(Public Pack)Agenda Document for Council, 29/10/2020 19:00

Council Agenda

NOTICE OF COUNCIL MEETING

You are hereby summoned to a meeting of the EPPING FOREST DISTRICT COUNCIL to be held in the VIRTUAL MEETING ON ZOOM at 7.00 pm on Thursday, 29 October 2020 for the purpose of transacting the business set out in the agenda.

Georgina Blakemore Chief Executive

Democratic Services Gary Woodhall Tel: (01992) 564243 Officer: Email: [email protected]

WEBCASTING NOTICE (VIRTUAL)

Please note: this meeting may be filmed for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council's internet site - at the start of the meeting the Chairman will confirm if all or part of the meeting is being filmed.

You should be aware that the Council is a Data Controller under the Data Protection Act. Data collected during this webcast will be retained in accordance with the Council’s published policy.

Therefore by participating in this virtual meeting, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes. If members of the public do not wish to have their image captured they should ensure that their video setting throughout the virtual meeting is turned off and set to audio only.

In the event that technical difficulties interrupt the virtual meeting that cannot be overcome, the Chairman may need to adjourn the meeting.

If you have any queries regarding this, please contact the Corporate Communications Manager on 01992 564039.

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BUSINESS

1. WEBCASTING INTRODUCTION

This virtual meeting is to be webcast. Members are reminded of the need to unmute before speaking.

The Chairman will read the following announcement:

“I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be broadcast live to the internet (or filmed) and will be capable of repeated viewing (or another use by such third parties). Thereby by participating in this virtual meeting, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes. If members of the public do not wish to have their image captured they should ensure that their video setting throughout the virtual meeting is turned off and set to audio only.

Please also be aware that if technical difficulties interrupt the meeting that cannot be overcome, I may need to adjourn the meeting.”

2. FORMER COUNCILLOR T. BOYCE

The Council are invited to stand for a minute’s silence in tribute to the memory of former District Councillor Tony Boyce who recently passed away.

Former Councillor Tony Boyce served as a Conservative District Councillor representing the Moreton and Fyfield ward of the district for 9 years, from May 2008 until May 2017.

In 2014 former Councillor Tony Boyce was elected to the position of Chairman of Council, a position that he enthusiastically embraced. He enjoyed a very successful year raising over £25,000 for local charities including a new minibus for Community Transport.

During his time on the Council, former Councillor Tony Boyce served as:

 May 2008 to May 2017 Conservative Cllr for Moreton & Fyfield ward  May 2008 to May 2013 Chairman of Area Planning Sub-Committee East  May 2009 to May 2010 Vice-Chairman of Safer, Cleaner, Greener Scrutiny Panel  May 2010 to May 2013 Vice-Chairman of District Development Control Committee  May 2011 to May 2017 Licensing Sub-Committee Chairman (1 of 6)  May 2013 to May 2014 Vice-Chairman of Council  May 2014 to May 2015 Chairman of Council.

3. MINUTES (Pages 7 - 22)

To approve as a correct record and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 2020, as attached.

4. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

To declare interests in any item on the agenda.

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5. ANNOUNCEMENTS

(a) Apologies for Absence

(b) Chairman’s Announcements

6. PUBLIC QUESTIONS (IF ANY)

To answer questions asked after notice in accordance with the provisions contained within Part 4 of the Council Rules of the Constitution on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the District:

(a) to the Leader of the Council;

(b) to any Portfolio Holder; or

Questions, if any, will follow if not received in time to be incorporated into the agenda.

7. QUESTIONS BY MEMBERS UNDER NOTICE

To answer questions asked after notice in accordance with the provisions contained within the Council’s rules in Part 4 of the Constitution on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the District:

(a) to the Chairman of the Council;

(b) to the Leader of the Council;

(d) the Chairman of any Committee or Sub-Committee.

The Council’s rules provide that answers to questions under notice may take the form of:

(a) direct oral answer;

(b) where the desired information is in a publication of the Council or other published work, a reference to that publication; or

Answers to questions falling within (a) and (b) above will be made available to the member asking the question one hour before the meeting. Answers to questions falling within (c) above will be circulated to all councillors.

Questions, if any, will follow if not received in time to be incorporated into the agenda.

8. REPORTS FROM THE LEADER & MEMBERS OF THE CABINET (Pages 23 - 54)

To receive reports and any announcements from the Leader and members of the Cabinet on matters falling within their areas of responsibility:

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(a) Report of the Leader – Councillor C Whitbread;

(b) Report of the Commercial and Regulatory Services Portfolio Holder – Councillor A Patel (attached);

(d) Report of the Environmental and Technical Services Portfolio Holder – Councillor N Avey (attached);

(e) Report of the Finance and Economic Development Portfolio Holder – Councillor J Philip (attached);

(f) Report of the Housing and Community Services Portfolio Holder – Councillor H Whitbread (attached); and

(g) Report of the Planning and Sustainability Portfolio Holder – Councillor N Bedford (attached).

9. QUESTIONS BY MEMBERS WITHOUT NOTICE

The Council’s rules provide for questions by any member of the Council to the Leader or any Portfolio Holder, without notice on:

(i) reports under the previous item; or

(ii) any other matter of a non-operational character in relation to the powers and duties of the Council or which affects all or part of the District or some or all of its inhabitants.

The Council’s rules provide that answers to questions without notice may take the form of:

(a) a direct oral answer from the Leader or, at the request of the Leader, from another member of the Cabinet;

(b) where the desired information is in a publication of the Council or other published work, a reference to that publication;

(d) where the question relates to an operational matter, the Leader or a member of the Cabinet will request that a response be given direct to the questioner by the relevant Service Director.

In accordance with the Council’s rules, a time limit of thirty minutes is set for questions. Any question not dealt with within the time available will receive a written reply. The Chairman may extend this period by up to a further ten minutes at their discretion.

10. MOTIONS

To consider any motions, notice of which has been given under the Council’s rules.

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Motions, if any, will follow if not received in time to be incorporated into the agenda.

11. APPOINTMENT OF QUALIS BOARD MEMBERS (Pages 55 - 56)

To note the recommendations in the attached report from the Senior Management Selection Panel for the permanent appointment of the Qualis Board members.

12. QUALIS FINANCIAL REPORT (Pages 57 - 90)

To discuss and agree any actions required on the Qualis Quarterly Monitoring Report – Q1/Q2 and Q3 2019/20.

13. AUDIT AND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE (Pages 91 - 92)

To consider the attached report to revise two of the Treasury Management Investment limits.

14. JOINT ARRANGEMENTS & EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS (Pages 93 - 94)

(a) To receive from Council representatives the reports (attached - if any) on the business of joint arrangements and external organisations and to receive answers to any questions on those bodies which may be put without notice; and

(b) To request written reports from representatives on joint arrangements and external organisations for future meetings.

15. EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS

Exclusion: To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press 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 paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

Agenda Item No Subject Exempt Information Paragraph Number Nil Nil Nil

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Background Papers: Article 17 of the Constitution (Access to Information) define background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a) disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based; and

(b) have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

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The Council will make available for public inspection for four years after the date of the meeting one copy of each of the documents on the list of background papers.

6 Agenda Item 3

EPPING FOREST DISTRICT COUNCIL COUNCIL MINUTES

Committee: Council Date: 30 July 2020

Place: Virtual Meeting on Zoom Time: 7.00 - 9.10 pm

Members Councillors H Kane (Chairman), J Share-Bernia (Vice-Chairman), N Avey, Present: R Bassett, N Bedford, R Brookes, L Burrows, D Dorrell, I Hadley, S Heap, S Heather, R Jennings, J Jennings, S Jones, S Kane, H Kauffman, P Keska, J Leppert, A Lion, C McCredie, M McEwen, J McIvor, L Mead, R Morgan, S Murray, S Neville, M Owen, A Patel, J Philip, D Plummer, C P Pond, C C Pond, B Rolfe, M Sartin, P Stalker, D Sunger, B Vaz, C Whitbread, H Whitbread, J H Whitehouse, J M Whitehouse and D Wixley

Apologies: Councillors R Baldwin, A Beales, P Bolton, H Brady, G Chambers, Y Knight, J Lea, G Mohindra, S Rackham, C Roberts, D Roberts, B Sandler and D Stocker

Officers G Blakemore (Chief Executive), N Dawe (Chief Operating Officer), S Jevans Present: (Strategic Director), A Small (Strategic Director), N Boateng (Service Manager (Legal) & Monitoring Officer), G Woodhall (Democratic & Electoral Services Manager), J Leither (Democratic Services Officer), P Seager (Chairman's Officer), V Messenger (Democratic Services Officer) and R Moreton (Corporate Communications Officer)

12. WEBCASTING INTRODUCTION

The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager reminded everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

13. COUNCILLOR SYD STAVROU

It was with much sadness that the Chairman informed the Council of the death of Councillor Syd Stavrou.

Members were informed that Councillor Syd Stavrou had been a District Councillor since 2002, representing the Waltham Abbey High Beach Ward of the District as a Conservative Councillor. She served on the Cabinet for many years holding many of the most senior positions, including Deputy Leader, Community and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder, Finance Portfolio Holder, Housing Portfolio Holder; and was a Member of various outside bodies such as the Lea Valley Regional Park Authority. Councillor Syd Stavrou was also a Member of Waltham Abbey Town Council and had served several terms as the Waltham Abbey Town Council Mayor.

Members paid tribute to the memory of Councillor Syd Stavrou and stood for a minute’s silence in her memory.

14. MINUTES

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the Council meeting held on 21 May 2020 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record. Page1 7 Council 30 July 2020

15. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

16. ANNOUNCEMENTS

(a) Announcements by the Chairman of Council

Overview and Scrutiny Rule 53 (Call-in and Urgency)

The Chairman, Councillor H Kane advised that in accordance with the above mentioned rule, she was satisfied that the following decision of the Cabinet was reasonable in all circumstances and should be treated as a matter of urgency as any delay likely to be caused by the call-in process would seriously prejudice the Council’s interests.

Decision:

(1) To note that the Business and Planning Bill is at Committee Stage in the House of Lords and is likely to get Royal Assent this month and that the Council should have a process in place to determine licensing applications made under the Act;

(2) That in order to achieve the tight timelines for determination of Licence Applications under the new Act agree:

(a) To amend the Scheme of Delegation and add decision making authority to the role of Director of Contract and Technical Service / Director of Commercial and Regulatory Services in respect of applications that do not receive any objections and those that do receive objections the Portfolio Holder for Commercial and Regulatory Services or the Leader of the Council be consulted as well as the Chair or Vice Chair of the Licensing Committee before a decision can be made,

(b) That Consultations on licence applications be carried out by electronic and digital means only;

(d) That Licence fee will be to be set out in Resource Implication section of the report;

(e) That the licence period shall be the maximum permissible under the Act currently likely to be up to September 2021;

(f) That Licensing Conditions attached at appendix-1 are adopted.

(3) That the Chairman of Council be requested to waive the call-in for this decision on the grounds that the implementation of these recommendations would need to be put into immediate practice as soon as the Act received its Royal assent.

The Chairman therefore determined that the call-in provisions of the Overview and Scrutiny Rules, which would otherwise apply, be disregarded for this decision.

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17. PUBLIC QUESTIONS (IF ANY)

The Council noted that there were no public questions under notice that had been submitted for consideration at this meeting.

18. QUESTIONS BY MEMBERS UNDER NOTICE

Question by Councillor J M Whitehouse for the Planning and Sustainability Portfolio Holder, Councillor N Bedford

“What assessment has the Council made of the impact on the district of recent and forthcoming changes to use classes and permitted development rights? These changes were wide-ranging and among other revisions appear to allow, subject to certain restrictions, the construction of up to two new storeys above houses and blocks of flats (and one new storey above bungalows) without requiring a full planning application. In particular:

(a) will the Council consider what steps it could take, such as Article 4 directions or similar measures, to protect streets where the current uniformity of design makes a major contribution to the special character of the area (for example The Orchards in Epping)?

(b) what were the implications for policies in the emerging local plan including policy H 1 F which seeks to resist the loss of bungalows?”

Answer to Councillor J M Whitehouse from Councillor N Bedford, Planning and Sustainability Portfolio Holder

(a) Several new changes were being introduced firstly, as part of the Governments stated intention for reform of the Planning System and secondly, as a response to the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the need to ensure that the system can continue to operate effectively and support the recovery. It was too early for an assessment to be made at this initial stage, but in the case of building up additional storey’s, a large proportion of properties in the district will not be affected.

For example, among the changes, it will be permitted in principle to allow the construction of two additional storeys on the topmost storey of buildings of two storeys or more, or one additional storey on a detached house of one storey, above ground level. But, not in conservation areas, areas of sites of special scientific interest, listed buildings or properties built before 1 July 1948 or after 28 October 2018. These will still be subject to the usual planning permissions and consultations. The rest would need prior approval from the Council after notifying adjoining owners or occupiers, which will consider certain matters relating to the proposed construction of additional storeys. These included:

 consideration of the impact on the amenity of neighbouring premises, including overlooking, and  privacy and overshadowing; the design, including the architectural features of the principal elevation of the house, and of any side elevation which fronts a highway.

The Council could consider imposing an Article 4 direction where necessary, which basically removes the permitted changes and therefore still required planning permission. This though cannot be imposed immediately because it

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needed to go through a due process that can take 6 to 12 months. The prior approval though still retains the need to consider amenity of neighbours and also design, so if there were streets where the uniformity of buildings was a character of that area, then there will still be control where the neighbour raises objection.

In addition, the Use Classes Order was being altered to create a new broad category of ‘commercial, business and service’ uses (Class E) incorporating shops, restaurants, offices, day nurseries, indoor sport and recreation among other uses, such that planning permission will not be required to move among these uses. Changes to hot food take-aways or betting shops will still require full planning consent. Given the reason was to make it easier for high street uses to change use without the need for a planning application, any potential further restrictions through an Article 4 Direction will need very careful consideration.

(c) Policy H 1F of the current emerging Local Plan Version states that the loss of bungalows will be resisted. This was because they support the needs of people with accessibility needs, including older people. The policy will still be a material consideration where planning permission was required, but only on amenity and design grounds where the adjacent neighbour raises such an objection on the new prior approval application.

19. REPORTS FROM THE LEADER & MEMBERS OF THE CABINET

The Council received written reports from the Portfolio Holders. The Chairman invited the Leader of Council to provide an oral report and the opportunity for other members of the Cabinet to give an update on matters concerning their relevant portfolios.

(a) The Leader of Council

The Leader advised the Council that in recent meetings there had been various reports that focussed on the recovery from Covid-19 and many of the Cabinet reports at this meeting would touch upon this in greater detail. The Council had to start looking to the future and needed to make sure that all the plans put forward in February 2020, as part of the budget, were implemented and he stated that his report would focus on some of what had been achieved and how we as a Council would move forward.

At Cabinet in February 2020 the Leader reported that the Highways Rangers would be brought back to Epping Forest, recruitment had taken place and there would be two Highway Rangers starting in mid-August 2020. Additional funding had been secured and repairs to finger posts would be matched funded by Town and Parish Councils. This was a positive action during the Covid-19 lockdown, it showed that the Council had been working on moving forward.

The Leader advised that recently there had been some reports in the media on Qualis and he felt it was time to clarify some points that had been reported. The Qualis group of companies had been set up by the Council, they would benefit the Council in several ways and formed a key part of the medium term financial strategy and budget.

Through Qualis the Council were looking to achieve an improved and more efficient service to customers, for example housing repairs, which was a key driver behind the setting up of Qualis. Qualis were looking at an estimated growth investment by the Council of approximately £150 million over the next five years delivering a 3% net

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return across the portfolio. In real terms this would translate in a return to Epping Forest District Council of £1.5 million for the first year rising to £12 million by year five of operation.

The Council through Qualis was looking to deliver 300 new homes for the district, new amenities including a new leisure centre in Epping, supporting economic growth, creating new jobs and a portfolio of new investments.

The Council have always been open and transparent on how Qualis would operate and this had been discussed in several forums, it was critical that Qualis were allowed the space to operate commercially to achieve the industry role the Council had to rise to and ensure we have the correct skills and expertise in business.

In February 2020 all Members were invited to a workshop for legal advisers to go through a Shareholder Agreement and how the monitoring of the new company would be undertaken. This was followed by a Cabinet paper that agreed quarterly reports on the finance and performance of Qualis would be presented to Cabinet and Council which would provide the correct monitoring.

Following recent comments and criticisms regarding costs and transparency and given the challenges faced during Covid-19, at a meeting with members of the Cabinet it was proposed that the following changes be applied when the Qualis permanent board was recruited in September 2020. There would be one Council Member outside of the Cabinet to be appointed to the Qualis board on the equivalent Councillor allowance, this would ensure the transparency by providing a link for the Council to Qualis and would also reduce the cost from the three interim board members down to one. The recent decision to second a Strategic Director from the Council onto the Qualis board would reduce the requirement of having two Councillor appointee members thus creating a further saving to the overall cost of the Qualis board. All members of the new permanent Qualis board will be interviewed by the Council’s senior appointments panel as agreed, followed by recommendations to Full Council, this will be a robust process and will ensure the Council has the required skills and experience required to run the group of Qualis companies. The February Cabinet report set out the benchmarking cost for these roles and this was the correct market rate.

