Cabinet - Monday 30 March 2026, 7:00pm - Epping Forest District Council webcasts

Cabinet
Monday, 30th March 2026 at 7:00pm 

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  1. Cllr Chris Whitbread
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  1. Vivienne Messenger
  2. Cllr Chris Whitbread
  3. Cllr Holly Whitbread
  4. Cllr Chris Whitbread
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  1. Public Speaker
  2. Cllr Chris Whitbread
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  1. Cllr Roger Baldwin
  2. Cllr Chris Whitbread
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  1. Cllr Holly Whitbread
  2. Cllr Chris Whitbread
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  1. Cllr Smruti Patel
  2. Cllr Chris Whitbread
  3. Cllr Graham Wiskin
  4. Cllr Chris Whitbread
  5. Andrew Small
  6. Cllr Holly Whitbread
  7. Cllr Graham Wiskin
  8. Cllr Martin Morris
  9. Cllr Chris Whitbread
  10. Owen Sparks
  11. Cllr Ken Williamson
  12. Cllr Smruti Patel
  13. Cllr Chris Whitbread
  14. Cllr Paul Keska
  15. Cllr Barbara Cohen
  16. Cllr Smruti Patel
  17. Andrew Small
  18. Cllr Graham Wiskin
  19. Cllr Ken Williamson
  20. Cllr Chris Whitbread
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  1. Cllr Holly Whitbread
  2. Cllr Chris Whitbread
  3. Cllr Martin Morris
  4. Owen Sparks
  5. Cllr Chris Whitbread
  6. Cllr Holly Whitbread
  7. Cllr Chris Whitbread
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  1. Webcast Finished

1 Webcasting Introduction

Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:00:00
First of all, I'll start with the webcasting introduction.
This meeting is to be webcast, and the chairman will...
Didn't need that bit.
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, I don't need to remind
you when you're speaking turn your microphone on and when you've finished turn your microphone
off. Apologies for absence.

2 Apologies for Absence

Vivienne Messenger - 0:00:52
Leader, I don't have any and Councillor Risby is actually on Teams tonight.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:00:56
and I think I've got apologies from Tim Matthews.
Okay, thank you.

3 Declarations of Interest

Cllr Holly Whitbread - 0:01:00
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:01:01
We then move on to declarations of interest.
Are there any declarations of interest?
No?
Okay.

4 Minutes

Minutes of the last meeting.
Can I take those as being agreed?
Thank you.

5 Reports of Portfolio Holders

Members, reports of portfolio holders.
I'd just like to remind not only members of the cabinet,
but all members of council,
and I'm sure an email will go out tomorrow,
that we are giving a members workshop tomorrow evening
in relation to the government's minded two decision
on local government reorganisation.
As members will be aware last week,
we heard that the government have chosen
to go with the five unitary option
and we will be with Harlow and Utlesford
as part of a new unitary organisation.
And we are lucky enough to have a presentation ready
for members tomorrow evening.
And I urge everyone possible to actually attend online
or in presence themselves,
because this is obviously a major undertaking
for the council and will require an awful lot of officer
and member time as we move forward.
Any other reports from the cabinet?
Nope, okay.

