's accrued over time.
So although there might be,
and there are staged payments and exemptions
for different types of development.
So, the piece of work that we're doing at the moment to try to prepare for administering
and managing that will also include the material that we will need to communicate with you
all to help you understand how that money is transferred to you if you're entitled or
if you're eligible for it and on what kind of cycles and basis that will happen.
but generally speaking the levels of funds in the first couple of years aren't
generally normally quite high. It takes a little bit of time for those
funds to build. Thank you very much. Is there any questions on that? Yes.
Sorry, it's me again. Am I correct in thinking then there's a 106, there's a
Nazeing - 1:48:47
the safety levy as well?
Yes, you are correct.
Matt Winslow - 1:48:54
So section 106 is the mainstay really.
Section 106 has been around for many decades and has been the main route for planning obligations to be secured on developments.
CIL, Community Infrastructure Levy, that is a voluntary charge that councils can also
charge on developments to fund strategic and local infrastructure.
There are certain restrictions about what CIL can and cannot fund for district councils.
CIL can also leave the district and fund the council if it chose to.
I'm not saying the council wants to do this, but the council can choose to invest in strategic
things such as motorway junctions, that kind of stuff that are not within its normal remit,
but it can do that.
The biggest significance of SIL, or one of the bigger ones, is the Mayoral SIL for London
helped fund Crossrail across the London area and outside it.
So it's just to give you a sense that it's a completely different type of tax really
and that's why it's called a levy as opposed to an obligation.
The building safety levy, I know I threw that in there, it's just that we're trying to,
so that's something we legally have to charge from the 1st of October.
But apart from a small admin fund,
all of that money goes to the government.
So that works.
That is to fund, so none of that money
is going to come into Epping Forest District.
All councils across England are having to charge that
from the 1st of October.
And the purpose of that is to invest in defective buildings,
cladding on high rises after the Grenfell tragedy.
The government decided that it wasn't fair
for those building owners to fully fund that themselves
and this is the method and mechanism
they're gonna be using to do that.
The reason I mentioned it is that these are,
they're very similar pieces of work
for the council to start introducing.
It's essentially seal and section, sorry, seal and building safety levy are very similar
in nature in that we will be charging developers in future and they will have to pay those
in order to get completion certificates and make sure that their buildings are legal.
And therefore we're combining the activity of setting up the systems so we can benefit
from the economies of scale of doing that.
Do you know how much it's going to be?
Nazeing - 1:51:57
You know, the charge per square metre or whatever it is for the building safety levy?
Now you're asking me.
Matt Winslow - 1:52:04
In the minutes we will circulate the link to the government website which sets the rates
for Epping Forest District because they're set nationally.
So we will ensure that we put a link on for information.
Thank you. Any other questions?
On that point, is this just for cladding where cladding is dangerous? Because there may not
David Wixley Loughton - 1:52:33
be any properties in the Epping Forest districts area which have cladding which needs replacing.
So is this going to be a burden on everybody, even though they may not have such a building
in the area they live?
Yes, it will be that the government have decided
Matt Winslow - 1:52:53
that in order to lessen the burden that's otherwise
been created through the discovery of safety defects
and poor design in buildings across the country,
that a national levy is the way forward to do that.
So in terms of, as I said, none of that money comes,
some of that money may end up being spent or drawn down
to be spent in the Epping Forest District area,
but we wouldn't necessarily know because we don't,
we only, a bit like business rates,
we are required to collect it and give it over
to somebody else or an agent of government,
but it won't be down to us to spend that.
If I can just come back on, is this just for cladding or will it cover other defects like
David Wixley Loughton - 1:53:42
the rack scandal, you know, the concrete? And when all this has been paid for, will
this levy disappear or is it there forever and a day now?
Matt Winslow - 1:53:57
I think in terms of the first question, maybe what would be a good idea in the minutes of
the meeting, Ori, we'll attach a note as to what the building safety levy is about just
to give you a little bit more information or it can circulate it at another time because
I don't want to misadvice you today. I don't know if the extent is just cladding or if
it accommodates rack and other things too. It certainly came about as one of the recommendations
of the Grenfell inquiry. So that's one of the recommendations the government accepted.
In terms of, sorry, your second question.
Once you impose a tax or levy, whatever you want to call it,
David Wixley Loughton - 1:54:38
at some point all these defects will be dealt with,
but will they still be collecting money for this purpose,
even though the problem hopefully at some point will be paid for?
I don't know the answer to that question.
Matt Winslow - 1:54:52
I know that they have forecast how much they anticipate collecting
over the next 10 years as part of the business case for introducing the levy
but I don't know if it's going to once once defects have been dealt with whether
it's going to cease to be.
Thank you. I don't think there's any other questions.
No.
Oh yes.
No I'm going back to this query I mean it just seems unbelievable that we're
Ongar - 1:55:22
another levy on the building and then what's going to happen, I mean you're
saying it's Epping Forest, what's going to happen then when we go into
this unitarium? Is it going to carry on and we'll still have to be paying?
Cllr Louise Mead - 1:55:46
Yeah and I can actually relate this a little bit to Section 106 and Seal as
Matt Winslow - 1:55:48
well. So when what we know from the experience of other authorities that have gone through
local government reorganisation, what happens in circumstances like this? So ultimately
if a seal is set for Epping Forest District and just as a building safety levy will be,
the new authority will assume that responsibility. So for building safety levy, all that will
happen is the legal entity that starts collecting that money in the new geography that Epping
Forest 6 within will take responsibility for doing that in the future.
The thing to assure you on in respect of CIL and also Section 106 contributions is that
if CIL is put in place before Epping Forest District Council ceases to be, its responsibility
for collection transfers to the new authority, the new unitary and that authority, just as
the local plan will as well and in time they will be updated and reflect the new geographies
of the new unitary authority areas.
In respect of it being an additional burden, the building safety levy is paid by applicants
for planning permission or developers.
Of course that will include, I believe that's going to be including people that are not
not just necessarily house builders but anyone that's building, that's got construction projects
underway.
So the note that I said that we would circulate on building safety levy for information, I'll
be sure to include some, provide some information on what it does include and what it doesn't
include.
But it's a legal duty, we have no choice but to start collecting it but we're not the ones
charging it, the government are charging it.
OK, do you want to come back?
I mean, not that I'm confused about this, but...
So then, I mean, what's going to happen?
I mean, at the moment, with, say, 106 money and the CIL,
that money is coming from the developers, you know?
So with this new levy,
I mean, what's it... Well, I'm sort of looking forward.
The developers can then turn round.
I mean, it's going to give them a higher burden of money,
of what they're...
They're only going to have a certain amount of money
from the properties that they're building.
So, in effect, what's going to happen
is part of what would have been the Section 106 money
and the seal levy...
I mean, you know, you're saying how the percentages have worked out.
Is then going to be taken away from that and passed on on this bill?
Am I correcting that?
I mean, well done.
So, certainly.
So, what you're describing is the additional costs,
the additional costs that are before profit
project that have to be borne by development in order to get it out of the ground.
Building safety levy will be a new burden for anyone that wants to undertake a building
project anywhere in the country.
In terms of just on a clarity point, Section 106 only applies to developments of 10 units
or more.
A seal will be chargeable on all development.
So if we were talking about housing development,
a seal will be chargeable on one property,
unless it falls in with one of the exemptions
that the Epping Forest would look to adopt.
So the benefits of seal is it captures the parts
of development that section 106 is not allowed to charge for.
So that's a benefit when you've got one or two houses
or three or four houses happening in smaller developments.
currently Section, even though they can have an impact which might otherwise, if they were
part of a bigger scheme, be offset by having a Section 106 contribution.
They don't currently have to pay anything financially, so CIL will cover a part of that.
But you're quite right, and I fully understand the point that you're raising.
building safety levy will add an additional level of cost to the
construction of any properties not just residential properties any properties
in the across the country but the impact assessment of introducing it's been done
at a national level and I guess the government and this the arrival of this
has been over, I think the legislation for this has been coming for about five years
or so, so this has endured two sets of government, if you like, over that kind of time period.
The impact assessment will have come to the, arrived at the point that unless the general
taxpayer is going to fund the building safety defects, somebody, somewhere else has got
to meet that cost. So they determined that those with a vested interest in developing
new buildings will have to meet the cost instead of the general taxpayer. So, excuse me, I
think we have to reflect a little bit that, as I was saying, that it's not a charge we're
imposing but it's one we'll have a legal duty to collect from the 1st of October.
Thank you, thank you. Any other questions? Yeah, okay.
Is this building safety level, is that payable on planning permission being granted or is
David Wixley Loughton - 2:02:08
it just an upfront charge for submitting a planning application?
I don't know the answer to that question. So we'll include that in the information in
Matt Winslow - 2:02:20
pack. So it's not connected to, although it is connected to a planning application, it's
also connected as part of the building control process. So I don't want to misadvice you.
So part of the internal project that's been set up in the last week or so, so it's very
fresh, is to make sure we've got answers to those kind of questions and to ensure that
the process of charging that happens at the right stage of a development.
Thank you. So I don't believe there's any more questions on that agenda item so thank
you very much Matt for your very full comprehensive answers. Thank you. Agenda item 10 is any
other business. I don't believe we have any other business do we? There's no other business