The quarter 1 and quarter 2 financial operational reports of Qualis have been reviewed by the Qualis board and will come to the next Cabinet meeting and then on to full Council.

The Leader hoped this clarified the situation with regard to Qualis, this Council has always been open and transparent and we need to work towards Qualis being the unrivalled success it needs to be to drive forward our Council.

(b) Housing and Community Services Portfolio Holder

Councillor H Whitbread advised that in light of recent events she would like to highlight and add some information to her published report.

Illegal Raves

There had been reports of illegal raves in the district and across the country in recent weeks also large gatherings during the lockdown period. We have been working closely with the Police on this particularly around the kind of noise related reporting. The Council have an out of hours reporting service for any loud noises also in terms of a Closure Order where any kind of illegal large gatherings like there were in Water

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Lane in Roydon at an Airbnb. The Council was able to get a Closure Order in place, through the court system, which was excellent work by the Community Safety Team.

Town Centre Teams

I recently met with the Town Centre Team at Waltham Abbey and the District Chief Inspector on the first anniversary of the scheme. The Town Centre Teams consisted of two Police Officers based exclusively in the Town Centre, they had a really good proactive community policing attitude working with the local businesses and residents. They would tackle shoplifting, anti-social behaviour and any give any other assistance that they could.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all the work they are doing with the local community as their work needs to be recognised.

Woodland Grove, Epping

In June this year a fire broke out in a block of flats in Woodland Grover, Epping. This was a very sad incident where one resident of the flats lost their life. The community response, the Council’s response and the Fire and Emergency Services’ response was remarkable.

Councillor H Whitbread advised that she had stayed at the rescue centre all day where the Red Cross attended and immediately jumped into action, equipped with all sorts of help materials for the victims. Julies Café at Stonards Hill served refreshments all day, the Council Housing team made sure that everyone had overnight and the longer term provision they needed in terms of housing and support.

Councillor H Whitbread gave thanks to all those involved in that response and remarked how well managed it was on the day.

The Bell Hotel, Epping

There had been a lot of attention in the press recently in relation to a video that had been circulated via YouTube, which gave some misleading information.

Councillor H Whitbread advised the Council that she would like to address and clear up some of this misleading information.

The Bell Hotel has been procured by the Home Office to house asylum seekers for a temporary period during the Covid-19 pandemic. There had been no increase in crime during this period, local food charities have not been giving food to these people, the Home Office are providing their food and also they are not illegal immigrants they are asylum seekers and this point needs to be made clear.

Councillor N Bedford advised that he would like to refer back to his report as there had been an update to the Local Plan.

Housing Requirement in the emerging Local Plan

It was important that plans were reviewed in the light of later and better information and that the emerging Local Plan moves forward towards adoption so that sustainable and environmentally sensitive growth can occur in the District.

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It was common practice that after publication of more recent household projection data such as that recently published by the Office of National Statistics, 2018 population projections, that authorities were encouraged to look at their housing requirement and the Inspector examining the Local Plan had written to the Council asking us to do that in the light of the new data which shows a reduction in projected household growth over the plan period compared to that used to support the plan which used the 2014 population projection data.

In the light of this the next steps for the Council were to ask the Opinion Research Services who undertook the original Strategic Housing Market Assessment, and on which the housing requirement in the emerging Local Plan was evidenced, to review the latest data to see whether the housing requirement for the District was still the right approach, this was based on the 2012 approach as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. This was scheduled to be completed by the end of August.

If the current Local Plan requirement was still correct taking account of the proposed alterations already being considered to meet the actions identified by the Inspector, the Council will advise the Inspector and move towards the Main Modifications consultation and adoption of the plan in line within the current timetable.

If the current housing requirement cannot be justified further reduction in the proposed allocations and removal of sites will be considered with preference being given for removing environmentally sensitive sites. A revised timetable will then be agreed with the Planning Inspector to agree the additional work required to evidence the plan, this could include traffic modelling, air quality modelling and the provision of infrastructure such as school provision and similar.

Taking all the above into account the Council’s focus has to be getting the Local Plan over the line and getting the Habitat Regulations Assessment and the associated Air Pollution Mitigation Strategy agreed by Natural England and the Conservators of Epping Forest, so that we can start to determine the planning applications that have been held in abeyance as soon as possible.

I hope this gives Members confidence that we are moving forward at an alarming pace and nothing will stop the Council from getting this plan through.

20. QUESTIONS BY MEMBERS WITHOUT NOTICE

The Chairman thanked Members for giving notification of their intention to ask questions without notice.

(a) Local Plan

Councillor S Jones asked the Planning and Sustainability Portfolio Holder to comment on the Planning Inspector’s letter suggesting that the Council look again at the housing numbers in the light of new projections and would this have an impact on the Council’s delivery of the emerging Local Plan.

Councillor N Bedford referred Councillor Jones to the statement and letter he had read out earlier in the meeting.

(b) Governments likely proposals for Unitarisation and Devolution

Councillor C C Pond stated that there was a summit meeting to be held soon of all Leaders and Chief Executives of all Councils in Essex relating to the Governments

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likely proposals for unitarisation and devolution. He asked the Leader as to what line he would take, how would he consult ordinary councillors and would he report back in the Member’s Bulletin as to the progress of those discussions.

Councillor C Whitbread advised that he would be virtually attending that meeting and would wait for the Government’s White Paper to be published in the autumn, once that was published then there would be a better idea of how to proceed. He stated that he would keep Members advised as the discussions progressed.

Councillor R Bassett asked the Housing and Communities Portfolio Holder what were the benefits of moving the Council housing repairs service to Qualis.

Councillor H Whitbread advised that by moving housing repairs to Qualis it would make the service much more efficient with a technology app that repairs could be reported on which would save more time with staff not having to travel from one side of the district to the other.

(d) Council Housing Stock

Councillor S Neville stated that although the Council took great pride in building new council houses to a high environmental standard he asked the Housing and Communities Portfolio Holder what plans did the Council have in terms of retrofitting their existing housing stock to the same environmental standards.

Councillor H Whitbread agreed that the Council did have high environmental standards when building new Council Houses from solar panels to all modern appliances to ensure that the Councils properties are as environmentally friendly as possible. In relation to retrofitting I will have to consult with officers and put a response in the Members’ Bulletin.

(e) Telecare

Councillor J H Whitehouse asked the Housing and Communities Portfolio Holder why Telecare was put on hold in March 2020 and would not resume until September 2020. Just after lockdown started she advised that she had referred an elderly resident to Telecare and was told installations had been suspended. Four weeks ago this 90 year old resident fell over in her garden and had to shout for help until someone found her. It seemed wrong that she and others on the Telecare list were having to wait until September to get this very important support.

Councillor H Whitbread stated that she was sorry to hear of the elderly lady falling over and hoped that she was recovering. She advised that she would press officers to get an answer as to when the installations would start again and would liaise with Councillor Whitehouse when she had an update.

(f) Leisure Centres – Covid-19

Councillor P Keska asked the Environmental and Technical Services Portfolio Holder if he could comment on how leisure services have been affected by Covid-19 and how does that affect the Council’s plans for leisure in the future,

Councillor N Avey advised that officers were working closely with Places Leisure to monitor and manage the impact of Covid-19 on the leisure management contract. There have been financial losses due to the closure of the leisure facilities and the

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Council are hopeful, with centres reopening, the Council will move to a better financial position. The leisure facilities dry side, such as the gym and studios will reopen on Monday 3 August and the swimming pools on the 10 August, this was due to Places Leisure adopting a cautious approach to reopening across all of their contracts. They have allowed sufficient time to fully train staff with new operational procedures and health and safety measures.

(g) Royal Gunpowder Mills

Councillor D Plummer asked the Leader if he would undertake to use every effort within his power to keep the Royal Gunpowder Mills fully open to the public as one of the district’s main visitor attractions and historic sites.

Councillor C Whitbread advised that this Council was always keen to make sure that this district maintains its tourism attractions.

(h) Government Support – Covid-19

Councillor Ian Hadley asked if the Finance and Economic Development Portfolio Holder could comment on Government support during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Councillor J Philip advised that the Government had provided all councils with a huge amount of support, above £4bn, of this £3.2bn was for emergency grant funding during March and April and £5bn of cash flow support for local authorities through Covid-19, the support included £3.7bn to councils that was not ring fenced, £600m in support for adult social care, £20bn in support for businesses, £500m in council tax hardship funds, £300m towards test and trace, over £100m for homeless support and over £50m for reopening high streets.

In July the Secretary of State announced a new set of support measures which included a scheme to reimburse councils for lost income from sales, fees and charges which allowed the Council to spread the tax deficits over the next three years.

EFDC received just over £1.5m but more will follow in the future to compensate for income losses, losses from business rates and council tax. The Government is continuing to work with councils, we provide the Government on a regular basis with the gaps that the Council are seeing in revenue coming in and increased costs going out. That has been used to target the financial support from the Government to the councils that need it most.

(i) Business and Planning Bill, grant of Pavement Licences

Councillor S Heap asked the Planning and Sustainability Portfolio Holder if he would agree, given the recent ban in France, that outdoor heating is an anathema in the light of the climate crisis declaration and should be similarly banned?

Firstly, Patio heaters are very bad for the environment, they are the equivalent to a truck passing by, a standard 13kg canister could heat up to 25m sq for 12 hours but could do the same indoors for 120 hours together with the emissions and damp heat produced. Secondly they encourage people to congregate and even huddle together in close proximity, which was a very bad thing in the light of Covid-19.

Councillor N Bedford advised that a balance must be struck between supporting business survival, resident nuisance and also climate matters. We want to encourage/ facilitate businesses to be able to use outdoor space in the cooler

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months and into the evenings. We are promoting electric ahead of LPG and have suggested more climate friendly solutions too, and I think this is a reasonable balance. Licence conditions require safety measures in place for proper maintenance and storage of heating appliances and management are under an obligation to ensure social distancing is observed; these conditions can be enforced by our Licensing Team.

(i) Where heating was proposed for colder weather, electric heating was preferred to LPG, to minimise the carbon usage. Fire pits are prohibited. Alternative options of temporary screens (subject to Council approval) and rugs, cushions and blankets can also be considered as climate friendly solution.

(ii) All outside electrical heating must be suitable for the use intended and installed and located to eliminate any risk posed by power supply cables, including tripping hazards. All electrical equipment must be subject to regular visual inspection and must be safe, maintained free from ‘danger’ and not pose a risk. Where necessary, electrical equipment must receive an appropriate safety examination, to ensure that it remains safe, maintained free from ‘danger’ and not pose a risk.

(iii) All full and nominally empty gas cylinders for patio heaters or other liquid gas fired appliances, must be stored outside either in a secure cage or suitably secure location, bear the correct signage and located away from drains and gullies (min 2M). The maximum number of cylinders onsite (full and nominally empty) shall not exceed a volume of 100Kg. All gas cylinders must meet latest BS EN requirements.

(j) Large gatherings

Councillor D Sunger asked the Housing and Communities Portfolio Holder what comments she had on illegal raves and large gatherings that are taking place in the district and what actions have been taken to tackle this. Could the Council use social media to discourage people from arranging such events.

Councillor H Whitbread advised that this problem was a really important issue especially from a public health point of view these kinds of events are lethal and they should be discouraged every way possible. I am aware that the police have done a social media campaign around this and I will speak to the Councils Corporate Communications team to ensure that we are sharing all of that information.

(k) Homelessness

Councillor L Burrows asked the Housing and Communities Portfolio Holder to comment on how rough sleepers and homelessness were coping during the Pandemic.

Councillor H Whitbread advised that the Council’s homeless team have done a great job throughout the Pandemic. The Covid laws changed and the Council had strict guidance from the Government to get every rough sleeper and homeless person into accommodation whether they were an Epping Forest resident or not. In the first two months of lockdown 26 rough sleepers had been found temporary accommodation. The Homeless team have informed me that they are trying to secure permanent accommodation for these people when the legislation changes.

Page10 16 Council 30 July 2020

There was a wider concern regarding homelessness as lockdown begins to ease a real increase in homeless applications have been received. There was a 65% increase in applications in June/July which is very concerning, a lot of these are as a result of domestic violence. There was also concern about the economic consequences of crime and how this might impact on people in private tenancies but I have been assured by the Council’s Homeless team that they were very organised and were ready to receive those applications.

(l) Town Centre sites in Epping

Councillor J M Whitehouse asked the Commercial and Regulatory Services Portfolio Holder if he had had any discussions with Qualis regarding the consultation it was running on the town centre sites in Epping and the fairly vacuous nature of the current consultation exercise and whether he would push for a more detailed consultation on the actual proposals in due course.

Councillor A Patel advised that he hadn’t had any meetings with Qualis as yet but that he had scheduled a meeting to be held with the new Managing Director of Qualis and once that had taken place he would be happy to report back in due course.

(m) Qualis

Councillor S Murray advised the Leader that he was grateful for his verbal report and comments on Qualis this evening, but would he agree to outline these really important changes in an email or a written report. These are quite significant issues and to verbally report these changes at Full Council isn’t really acceptable.

Councillor C Whitbread advised that he agreed with Councillor Murray and there would be a written report going to Cabinet, detailing the make-up of the Qualis Board. The Board that has been in place was an interim Board and there was always the plan to make changes.

21. MOTIONS

The Chairman reported that there were no motions to be considered at the meeting.

22. CONSTITUTION WORKING GROUP REPORT

Mover: Councillor S Jones, Chairman of the Constitution Working Group

On behalf of the Constitution Working Group, Councillor S Jones presented a report regarding Constitution revisions and amendments. She advised that there were nine recommendations to be agreed.

Report as first moved ADOPTED

RESOLVED:

1. (a) That the revision to the Council’s Scheme of Delegation as set out in the report, be agreed; and

(b) That pursuant to Recommendation (1(a)) above, the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make necessary revisions to the Council’s Constitution.

Page11 17 Council 30 July 2020

2. That existing arrangements for public speaking in respect of planning applications remain the same for the District Development Management Committee.

3. That the Developer Contributions Strategy identified infrastructure requirements for minor sites where applicable and the involvement of local councils.

4. (a) That the incorporation of the revised Officer Employment Procedure Rules be approved; and

(b) That pursuant to Recommendation (4(a)) above, the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make necessary revisions to the Council’s Constitution.

5. (a) Recommending: that the proposed changes to the Audit and Governance Committee’s Terms of Reference be approved; and

(b) That pursuant to Recommendation (5(a)) above, the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make necessary revisions to the Council’s Constitution.

6. (a) That the transfer of the responsibility for the reviewing of, and recommending revisions to, the Corporate Risk Register from the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee to the Audit and Governance Committee be approved; and

(b) That pursuant to Recommendation (6(a)) above, the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make necessary revisions to the Council’s Constitution.

7. (a) That a change to the current delegations and standing financial instructions to require only one sign off signature (electronic or physical) by the designated budget holder (usually a team manager) for purchases and payments with a value of £24,999 or less that are within budget and only purchases and payments off £25,000 and / or in excess of budget requiring a second signature from a director, be approved. (This was to retain control whilst significantly reducing transaction costs and paperwork pending a major system review and change timetabled for April 2021);

(b) That the issues of real or virtual purchase cards to all budget holders and directors and expect all purchase below £1,000 to be made by this route and where applicable purchases of £1,000 to £4,999 to also be made by this route, be approved. (This was to retain control whilst significantly reducing transaction costs and paperwork pending a major system review and change timetabled for April 2021);

(c) That pursuant to Recommendation (7(a)) and (7(b)) above, the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make necessary revisions to the Council’s Constitution; and

(d) That the Audit and Governance Committee review the Financial Regulations in a year’s time.

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8. (a) That existing arrangements remain the same for the Audit and Governance Committee and the Standards Committee with no merger; and

(b) That any future merger will be reconsidered by the Constitution Working Group only at the request of either of the Audit and Governance Committee or the Standards Committee.

9. (a) That ‘another’ at paragraph 1.3 last sentence be included in this draft revised protocol, to read, ‘Co-opted members can also add value to the scrutiny process by considering service provision from a customer perspective and acting as another channel for questions from outside the authority’;

(b) That the draft revised protocol for the co-option of non-elected Members to the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees pursuant to Recommendation (9(a)) above, be recommended to the Council for approval; and

(c) That pursuant to Recommendations (9(a)) and (9(b)) above, the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make necessary revisions to the Council’s Constitution.

23. OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

The Council noted the written report of Councillor M Sartin, the Chairman on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Councillor M Sartin advised that at the meeting on 16 July 2020 the Committee had received a presentation from the Epping Forest Youth Council on the activities that they had undertaken during the last twelve months. The Committee were highly impressed by the work of the Youth Council and acknowledged that they were one of the best Youth Councils in operation in the region.

24. AUDIT AND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT 2019/20

Mover: Councillor I Hadley, Chairman of Audit and Governance Committee

Councillor I Hadley reported that the Annual Report of the Audit and Governance Committee outlined the Committee’s work and achievements over the year ending 31 March 2020, and demonstrated to residents and other stakeholders the vital role that was carried out by the Audit and Governance Committee as well as the contribution that it made to the Council’s overall governance arrangements.