6 Public Questions and Requests to Address the Cabinet

Public questions or request to address the cabinet?
Yes, I have Ms Siobhan McEldough who wants to make a statement.
Hello there, thank you for coming along and I'll let you give your statement. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Siobhan McEldough. I would like to address the Cabinet and the Council
regarding the Hawthorns, Ongar Road, Fifield and the Section 106. Firstly, I'd like to
Public Speaker - 0:02:48
to your attention some of the challenges that we have faced trying to secure
providers for this site. We brought this to the attention of Ian Sell back in
October 2023 and since then have contacted the Section 106 team over 40
times. We've seeked legal advice and even the solicitors have not got any
response from their emails regarding this.
We have had three different agents on the site
for the last 18 months trying to sell properties
on the development and I attached some emails today
from all of those agents.
Those have also gone to the council.
What was agreed was six affordable rent
and three shared ownership.
and what the council are looking to do now is to have nine affordable rents and
no shared ownership. The general feedback from the people that we've had
come to view the development is that the section 106, the
affordable housing, is at the very hub of the development and they foresee
problems in the future for resale. But as well as that, I don't think it's been
addressed to any of you, the amount of emails that we have sent to the council and all of
the evidence that we have from all the providers that we got on your list, approved list.
We went out to them all in 2024 and again in 2025 and we sent all of those emails in
from all the providers which none of them would take on for many different reasons.
Majority of them was that it's such a rural development.
Sometimes it's up to three hours waiting on a bus.
So it just doesn't...
We can't get it to work and we're trying really hard to communicate with the council.
But we're not getting much back, so we're really stuck.
And I just feel like something has to change.
You have got to listen to us.
We're not a massive big developer, we're not the Barrett Holmes kind of thing.
we're a small developer and we're really struggling.
So that's really why I'm here tonight.
I feel like because none of the providers will take it on
and now Epping will take it on, Epping Forest Council will take it on,
that there's a bit of a conflict of interest there.
And then the fact that we've come to heads of terms
and now it's been changed again to be all affordable rents
and no shared ownership, I just feel like nobody's listening to us.
I really would like to sit down and have a meeting with somebody who can make decisions on this,
whether it be the planning, the section 106, or all together and work it out,
because it's not a case that as developers we don't want to do social housing, we do,
but we need to come up with a plan that actually works.
otherwise, and I can genuinely hand on heart, this development will be mothballed because it's coming to the end of the line,
whereas we're paying 86 grand in interest to the bank every single month. We can't keep doing that. It's just going to end up
that
it's going to be detrimental to the site and that's the honest gospel truth. Thank you for listening to me.
No, thank you. And when we get to the debate later on, we'll
So we'll take into account what you've told us this evening.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:06:32
So thank you for coming along.
It's much appreciated and you're welcome to stay
and listen to the debate.
Thank you.
If we then move on to the report of overview and scrutiny,

7 Overview and Scrutiny

I can see Councillor Baldwin online.
Councillor Baldwin.
Yes, thank you very much.
And physically seconded my apologies
Cllr Roger Baldwin - 0:06:57
for not being there in person today.
There has not been a meeting of the ONS committee since the last cabinet meeting, so there is
actually a little of significance to report this evening.
I would just like to say that the next meeting of ONS will be on the 14th of April when the
Youth Council will present a report.
I believe this is the last meeting of the Youth Council, so there's other, I think,
with the new actions and the new cost district
to the City of Youth Council.
So really, yes, so it is a short report today.
So yeah, that's it, I'm afraid.
Thank you, Councillor Baldwin.
That's much appreciated, and we look forward
to your next meeting of overview and scrutiny.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:07:44
Members, if we can just note that short report.
Thank you.
And then we move on to item eight,

8 Epping Forest Economic Development Strategy 2026-2029

which is the Epping Forest Economic Development Strategy,
2026 to 2029, Councillor Holly Whitbread.
Thank you, Chairman.
A real pleasure to present this report this evening.
And first of all, I'd like to thank the hard work
of the Economic Development team, Fabrizio,
also Rick in the Planning team
who worked closely alongside them.
And I should also highlight Wendy and Matthew
who did a great deal of work around this as well.
This is a really positive document
Cllr Holly Whitbread - 0:08:24
which looks at the kind of economic future for our district and sets out our ambitions
in terms of building and growing our local economy.
Epping Forest is in a relatively strong place.
We have nearly 80 per cent of our population economically active.
That's a really strong base.
But we do have 2 ,000 people unemployed.
What we know from previous debates in this council is that we do have areas of real social
deprivation in pockets of our district which really need extra attention and support.
So this report looks at a wide range of different areas where we can work to grow the economy.
It talks about the future opportunities for jobs with AI and new technologies.
It also talks about upskilling people to do these jobs and make sure that they have the
skills that means they can be fit for the workforce in the future.
The report is based on data and also looks at how we can support our small businesses
who are such a vital part of the local economy into the future.
Also highlighted within this report is the vital role that agriculture plays.
We know of the challenges that in particular our greenhouse industry plays, which once
I think we had the biggest, and I think we still do have the biggest greenhouse industry
in the whole of the UK, but that is severely under pressure because of economic factors too.
So I hope that we have had a good opportunity to have a look at this report.
I know it had a full debate and airing at the last place scrutiny meeting.
I think it's a really good piece of work.
Obviously it doesn't offer all the answers, but it's a really good starting place
in setting out a strategy for the future of our local economy.
Thank you, Chairman.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:10:09
Thank you. Members, any questions? Okay. We take that as agreed in that case. Then if