10 Any Other Business

Cllr Louise Mead - 2:03:08
no. And agenda item 11 is dates of future meetings. So we have a date, a future meeting

11 Dates of Future Meetings

for the 17th of September 2026 so I suggest we tentatively keep that and we
will discuss whether we're going to change that with democratic services.
On the thing with the meetings that you know obviously we've had the
Ongar - 2:03:37
problems with who can attend and who can't, is there any
any mileage in, you know, sort of sending out to all the clerks, you know, about the meetings,
what would you, what, you know, to see if you can get sort of feedback from them, what would be
a, you know, a convenient day as, as the Thursday seemed, maybe seemed to be a problem.
Yeah, I think, you know, I mean that would be, I mean, because I think, I can't remember,
I'm sure that going back, I think they did used to be on a Monday, I think, which was obviously
easier for us but yeah okay thank you yeah thank you I think that is something
Cllr Louise Mead - 2:04:20
we're going to take back thank you so in that case I don't believe there's
anything else to discuss that's the last agenda item so we're closing the meeting
at 2104 p .m. safe journey home everyone thank you
Paula Maginnis
Service Director - Corporate Services
Epping Forest District Council
View profile Paula Maginnis
Cllr Louise Mead
District councillor for Loughton Fairmead ward
Loughton Residents Association
View profile Cllr Louise Mead
Cllr Richard Morgan
District councillor for Rural East ward
Conservative Party
View profile Cllr Richard Morgan
Serena Shani
Democratic Services Officer
Epping Forest District Council
View profile Serena Shani
Andrew Small
Chief Executive (Acting)
Epping Forest District Council
View profile Andrew Small
Cllr Darshan Sunger
District councillor for Chigwell with Lambourne ward
Conservative Party
View profile Cllr Darshan Sunger
Rosa Tanfield
Managing Director
Terra Verde Services Ltd (TVS)
View profile Rosa Tanfield
James Warwick
Service Director - Contracts Partnerships and Procurement
Epping Forest District Council
View profile James Warwick
Matt Winslow
Planning Director
Epping Forest District Council
View profile Matt Winslow