Report as first moved: ADOPTED

RESOLVED:

(1) That the Annual report of the Audit and Governance Committee for 2019/20 be noted.

25. JOINT ARRANGEMENTS & EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS

(a) External Organisations

Councillor C Whitbread, Leader reported at the meeting of Annual Council an error had been made of the Member Appointment to the Police Fire and Crime

Page13 19 Council 30 July 2020

Commissioner Panel, Councillor H Whitbread was nominated and not as stated Councillor N Bedford. Therefore would the Council agree to this change in membership of the outside body for the remainder of the municipal year.

RESOLVED:

That the Council agreed to the change in membership to the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner Panel for the remainder of the municipal year.

(b) Royal Gunpowder Mills

The Chairman, Councillor H Kane reported that she had been trying to contact the CEO of the Royal Gunpowder Mills, Stella Morris for an update. She managed to contact her on her private phone and was informed that she had left her position at the company, of her own accord. Councillor H Kane promised to inform all councillors, as soon as she had contact with the Chairman, by publishing a report to the Members Bulletin.

Councillor C C Pond stated that the Council should pay tribute to Stella Morris and the work she did at the Royal Gunpowder Mills. The Gunpowder Mills should be opened as a unique facility in the world and something that is unique to the Epping Forest District.

Councillor H Kauffman thanked the Chairman for all her efforts in trying to get an update for the Gunpowder Mills and stated that he and Councillor C C Pond would be willing to attend any meetings with the Chairman.

The Chairman thanked Councillor Kauffman and advised that as soon as she had an update she would put it in the Members’ Bulletin.

Councillor S Murray advised the Council that he was the Council representative on the Roding Valley Nature Reserve, which was very important for the district. The Essex Wildlife Trust who manage the reserve and have a long standing agreement with us have asked for the agreement to be changed to incorporate a farm business tenancy agreement, which was motivated to source funding from the Government. He had emailed Abigail Oldham, Team Manager for the Countryside and Landscape team to obtain her professional advice on this proposal.

(d) North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP)

Councillor S Heap requested a report from NEPP regarding the exact process they went through to get the temporary works that were put through High Beach and Theydon Bois, which included road closures and red lines that pertain to the tarmac and not the forest itself. They have spent around £80,000 and he would like to know how much money the Council contributed and how involved the Council was in the discussions.

Councillor N Bedford stated that this question had been asked many times by different people and advised that because of the Covid-19 restrictions, emergency powers were brought in. A conference call was held between the Corporation of London, Essex County Council and Epping Forest District Council Officers and Members and I confirm that I was present at that meeting. Discussions were held around what could we do to deter people from parking in the forest and the Corporation of London suggested that double red lines would be a good way to

Page14 20 Council 30 July 2020

police the parking. This was then investigated by Essex County Council who agreed that red lines was the way forward as a moving traffic camera offence could be committed and officers would not be put in jeopardy issuing Penalty Charge Notices(PCN’s).

This was joint funded and the recovery of the money would come from NEPP by way of the issued PCN’s. There were no minutes from any meetings that took place as this action needed to take place quickly and was therefore brought in under the emergency powers and was a temporary measure for 18 months.

Councillor M Satin, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee added that NEPP have been asked to attend an Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in the near future.

(e) Epping Forest District Health and Wellbeing Board

Councillor A Patel reported that Health & Wellbeing Boards were a county-wide initiative coordinated through the Essex Public Health team that were in place across all district, borough and City Councils in Essex.

The Council was reminded that the local Epping Forest Health and Wellbeing Board was chaired by Councillor A Patel and included a range of local partners such as the West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group, Essex Social Care and various voluntary Sector organisations. The Board met quarterly, and was responsible for agreeing local health priorities and tackling any emerging issues affecting the health of local residents. Examples of specific projects being undertaken by the Board included: the MiLife mental health initiative in Primary Schools; the establishment of walking sports; and ‘Stay well this Winter’ events. A multi-agency project to tackle health inequalities in the Paternoster ward of Waltham Abbey would be undertaken later in the year.

The Board launched the Epping Forest Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-28 in 2018, which set out the vision and aspirations for the health and wellbeing of the District. Three multi-agency, age-specific Action Groups were also established to deliver the aims of the Board. Each Action Group met quarterly and reported to the Board on progress made with meeting its Action Plan. Common priorities across all three Action Groups included: mental health and wellbeing; tackling obesity; and supporting older residents to live independently.

Governance of the board was undertaken through Essex Public Health and twice yearly all the Chairmen from the Health & Wellbeing Boards across Essex and their officers met to share items of best practice and interest.

CHAIRMAN

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Page 22 Agenda Item 8

Report to the Council

Committee: Council Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Commercial and Regulatory Portfolio – Covid19 Responsibility

Portfolio Holder: Councillor Aniket Patel

Recommending:

That the report of the Commercial and Regulatory Portfolio Holder be noted in related to Covid19

I am pleased to report that most Council services continue to operate normally, but with some restrictions as necessary in order to maintain distancing and the safety of staff and residents. The safety of residents and staff remains our top priority.

However, I am sorry to report the looming second spike means that the role of the Council has once again shifted back to preparing to support Response actions, whilst at the same time still working on economic and community Recovery.

I would like to acknowledge this is a trying time for the District’s residents and for the Council’s members and officers alike. I would like to thank everyone for their continued co-operation and support, without which I am sure the infection rates would be much higher in this area than they are today.

But despite the effort everyone is making, we have continued to see the rate of new infections rise in Epping Forest District. Whilst still well below those of the national hotspots, the Council’s infections have been elevated for some time and are still some of the highest in the wider Essex area. This represents an area of significant concern and so, our focus is on reinforcing adherence and the clear messaging to the community of the Government’s safety messages.

If not already announced, it seems inevitable that greater restrictions will be introduced in the Essex area in the not too distant future. In preparation, the Council is revisiting the arrangements made last time and the revisiting the learnings we took from the way in which these worked. We are also making sure that we have the resources and capacity ready to respond at short notice, should this be required. However, community support infrastructure is much better developed than it was back in March and so we expect the demands made of this Council will look different this time around.

We are responding to the additional responsibilities the Government is placing on every Council, such as the administration of the Government’s Isolation Support Payments, which were implemented by the Revenues and Benefits Team in a matter of weeks and ahead of the deadline.

Through our Environmental Health Team and by working closely with partner agencies, we are enforcing the rules on curfew, track and trace and distancing measures within the District’s licensed premises and providing support and advice to businesses where appropriate.

Page 23 We are also continuing to make progress on implementing protection measures within the District’s high streets.

Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) is also playing an active part in the coordinated Greater Essex response, via the Strategic Co-ordination Group (SCG), comprising all public sector bodies operating within the County.

We are working closely at a County level on co-ordinating communication messages and on enforcement activities, to make sure there are consistent messages being given to the residents.

After a brief respite during the summer months I am again meeting regularly with the Covid- 19 Portfolio Holder Advisory Group members (to whom I am extremely grateful for their ongoing support) to discuss the current position and emerging issues. This includes both the Response and the Recovery actions of the Council.

Furthermore, the Covid19 Response and Recovery actions of the Council have recently been discussed at both the Stronger Place Select Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Cabinet, at its meeting last week, considered the progress made by officers on the Cabinet’s key priority economic recovery actions. Considerable activity and effort are being invested in this space as we recognise the enormous impact the Pandemic has had on the lives of residents and the economy of the Epping Forest District area.

At the same time, we are considering the Social and Wellbeing impacts on our communities, by engaging with community groups, the voluntary sector, partner agencies and the youth council, thereby recognising that the impacts on the residents of Epping Forest District may be long lasting and are much more than just financial.

Page 24 Report to the Council

Committee: Cabinet Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Commercial and Regulatory Services Portfolio

Portfolio Holder: Councillor Aniket Patel

Recommending: That the report of the Commercial and Regulatory services Portfolio Holder be noted.

Regulatory services:

I am pleased to report that the Regulatory Service, with the Community Resilience Team continue to pro-actively and reactively work together to promote and enforce the Corona virus restrictions in order to protect the community.

New enforcement powers, recently introduced around contact and trace and social distancing rules in hospitality premises, makes previous guidance, now a legal requirement. This gives clarity to businesses, the public and enforcement officers.

Environmental Health Officers (EHO) continue to respond to enquiries from businesses and the public and to investigate complaints of alleged breaches of the covid rules. Proactive inspections have been in line with intelligence from the Director of Public Health around particular concerns of noncompliance amongst certain businesses. As a result, we have inspected our trading estates, horticultural nursery sites and barbers and hairdressers across the district. More recently, we have updated information on our website regarding the new legal requirements for hospitality and we have written to the premises on our ‘radar of concern’ to re-iterate the rules and inform that we will be carrying out enforcement visits, including issuing fixed penalty notices where required. EHOs, community police, Licensing and Environmental Enforcement officers propose intelligence led weekend checks where necessary.

It continues to be the case that most businesses are doing their best to comply, whilst trying to be economically viable. As such, EHOs and other enforcement officers spend considerable time giving advice, guidance and support to local businesses, using enforcement powers only where necessary. However, as the concerns of increased infection rate continue, enforcement officers across the Council and police service will have no hesitation in issuing Fixed Penalty Notices or taking other appropriate action if necessary, to protect the community.

As explained in my previous report, our EHOs are trained in infectious disease control and as such are well placed to carry out a covid-19 outbreak management role, should a local outbreak occur, or be associated with a workplace activity on the district. There have generally been no direct workplace incidents to date apart from a recent outbreak affecting a number of Leyton Football Team, which resulted in EHOs working with the English Football League and Essex Public Health Consultants to ensure safety of the training ground which is on our district.

I advised, in my previous report that I would feed back to you on the progress made by our Private Sector Grants Team, newly structured since this July, for the improved delivery of

Page 25 Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG) and Loans under our Housing Assistance Policy. For this financial year to date, the figures are as follows:

 39 DFGs approved with a total value of £251,671.00  22 DFGs completed and paid with a total expenditure of £95,033.00  3 Decent Homes approvals with a total value of £19,943.00  1 Decent Homes Payment for completed works amounting to £5,560.00  There are a further 115 grants, at various stage of application, being processed

This is significant progress by the Team, particularly, taking account of the covid-19 lockdown that prevented staff from visiting our disabled and vulnerable customers until end of June. The Better Care Fund awarded for Disabled Facilities Grants to the Council for this year amounts to £855,956 and the team are committed to spending as close to this as possible.

Commercial services: North Weald Airfield I am pleased to report that the Airfield is now operating on a business as usual basis although all public events have been cancelled for 2020.

The casual bookings are very slowly starting to pick up with a number of regular hirers returning to use the facilities.

General aviation is extremely busy and movements are at pre-pandemic levels.

The market continues to thrive post full lockdown with trader and visitor numbers increasing significantly since re-opening in June. This would indicate that the market operators Covid - 19 precautions are providing confidence to shoppers and stall holders alike.

The staff establishment is now complete with 2 recent appointments to vacant Operations Officer roles.

National Police Aviation Service (NPAS) I am pleased to report that noise complaints regarding the NPAS operation have reduced significantly over the last 6 weeks. The noise monitoring exercise has concluded and we await the results from the consultant.

Counsel’s advice has also been sought following noise complaints and that advice would suggest that the Council has a robust defence against any actions that may or may not be taken.

Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) I am pleased to report that the construction of the new Hangar is progressing well and is on target to be completed in early 2021.

Building Control I am pleased to report that Building Control income at the end of the last financial year was around £130,000 above budget, with a notable increase towards the latter part of the year. This positive result should, however, be treated with caution as this was influenced by the new high-volume partnership scheme working with Ken Judge Associates for nationwide conservatory roof replacement approvals. This produces up-front income with tail-off cost liabilities that run into subsequent years which are not typically encountered with other Building Regulations applications. A new accounting process has been instigated to better reflect and ring-fence our ongoing cost commitments resultant from this scheme.

Page 26 Building control income has been affected by Covid 19. Application numbers received are 30% fewer than the previous financial year discounting the partnership scheme with Ken Judge Associates. As of 31st July 2020, income was approximately £82,000 short of budget forecasts, but around £68,000 less than for the same period in the 2019-2020 financial year. We are awaiting income reports for August and September.

This conservatory partnership income recommenced this financial year only after the easing of Covid 19 restrictions and we have received a total of 522 applications, suggesting performance at or above the level expected.

Since the start of September, inspection requests to active building sites have picked up substantially. The remaining year performance will depend much upon any need for further Covid restrictions and any resultant uncertainty in the wider economy.

A vacant Senior Surveyor post is due to be filled at the end of October and recruitment to fill the recently retired Principal Surveyor is ongoing.

A new Building Safety Bill published in July and awaiting Royal Assent introduces significant changes to the Building Control system by removing competition for Building Control services on high risk buildings and placing increased expectations on competency validation for all professionals involved with Building Control for all building types. These changes are expected to be implemented over a two-year period.

Epping Forest Shopping Park The Epping Forest Shopping Park is now re-open following the Covid-19 trading restrictions with appropriate social distancing.

External solicitors acting for EFDC are now liaising with the original roofing contractors appointed solicitors and their formal proposals as to substantial roofing and drainage works specification is promised this month with regards rectifying persistent issues on these matters.

Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate This fully let scheme continues to perform well, given the current economic climate.

North Weald Airfield Former Gymnastics Centre under offer to a community sports centre, transaction approved by EFDC and with solicitors to progress to completion.

Hanger 1 is under offer for a 10 year lease (this being the minimum term achievable given investment in the building required by any prospective occupant) following an extensive marketing period. Pending EFDC formal approval.

A large number of asset management and lease initiatives are ongoing at the airfield (subject to the outcome of the Master Plan).

HMRC have requested an additional 5 years plus expanded occupation space for customs and transit from 1st January 2021. Negotiations over rent, space, use are ongoing and are also subject to simultaneous stakeholder engagement by HMRC and liaison with Planning over the proposed SDO.

Landmark Building Units B, C & D where handed back to the Council by the tenant on 24 February 2020 and immediately marketed by our agent. Terms have been agreed with a local boxing gym. Planning for change of use to D2 has been received. Letting to the Boxing gym is expected to complete by the end of October 2020.

Page 27

Terms were agreed for Unit A with a local fitness centre / gym at the asking rent, but the operator has now decided not to pursue their interest. Property is now being marketed and despite difficult access arrangements, some initial interest has been shown.

On 1 October 2020 the letting of Unit G completed to Wenzel’s The Bakers, a good covenant with 60+ stores. The tenant is expected to commence their fit-out very shortly. This will be an excellent addition to The Broadway and will hopefully increase footfall.

There is an offer on Unit E from a local business who wish to open a tanning salon and has submitted a change of use application. Due to size / shape of this unit, subject to planning we intend to agree terms with this operator. Terms agreed with Tenant and draft lease with Tenant for approval. Awaiting planning consent for change of use and external air conditioning.

The lease for Unit F has now completed. The tenants have submitted the necessary planning and building regulations applications. Following the recent refusal at planning committee, the tenant is working with the Council on the best way to secure consent for their M&E works.

Page 28 Report to the Council

Committee: Cabinet Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Customer and Corporate Support Services Portfolio

Portfolio Holder: Councillor S Kane

Recommending:

That the report of the Customer and Corporate Support Services Holder be noted.

People Team

Apprentices

EFDC have been working with other authorities and SOLACE to develop a Level 5 Management Apprenticeship for local government. The Emerging Leaders programme offers an Institute of Leadership & Management Level 5 qualification for developing middle managers and covers a range of topics including Leading People, Managing People Finance, Project Management, Operational Management, Communications and Problem Solving/ Decision Making. EFDC has 7 employees starting this exciting programme in October 2020.

We are making excellent use of the Apprenticeship Levy by using the monies to offer 4 new apprenticeships in Housing. The Housing Careers Pathways programme offers a great opportunity for anyone of any age to join the programme to launch a career in Housing, whilst studying for an accredited Chartered Institute of Housing Qualification. Housing Managers have appointed to all 4 apprenticeships who are due to start employment and their course on 2 November.

Our younger Business Admin and Customer Service apprentices are doing well in their Level 2 qualifications and are close to finishing in the next 6 months. They are in placements in Council Tax, The People Team, Housing Repairs, and the Museum. Our 2 Multi trade construction and electrical apprentices are now finally able to start their college course at New City College (after colleges were forced to shut through lockdown).

The Council currently has 23 apprentices in the organisation from Level 2 (GCSE level) to Level 6 (Degree level). This means we are far exceeding the Public Sector target of employing 2.3% of our workforce as apprentices (which equates to 15 apprentices).

Common Operating Model

Consultation is underway for the remaining teams to finalise the restructure process (ICT and Legal) the People Team consultation has now been concluded (Sept 2020) and appointments have been made. These final consultations had been put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic to support teams affected.