9 Council Housing Development - S106 Purchase of 9 Affordable Units at The Hawthorns , Fyfield, CM5 0RB

we move on to the next gender item which is the council house building, council house
Development, Section 106, Purchase of 9 Affordable Units at the Hallforms Firefield.
Item number 9, Councillor Patel.
Thank you, Chair.
Cllr Smruti Patel - 0:10:42
Yeah, it's a slightly unusual one.
I completely understand what I've heard earlier.
So bearing in mind that the report and the information I had was before we've had the
lady here.
So I just, yeah, I'm just going to introduce the item and then we'll open up a discussion.
So with the information for this one is five -field in Ongar, we're seeking cabinet approval
to purchase nine affordable homes at the Hawthornes in five -field for 2 .67 million, which is fully
funded within the existing HRA capital programme that we currently have.
The developer hasn't quite secured a registered provider, so without council intervention
these affordable units may not be delivered.
Although we have delegated authority to enter a developer agreement,
development agreement, cabinet approval is definitely required
because the purchase exceeds the 1 million that we were allowed to make decisions on.
So we're finalising heads of terms with service charges and tenure confirmation.
These are still under negotiation, so we're also seeking authority to agree minor adjustments if needed.
Approving this ensures delivery of nine much needed affordable homes and it prevents the risks of losing them altogether.
That's all we have in front of us. Thank you.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:12:00
Thank you. Members of the cabinet, any comments at all?
I'm very mindful that this is, the important part of this for us as a council is making provision for the capital sum within our budgets for the future.
And I think it's really clear that there's ongoing
negotiations between the council and the developer.
And I hope that they can make due progress.
If they can't, then I have just spoken with Mr. Small
as our chief executive is that we will engage further.
If we're not making progress then myself
and Mr. Small attend the meeting with the developer.
I think we all appreciate that this time
how difficult it is in the construction field.
And it's certainly what we want to see
is the delivery of units
because of the pressures of our local plan
and the need to have units available.
With regards to affordable housing,
there is a high demand within the rural areas
for affordable housing.
In fact, it's one of those areas
where we've got too small a supply.
So we are mindful and we are very mindful of your position as well as the delivery constructor
and we will speak, you know, there's ongoing negotiations as you can hear.
What we're doing tonight is making sure that we have the capital provision but I do believe
that we should have ongoing discussions to make sure what we deliver is good for both
parties and that's what we will try and achieve.
obviously within the lines of feasibility studies
and everything else.
Members, you've got the recommendations before you.
I've got no other questions from, oh, sorry,
Councillor Whiskin.
Thank you, Chairman.
Cllr Graham Wiskin - 0:13:52
I've got several points and questions.
Firstly, I have no knowledge of this developer group.
Can we have assurance that no member of the council
or employees have any interest in this particular group,
because it appears that this looks to be very much rushed
through in front of us.
It's a significant spend.
Question, should it perhaps be put through scrutiny?
Should we, if it was budgeted for, or sorry,
if it was not budgeted for specifically,
what has been put on the back burner,
which would have been bought otherwise through the budget.
The issue also arises about why is this,
and I think the speaker has possibly underlined,
and perhaps contradicts what the chairman said
about the desirability and requirement
for affordable housing in rural areas.
I looked at the area on the map tonight before we came and it is a long way from anywhere,
which is probably quite nice.
However, if it is that unattractive to the affordable housing groups, that raises the
question as to why we should be jumping in.
There is also a point, if we do go ahead with this purchase, what is the impact in terms
of resource management from a staffing point of view, what would that impact that we possibly
have on our staff and managing those units going forward. They are my few points.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:15:50
Thank you. Councillor Whiskin, thank you for those questions and we will take them one
at a time. But first of all, no member of this cabinet has any interest in the company
and we would have declared an interest if we did.
And I think that's very clear from this evening.
I certainly have no interest.
I know none of the cabinet members have any interest.
What we're trying to do is what is right
and proper for this council.
With regards to the acquisition of these properties,
