Agenda item

Following adjournment at the Council meeting on 14 September 2023 (Minute No. 246 refers, Minute extract enclosed), to resume debate on the report of the Director of Strategy and Resources (copy enclosed).

Members were reminded that this item of business had been adjourned from the last meeting of the Council (14 September 2023).  The related report and an extract from the Minutes of the September meeting were attached to the agenda for Members’ reference.

The report sought Members’ review of the South Eastern Area Planning Committee (SE) running from Burnham-on-Crouch Town Council (BTC) offices along with options for the future set up of these meetings.

Prior to Members resuming their discussion on this item of business the Director of Strategy and Resources provided a detailed update which included:

·                  details of the two SE meetings that had taken place since the last Council meeting and how live streaming of these meetings had not been possible.

·                  the IT resources, both inside and outside of working hours, that had been diverted from other projects to try and resolve the issues relating to SE meetings.

·                  at the last Council meeting Members had reported that BTC were due to update broadband etc., but to date this had not taken place.  However, should the broadband issues be addressed there was still a requirement for local support and the Director reported that had been advised this was not the plan for BTC IT.

·                  the poor service currently being given to both residents and Members.

The Director drew Members’ attention to section 3.8 of the report which set out three options for Members’ consideration.

Councillor V J Bell, Chairperson of the SE advised that she had that afternoon received an update from BTC.  She informed the Council that BTC had now commenced with work to upgrade the internet and if it was not in place for the December SE meeting it would be for the January 2024 meeting.  The update from BTC included a cost saving of £60 on the room hire, which would remove the provision of a member of BTC staff to open up for the SE meeting etc.  Councillor Bell proposed that in light of this information, the importance of democracy and the need to keep the meetings locally, evidenced by the number of people attending, that the Council should agree Option 2 as set out in the report.  This was duly seconded.

In response the Director commented that the information from Councillor Bell was not consistent with the latest information received by Officers.  He was only able to present in respect of the latest information available to Officers.

A lengthy debate ensued during which a number of Members supported Councillor Bell and SE meetings remaining at BTC offices.  However some concerns were also raised regarding the ongoing costs and quality of streaming available to the public. 

In response to a question regarding the additional £45,000 per annum detailed in the budget and resources required for option 2 (as set out in the report), the Assistant Director – Resources explained the make-up of the cost which had been based on the number of hours of IT expertise provided for recent SE meetings.  She suggested that should Option 2 be agreed a review of those costs could be undertaken, but that unless BTC IT took over the management there would still be some cost for IT expertise required.  It was noted that Officers had made numerous attempts to ensure a full IT service, but the problems remained.  Should Members agree to continue with meetings at BTC this would result in IT resources having to be pulled and have a direct impact on the corporate resources being delivered for ‘Business As Usual’ as well as savings options.

Following further debate, Councillor S J N Morgan referred to option 3 being the most cost effective option going forward.  He proposed that the Council adopted option 3.  The Chairperson advised that there was already a motion on the table.

Members discussed the current streaming issues with SE meetings, and it was commented that there had been issues on occasion with streaming at the Maldon District Council (MDC) chamber.  In response the Director of Strategy and Resources informed the Council that overall the quality of the streaming and recording from the MDC chamber generally met the quality standards expected by the Council and the incidents were isolated and had been addressed.  He highlighted how the report was not seeking to comment on the democratic discussion regarding whether the SE meetings should be at BTC for local reasons, the report outlined concerns with the quality of the streaming and provided options to deliver what the Council had agreed it would.

During further debate and in response to a query the Monitoring Officer clarified that the two proposals made during the meeting on 14 September 2023 no longer stood as they had been dealt with at the previous meeting. 

Councillor Bell repeated her earlier proposal, proposing that the Council adopt Option 2 (as set out in the report) with SE meetings remaining at BTC.  This proposal was duly seconded.

In accordance with Procedure Rule No. 13 (3) Councillor V J Bell requested a recorded vote.  This was duly seconded.

In response to a point of clarity raised by Councillor A S Fluker, the Chairperson confirmed that if the proposal was agreed and there were concerns within six months it could be brought back to the Council.

The Chairperson then put the proposal in the name of Councillor Bell to the Council and the voting was as follows:

For the recommendation:

Councillors V J Bell, D O Bown, A Fittock, A S Fluker, L J Haywood, K M H Lagan, A M Lay, W J Laybourn, N R Miller, M G Neall, R G Pratt, N G F Shaughnessy, U G C Siddall-Norman, W Stamp, J C Stilts, S White and L L Wiffen.

Against the recommendation:

Councillors M F L Durham, S J N Morgan, E L Stephens and M E Thompson.

Abstention:

Councillors S J Burwood, J Driver, K Jennings, R H Siddall, N D Spenceley, P L Spenceley and N J Swindle.

The Chairperson declared that the Motion was therefore agreed.

RESOLVED that the Council continues to run meetings of the South Eastern Area Planning Committee at Burnham-on-Crouch Town Council offices, as set out in Option 2 (as detailed in the report) investing in additional IT resource to support the meetings and streaming consisting of the following:

·                  New cabled system;

·                  New internet line.