The Council needs to ensure that our services are aligned as effectively as possible so that we can deliver on our priorities and outcomes. Recognising there will always be change within Local Government that require structures to adapt, our intention is to review our current

Page 29 services and ensure they are aligned to deliver the corporate plan and the new recovery actions. This has necessitated some redistribution of service responsibility into functional groupings which in turn align to our priorities.

There are three phases of change taking place over the coming months, phase 1 has recently seen a realignment of services/functions so that corporate projects are delivered. This realignment has also considered the impact of support to Covid recovery projects and services moving across to Qualis.

People Strategy 2020 – 2022

As part of the People Strategy we have now developed a new Recruitment Strategy ‘Candidate Journey’ reviewed by Overview and Scrutiny on 16 July. The Employee Lifecycle is designed to show the aspirational candidate journey at EFDC and how the People Strategy touches all employees throughout their employment. The Strategy is underpinned with a detailed milestone plan. The recruitment strategy will be delivered in a phased approach over a 2-year period.

During the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond the People Team continue to work hard to ensure we continue to accelerate and build upon our Wellbeing agenda for employees. We have launched our ‘Let’s get talking’ wellbeing initiative, building a repository of mental wellbeing, financial and family support tools for employees, their friends and family members. We have shared these tools with members. We continue to encourage feedback from employees on how we can build upon these tools really embracing our ethos of ‘Our People and their Families Come First’.

We have trained 97% of our managers on ‘Mental Health for Managers’ training through MHFA England (Mental Health First Aid) and have four Cohorts of employees currently training to become Mental Health First Aiders. We continue to look at ways to further wellbeing initiatives to support managers and employees with mental health and are due to exceed our ambitious target of 1 in 10 trained by February 2021.

We are also in final stages and due to launch our winter wellbeing initiative ‘Keeping you a little bit warmer this winter’. This support guidance offers managers and employees hints and tips around winter wellbeing. There is a strong message of a wintertime mindset change associated with going into the winter months and the People Team have focused on more of this using study associated with a Norwegian approach to dark winter months.

The People Team

Assisting the Accommodation Project the People team have designed an organisational manager and employee ‘Effective Flexibility’ guidance tool to support a more agile mindset to working in different and remote ways. This is a follow on from our ‘New Ways of Working’ document produced and launched in January 2020.

Legal Team

The Legal team undertook it’s Lexcel charter mark reassessment on 28th August and successfully retained its accreditation. Lexcel is an accreditation indicating quality in relation to legal practice management standards introduced by the Law Society.

Page 30 Corporate Health and Safety

An electronic Accident / Incident reporting system is set to go live in mid-October for all employees with a proposed series of short training session for managers to be delivered via Teams. An Accident and Incident Guidance for Managers document has been developed which will enable a much more informative record of accidents and incidents with provision to upload pictures and documents to aid any potential investigation and to identify any trends.

Also, a procedure has been developed for Fatal/Serious Accident Investigations. This details the formation of an Incident Team and protocol for actions across the organisation to manage all aspects of the incident from the practicalities of the investigation to managing communications, employee liaison and welfare, enforcement authority liaison etc.

Mandatory training for H&S has been sourced and is in the process of being purchased; much uses our existing online provider for E learning and we have added a much more robust system to monitor and record when and who completes training therefore maintaining our duties under the H&S at Work etc Act 1974. Subjects will include H&S Induction, Fire Safety, DSE, Working at Height, Asbestos Awareness, Legionella Awareness, Manual Handling, Lone Working, COSHH, Electrical Safety, Driver Safety, PPE and Protection Against the Effects of Noise. All employees will be required to complete the H&S Induction course and Fire Safety courses with Managers identifying further courses relevant to the employee’s duties.

Our construction apprentices are currently due to undertake a level 2 mandatory H&S training course which will ensure proper records as they move into their placement with Qualis Group.

A Strategic Safety Group has been established consisting of Executive Team, Service Directors, H&S leads and Union representation. This group will meet on a quarterly basis with a monthly written update. An Operational Safety Group consists of Service Manager level with H&S lead and Union representation.

Risk Assessment Guidance for Managers document has been updated with Generic, Person Specific (to cover staff at particular risk i.e. young persons and staff with specific health conditions or needs) and New and Expectant Mum’s risk assessment templates. The templates will ensure that risk assessments are consistent across the organisation. Risk Assessment Training is being organised and the aim is that it will be delivered as group sessions for all managers by the end of 2020. Work is continuing on additional guidance and templates other key areas including COSHH and the provision and use of PPE.

Contingency Planning

A review of our Emergency Response plans is progressing. A 9 week on call rota has been agreed at Director level. This rota will provide a GOLD officer to deal with any emergency either external in the district or internal to the council with a tactical team who can be convened as necessary to deal with evacuation or business as usual issues. This plan will include links to the Emergency Media Plan, the ICT Disaster Recovery process and internal Business Continuity protocols.

A date for Directors to attend GOLD officer and emergency response training is anticipated for mid-October in preparation for the plan and rota to go live.

There is also the intention for Teams/Zoom training sessions for staff volunteers who may be called to provide support to emergency rest centres and for Service Managers who would be expected to lead on tactical groups according to their expertise or service.

Page 31 Rest Centre venues have been reviewed and a new list updated which will be annexed to the Emergency Response Plan.

There will also be an opportunity for interested Members to join a future Zoom session for awareness of emergency planning and how the Essex Resilience Forum works. Notification of this session will be included in the Members Bulletin.

ICT

With most staff working from home, the ICT team are supporting a more diverse environment than before. Service management improvements have been implemented, including using the service desk system (HOTH) for all tickets, so that there is better visibility of all issues and requests, and can be dealt with appropriately. A new Major Incident Management process has been implemented, with clear roles, communication and practical solutions to enable the team to operate with everyone at home.

Work on the Accommodation programme is in full flight including network provision, Audio Visual solutions, new applications to support new ways of working and equipment provision.

The formal consultation for the ICT team restructure has been re instigated. Appointments have been made for the 3 team manager roles, and the process for the rest of the team is underway, with interviews commencing in October.

An evaluation of members ICT equipment requirements is currently underway. This will help inform what needs to be done next to best support members and provide good ICT solutions.

The team have been actively working on setting up Qualis including transferring over employees, setting up equipment, and supporting new applications that will be used. This work will continue until Qualis implement their own ICT provision.

A list of all ICT projects has been collated and clarified. A new monthly ICT project governance process has been implemented with Service Directors, and this has already helped to prioritise the list, and agree which projects will continue. New projects will be clearly defined using a project brief and then prioritised by the governance group. This will enable the team to deliver the right project in a timely manner.

Business Support

The team continue to build a positive working relationship with HM Land Registry, having biweekly project meetings to discuss progress on the data migration project. Also, the team have additional meetings with a MMLR Business Analyst to manage data extracts. The team are on track to migrate our data to the Land Registry in Q4 of 2020/21.

Page 32 Report to the Council

Committee: Cabinet Date: October 2020

Subject: Customer Portfolio

Portfolio Holder: Councillor Sam Kane

Recommending:

That the report of the Customer Portfolio Holder be noted

1 The period since my last report to Council has seen Customer Services continue to play and important role in helping the Council and Community to recover from the effects of the national Covid lockdown.

Revenues and Benefits

2 The Revenues team completed the process of issuing the Business Grants for the Government’s Covid schemes including the Discretionary Scheme which followed during the summer. In all £32m was issued to businesses across the district.

3 Following on from recent Government announcements relating to Test and Trace procedures it announced a new scheme for those who are required to self- isolate for up to 14 days, cannot work from home and are on low incomes and in receipt of qualifying benefits. Successful applicants receive a £500 payment. Local authorities are required to administer the scheme which is funded by Government. The scheme is now live in Epping Forest and full details are available on the Council’s website.

4 Recovery action has restarted to collect outstanding Council Tax and Business Rates. A ‘soft’ reminder notice was issued with an emphasis on encouraging people to come forward to help them with payment arrangements, including extended terms. A formal reminder notice has since been issued to 3,800 households and further notices will be issued through the year to help maximise these key income streams.

5 The processing of Benefit claims is in a stable position ahead of an expected rise in unemployment later this year as Furlough arrangements change. New claims during Q2 were being processed in 11.07 days compared with 15.56 days in Q2 2019. Caseload has stabilised for the time being at just over 7,000 claims for Local Council Tax Support. Members are reminded that most new claims for working age Housing Benefit will claim for this through Universal Credit now. In terms of channel shift I am pleased to report that 83% of new claims that the Council does process are now made on-line compared with 50% at the start of the financial year.

6 The EFDC Benefits team have signed up to the Housing Benefit Accuracy Award Initiative and the performance of the team is in the top quartile and has received recognition from the DWP in respect of this.

Page 33

Customer Services

6 The Customer Services team was central to the front-line response to the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst the Covid hotline remains active the resources supporting the team have reduced in line with call volumes and will similarly be increased should customer demand rise.

7 The Broadway office and Waltham Abbey library have opened for those who wish to pay by cash and was timed to coincide with the reinstatement of Revenues recovery action.

8 The Service has also welcomed two new Team Managers covering the roles of Louise Warren and Nikki Gambrill who have undertaken internal secondments in the Business Services team. The two new Team Managers are Jack Cooper and Tracy Scott. In addition two Lead Officer posts have been recruited to, giving added resilience, these are Louis Walton and Leanne Austin.

9 As Members may have seen the Council took part in the National Customer Service Week run by the Institute of Customer Service. The week involved a range of activities undertaken by staff which were themed each day. The week was a success with good levels of engagement by staff and the results and learnings from the week will be taken to the Stronger Communities Select Committee.

10. The first stage of a ‘Customer Shoes’ behavioural training pilot has been completed and initial staff feedback is extremely positive. Using an external provider; the Impact Factory, the training was run virtually and included twelve staff from a mix of service areas. A particular focus was given to dealing with difficult customers, staff feedback from the Customer Service week reinforced this is a key area our employees want support with, in particular while working virtually. Staff feedback will now help to shape the next stage of pilot.

10 A new Out Of Hours Service Contract has been successfully implemented with Mears. This enables residents to report issues out of normal office hours with the vast majority relating to Housing Repairs.

11 The furlough scheme ending could cause uncertainty for many residents and so to support we are launching a virtual hub via the EFDC website. Marketed with the hashtag #BackOnYour Feet, it will navigate customers to existing services and partnership organisations that may be able to help them including housing, financial support, benefits, job-seeking, employability, mental health & well-being as well as partnerships such as Healthy Minds, New City College, Jobcentre Plus, Reed.co.uk, Epping Forest Foodbank & Frontline. The sentiment is to let our residents know that we care about them and are here to support through difficult times. We’re expecting a lot of younger working people to be impacted and as such will have a strong social media presence to support.

12 Our three microsites; North Weald Airfield, Waltham Abbey Museum and Countrycare are now up and running. Further specific information will continue to be be added to the sites by the relevant areas to reflect the current restrictions with Covid-19. The links to the microsites are:

Countrycare https://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/countrycare/

Page 34 Epping Forest District Museum https://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/museum/

North Weald Airfield https://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/northweald/

13 Q2 performance key points to note are; 71% overall customer satisfaction (target 80%), 50% first point resolution (target of 45%), 98% of complaints resolved within SLA (10 working days). The contact centre is almost fully resourced with two further Officers joining shortly. With a full headcount and training completed we would hope to see overall customer satisfaction increasing. .

Page 35 This page is intentionally left blank Report to the Council

Committee: Cabinet Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Environmental and Technical Services Portfolio

Portfolio Holder: Councillor Nigel Avey

Recommending:

The report of the Environmental and Technical Services Portfolio Holder be noted.

COVID-19 – Response of Contracts and Technical Services

All services continue to perform well during the Covid-19 period. Office based staff are continuing to work remotely by using Microsoft TEAMS. Those who need to come to office for operational reasons are taking precautions to avoid the risk of infection. Operational staff have assisted with the Council’s Safer Spaces Project to keep the high streets safe.

Waste Management: The replacing and refurbishment of the recycling banks sites is due to take place in October/November. This will lead to the replacement of the existing banks by using a new standard bank that will collect all the materials that are collected by the clear recycling sacks and will include glass. The textile banks will remain at this present time. This new bank system will reduce the amount of space occupied compared to the current system, reduce/eliminate the need for specialist collecting equipment thus reducing the carbon footprint of the service and have a faster reaction time to issues including overfilled banks as we can use our existing freighters. It will also Improve the appearance of the recycling sites with distinct EFDC corporate identity. The start of a trial at certain blocks of flats collecting textiles, batteries and small electrical items using a 340 wheeled bin will commence shortly. We will publicise this to the residents and aim to increase the level of recycling of these items rather than them ending up contaminating the refuse bins. We are investigating the waste collection from some traveller caravan sites, as the number of caravans and the increase in waste tonnage has in some cases increased substantially. This is causing some collections issues with the quantity of waste, abuse by residents and in some areas the state of repair in unadopted roads that are causing expensive damage to collection vehicles.

Leisure Management Members will be aware that the District’s leisure centres re-opened on 3rd August. The challenges imposed by operating under social distancing conditions have been significant. Managing queues, booking classes and maintaining cleaning regimes being just three of very many factors affecting operations. I am pleased to report that Waltham Abbey Leisure Centre, Loughton Leisure Centre and Epping Sports Centre are operating relatively well although user numbers are down on this time last year by around 40% on average. The pool at Ongar Leisure Centre is closed for refurbishment at present but the gym remains open. Page 37 The refurbishment work at Ongar Leisure Centre is under way with an anticipated reopening of the pool immediately after the Christmas break. The aim of the refurbishment is to get another five to seven years of use out of the centre during which time further decisions about the future of the site can be made. While the majority of the £1.3m budget will be spent on fixing the roof, replacing the pool plant and upgrading the electrical systems, the intention is to apply any underspends to improving the poolside seating area for parents and families. Our contractor, Places Leisure, is constantly adapting to changing circumstances reflecting the national position on Covid-19. This is proving to be a huge challenge, but most customers accept the disruption.

Car Parking Members may be aware that at the onset of lockdown at the end of March, car park usage fell to less than 10% of normal usage. As at the end of September car park usage has recovered to the point where numbers of tickets sold are greater now than prior to lockdown. It is almost certain that the increase in numbers has been aided by the introduction of the temporary 20p tariff in mid-June. However, the reduced tariff has meant a significant drop in car park revenue for the Council especially as many commuters are now working from home. The Traffic Regulation Orders for on-street parking that were approved in October 2019 and have now been made operational by North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) are listed below:  Roding Gardens, Loughton - Waiting Restrictions  High Gables, Loughton - Permit Parking  Bridge Hill, Epping - Waiting Restrictions  Hanbury Park Estate, Chigwell - Waiting Restrictions  Amberley Road, Buckhurst Hill - Permit Parking  Epping New Road, Buckhurst Hill - Waiting Restrictions and permit bays (Operational in October)  Church and Temple Mead, Roydon - Waiting Restrictions  Gould Close, Moreton - Waiting Restrictions TTRO in place  West View Road, Loughton - Permit Parking  Stanley Place, Ongar - Waiting Restrictions  Scotland Road, Buckhurst Hill Permit Parking (Operational in October)  Westbury Lane, Buckhurst Hill - Change of permit hours  Staples Road, Loughton - Permit Parking Operational  Ardmore Lane, Buckhurst Hill - Waiting Restrictions Operational  Princes Road, Buckhurst Hill - Permit Parking Operational  Ivy Chimneys, Epping Permit Parking - limited waiting and waiting restrictions  Traps Hill and High Gables, Loughton - Waiting restrictions and pay and display bays

The Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO) that have been approved in October 2020 and will became operational during 2021 are listed below:  Fairmeads, Loughton - Waiting restriction/s  Roundhills, Waltham Abbey -Waiting restriction/s  Victoria Road, Buckhurst Hill - Waiting restriction/s  Coronation Hill, Epping - Waiting restriction/s  Shelley Grove, Loughton - Waiting restriction/s  Purlieu Way, Theydon Bois - Waiting restriction/s  Garnon Mead, Coopersale - Waiting restriction/s  Kendal Road Epping - Resident permit area/s  High Street, Roydon - Resident permit area/s Page 38  The Square/Leaden Close, Loughton - Waiting restriction/s Junction protection  Gould Close, Moreton - Resident permit area/s and waiting restrictions  Sidney Street, Coppice Row - Theydon Bois - Waiting restriction/s

Fleet Operations Service Fleet Operations at Oakwood Hill depot are now operating at 100%, and the MOT test station is now open 6 days a week, there is an increase in the demand for public MOT’s that will have a positive impact on the projected budget for servicing/repairs and MOTS for 2020/21. Fleet Operations has provided Qualis Management (housing repairs) with a new fleet of repainted and refurbished motor vehicles, fitted roof racks, security locks, specialist auxiliary equipment and fitted the new Qualis corporate livery and despite the challenges of the last few months have managed to stay on target.