if it goes ahead and how it's ever negotiated,
they will become part of our housing stock.
We have around 6 ,000 homes that we manage
as a very successful housing section.
and these would become units for people within the list for Epping Forest Council.
Remembering that allocations policy works on the basis of you have to live in the area
for at least seven years to be on that list.
And they are very much needed homes at the moment.
If you look at the issues we have around homelessness,
when you look at the issues we have with the churn of property,
the lack of properties for people to move into,
two's, three's, one's, full stop.
So that is the reason that we would look at doing this.
It has become obvious that there are no housing associations
presently who want to take the properties on.
But the Zeppelin Forest District Council,
we have a need for housing,
and that is why we look at acquiring them,
but they are for our housing stock.
And as you will probably agree with me,
we have one of the best housing sections
across the whole county.
and it's really important to us that we have good quality stock there.
Some stock we've built on garage sites, some stocks were built elsewhere,
but we quite often acquire properties in this manner.
It's nothing unusual at all.
This is just a standard practise that the council does.
I don't know if Mr Small you want to add anything to that.
I'd say historically of course the council has always been provider of affordable and social housing in rural communities.
Andrew Small - 0:17:47
In fact, you know, it's not uncommon.
In fact, most villages you'll find throughout
with this district and probably every other district,
you'll find a historic council house provision.
So whilst I understand that some registered housing providers
might not have stock in localities, you know,
distributed in localities, you'll make it difficult
for the more unaffordable for them to provide services
to remote locations.
We of course do have housing stock
across the whole of the district.
And so we're used to providing housing services
in remote locations within our boundaries, of course.
So I don't think that provides a huge barrier
in terms of our existing housing provision.
And of course we've got the resources able to provide that
within our housing team and housing revenue account.
And in terms of any interest in the developer,
well, the developer is here tonight making representations
about this arrangement.
I would think that would be very odd
if there was some kind of deal that had been,
some interest behind the scenes
that I don't think we'd find the developer here tonight
questioning the value of the development.
Thank you.
Sorry, Councillor Holy -Whitbread.
Thank you, Chairman.
I think everything I wanted to cover has been said,
Cllr Holly Whitbread - 0:19:05
except for, I mean, it's worth pointing out
that part of the reason we're looking at buying
street properties essentially into our housing stock is because there has been a slowdown
of our council house building programme. It's something we committed to for many years is
delivering new council homes to local people, which is really important, but for various
reasons, including building costs and also complications with those garage sites and
the fact that we couldn't quite build on the scale that we need in terms of the demand
for social housing locally. This was seen as another option. You will remember there
is an underspend as well in the provision of housing, of our council housing. So this
is kind of breaching that gap. And we've spoken about some of the pressures with homelessness.
That pressure then goes on to the general fund and those pressures are growing year
by year. When I was a council cabinet member for council housing, I was always really proud
that we still retained our own stock because so few councils do that. And the fact that
we were providing this new housing with a growing number of council homes. So I think
this is a really positive step.
I appreciate there are complications
in terms of the negotiation.
And of course, as a council, we almost always
must be striving to get the best possible value for money.
But there certainly is a need,
and there certainly is a need
for rural affordable housing as well.
Actually, many of the conversations
that I've had over the years in my housing
were always people from rural communities
who want to stay close to their families,
often older people and younger people
who want to stay within those rural communities
and don't want to move to where we have
more densely populated council housing.
So I think it is important that we provide that.
Obviously this report is going to be taken away
and there's going to be further negotiations,
but ultimately this is about the provision of funding
to look to buy these homes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Councillor Wiskin, you wanted to come back?
Thank you.
Cllr Graham Wiskin - 0:20:51
Really it's for the public benefit.
It does seem, and maybe I'm misguided,
