Decision details

Councillor V J Bell, Chairman of the South Eastern Area Planning Committee presented the following recommendation coming forward from the last meeting of the South Eastern Area Planning Committee and set out on the Council agenda.

That the Council agrees that all future meetings of the South Eastern Area Planning Committee meetings be held at Burnham-on-Crouch Town Council Offices.

Councillor Bell then proposed an amendment to add that the Council’s IT department be asked come to Burnham Town Council offices to undertake a scoping exercise and produce a report, including costings, which could be presented to the next Council meeting.  This amendment was duly seconded.

Councillor A S Fluker spoke against the proposed amendment and provided details of the benefits seen when the South Eastern Area Planning Committee (SE) meetings were held in Burnham-on-Crouch.  He proposed that the recommendation of the SE be agreed on the basis that the IT infrastructure did not cost more than £1,000, explaining that he was confident mileage expenses saved would outweigh the cost.

In response to a question from the Chairman, Councillor Bell agreed to withdraw her earlier amendment.

A debate ensued and there were a number of comments raised by Members.  In response the Director of Resources provided the Council with further information, including:

·                 In respect of costs for setting up the Burnham Town Council offices to enable it to stream meetings the Director explained he had received an indicative cost from the ICT Team for equipment of £5,000.  It was noted that the ICT Team had not visited the Town Council offices and the indicative nature of any costings was highlighted.

·                 The current quality of the Wi-Fi at the Town Council offices was unknown

·                 This work would require re-prioritisation of projects that the ICT Team were currently working on.

During the discussion reference was made to an ‘Owl’ device used by Essex County Council as a mobile device for streaming.  It was suggested that this could be a low-cost solution for the Council and further investigation could be warranted.

The Chairman referred Members back to the original proposal from the Committee which was then duly seconded.

Councillor Bell proposed that the Council look into the potential of the ‘Owl’ streaming device to support the initial proposal.  This was duly seconded.

The Director of Resources suggested that the ICT team could review the infrastructure and capacity related to streaming at the Town Council Offices, reporting back on what was achievable and would fit with the Council’s current systems. 

The Chairman then put the proposal in the name of Councillor Bell to investigate the ‘Owl’ device and this was agreed by assent.

It was commented at this point that the original recommendation from the SE had not be agreed.  Councillor Miss S White then proposed that the SE move back to Burnham-on-Crouch and in the meantime the Council resolves to decide if it was going to use the ‘Owl’ device or not.  This was not supported.

The Chairman then referred to the original recommendation from the SE which had been seconded and put this to the Council.  This was duly agreed by assent.

Further debate ensued during which the Director of Resources highlighted the potential costs involved and the need to budget for this.

The Chairman clarified that the Council had agreed that the ‘Owl’ device would be investigated and a response should be received by the next Council meeting.

RESOLVED

(i)               That all future meetings of the South Eastern Area Planning Committee meetings be held at Burnham-on-Crouch Town Council Offices;

(ii)              That the Council investigate the ‘Owl’ streaming device to support (i) above and a report be brought back to the next meeting of the Council.