Grounds Maintenance The Grounds Maintenance teams have been kept very busy over the summer months as the long days and warm wet weather has encouraged continued vegetation growth. Hedge and shrub cutting continues at a pace with priority being given to highway site lines and sheltered housing accommodation. Assistance has been provided to CountyCare and Land Drainage with the summer cutting of the Councils flood plains throughout the district. These areas include Thornhill, Thornwood, Bobbingworth and Church Lane in North Weald. Throughout theses site the majority of the grass is cut and collected to provide substantial flood water storage should the need arise whilst some vegetation areas are left to encourage greater biodiversity. Grounds have also assisted with the induction of the two new Highway Ranger’s providing mechanical equipment training. The Grounds Service undertake the marking and maintenance of the many football pitches located on Roding Valley Recreation Ground. The specialist team responsible for this work have now completed all the new line-markings required and installed the goal posts to ensure the pitches are ready for the coming season. With the closure of the former Swimming Pool at Roundhills in Waltham Abbey access to the Playing Fields behind is restricted and has prevented the Town Council from maintaining the site. Grounds Maintenance have assisted with the cutting of the fields as required and compliments received from residents. The team has also received positive feedback from both members of the public and Town and Parish Councils for their continuing excellent work in the district.

Country Care CountyCare has gained 2 new members of staff, 2 Countryside Assistants, and both have settled into their roles very well. The team is now fully staffed and the merits of having extra hands is already showing benefits. Despite volunteer days being limited for a period of time, the team have managed to complete all essential habitat management tasks for the summer on our wildflower meadow sites. Reptile recording mats have been out at Home Mead LNR in Loughton for the first time this year which has been a success and shown there to be a healthy population of breeding Slow worms. Other wildlife records of note for this period include passage migrant birds visiting some of our sites, such as Pied Flycatcher and Stonechat. The team have been helped by Grounds Maintenance once again with the cutting of some of the larger meadows. With winter approaching, the wintering Snipe will be arriving back at Thornwood Common Flood Meadow LNR and the team will be working on some our more wooded sites. Page 39

Environmental Protection and Land Drainage During the recent heavy rains and localised flooding events in Loughton and Epping, the team provided support to residents throughout issuing sandbags and identifying where further assistance may be required. In the following days the team continued to respond to incidents, provided advice to residents and assisted in determining the potential sources of the flooding such as Thames Water’s drainage systems and Essex Highways’ assets and referred the issue to those bodies where applicable. In general, the flooding was a result of the intensity of the rainfall over a short period of time that overwhelmed the networks but subsided within a matter of hours.

Flash flooding in urban areas will be a recurring issue in the future and the team, as part of their involvement in the new development sites within the Local Plan, will continue to push for robust and well-designed Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) to be holistically built into masterplan designs. The long-term stewardship of SuDs and related assets is also portrayed with an example of one of the storm grills that EFDC maintain in order to help reduce the risk of flooding to property. One such grill on the edge of the Epping Forest can be seen below in a ‘before’ and ‘after’ scenario. The rainfall of the 17th August, even within a relatively small area, resulted in the washing down of around 8 tonnes of forest debris that would have otherwise blocked a critical culvert had it not been for the grill arrangement. The importance of checking and maintaining of these assets by Officers cannot be underestimated.

Before After The impact of the coronavirus has meant that certain visits to premises to assess less urgent drainage issues or undertake sampling of private water supplies had been reduced and only undertaken where risk assessed as safe to do so, however with the recent recruitment of a Principal Environmental Protection Officer this will bring much needed extra capacity to the overall team to work on pollution and contaminated land matters. Highway Rangers: The Highway Rangers has now transferred to EFDC and two new staff have been recruited. They have completed their initial induction and training they have they have now begun working out in the district initially on priority tasks referred from ECC. Once these are complete the Rangers will begin assessing other requests such as work on Epping High Street and Sun Street in Waltham Abbey to help rejuvenate these areas, as well as commence work on issues raised by the Town and Parish Councils. The EFDC website has been updated with information on the team and a link to the new webform for requests for work that is available to members of the public and Councillors. Information on how to access the service will be distributed to the Towns and Parishes to provide further advice and also to explain that some further functionality will be added in the coming weeks to enable them to approve requests from members of the public or reject them if they are duplicates or not needed. https://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/environment/highway-rangers-service/

Page 40 Report to the Council

Committee: Cabinet Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Finance and Economic Development Portfolio

Portfolio Holder: Councillor John Philip

Recommending:

That the report of the Finance and Economic Development Portfolio Holder be noted

Finance

Since my last report to council the focus of Finance Portfolio has continued to be on understanding and managing the impacts of COVID-19 on the Council’s budget. The impact has been significant, both in terms of cost pressure and in terms of lost income. In addition, Covid-19 has resulted in large variances on individual budgets, as the focus of budget holders has shifted in response to the demands placed on the Council by the Pandemic.

For example, the Council was unable to deliver some services because of restrictions, has had to re-align resources in other areas to focus on the response effort, had new cost pressures associated with local response impacts but also the wider national economic, social and community impacts and saw significant reductions in income receipts from key income generating activities.

This has made keeping track of the budget especially difficult this year and the Finance Team have been working hard with budget holders across the organisation to understand the impact on the council’s finances.

As reported to cabinet earlier this month, even after government support (currently forecast as £3.4 million) the pandemic will still result in a large cost to the Council that will be unfunded and will need to be taken from the Council’s general fund working balances. Our current best estimate is that this might be close to £2 million, but with such uncertainty surrounding the ongoing and lasting impacts of the continuing virus threat it is likely the true figure at the end of the year may vary significantly from this estimate.

Fortunately, through sound financial planning over previous years the council has sufficient General Fund working balances to cover the estimated cost of the Covid-19 event during 2020/21. This will avoid the Council from needing to take in-year budget action, as has been seen in some other councils.

This leads on to the development of the budget for next year and the medium-term financial plan for the next three years. With so much uncertainty surrounding the ongoing and lasting impact of the virus on the Epping Forest District it is particularly difficult to plan financially over this time frame. Key to understanding the financial implications will be knowing when the virus will cease to become a threat and what the lasting impacts on the economy, the community and the finances of the district area are. Additionally, at this stage it is unknown what further support will be forthcoming

Page 41 from the government and therefore what quantum of savings the council will need to plan for in the budget planning time frame.

With these uncertainties likely to continue beyond the point where the Council will need to set its budget, the budget plans will need accommodate multiple scenarios. More information will be provided to members for their consideration as part of the budget development process over the next few months.

Economic Development

Town Centre Regeneration: Business Consultants Studio 3 Ltd have been appointed to lead work on the regeneration of our five main towns including; Waltham Abbey, Ongar, Buckhurst Hill, Loughton and Epping.

Waltham Abbey was identified as the initial priority for work and an appraisal has already been undertaken by Studio 3, which includes details such as high street vacancies, levels of footfall and opportunities for a range of quick and low-cost improvements that can be applied. Consultation has also been undertaken at weekends and in evenings with local stakeholders, residents and visitors additionally meetings with local businesses are underway.

It is anticipated that some of the work carried out in Waltham Abbey will serve as a model which can be modified where necessary and then applied to the other towns under consideration. A report with recommendations for Waltham Abbey, will be presented to Cabinet in November.

Civic Office Commercialisation: Savills and Derrick, Wade, Waters have been appointed as Commercial Agents to market space available within the Civic Offices. This includes an area on the second floor of the building and a café space on the ground floor.

In addition, officers are working with colleagues from the community and voluntary sector with a view to co-location of services in the Civic building and visits have been made to the site to assess potential for this.

It is anticipated that interest may come forward from companies hoping to move out of London, due to the significant switch to people working successfully from home.

Essex + Herts Digital Innovation Zone (DIZ): Following a public vote and ahead of the final award ceremony on 15th October, the DIZ is now listed in the Digital Leaders DL100 2020 List, as one as one of the Top 3 organisations for collaboration in the UK.

The DIZ project to deliver a fibre broadband infrastructure across Essex & Herts to directly support partners in the health sector is now progressing through the final stages of the planning process with construction hopefully commencing well before the end of the calendar year. The project will deliver fibre broadband to around 80 GP and primary care sites and is due to complete by end of March 2021.

The DIZ is also exploring the potential to use existing CCTV systems to provide footfall analysis of town centres, which could be used to promote the safe return of shoppers to the high streets. The DIZ is working in conjunction with Newcastle Digital and the Urban Observatory at Newcastle City Council on this project as a result of funding made available my MHCLG to explore this repurposing of CCTV. It is hoped to run a pilot project within Epping Forest district.

Page 42 The DIZ has also recently launched the discovery phase of a project to address digital inclusion through the provision of new and reusable ICT equipment including laptops and mobile devices plus the provision of connectivity and mobile data. Working with partners from the Voluntary & Community Sector, our Council, other local authorities and health sector organisations, it will aim to support families and individuals facing digital exclusion, perhaps for the first time, as a result of COVID-19.

The DIZ has also added new Digital Training resources for employability to its website at https://diz.org.uk/job-smart/. These videos and downloadable templates have been developed by DIZ partners at Broxbourne BC, East Herts DC and CVSBEH and will be publicly available to all residents across the DIZ area, including Epping Forest. The resources are targeted at those who may have been recently made redundant due to COVID-19 and who may need support to return to the employment market in an increasingly digital world.

Local Land and Property Gazetteer: Officers have been working to develop a robust and current inventory of businesses operating in the Epping Forest area in order to support more effective service delivery and local procurement. Nearly 8000 names of business, address and post have been secured; the address information is geospatially accurate with each business containing a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN is a 12-digit reference used nationally to link properties by GIS locations).

Officers are now looking at ways to incorporate GDPR/data protection compliant digital contact information, as currently, 90% of the businesses listed have only postal address information. The capture of electronic address information will support economic development across the district providing performance and environmental evidence for data analysis and investigation by geospatial location.

Employment and Skills: Officers are working to develop employment and skills support for local people using government schemes including Kickstart which was launched in September. Apprenticeship roles will start November and will continue through to December 2021. The Council has submitted an expression of interest in being an Intermediary. Intermediaries make joint applications of 30+ placements on behalf of small local businesses and officers are in discussion with Harlow and Uttlesford about joint working to create a West Essex scheme. We already have applications for this.

Visitor Economy: The move during lockdown towards increased take up of countryside access and outdoor spaces/activities, remains high. North Weald Market has enjoyed unprecedented online interest and growth in stalls and footfall.

‘Staycations’ have generated interest in our district for camping/glamping/caravan sites plus hospitality outlets and attractions/events. However, several attractions remain closed, are only able to partially open or are running at low capacity due to social distancing, but the tourism website is seeing an increase in visitor numbers peaking at 7,000+ a week during the summer.

The Tourism and Visitor Board is running an online Tourism Conference on Friday 6th November.

Page 43 This page is intentionally left blank Report to the Council

Committee: Cabinet Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Housing and Community Services Portfolio

Portfolio Holder: Councillor Holly Whitbread

Recommending:

That the report of the Housing and Community Services Portfolio Holder be noted.

Executive Summary

The following report provides an update on progress in the following areas:

Housing Needs and Older People’s Services

Rehousing Team – Full Service Resumed The Rehousing Team have now been able to resume mutual exchanges and the letting of garages, following a pause in this activity during the lockdown period. The Rehousing Team have been extremely busy during the lockdown period, with an increase in housing register applications of 38%.

Apprenticeship Recruitment Recruitment is underway for our Housing Career Pathway Apprentices. 7 candidates were interviewed on the 5th and 6th October and 4 will shortly be offered positions. The standard of applications we received was extremely high. The apprenticeship programme will last for 2 years and is a great pathway into a career in housing.

Norway House (homeless hostel) Works have now been completed on the playground area at Norway House, which provides play equipment for both infants and older children. The feedback from residents has been extremely positive and the children can often be found playing in this area. There are a range of festive activities coming up for the children at Norway House over the next few months, such as pumpkin carving at Halloween and a socially distanced visit from Santa in December.

Homelessness Team (Rough Sleeping) EFDC as part of a consortium of 5 LAs, bid for and have been awarded £300,000 funding to provide accommodation to rough sleepers and prevent anyone from having to return to the streets. The funding will also secure additional accommodation provision for anyone who finds themselves rough sleeping over the coming winter months.

This funding has enabled us to secure affordable housing options by way of procuring a 6 bed HMO within the private sector which, as of Monday 5th October, is now fully occupied with tenants formerly rough sleeping. They’ve each been issued with a 12-month AST and had a support plan put in place to address their needs and provide them with a long-term housing solution.

We’re also in the process of renovating a 3-bedroom property within our own stock which will be leased to Chess - one of our partners - to manage. This property will be for the higher needs cohort and will support the residents into more independent accommodation.

1 Page 45 Sheltered Housing From the 1st of September all Sheltered Housing Officers returned to work full time across the 12 schemes. For those residents that want it, daily door knocks are now being made and ongoing support with food deliveries, medication etc. remains in place.

There are posters and signage around the schemes reminding residents to sanitise, wash their hands and keep two metres apart and notices have also been put on the doors requesting that any visitors entering the schemes wear a mask. The feedback from residents is very positive; they feel safe.

We have taken the decision to keep the communal areas closed for the time being due to increasing infection rates but review this on a regular basis. Although this means residents are unable to have any social activities some have found other ways to socialise by meeting with neighbours in the communal gardens for a chat.

Housing News tenant newsletter The Housing, Information and Policy Team have recently published the latest Housing News newsletter for council tenants. Each issue features news and helpful information for tenants regarding their tenancies. This edition features a special annual report four-page centre spread which includes information on our performance during 2019-20; this ensures we are meeting the requirements of section 2.2c of the Government’s Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard.

Annual Lettings Report The Team have recently published an EFDC Annual Report of Lettings, detailing our social housing lettings during 2019-20. The report gives information about the number and types of properties that have been let, who they have been let to (for example, the priority band the successful applicant was in when offered a property) as well as the types of tenancies offered.

Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS) Last month the Team submitted our mandatory annual LAHS Government data return. The purpose of this return is to provide information on a range of housing information in our local authority, including council owned stock and changes to it through the year, lettings, waiting lists, vacant properties, condition, expenditure and new supply. This collection is considered essential for central and local governments to have an understanding of its housing situation and how policies affect it.

Community, Culture and Wellbeing Services

External Funding Success The Community, Culture & Wellbeing service has successfully secured £35K from Art Fund to support its “Bringing the Museum to You” project which will provide new ways for schools and care homes to access museum services. Reminiscence boxes, interactive sessions and an App for families will also form part of the project. Please note that although we have permission to update this news for this report public announcements are embargoed until November by the funder.

Museum The Museum reopened on 1st August with Covid safety measures in place including; distance markers, screens, cleaning and sanitising stations and careful limits on capacity. Activity sessions have successfully been re-established on site including fitness and movement classes in The Space. The “Response and Rescue Exhibition” launched on 19 September. The exhibition focuses on the work of the emergency services with a special thank you to key workers.

Around 1000 families and children have engaged in the 2020 Creativity Challenge – a district-wide partnership project led by the Museum in partnership with Epping Forest Creative Network. Following close liaison with schools, museum staff have developed a revised schools programme ensuring that our chargeable educational workshops can be safely delivered in accordance with Covid guidelines.

2 Page 46 The Limes Centre The Limes Centre has safely reopened enabling our partners from the Essex Child & Family Wellbeing Service to re-establish vital children services. The venue is now open again to private hirers with careful social distancing, hygiene and protocols in place to ensure it is Covid safe.

Social Active Strong Programme Fully funded by the NHS, the Council`s rolling 12-week falls prevention programme launched in September. Led by Epping Forest District Council, the project is also being rolled out across Harlow and Uttlesford. There are currently 4 weekly programmes being delivered in the district with participant numbers increasing steadily week on week.

Disability Inclusion Programme Face to face services for the Disability Inclusion Project were reintroduced this summer and a COVID compliant programme is also scheduled for October half term. Term time sessions currently include boxing, trampolining, tennis and yoga.

Active Living Programme and Associated Class Provisions Face to face classes recommenced in September with additional sessions planned for October. Participation continues to grow steadily, primarily through recommendations.

Workplace Health Led by staff from the Community, Culture & Wellbeing Team, the Council`s Workplace Health Programme has now registered ten new staff Workplace Health Champions who will undertake induction training in October. These champions will be promoting opportunities within their teams with the aim of improving physical and mental health. They will also be establishing special interest groups across the organisation to support colleagues as we continue to work from home.

A multi-agency proposal for an External Workplace Health Programme for wider businesses across the district has been shared in the Be Well Action Group with an expectation of registering 50 local businesses by Spring 2021.

Health and Wellbeing Community Grants Scheme The Council`s Health and Wellbeing Community Grants Scheme has been relaunched. The Scheme is being shared across social media platforms and the Council`s website. Additional work has been undertaken with partners and previous applicants to promote the scheme more widely to ensure maximum take up in order that local third sector groups are supported to deliver projects and initiatives to benefit residents.

Walking and Cycling programmes During lock-down many group activities had to be suspended but new ways to engage with participants were identified, for example, older residents involved in programmes such as Lifewalks, Cycling For Health and Forever Active Day Trips sent in photos of the world around them when they were out on their daily exercise. This led to some fantastic images being submitted, many of which will be displayed as part of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition commencing January 2021 at Epping Forest District Museum.

The Lifewalks programme restarted on 1st September for pre-paid members under Covid safe conditions. September saw 319 attends return, all of who reported that they were delighted the scheme was up and running again.