that it does suddenly appear on the radar
that we have to do this or desire to do this.
I think it is in the public interest to know that there are no interest, and I said not
just within this cabinet, but outside of the cabinet in the staff of Epping Forest District
Council, because we must dispel any implications that we are propping up this developer in
any way whatsoever, and are purchasing these units for the very much needed requirement
which has been indicated tonight.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Councillor Morris.
Cllr Martin Morris - 0:21:36
Hi, thanks, Mr Chairman.
Thank you, Chairman.
Yeah, I've got – I mean, this seems to be a bit of a concern to me.
I mean, I don't think you're in a position to make a good decision on this at the moment.
I mean, firstly, there's very little information in here about how we got to this point and
what – I mean, it seems like there's been a lack of communication.
I mean, the public question indicates there's been very little communication.
and there's certainly no information in here about, you know, how we got to this position
in the first place. You're making a decision on an amount, I mean I can see some various
amounts quoted in here, I mean how were these amounts arrived at? And I don't see any kind
of attempt to do any kind of financial analysis on this to see what the costs would be in
the long term for the council in buying these properties. But I just don't think we're in
position to make a good decision at this point. There doesn't seem to be enough information
in here. I think it should be looked at in more detail, there should be more information
made available and ideally overview and scrutiny should be asked to look at it before you make
a decision. It's coming straight here without being considered anywhere else. I think for
the scale of expenditure we've got here it should have gone somewhere else and it should
have been subject to more detailed analysis than we've got in this, well, couple of pages
we've got in the agenda for this meeting.
Mr Sparks.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:23:06
Owen Sparks - 0:23:09
Just to really reassure members that that due diligence has taken place. Again, we've
had external support, really, value for money to ensure that obviously this represents good
value for money for residents that has taken place in detail.
Thank you. Councillor Williamson.
Cllr Ken Williamson - 0:23:27
Thank you, chair. I think it's not a case of propping up the developer. It's a case
of making sure we secure these affordable homes in the future. And as Councillor Whit
bread has said, they're desperately needed. Thank you. Councillor Patel.
Cllr Smruti Patel - 0:23:43
I was actually just going to address earlier Councillor Whiskin's point about the budget
and where it came from and whether we have the budget for it. And Councillor Whitbread
actually aptly explained that HRA budget was actually had a huge under spend.
So it's not that we don't have the budget for it, but the main important thing is that
we want to be able to offer in those affordable homes that a lot of other counters aren't
able to do and their homeless and temporary accommodation numbers have just gone higher
and higher.
And I was at a meeting recently in London and where, you know, we're doing really well
compared to our neighbouring counterparts who have their numbers in thousands and ours
in hundreds so we're in a really good position and that's why we need this so we can keep
those numbers low as possible as well.
Thank you. Councillor Cascia.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:24:29
Cllr Paul Keska - 0:24:31
Thank you Chairman. Just to say none of us can be unaware of the problems that building
new sites have gone through in the last few years and appreciate things have not always
worked out the way everyone planned. But I'm more than happy to rely on the work done by
senior financial officers and his department on this and I'd be more than
Cllr Barbara Cohen - 0:24:58
happy to support it. Thank you. So this development when it was given
planning permission was a housing association not given the remit to
deal with these properties or did we know that there was going to be council
stock as soon as it was given permission?
Cllr Smruti Patel - 0:25:16
Councillor Patel. I probably will have to refer the question on not sure about
the background the history for it. Mr. Small. So unfortunately our housing
Andrew Small - 0:25:27
officer, housing service director isn't here this evening so I haven't got the
detail behind it but from the report it appears that the usual situation is when
the section 106 is agreed that the developer will go to the to the register
providers and seek interest to acquire those units.
But it appears, I think, through multiple attempts that no registered provider stepped
forward to take these units on.
And so, you know, either the council risks losing those units or, you know, stepping
forward to acquire them itself, which is what the report proposes.
