Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance, (copy enclosed).

Councillor M Heard declared a non-pecuniary interest in this item as he was employed by Essex Police as an Auditor until the end of March 2019.

The Committee received and confirmed that the report of the Director of Resources.  The report supplied Members with details of performance against targets set for 2018/19 to ensure that progress is being achieved toward the overall corporate goals and objectives detailed in the Corporate Plan.

The Director of Resources then provided Members with the following information in response to questions on the report:

Levels of Reported Crime

·         Members were advised that there was no Quarter 1 on the report so that figures provided for Quarters 2 and 3 can be compared to the previous municipal year.

·         The figures provided for the Levels of Crime refer to those reported.  Members were advised that any further questions around these would need to be directed towards the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

Homelessness Prevention

·         Figures in the report are those provided by the Maldon District Council Housing Team.

North Heybridge Garden Suburb

·         The report covers the period up to December 2018.  An update for Members will be provided at the next meeting of the Extraordinary Council (Planning) on 28 February 2019.

·         The Council cannot make comment on any live Enforcement Notices.

Site S2g

·         An update on enforcement will be provided at a future meeting of the Committee.

Flooding

·         This is being considered at the next meeting of the Extraordinary Council (Planning) on 28 February 2019.

Waste

·         There are over 16000 collections per day; an average of 10 missed collections is considered a good number.

·         Missed collections are usually a result of remote properties or issues around access.

·         The figures provided were a result of garden waste tonnage due to a particularly dry summer.

·         Figures provided do not demonstrate whether it was the same properties that had missed collections.  The data collected does not allow for this information to be identified.

Central Area Masterplan (CAMP)

·         Owners of property and local businesses will be consulted as part of the project.

·         At present no contracts have been issued, CAMP sites are currently undergoing procurement.

Air Quality

·         Air quality on Market Hill had exceeded the legal limit.

·         Chelmsford City Council have won the bid and are writing an action plan to improve air quality.  This is a process which is expected to take 12 months to complete.

Revenues and Benefits

·         It is expected that the department will be fully staffed by June 2019, there is a mitigation plan in place were this not to happen.

·         Where there is a delay in the assessment of Council Tax Support (CTS) no compensation is paid.  This is due to the applicant’s liability being monitored by the Council and payment of CTS being applied directly to their billing account.  Applicants are not pursued for non/under-payment whilst there is a pending claim.

·         Parish precepts should be set bases of the difference between forecast income and expenditure for the following year. Some Parish Councils were looking to set the precept rather than charge residents for the difference.

·         It was agreed that clarification will be sought on the following questions from Members:

o   Whether an empty relief is applicable to newly built, empty properties.

o   How the date liability for Council Tax is determined following the completion of a new build property.

o   Whether any compensation is offered to claimants where there is a delay on the assessment of benefit which results in arrears on their rent.

Planning Applications

·         Members requested that a report be provided to a future meeting of the Committee on any staffing or processing which may cause delays in the processing of planning applications.

The Chairman advised Members that they should look to submit questions on reports in advance of the meetings and by doing so it would allow the Corporate Leadership Team to prepare efficient responses.

RESOLVED:

                   (i)            Quarter 1 figures on reported crime levels were to be included on future reports.

                (ii)            An update on Enforcement would be provided to a future meeting of this committee.

              (iii)            The aforementioned questions on Revenues and Benefits would be raised and responses would be circulated to Members.

               (iv)            An update on the processing of planning applications would be reported back to a future meeting of the Committee.