Epping Forest Youth Council The Youth Council has designed a 'Keep your Granny Safe' poster which has been distributed to all local schools, Members, Town and Parish Councils, youth groups and more widely across Essex for use by other local authorities. Youth Councillors recently met with Broxbourne Youth Council and are planning a cross county “socially distancing” litter pick event. Two Youth Councillors attended the Qualis commercial consultation event and wider Youth Councillors have completed the online survey.

13 Youth Councillors have become accredited Dementia Friends.

3 Page 47

Following an extensive consultation exercise the Youth Council, supported by officers, produced a report on the health & wellbeing of young people in the district during the coronavirus pandemic. The report, along with key recommendations, will be presented to Cabinet on 19 Oct.

Play in the Park Over the summer the Community, Culture and Wellbeing team worked together to deliver Play in the Park “take-away” sessions, providing fun activity packs to children across the district in line with government restrictions. Over five weeks 48 sessions across 18 locations were delivered with 829 children engaging in fantastic outdoor activity sessions.

Better Health Festival in Waltham Abbey and Ongar As part of the Paternoster and Shelley Health & Wellbeing Project, a ‘Better Health’ Festival was organised in September. Drawing on key findings from the doorstep consultation undertaken in July, the week-long event offered, physical, cultural and community activities to residents on Ninefields and Shelley estates. Despite last minute changes to the programme due to the introduction of revised government guidelines, staff engaged with over 300 residents. Future community-led events including; environmental clean-up days are planned over the coming months.

Epping Forest Dementia Action Alliance The Epping Forest Dementia Action Alliance now has 20 official members and 50 organisations/partners actively involved and the Council`s Dementia Action Officer has launched an EFDAA Facebook page.

Community Allotment The Community, Culture & Wellbeing Team has secured an allotment in Longfields Waltham Abbey which has attracted families and individuals to come and learn about growing techniques, taking inspiration from the Council`s expert Community Development Officer. This forms part of the ongoing community project in Waltham Abbey and is contributing to the positive health and wellbeing of residents.

Culture Programme The team are currently programming some exciting events and workshops in conjunction with the upcoming Museum exhibitions for 2021; Wildlife Photographer of the Year and The Boys Holocaust exhibitions. Between January and April 2021, the team will be organising a Cultural Festival bringing cultural organisations together from around the district. This will be through both virtual methods and ‘in person’ engagement.

Epping Forest Health & Wellbeing Board The district`s multi-agency Epping Forest Health & Wellbeing Board has undertaken a review of its key objectives in order to deliver the district`s Health & Wellbeing Strategy 2018-28 in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Board agreed to consolidate its priority objectives into three overarching themes:  Improving mental health and wellbeing  Improving lifestyles  Improving community reliance and cohesion

Strategic partners have committed to developing and delivering a long-term programme of work using a ‘whole systems approach’ to tackling health inequalities in the district, with an initial focus on the wards of Shelley in Ongar and Paternoster in Waltham Abbey.

Projects and initiatives to deliver on the Board`s objectives will be developed via its three thematic multi-agency action groups; Start Well, Be Well and Age Well.

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Report to the Council

Committee: Cabinet Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Housing and Communities Portfolio

Portfolio Holder: Councillor Holly Whitbread

Recommending:

That the report of the Housing and Communities Portfolio Holder be noted.

I am delighted to report that crime offences for burglary, personal robbery and shoplifting have significantly dropped over the past year and the excellent work of our Community Safety Hub, which includes our officers and funded policing team has significantly contributed to this.

Community Resilience Levels of ASB have continued to be high across the district as have occurrences of bogus callers and issues of youth nuisance. North Weald in particular has seen a spate of youth problems and this has been addressed in a number of ways including distribution of letters to key ringleaders. Officers have spent considerable time with PCSO’s working in communities targeting these incidents, including at Jubilee Court in Waltham Abbey, where a spate of bogus caller incidents took place.

Due to the excellent work undertaken earlier in the year, cases of Mansion House parties have decreased, but an extension to the Closure Order for Hills House, Water Lane, Roydon is due to be submitted in court on 15th October.

EFDC Policing Team The team are supporting EFDC colleagues in the enforcement of Covid breaches in town centres and key locations in the district and assist Council-lead enforcement at key licenced premises on Saturday nights, to review COVID measures and address any breaches.

Following a significant rise in local catalytic convertor thefts during September across the south of the district, the team are leading Operation Accordian, which is an intelligence-led initiative involving key patrols to target offenders. This is a difficult crime to target as the offences are quick and the offenders are tactically aware so rotate vehicles/index numbers.

Halloween plans are in place for the team in conjunction with the Community Police Team and it is likely that COVID legislation will be used to disperse groups.

Safeguarding Incidents of safeguarding continue to be high relating to both children and adults and mental health problems are an ongoing feature across both safeguarding and incidents of ASB. The potential of a further lockdown is a real concern for local families where domestic abuse is known.

CCTV Use of our mobile systems has risen and we are actively supporting work to assess footfall levels in our local high streets, as part of work to help recovery of local high street business. We are also working on replacement of the ageing Debden Broadway systems, with an anticipated completion date of March 2021.

Planning permission has now been granted for a new CCTV Column and 3 Cameras at North Weald Airfield and installation has started on this work. CCTV footage is also supporting the local Police team with the following incidents of crime Page 49  Identifying suspects in youth gang related fight in Debden Broadway.  Tracking suspects involved in a serious assault on Epping High Street  Assisting Police on tracing vehicle movements on alleged vehicle hi-jacking in Debden area.  Collating evidence for Police on Catalytic Convertors removed from vehicles on Limes Farm Estate Chigwell.

Environmental Enforcement Incidents of fly-tipping escalated throughout the summer months and particularly in respect of household building waste. This resulted in a backlog of cases for the team to deal with and additional staff resource has therefore been brought in, for a period of 6 months.

In respect of longer-term issues, both East Herts DC and EFDC have been subject to a number of fly tipping incidents over the last 18 months by the same individual who lives in Harlow, with both enforcement teams spending a considerable amount of time on this. Through dedicated collaborative work between the two authorities, the perpetrators vehicle was seized in Harlow on 24 September 2020 for a number of offences, including the use for fly tipping. Hertfordshire Police were planning to arrest the suspect for these offences, but found that he had been arrested earlier that day by Essex Police, in conjunction with a murder investigation. Our Environmental Enforcement and East Herts team jointly interviewed him regarding the 10 waste offences after this (with possibly 30 charges forthcoming). The cases are being prepared for consideration by the legal teams to be heard together, and we hope to be able to crush the vehicle.

On 1 October, our Environmental Officers joined forces with Essex Police’s Rural Engagement Team at London Road, Stapleford Abbotts to tackle unauthorised waste carriers, fly tipping and other crimes that impact the rural community. During the exercise, 20 vehicles were stopped in a 5 hour operation, which were likely to be transferring waste. 1 FPN was issued for no insurance and 1 for expired substantive driving licence. One vehicle was seized for having no insurance, and an arrest was made for a positive sample of a roadside drugs wipe test. 6 vehicles that were stopped were suspected of committing waste offences and will be issued with notices to produce their authority to transport waste and waste transfer notes. Failure to do so will result in the issuing of fixed penalty notices.

The officers also worked with Environmental Health and our Policing Team in the visits to licenced premises as part of the Covid Regulations and Licencing compliance checks. The officers will continue to support these visits, particularly as the new regulations have a requirement for a maximum noise level from music, which needs to be measured.

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Report to the Council

Committee: Cabinet

Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Planning and Sustainability Portfolio

Portfolio Holder: Councillor N Bedford

Recommending:

That the report of the Planning and Sustainability Portfolio Holder be noted.

1. Local Plan progress update

Following the hearing sessions for the Independent Examination of the Local Plan, the Inspector released her Advice on 2 August 2019. Within her advice the Inspector has set out a number of changes to the Plan which are required to remedy issues of soundness in the form of Main Modifications (MMs).

In accordance with the high level programme set out in the Council’s response to the Inspector, dated 24 April 2020, the Team worked hard to ensure that the final tranche of Main Modifications were submitted to the Inspector in September with a view to consultation on the MMs in October 2020. In addition to reporting on the MMs the Council has submitted further information to the Inspector. This includes:

 Responses to other actions identified by the Inspector  An Additional Modifications schedule to ensure that the Plan which was first drafted in Autumn 2017 is up to date  Revised mapping to take account of the changes to the local plan  Draft Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy (EB149) that was consulted on earlier in the year  Consolidated Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) update and associated viability report.

Further information will be submitted to the Inspector in the next few weeks. This will include:

 An updated Sustainability Appraisal – this is currently being undertaken by consultants AECOM but needed to wait for the MMs to be completed  Updated Habitats Regulations Assessment and Air Pollution Mitigation Strategy – these are being finalised to take account of initial comments received from Natural England and the Conservators of Epping Forest

The Inspector wrote to the Council on 2 October 2020 (ED115) to advise that due to other work commitments during October and November it is likely that she will not be able to provide a full response immediately. We await further information from the Inspector with a clearer indication of the likely timeframe for her response and proposed timetable for consultation on the Main Modifications.

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2. Progress with outstanding planning applications

The advice from Natural England still remains that proposals for new development anywhere within the District that may lead to an increase in vehicle movements on roads within 200m of the Epping Forest Special Area of Conservation (EFSAC) are likely to have an in combination effect on the EFSAC and to advise that any impacts arising from atmospheric pollution are best dealt with by way of a strategic solution.

In view of Natural England's latest advice, the Council currently cannot lawfully grant planning permission for new development that would result in a net increase in vehicle movements through the EFSAC. This has resulted in planning applications being held in abeyance pending the identification of an acceptable air quality mitigation strategy to manage the adverse effects of atmospheric pollution arising from additional vehicles using roads in the vicinity of the EFSAC.

As previously reported the Council is continuing to work actively to resolve the current situation that has restricted housing and economic development coming forward in the District since July 2018 and is working with Natural England to identify potential opportunities to address the backlog of underdetermined applications. A position statement is available on the website at ED108 and a Draft Air Pollution Mitigation Strategy for formal consultation with Natural England and the Conservators was reported and agreed by Cabinet on 20 July 2020.

3. Draft Green Infrastructure Strategy

The public consultation for the Green Infrastructure Strategy commenced on 4 June for a period of 6 weeks until 16 July 2020. This included a series of workshop/forum events for Members, Youth Council and developers in the District. The comments received are currently being addressed and the Final strategy will be brought back to Cabinet for endorsement as a material consideration in the determination of planning applications, masterplans/concept frameworks and guide design and implementation processes.

4. Draft Sustainability Guidance

On 19 September 2019 the Council declared a Climate Emergency, including a resolution to do everything within the Council's power to make Epping Forest District Council area carbon neutral by 2030. To support the declaration and policies in the emerging Local Plan in relation to sustainable and high quality design and construction of developments the Council has produced two EFDC draft Sustainability Guidance documents for use across the District; one for Major Developments (10+ units) and one for Minor Developments (1-9 units). This was reported to Cabinet on 19 October for agreement to go out to Public consultation for a six week period from 2 November 2020. This is programmed to run concurrently with consultation on the draft Harlow and Gilston Garden Town guidance.

5. Harlow and Gilston Garden Town

A capacity fund bid was submitted to Homes England on 4 September for future funding. To support this a two year programme has been produced. Recent work has included an update on Planning Obligations, the production of draft sustainability guidance and a Local Cycling and Walking Investment Plan.

The Director of the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town Claire Hamilton left on 16 October 2020 to take up the role of Chief Executive at Dacorum Council. Tom Dewey will provide Interim

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Director cover until January 2020 whilst recruitment for a new Director is undertaken.

6. Government White Paper: Planning for the Future

The Government published a White Paper “Planning for the Future” on 6 August 2020 https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-future. This sets out significant changes to the planning system for consultation that, if implemented, will change both the nature and content of Local Plans and the operation of the development management process. The White Paper is clear that the intention is to replace the raft of current planning legislation with new legislation and to introduce new ideas and concepts into the system. It is therefore not always easy to compare the ideas against current concepts and practice. The closing date for responses is 29 October 2020 and the Council’s proposed response was subject of a report to Cabinet on 19 October 2020.

7. Development Management Planning Applications

Planning application income including Pre-application fees for Q1 and Q2 of 2020-21 is £417,410, which is a shortfall of £240,820 against a budget estimate that is profiled on a 3- year actual average.

However, there appears to be potential sign of post-Covid income recovery given the actual income for September is £86,366 against a budget estimate of £78,660 and planning application submissions so far in 2020/21 over the same period have also picked up and are close to last years at this same stage.

In addition, a report updating on the Local Plan to the October 19th Cabinet updates that the Implementation Team has been proactively engaging with relevant site promoters to progress the Strategic Masterplan and Concept Frameworks in the District and whilst some are more advanced than others, it is picking up again and good progress has been made.

Virtual Planning Committee meetings with public participation are being held in general on a weekly basis such that decisions are being taken with all relevant information available through Zoom. Overall, it has been well received by the public, acknowledging that we are trying to ensure that these committees are run as normal as possible. In addition, a virtual Development Management Forum, also involving public participation, successfully took place recently as part of the broad strategy consultation Qualis are promoting on the five Council owned town centre sites in Epping.

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Report to the Council

Committee: Senior Management Selection Panel Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Permanent Qualis Board Members – Recommendations of the Senior Management Selection Panel

Chairman:

Recommending:

(1) To endorse the recommendations from the Senior Management Selection Panel for the permanent appointment of the Qualis Group Board members.

1. The Cabinet agreed in April 2020 the process for the recruitment and appointment of the permanent members of the Qualis Group board. Cabinet subsequently agreed the final composition of the Board on 14 September 2020.

2. All Council members were provided the opportunity to apply for the two member positions on the board. An independent recruitment company was used to search for applicants applying externally for the independent non-executive director roles.

3. For the two Independent Non-Executive Director roles, 10 candidates were initially interviewed, and the Senior Management Selection Panel interviewed the top 4 of these.

4. All of those recommended below for appointment to the permanent board have been interviewed by the Senior Management Selection Panel to test for suitability and experience. The Panel have recommended the appointment of:

Role Name Chair – independent non-executive director Paul ffolkes Davis Independent non-executive director Peter Baynham Independent non-executive director Farooq Mohammed Council member Cllr H Kauffman Council member Cllr R Bassett CEO Council Georgina Blakemore Managing Director – Qualis Sacha Jevans Group Finance Director - Qualis Nick Dawe Group Operations Director – Qualis Paul Hewitt

5. The Permanent Qualis Group Board will oversee the responsibilities of the Qualis Group of companies in line with the Shareholder Agreement.

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Report to the Council

Committee: Council Date: 29th October 2020

Subject: Qualis Quarterly Monitoring Report – Q1/Q2 & Q3 2019/20

Portfolio Holder: Commercial and Regulatory Services – Cllr A. Patel Item:

Recommendations/Decisions Required:

(1) That the Qualis Quarterly Monitoring Report – Q1/Q2 and Q3 2019/20 be noted.

1. Executive Summary

1.1. Cabinet and Overview and Scrutiny have considered the attached Qualis Board Reports for Quarters 1 & 2 (presented together as Appendix A) and the Quarter 3 Board Report (Appendix B) at meetings in September and October 2020.

1.2. The Governance framework for Qualis, as agreed by Cabinet in February 2020, set the requirement that Qualis should report to Epping Forest District Council (Cabinet and Council) on its performance Quarterly and hence these reports are now produced for Council consideration.

1.3. Quarter 1 and 2 (Appendix A) covers the 6 month period to the end of April 2020, whilst the Quarter 3 report covers the Qualis trading period up until the 31 July 2020.

1.4. It is also a requirement of the Shareholder agreement that the Council’s S151 officer provides a commentary on the reported position.

1.5. The key message for Council is that Qualis has been engaged over this period in recruiting key staff, developing internal structures and systems, completing the loan funding transaction, progressing planning work on the Epping Development sites and preparing for the transfer of Housing Maintenance at the end of September.

1.6. Covid19 has delayed many of the key actions for both Epping Forest District Council and Qualis and as a result, some of the originally planned targets have slipped. However, good progress is now being made.

1.7. Key asset acquisitions and service transfers will take place during Quarter 4 and monitoring reports will looks different from that point forward.

1.8. Given the points above and noting the impact of Covid19 on all Council activities, Qualis has performed in line with expectations for these periods.

1.9. In accordance with the commitment given to the Council, this report represents the first of what will now be a regular sequence of Quarterly performance reports.

2. Introduction

Page 57 2.1. The Qualis Shareholder agreement, as agreed by Cabinet on February 2020, included the following paragraph;

‘The Company shall procure that quarterly management accounts and reports (including a balance sheet, profit and loss account and cash flow statement) containing such information as EFDC may reasonably require are provided to EFDC and EFDC’s Representative.’

2.2. The Cabinet resolution also requires that the Council’s S151, as the key conduit between Qualis and the Council, provides a commentary to the Council on the performance of Qualis at each Quarter review.