So, other versions were lost in terms of affordable social housing units to people in need in
rural locations while the council intervenes.
Thank you.
Councillor Whiskin.
Thank you.
Cllr Graham Wiskin - 0:26:17
Sort of semi -related to that point, can we put this down as a lesson learned about agreements
with developers going forward?
and I'm thinking specifically regarding
the Epping South master plan and discussions
we've had in this chamber about infrastructure requirements
and assurances that the developers
will be paying for the roads.
Can we take this on board and make sure
it's pretty cast iron, the infrastructure is provided
and developers don't hit these issues
in perhaps a similar way that this developer has?
Well, we, sorry, Councillor Williamson.
Cllr Ken Williamson - 0:26:55
I was just going to say, it's not, certainly with South Epping, we have moved the trigger
dates for the amount of money coming in for the infrastructure.
So it's not, they have been in the past sites where, not in Epping Forest, where 100 % of
the houses are built and then nothing gets done.
We have very tight Section 106 agreements that actually,
I think some of them start at 40 percent when they house,
some of them actually start on Latin Priory before they even started.
So we are aware of the problem.
Thank you. I think it's also worth saying,
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:27:36
the issue of 40 percent affordable housing,
normally it is always offered to housing associations first.
that's normally a developer's preferred choice.
I think that's a known fact because obviously
as a council, we'd rarely ever have the funds to deliver
on some of these larger sites, affordable housing.
When we have the opportunity, we don't like to lose land
for affordable housing because you can't make more land.
And, you know, if you take commuted sums,
it means that you have to go onto the open housing market
and you achieve less value for your money.
And that's just a fact of where we are.
That's why we look to wherever we can
in opportunities like this, we will build,
you know, deal with it ourselves rather than
leave it and do a commuted sum or something.
So that's the most sensible way forward.
This is nothing unusual.
Our policies on council house building go back to 2015.
So I think it's really important
that members take that into account.
I appreciate in the ideal world there would be a report to, a more detailed report than
this one.
You'd probably have all the viability reports in there and everything else, or feasibility
studies.
But what we're actually doing this evening within the HRA and the capital programme is
to make sure that we've got the funding available.
They're still ongoing negotiations.
What I would suggest is probably there will be a report to overview and scrutiny, or to
this back to this committee once the actual negotiations have been completed
so that members could see more detail what's what's actually been achieved but
we're talking about nine affordable housing units they're very much required
for our waiting list of people that is probably around 2 ,000 now councillor
Patel the waiting list we have got a desperate shortage we have got a
homelessness problem that is pushing up our costs all the time and making it
hard to keep the council viable on that basis so that this is a sensible
measured approach to take and something that we've done other times before it's
just that it's slightly more than what we would normally do but at this stage
we're making provision within the capital programme in order that we can do
it you've heard this evening the developer wants to have further
conversations and those conversations are ongoing and as I've offered is that
if if required if a solution can't be found that myself and Mr Smallwell
chair a meeting with the developer if required. So we are taking the most reasonable steps possible
and any future decision, the final decision will come back to this cabinet committee with a full
report which I think then covers what Councillor Morris would say. We wouldn't normally go to
overview and scrutiny with every single thing like this, it would just be you know not commercially
viable for companies to do that. Members I think we've listened to the
speaker from earlier we have to make this provision or we can't really take
it any further forward in those negotiations. I would hate to lose the
opportunity of nine affordable homes for local people. I would hate to not get the
best value for the council and of course as Councillor Whiskin said let's be very
clear there is no one within this room this evening with any interest in the
company and I'm sure if they if they what was accounts to here they would
declare a prediction prejudicial interest and leave the meeting but
that's certainly not the case but thank you for making sure the public are fully
aware of it members you've got the recommendation before you which is
purely to make sure that we have to provision in the right place can we