2.3. In compliance with this requirement Qualis has provided the Council with the first three Quarters’ Management Accounts for the Council’s consideration. Production of the first two quarters took longer than originally envisaged as the organisation’s focus on priority issues associated with Covid-19 delayed the set-up and the initiation phase of its Business Plan. The Quarter 3 Board report was produced on time.

3. Commentary on the Trading Performance

3.1. The first 3 quarters of operation were non-typical in that Qualis needed to create its internal structures, systems and secure finance before it was able to acquire assets and council services thereby enabling it to trade. Until that had been achieved Qualis is only be incurring costs with no income or assets to offset them against and so these Management Accounts are not representative of planned returns.

3.2. It should be stressed that this was expected and allowed for within the Qualis Business Case and the Council has signed this off. Once set-up and initiation work are completed it is expected that the trading activity and management accounts of Qualis should look like more typical trading accounts, (recognising that the business operation of Qualis will still need to be built up over time).

3.3. The Qualis reports attached at Appendix A & B meets the requirements placed upon Qualis within the Shareholder agreement. The Board report presents the Balance Sheets, P&Ls and a Cash Flow explanation. It also RAG rates key quarterly deliverables against the Business Plan.

3.4. Cabinet should note that all deliverables are flagged as Green, with the key exception of agreeing the loan finance from EFDC to Qualis.

3.5. The Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the speed at which set-up and initiation could progress. As a result, agreeing the loan document has taken longer than originally expected because of pressures on both Epping Forest District Council and Qualis. This delay creates a consequential impact on both the Qualis Business Plan and the Council budget. The main contributory factors being;

 Key Staff (Qualis and EFDC) being focused on Covid19 response  Volatility in the asset market which needed time to settle  Uncertainty in the capital markets impacting on financing rates

3.6. The other consequence of these delays is a slower rate of spending compared to the Business Plan. The table below sets out the actual expenditure against that expected for each of the Qualis companies.

Page 58 Qualis Company Expected Actual Variance £ £ £ Group 806,071 441,572 -364,499 Commercial 1,403,528 1,186,762 -216,766 Management 288,034 181,442 -106,592 Living -353,941 6,072 360,013 Total 2,143,692 1,815,848 -327,844

3.7. It can now be reported that since the end of Quarter 3 the loan funding for Qualis has been agreed and paid, allowing Qualis to proceed with this part of its Business Plan. The impact of this will reflect in the Quarter 4 monitoring report.

3.8. In all other respects the Qualis Business Plan objectives are being met and showing good performance against the individual targets, (section 6 on the Qualis Board report), including progress on bringing forward the redevelopment sites in the District.

4. Consideration and Scrutiny of Future Qualis Reports

4.1. The Shareholder Agreement and Governance arrangement, agreed by Cabinet in February 2020, set out the decision-making framework for Qualis and the ways in which the Council, in its capacity as Shareholder, can influence or control the activities of Qualis.

4.2. Broadly, the principal control will be through the approval of the annual Business Plan. Qualis is required to present its proposals each year within a proposed Business Plan and only if the Council agrees this can Qualis implement the proposals contained within it. This represents the critical control over the activities of Qualis and appropriate and detailed consideration should be given to the sign-off accordingly.

4.3. If Qualis wishes to undertake an activity during any year that was not included within the agreed Business Plan then under the ‘Reserved Matters’ part of the Shareholder Agreement it must ask for the Council’s permission first. A full list of reserved matters was published in Schedule 2 of Appendix 1 in the report on Qualis to Cabinet on 6 February 2020.

4.4. Matters considered to be ‘Reserved’ to the Shareholder include issues such as;

 diluting the Council’s control,  transfer of any part of the business to another body  distributing profits outside that agreed  allowing its assets to be charged by a third party  Winding the company up  Generally acting outside of the approved Business Plan

4.5. The construction of the shareholder agreement gives the Council considerable assurance that Qualis can only operate within the mandate given to it by Epping Forest District Council and for any matter outside of this, it must seek the Council’s express authority.

4.6. The Report to Cabinet in February 2020 further set out the following;

Page 59  The Section 151 Officer will act in accordance with already sanctioned, business case, budget and loans already agreed or approved by the Cabinet or delegated authorities to the s151 officer (both generally and in its capacity as Shareholder’s Representative).

 The Shareholder Representative / the s151 officer will also bring to the attention of the Cabinet any significant issue or deviation from these approvals on the precautionary principle.

 Any issue of concern or requiring a decision beyond the parameters of approvals previously provided by Cabinet and Council to the s151 Officer (in its capacity as Shareholder’s Representative the Section 151 Officer will:

- Firstly, brief the Leader - Secondly, if requested set out the issue and decision to Cabinet or Full Council for approval in line with the mandates of the existing EFDC Constitution

4.7. To streamline the approval process and not un-necessarily slow down the decision - making process of Qualis on routine matters (thus undermining one of the key purposes for which Qualis was created), the Section 151 will exercise a gradated approval methodology, consistent with the statement above and the Council’s scheme of delegation to officers.

4.8. For members’ clarity the decision-making process will generally follow the rules below;

 The Section 151 officer will action any matter that is approved in the business plan agreed by the wider Council, deal with day to day securitisation and land matters, loan administration and any financial transaction approved within a defined Epping Forest Budget heading;

 As agreed above, for matters that either sit outside of the previous bullet point, the current approved Business Plan or for Reserved Matters the Section 151 will firstly consult with the Leader and the appropriate Portfolio Holder and then in accordance with the Council’s constitution agree on the appropriate decision- making body.

 Decisions which do not fundamentally change the purpose, control or direction of Qualis, together with funding decisions (provided these sit within the Council’s approved budget framework) will generally be referred to Cabinet.

 Those decision which fundamentally change the objectives or control of Qualis, or funding decision which do not sit within the approved budget framework, will be matters for Council to decide.

4.9. Once the Business Plan is agreed, the Council monitors delivery through the Quarterly Monitoring reports. This provides the opportunity to monitor progress and to receive assurance that the finances of Qualis are as expected.

5. Resource Implications

Page 60 5.1. The Epping Forest District Council Medium Term Financial Plan approved in February includes assumptions on the returns and income generated from Qualis.

5.2. The assumptions included are as follows;

Loan Purpose Amount and Term Interest Payments Per Annum £ Working Capital Loan £5 million for 5 years £225,000 Asset Purchase £30 million 30 years £1,800,000 EFDC Asset Purchase £22 million 30 years £1,605,000 Less EFDC Borrowing Costs -£1,306,337 Net Receipts £2,323,663

5.3. These assumptions were made pre Covid-19 and the information that underpinned these has now changed. For example, interest rates are now lower and the market value of assets to be transferred has reduced on the latest valuation.

5.4. Both these factors will reduce the expected gains and therefore add to the Council’s ultimate cost of Covid-19.

5.5. The actual reduction will depend on the date borrowing is taken and the loans made to Qualis. Cabinet will be updated in the Quarter 4 report when terms and transfer dates have all been agreed.

6. Legal and Governance Implications

6.1. None contained within this report.

7. Safer, Cleaner and Greener Implications

7.1. None.

8. Consultation Undertaken

8.1. None

Background Papers Group Company Governance Document – Cabinet 6 February 2020

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Incorporating, Qualis Group, Qualis Living, Qualis Management, Qualis Developments

Paper Ref: QG/20/15

Finance and Performance Monitoring Quarterly Report

1st November 2019 – 31st January 2020 1st February 2020 – 30th April 2020

Subject: Finance and Performance Monitoring

Author: Nick Dawe, Qualis Finance Director (interim)

Decision Required: To approve the report.

1. To agree that this report should be passed to Epping Forest District Council in line with the shareholder agreement.

2. To support the key actions detailed in Section 8 or this report.

3. To note that the third quarter report, 1st May 2020 – 31st July 2020 will be available at the Qualis August Board Meeting.

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Incorporating, Qualis Group, Qualis Living, Qualis Management, Qualis Developments

1. Introduction

1.1 The Qualis Group Board receives at its informal weekly update reports on key financial and operational matters. On a monthly basis at the formal Qualis Group Board Meetings more detailed papers are presented on financial and operational matters as circumstance dictate.

1.2 In line with the share holder agreement, and to reflect Qualis Group’s needs, a quarterly Finance and Performance Report will be produced, that tracks the success of the Group against the originally agreed Qualis Group Annual Business Plan and Annual Budget.

1.3 This formal monitoring will take into account any Board approved amendments to the Business Plan and Annual Budget.

1.4 The report will usually be produced quarterly and be considered by the Qualis Board the month after the reporting period covered by the report.

1.5 In view of the first quarter being a period of basic set-up activities following company registration in October 2019, this report covers both quarters one and two.

2. Key Performance Indicators

2.1 The key performance indicators set-out below are those proposed to be used for monitoring purposes in the future. They are top level indicators of the financial health and operation delivery of the Qualis Group.

2.2 Major exceptions are reported in detail at Sections, 3, 5, 6 for finance and Sections 7. 8 and 9 for operations.

2.3 Further detail is available on request and/or already exist in the form of detailed Qualis reports and minutes.

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2.4 In line with standard practice, the following colour coded performance flags ae used:

Colour Overall Performance Detailed Measure

Cyan, exceptional performance For finance; over twice the expected figure, for operations, over one month ahead of target delivery

Green, good performance For finance; positive performance up to twice the expected figure, for operations, up to one month ahead of target delivery

Amber, poor performance but will be For finance; negative performance remedied next quarter variance of between 5% and 10% of the expected figure, for operations, one and three months behind target delivery Red, poor performance but will be For finance; negative performance remedied in two further quarters variance of between 5% and 10% of the expected figure, for operations, one and three months behind target delivery Black, poor performance requiring For finance; negative performance immediate board level intervention variance in excess of 10% of the expected figure, for operations, over three months behind target delivery

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2.5 Direction of travel indicators

These will be: + better than last quarter, - worse than last quarter, = as last quarter.

2.6 Key Performance Indicators: Finance

KPI Measure Target £ Actual £

Cash Cash held by Qualis Group of companies, target versus actual =

Income and Total income and expenditure Expenditure position of Qualis Group of = companies, target versus actual Balance Sheet Net balance sheet worth of Qualis Group of companies, target = versus actual

2.7 Key Performance Indicators: Operations

KPI Measure Target Actual

Qualis Delivery to plan of Epping sites Secure Secured Commercial (at pre-planning submission Planning = stage) Performance Agreement April Qualis Delivery to plan Waltham Abbey No action Not Commercial Roundhills site (in early stages of Quarter 2 applicable review) Qualis Delivery to plan Debden Pyrles No action Not Commercial Lane site (in early stages of Quarter 2 applicable review) Qualis Transfer of Housing Maintenance Various Achieved Management Service TUPE and = set-up actions concluded by end of May

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Qualis Review of potential for other Secure Achieved Management service additions and transfers consultants = for review Qualis Living Obtain up to £30m of other asset Market Market purchases from market to provide search as no searches in = positive cash flow funding train and available evaluation until August and 2020 portfolio approach agreed Qualis Group Input into North Weald Master Re-launch Achieved Plan options and assessments master plan = exercise with consultants

2.8 Performance Overview

Satisfactory and expected operational progress has been achieved in quarter’s one and two with financial performance mirroring this operational delivery.

3. 2019/20 Qualis Business Plan and Amendments

3.1 The Qualis Business Plan and Budget was initially taken to Epping Forest District Council as the shareholder and formally approved by the Qualis Group Board in February 2020. The initial key financial and operational expectations for the first year of operation for the Qualis Group were as follows:

Expectation Detail (1st November 2019 – 31st October 2020)

Loan agreements confirmed with EFDC, £120m, (consisting of £5m working capital, £30m asset purchase from market, £85m asset purchase from EFDC and construction finance).

All to be agreed ideally by 30/04/2020 and no later than the 31/05/2020.

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Loan draw downs in Qualis Year 1 £75m, (consisting off £5m working capital, £30m asset purchase from market, and £40m of the £85m covering asset purchases from EFDC, fees and charges and the first call on construction finance).

For Qualis Quarter 1 and Quarter 2, £57m, (consisting of; £5m draw down working capital, £30m asset purchase from market, £22m asset purchase from EFDC. Balance for first financial year to be drawn by 30/09/2020).

Loan and/or financing and partnership None agreements from other sources

Income and expenditure position Q1 and Net Income and costs before internal Q2 for Qualis Group recharges and interest of £547,670.

Income and expenditure position Q1 and Net Income and costs before internal Q2 for Qualis Commercial (including project recharges and interest of £191,821. fees and expenses before creation of individual development companies)

Income and expenditure position Q1 and Net Income and costs before internal Q2 for Qualis Management recharges and interest of £48,000. This is for the project manager inly. All other set up costs incurred by EFDC and recovered from Qualis over 5 years commencing October 2020.

Income and expenditure position Q1 and Net Income and costs before internal Q2 for Qualis Living recharges and interest of £59,191.

Final delivery i.e. completion, of Epping Last project, Hemmell Street, completes in sites by Qualis Commercial 2025/26

Final delivery of Waltham Abbey Roundhills To be completed in 2022/23 site by Qualis Commercial

Final delivery of Debden Pyrles Lane site Not included in initial plan by Qualis Commercial

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Operational start date after transfer of Operational from 1st October 2020 Housing Maintenance Service

Assets brought from market for income £30m worth ideally by the 31/05/2020 earning potential

3.2 The expectations have been reviewed at the end of Quarter 2 reflecting Board approvals, timing changes and review of employment dates and cost issues with the following changes to the initial expectations being recorded (items that are not changed are not listed). All reporting will be against amended targets if the original target has been changed:

Revised Expectation Detail (1st November 2019 – 31st October 2020)

Loan agreements confirmed with EFDC Same value but later agreement dates by request of EFDC, 31/07/2020

Loan draw downs in Qualis Year 1 Same values but later dates by EFDC requests with working loan, asset purchase from market of £30m and loans to support land purchases from EFDC of £20m now taking place by 31/07/2020.

Income and expenditure position full year Being reviewed for Quarter 3, where a for Qualis Group reduced net cost is expected.

Income and expenditure position full year Being reviewed for Quarter 3, where a for Qualis Commercial reduced net cost is expected.

Income and expenditure position full year Being reviewed for Quarter 3. for Qualis Management Income and expenditure position full year Being reviewed for Quarter 3, where a for Qualis Living reduced net cost is expected.

Final delivery of Epping sites by Qualis Being reviewed for Quarter 3 where a Commercial different delivery profile of sites will be proposed.

Final delivery of Waltham Abbey Roundhills Being reviewed for Quarter 3 site by Qualis Commercial

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Final delivery of Debden Pyrles Lane site Being reviewed for Quarter 3 by Qualis Commercial

Assets brought from market for income Still £30m in total by the end of year, earning potential though purchases are unlikely to commence before August 2020.

4. Cash Flow Summary

4.1 The Qualis Group of companies was established on a highly leveraged basis, i.e. supported by loans from Epping Forest District Council and not by equity investment. It should be noted that EFDC has the first option of providing loans to the Qualis Group of companies provided these loans are at market rate.

4.2 In practice the margin paid by Qualis on all its planned loans covers all EFDC’s general development costs that are now envisaged.

4.3 This approach provided start-up security for Qualis, especially as the Covid 19 has distorted the money markets, whilst giving EFDC an income on the additional margin it charges on loans over and above the rate it can secure money for itself. This approach also in line with addressing “state subsidy” concerns.

4.4 The draw-back of this approach to Qualis is that it makes asset purchases and construction projects to the Qualis Group of companies marginally more expensive than would otherwise be the case.

4.5 As originally envisaged (at the end of quarter two), the Qualis Group of companies would have secured and drawn down loans from EFDC as follows: £5m working capital, £30m asset purchase from market and £22m to purchase Epping assets from EFDC.

4.6 At the end of May, EFDC have forwarded two working capital loans of £500,000 to the Qualis Group of Companies. The original plan was by this time a working capital loan of £5m an asset purchase from market loan of £30m and asset purchase from EFDC loan of £22m would have been advanced.

4.7 To date, the late agreement of loans has reduced the in-year costs to Qualis without impacting on activity in general or progressing the Epping schemes. On the later case fees that will eventually be charged to the development loan have been covered by the working capital loan. However, when Qualis wants to purchase assets from the market rapidly and decisively use its covenant of available finance the loans will need to be in place with the 31st July 2020 being the new target date.

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4.8 EFDC loan income receipts from the Qualis Group of companies have as a result reduced as have the range of developments taking into account Covid 19 uncertainties.

5 Balance Sheet Summary

4.1 Reflecting the leveraged position of Qualis and the fact that income earning assets have yet to be purchased and the Housing Maintenance Service has yet to transfer. Please note that these are the interim balance sheets pending a review of the income and expenditure position and the finalisation of loans.