10 Risk report

agree that recommendation. Thank you. We then move on to the risk report item 10
Cllr Holly Whitbread - 0:31:39
Councillor Holyfield. Thank you chairman and this evening this report is to
approve the corporate risk register which was recently presented to audit
and governance.
You will see from this risk register,
similar risk that we've highlighted previously
in terms of delivering a balanced budget,
being high up there in some of those financial challenges
and risks that we face.
You'll see as well that the community cohesion risk has
been slightly downgraded in this report,
reflecting a bit of a reduction in tensions
since when the report was last looked at.
And obviously, this is in relation
to the challenges we faced over the Bell Hotel. I think this is a full report and should also
say that homelessness is high on the agenda here as well as well as cyber security being
key. So the report should contain all the details required and hopefully members are
happy to approve it.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:32:36
Thank you. Members, any questions on the risk report? Okay, can we take that as being agreed?
Councillor Morris. Oh sorry my apologies, Councillor Morris. Thank you yeah I did have just a
Cllr Martin Morris - 0:32:46
couple of questions on firstly delivering a balanced budget sustainable
medium -term financial plan and we've only had just had a lot of discussions
on this haven't we and we went over the medium -term plan quite in quite a bit of
detail. The residual risk score has got significantly worse since then and I
I wonder if you could just highlight a little bit about why it's gone in the wrong direction,
why the risk has increased.
And the other question, probably not surprising, the financial viability of QALYIS, I mean
the residual score hasn't changed.
I would have expected at this stage for some more concrete actions to have been taken to
reduce the amount of risk we're running in QALYIS.
Thank you. Mr Sparks.
Owen Sparks - 0:33:41
So the living balance and sustainable MTF, medium term financial plan, that was actually
reduced. So it's gone from 15 to 10. So it reflects the risk reducing, obviously we set
the balanced budget and the position is obviously not ideal, but better than it was previously.
that's more manageable so that reflects that reduction in risk. In terms of QALYST and
the balanced position, obviously there's lots of work going forward and what we will do,
we'll be bringing some recommendations from the working group forward and when we implement
them that will then reflect the risk at that point when members agree to the way forward
as part of that.
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:34:21
Thank you. Councillor Hollywood -Proud.
Cllr Holly Whitbread - 0:34:25
Thank you. I just wanted to apologise for reading the wrong, reading the underneath
fit but not the headline but what I should say is that we always face budget
challenges as we know from our long debates but it continues to be a
significant challenge and obviously we are now in a strong position of having a
balanced budget and for the next two years being in a relatively strong
Cllr Chris Whitbread - 0:34:46
position to get to a balanced budget. Thank you. Thank you. Members can we take
that has been agreed? Thank you. Item 11 is any other business there is no any

11 Any Other Business

other business I do now need to move into excluding the public and press for

12 Exclusion of Public and Press

some minutes that are on the pink. So if I can read out the following for
agreement consider whether under section 100 in brackets a in brackets 4 of the
local government Act 1972 the public and press press could should be excluded
from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that
they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the
following paragraphs of part one of schedule 12a of the Act as amended or
are confidential under section 100 in brackets a in brackets two members can I
move to private session
Cllr Roger Baldwin
District councillor for Loughton Forest ward
Loughton Residents Association
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Cllr Barbara Cohen
District councillor for Buckhurst Hill East and Whitebridge ward
Loughton Residents Association
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Cllr Paul Keska
District councillor for Ongar ward
Conservative Party
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Vivienne Messenger
Democratic Services Officer
Epping Forest District Council
View profile Vivienne Messenger
Cllr Martin Morris
District councillor for Waltham Abbey North ward
Labour Party
View profile Cllr Martin Morris
Cllr Smruti Patel
District councillor for Buckhurst Hill West ward
Conservative Party
View profile Cllr Smruti Patel
Andrew Small
Chief Executive (Acting)
Epping Forest District Council
View profile Andrew Small
Owen Sparks
Interim Strategic Director / S151 Officer
Epping Forest District Council
View profile Owen Sparks
Cllr Chris Whitbread
District councillor for Roydon and Lower Nazeing ward
Conservative Party
View profile Cllr Chris Whitbread
Cllr Holly Whitbread
District councillor for Epping West and Rural ward
Conservative Party
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Cllr Ken Williamson
District councillor for Buckhurst Hill West ward
Conservative Party
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Cllr Graham Wiskin
District councillor for Loughton St John's ward
Loughton Residents Association
View profile Cllr Graham Wiskin