4.2 Qualis Group

Actual £ Actual £

Assets 0 Current Assets 866,090 Current Liabilities 392,589 Current Assets Less 473,501 Current Liabilities Long Term Assets Long Term 1,000,000 Liabilities

Total -526,498

Profit and Loss -526,498 Account

4.3 Qualis Commercial

Actual £ Actual £

Assets 0 Current Assets 173,263 Current Liabilities 2,183 Current Assets Less 171,080 Current Liabilities Long Term Assets Long Term 402,000 Liabilities

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Total -230,920

Profit and Loss -230,920 Account

4.4 Qualis Management

Actual £ Actual £

Assets 0 Current Assets -22,885 Current Liabilities -5,456 Current Assets Less -17,429 Current Liabilities Long Term Assets Long Term 0 Liabilities

Total -17,429

Profit and Loss -17,429 Account

4.5 Qualis Living

Actual £ Actual £

Assets 0 Current Assets 54,240 Current Liabilities 5,209 Current Assets Less 49,032 Current Liabilities Long Term Assets Long Term 25,000 Liabilities

Total 24,032

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Profit and Loss 24,032 Account

5 Income and Expenditure Summary

5.1 The oncome and expenditure summary for the individual companies that form the Qualis Group of companies is summarised below. Noting that the figures are cumulative to the end of Quarter 2 and exclude internal recharges, loans and other amendments that will be shown from Quarter 3:

5.2 Qualis Group

Target Cumulative Variance Cumulative Actual Q1 and Q2 £ £ £

Income 0 0

Expenditure 547,670 526,499 -21,171

Net +Profit / -Loss 547,670 526,499 -21,171

Key issues to note:

 Agency premium of interim Directors is budget pressure of £141,058 for 6 months.  Above overspend offset by Board vacancies and less than planned for cost of seconded staff  In Q3 to note some of the expenditure will move through the other companies.

5.3 Qualis Commercial

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Target Cumulative Variance Cumulative Actual Q1 and Q2 £ £ £

Income 0 0 0

Expenditure, 191,821 55,534 -136,287 Epping Projects 356,833 175,386 -181,447

Net +Profit / -Loss 548,654 230,920 -317,734

Key issues to note:

 Project costs only including project manager, architects and other fees. Commercial Director costs (interim) shown in Qualis Group Board Costs.

5.4 Qualis Management

Target Cumulative Variance Cumulative Actual Q1 and Q2 £ £ £

Income 0 0 0

Expenditure 48,000 17,429 -30,571

Net +Profit / -Loss 48,000 17,429 -30,571

Key issues to note:

 Project manager costs only. Operational Director costs (interim) shown in Qualis Group Board Costs.

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5.5 Qualis Living

Target Cumulative Variance Cumulative Actual Q1 and Q2 £ £ £

Income, (less hand- 0 through)

Expenditure 59,191 24,032 -35,159

Net +Profit / -Loss 59,191 24,032 -35,159

Key issues to note:

 Delay in acquiring properties has resulted in operational underspend and no income receipt.

6 Operational Performance Summary

6.1 Key points of progress with the overarching Qualis Group of companies’ business plan should be noted.

6.2 Qualis Group

 Set-up activities in terms of governance and procedures have been drafted and approved (in accordance with the shareholder agreement).  Bankers have been appointed.  IT office systems and email addresses have been set-up.  Accounting and payroll systems have been set-up.  A regular series of meetings has been set-up and operates.  A risk and investment committee has been established

6.3 Qualis Commercial

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 Options for the leisure centre re-provision have been discussed with the EFDC provider.  Options for the Epping Town Council have been discussed.  Project managers, quantity surveyors and architects (up to Stage 2) have been appointed for the Epping sites.  A preliminary view of the Waltham Abbey Roundhills site has been carried out.  A preliminary view of the Debden Pyrles Lane site has been carried out.

6.4 Qualis Management

 Progress with the TUPE plan for the housing maintenance staff has been agreed.  Systems and processes to support the transfer are being delivered to timescale.  A staff consultation plan has been agreed and has commenced.

6.5 Qualis Living

 Additional purchases of assets to provide cash flow have yet to occur which leads to an amber performance being recorded.  Management of the private rented properties bought by EFDC in Loughton is being carried out  A portfolio approach and financial assessment approach to the purchase of income earning assets has been agreed.  Two potential properties to acquire have been reviewed in detail (purchase not actioned).

7 Key Actions

7.1 The following key actions in addition or variation from the original plan are proposed:

7.2 Agree and call down planned loans by the 31st July 2020 (latest).

7.3 To complete the review of targets as shown in detail at Section 3.2.

End

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Finance and Performance Monitoring Quarterly Report

1st November 2019 - 31st July 2020 (Q3)

Subject: Finance and Performance Monitoring

Author: Nick Dawe, Qualis Finance Director (interim)

Decision Required: To approve the report.

1. To agree that this report should be passed to Epping Forest District Council in line with the shareholder agreement.

2. To support the key actions detailed in Section 8 of this report.

3. To note that a quarter 4 report will be produced alongside a full set of audited accounts in November 2020. This set our accounts will be submitted to Companies House and the HMRC.

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1. Introduction

1.2 In line with the shareholder agreement, and to reflect Qualis Group’s needs, a quarterly Finance and Performance Report will be produced, that tracks the success of the Group against the originally agreed Qualis Group Annual Business Plan and Annual Budget.

1.3 This formal monitoring will take into account any Board approved amendments to the Business Plan and Annual Budget.

1.4 The report will usually be produced quarterly and be considered by the Qualis Board the month after the reporting period covered by the report.

1.5 In view of the first quarter being a period of basic set-up activities following company registration in October 2019, this report covers both quarters one and two.

2. Key Performance Indicators

2.2 Major exceptions are reported in detail at Sections, 3, 5, 6 for finance and Sections 7. 8 and 9 for operations.

2.3 Further detail is available on request and/or already exist in the form of detailed Qualis reports and minutes.

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2.4 In line with standard practice, the following colour coded performance flags ae used:

Colour Overall Performance Detailed Measure

Cyan, exceptional performance For finance; over twice the expected figure, for operations, over one month ahead of target delivery

Green, good performance For finance; positive performance up to twice the expected figure, for operations, up to one month ahead of target delivery

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2.5 Direction of travel indicators

These will be: + better than last quarter, - worse than last quarter, = as last quarter.

2.6 Key Performance Indicators: Finance

KPI Measure Target £ Actual £

Cash Cash held by Qualis Group of companies, target versus actual =

2.7 Key Performance Indicators: Operations

KPI Measure Target Actual

Qualis Delivery to plan of Epping sites Review use Secured Commercial (at pre-planning submission of sites and = stage) prepare for consultation in September Qualis Delivery to plan Waltham Abbey Detail to be Not Commercial Roundhills site (in early stages of received Q4 applicable review) Qualis Delivery to plan Debden Pyrles Consider Not Commercial Lane site (in early stages of purchased applicable review) from EFDC in Q4 Qualis Transfer of Housing Maintenance Progress Achieved Management Service with detailed = set-up plan (systems and processes)

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Qualis Review of potential for other Secure Achieved Management service additions and transfers consultants = for review, report received and discussions with EFDC due to occur in November 2020 Qualis Living Obtain up to £30m of other asset Market Market purchases from market to provide search as no searches in = positive cash flow funding train and available evaluation now until and late portfolio September approach 2020 agreed Qualis Group Input into North Weald Master Re-launch Achieved Plan options and assessments master plan = exercise with consultants, formal consultation due by December 2020

Qualis Group Securing of Independent Auditor Secure, Achieved ideally a = local company Qualis Group Secure external legal support Secure, Achieved = from major firm ideally a local company

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Qualis Group Investigate alternative funding Initial = sources evaluation of market and market prices, new funding not required until November 2020

2.8 Performance Overview

Satisfactory and expected operational progress has been achieved in quarter’s one and two with financial performance mirroring this operational delivery.

3. 2019/20 Qualis Business Plan and Amendments

3.1 The Qualis Business Plan and Budget have not been amended further in Q3 though additional IT expenditure and professional costs have been covered by the contingency budget.

3.2 The expectations have been reviewed at the end of Quarter 3 reflecting Board approvals, timing changes and review of employment dates and cost issues with the following changes to the initial expectations being recorded (items that are not changed are not listed).

Revised Expectation Detail (1st November 2019 – 31st October 2020)

Loan agreements confirmed with EFDC, Minor changes to vale, £19m, £30m and asset purchase from EFDC, £22m, asset £6m respectively purchase from market, £30m, working capital £5m Loan draw downs in Qualis Year 1 Loans for £30m and £6m to be called down 21/09/2020, £18m loan to be actioned in 1st week of October.

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4. Cash Flow Summary

4.2 In practice the margin paid by Qualis on all its planned loans covers all EFDC’s general development costs that are now envisaged.

5 Balance Sheet Summary

4.2 Qualis Group

Actual £ Actual £

Assets 0 Current Assets 1,362,087 Current Liabilities 303,658, Current Assets Less 1,058,428 Current Liabilities Long Term Assets Long Term 1,500,000 Liabilities

Total -441,572

Profit and Loss -441,572 Account

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4.3 Qualis Commercial

Actual £ Actual £

Assets 0 Current Assets 386,686 Current Liabilities 701,448 Current Assets Less -314,762 Current Liabilities Long Term Assets Long Term 872,000 Liabilities

Total -1,186,762

Profit and Loss Account -1,186,762

4.4 Qualis Management

Actual £ Actual £

Assets 0 Current Assets 95,393 Current Liabilities 176,835 Current Assets Less -81,442 Current Liabilities Long Term Assets 0 Long Term 100,000 Liabilities

Total -181,442

Profit and Loss -181,442 Account

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4.5 Qualis Living

Actual £ Actual £

Assets 0 Current Assets 79,151 Current Liabilities 60,223 Current Assets Less 18,928 Current Liabilities Long Term Assets Long Term 25,000 Liabilities

Total -6,072

Profit and Loss -6,072 Account

5 Income and Expenditure Summary

5.1 The oncome and expenditure summary for the individual companies that form the Qualis Group of companies is summarised below. Noting that the figures are cumulative to the end of Quarter 3 and exclude internal recharges, loans and other amendments that will be shown from Quarter 3:

5.2 Qualis Group

Target Cumulative Variance Cumulative Actual To Q3 £ £ £

Income 0 0

Expenditure 806,071 441,572 -364,499

Net +Profit /Loss 806,071 441,572 -364,499

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Key issues to note:

 Only some 20% of the Qualis Group Budget relates to the shared board cost of £247,839, the balance relates to shared overhead costs for the companies and set-up and loan interest costs.  The significant underspend arises from the late agreement of loans, £128,571 vacancies and efficiencies achieved against the original set-up cost budget.

5.3 Qualis Commercial

Target Cumulative Variance Cumulative Actual To Q3 £ £ £

Income 0 0 0

Expenditure 360,391 130,024 -230,367 Epping Projects 1,043,107 1,056,738 -13,631

Net +Profit /Loss 1,403,498 1,186,762 -216,736

Key issues to note:

 Project director and other project costs including project manager, architects and other fees. Commercial Director costs (interim) shown in Qualis Group Board Costs.  The majority of the fees and due to be spent by March 2021 with construction costs following this.

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5.4 Qualis Management

Target Cumulative Variance Cumulative Actual Q1 and Q2 £ £ £

Income 0 0 0

Expenditure 288,034 181,442 -106,592

Net +Profit / Loss 288,034 181,442 -106,592

Key issues to note:

 Project Director and set-up costs only. First service is not live until 1st October 2020.

5.5 Qualis Living

Target Cumulative Variance Cumulative Actual Q1 and Q2 £ £ £

Income, (less hand- 356,783 12,572 344,211 through)

Expenditure 2,842 18,644 15,802

Net +Profit /Loss 353,941 6,072 360,013

Key issues to note:

 Delay in acquiring properties has resulted in operational underspend and no income receipt as original assumption was that assets would be purchased from April.  Due to this delay there is a significant saving in loan costs that will be shown in Quarter 4.

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6 Operational Performance Summary

6.1 Key points of progress with the overarching Qualis Group of companies’ business plan should be noted.

6.2 Qualis Group

6.3 Qualis Commercial

 A planning performance agreement has been signed for the Epping sites  An outline business case has been prepared for the Epping sites  An optimal outline plan has been prepared for the Epping sites which is in discussion with EFDC Planning  Options for the leisure centre re-provision have been discussed with the EFDC provider.  Options for the Epping Town Council have been discussed.  Project managers, quantity surveyors and architects (up to Stage 2) have been appointed for the Epping sites.  A preliminary view of the Waltham Abbey Roundhills site has been carried out.  A preliminary view of the Debden Pyrles Lane site has been carried out.

6.4 Qualis Management

6.5 Qualis Living

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 A portfolio approach and financial assessment approach to the purchase of income earning assets has been agreed.  Two potential properties to acquire have been reviewed in detail (purchase not actioned).

7 Key Actions

7.1 A final review of the budget will be undertaken for Quarter 4 and budgets are being calculated for next financial year.

7.2 Agree and call down planned loans by the 31st July 2020 (latest). A review of banking arrangements is planned and additional tax advice is being sort.

7.3 A further planning performance agreement is being finalised.

7.4 Asset purchases from the market are due to be secured in early October at which time the initial asset sales from EFDC will be finalised.

End

13 Page 89 This page is intentionally left blank Agenda Item 13

Report to the Council

Committee: Audit & Governance Date: 29 October 2020

Subject: Review of Treasury Management Investment Limits.

Chairman: Councillor I Hadley

Recommending:

(1) That the following amended Treasury Management Investment Limits be approved:

(a) Single Institution (excluding the UK Government) to be increased to £4million (previous limit was £3million); and

(b) Money Market Funds to be increased to £10million per fund, with a maximum of 3 Funds to be invested in at any one time unless Officers have called an emergency virtual meeting with three members of the Audit & Governance Committee – preferably including the Chairman - to discuss the situation (previous limit was £10million in total for all Funds invested in).

1. At its meeting held on 28 September 2020, the Audit & Governance Committee considered the Treasury Management Outturn report for 2019/20. This report considered the compliance with the Council’s adopted Treasury Management and Prudential Indicators and reported that full compliance had been achieved on most of the Indicators. However, the cash requirements of the Council’s recently expanded commercial activities had resulted in some technical breaches, especially on Investment Limits.

Investment Limits

2. The £3million limit on investing in any single organisation (except for the UK Government) was breached during the year, with the Council holding larger amounts of cash with NatWest, the Council’s main bankers. This was primarily driven by commercial investment activity, which was approved by Cabinet during 2019/20 (and subsequent to the adoption of the Treasury Management Strategy for the year). The peak cash holding was £26million in mid-December 2019; this was a temporary position (lasting 6 days) as the Council gathered the funds in readiness for a balancing payment of £18.645million in respect of the purchase of Centric Parade, High Road, Loughton.

3. The increasing scale of commercial activity generally, including the Qualis initiative, means that the current Investment Limits are proving operationally very difficult (and technically impossible during the early stages of the pandemic as the Council received large sums from the Government at very short notice). A review of the Limits has therefore been undertaken and a solution (that balances risk with operational need) has been developed. The starting point is the level of available Balance Sheet reserves in the event of a default. The Council had £27.341million in reserves on its (draft) Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2020 to cover unexpected credit losses in an emergency.

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4. Based on discussions with Arlingclose, the Council’s Treasury Management consultants, a reasonable level of risk to carry in a single institution would be 15% (based on current market conditions) of the Council’s reserves. A revised Investment Limit for a single institution is therefore suggested at £4million (rounded down for prudence as 15% x £27.341million = £4.1million).

Money Market Funds

5. In addition, it is the view of Arlingclose that the Council’s current Investment Limit of £10million in total for Money Market Funds (MMF) is now – in the circumstances – excessively prudent, with a £10million limit more usually associated with a single MMF; these are not considered risky investments (and usually carry very high credit ratings), provided investments are spread across a range of MMFs. It was therefore proposed that the MMF Investment Limit be amended to £10 million for a single MMF.

6. However, the Committee was concerned about the risk this could pose to the Council if there was not a maximum on the number of MMFs that could be invested in at any one time. Therefore, the Committee agreed to limit the number of MMFs that could be invested in to three at any one time, and if Officers wished to invest Council funds in more than three MMFs at the same time then they would have to call an emergency virtual meeting with at least three members of the Audit & Governance Committee – preferably including the Chairman – to discuss the situation.

7. We recommend as set out at the commencement of this report.

Page 92 Agenda Item 14

Report to Council

Joint Arrangements and External Organisations

Subject: The Royal Gunpowder Mills Date: 29 October 2020

Chairman: Councillor H Kane

As you are all aware, the Royal Gunpowder Mills site is currently closed and as we approach the second wave of Covid-19 with further restrictions it will remain closed until next year.

Nevertheless, the trustees have not been inactive during this time and it is with great pleasure that I can announce their successful bid of £104,000 from the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund, to assist them with heritage projects. The funds need to be spent by March 2021 and the trustees are very busy preparing and submitting different plans/projects, as these plans/projects have to be approved first before any of the money is released. There will be a national press release soon.

I am in communication with the Chairman of the RGM, who informs me that they are looking for volunteers with an engineering or gardening/botanical background, people in these fields that have retired and are willing to offer their expertise to the RGM. If anyone is interested, and has expertise in these areas, please let me know and I can put you in touch with the Chairman of the RGM.

As soon as there is any further news, I will advise Members by submitting a report to the Bulletin or to the next Council meeting.

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