Present: Chairman: Cllr. B. Beale

Vice-Chairman : Cllr. J. Buchanan

Cllrs. P. Bowditch, G. Dann, J. Devlin, C. Dyer, T. Gandy, E. Guest, D. Knight, M. Moore, R. Rapley, T. Stansfield, G. Thurman and M. Wilson.

Vikram Footring, Vice-Chariman of the Youth Town Council, one member of the public and the Town Clerk.

The Chairman welcomed the member of the public and Vikram Footring to the meeting and congratulated him on being elected as Vice-Chairman of the Youth Council.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs. R. Crew, J. Garlick, D. Spencer and M. Wilson. Essex County Councillor K. Twitchen, Essex County Councillor and District Councillor A. Hedley and District Councillors R. Moore, K. Blake, P. Turner and S. Horgan had also submitted their apologies.

Members received and considered the minutes of the meeting held on 26^th October, 2006.

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the Town Council meeting held on 26^th October, 2006 be taken as read, approved as a correct record and signed.

The Chairman reported that he had attended the EALC Chairman’s Day held on 31^st October, 2006 along with Cllrs. Buchanan and Gandy at which Modules 5 and 6 – Chairing A Challenging Meeting and Visionary Leadership – had taken place. He said he had found it very beneficial and the papers for the Day were available within the office. He said that Cllr. Gandy had completed all three training days and as a result had received his own gavel.

Cllr. Beale said that, on behalf of the Town Council he had, laid a wreath on Remembrance Sunday and he had been impressed with the turnout of approximately 3,000 people. He thanked those Town Councillors who had also attended the event.

Cllr. Beale said that the Switching-On Ceremony in respect of the Christmas Lights on 24^th November had gone extremely well with a large number of people in attendance. He thanked Cllr. Knight, the Christmas Lights Working Party and the Town Clerk for their involvement with this event and he hoped that it would continue to flourish.

RESOLVED: that the report of the Chairman be noted.

1. Planning : 24^th October, 7^th and 21^st November

   Cllr. J. Devlin, Chairman of the Committee presented the minutes of the Planning Committee meetings.

   Cllr. Gandy made reference to a number of trees which had been chopped

   down at the weekend in the area of Linda Gardens/Hannakins Farm and

   Cllr. Stansfield reported that Basildon District Council were made aware of

   this and an Article 4 notice had been put on the area and Tree Preservation Orders on the remaining trees.

   Reference was made to minute 77 of the meeting held on 21^st November, 2006 – Sun Corner Registration - and it was

   RESOLVED: that (a) the Chairman of the Council be authorised to sign, in the presence of a JP, the application for Registering the land at Sun Corner as an Open Space.

   (b) the minutes of the above meetings be approved and adopted.

2. Environment : 14^th November, 2006

   Cllr. P. Bowditch, Chairman of the Committee, presented the minutes of the Environment Committee meeting held on 14^th November, 2006.

   Minute 37 – War Memorial Working Party – in answer to a question the Town Clerk reported that a response was still awaited from John Farrer regarding the inscriptions on the World War II Memorial.

   Minute 41 – Flag – Cllr. Bowditch reported that a new flag was now flying at the Police Station and the original flag had been deposited at the Cater Museum.

   Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 14^th November, 2006 be approved and adopted.

3. Finance and General Purposes: 23^rd November, 2006

Cllr. E. Guest, Chairman of the Committee, presented the minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting held on 23^rd November and it was noted that minute 30 - Estimates – would be considered under agenda item No. 6.

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd November, 2006 be approved and adopted.

68. TOWN PLAN

Members received and considered the minutes of the Town Plan Working

Party meeting held on 25^th October, 2006.

Cllr. Bowditch showed members a copy of a document prepared by the Working Party to be used when making presentations to local Groups who would then decide if they wanted to nominate a representative to serve upon the Steering Committee. Cllr. Buchanan then reported on the presentation he had given at the meeting of the Norsey Wood Society held on 5^th December.

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 25^th October be noted.

Cllr. Guest presented the Estimates for 2007-2008 as approved at the Finance & General Purposes Committee meeting held on 24^th November, 2006 and said that provision had been made for all the requests submitted by the Town Council Committees and Working Parties. He made reference to a few of the entries contained therein and said that a 1.61% increase was being recommended; an increase of 24p on a Band D Property.

Cllr. Devlin expressed concern that the increase which was below inflation was imprudent as in future years it may be necessary to increase the precept considerably and he would rather that it increased annually by an inflationary amount.

Discussion ensued regarding this and it was:

RESOLVED: that the Estimates as attached in ‘Appendix A’ be accepted and Basildon District Council be notified that the Town Council precept for 2007-2008 will be £212,364.

70. MEMBERS’ REPORTS

Further to minute 59(e) of the Council meeting held on 26^th October, Cllr.

Stansfield reported that he was unable to attend the seminar held on 20^th

October, 2006.

1. Roles and Responsibilities Course

   Members received the report of Cllr. M. Dunn on his attendance at this Course on 2^nd November, 2006.

   RESOLVED: that the report be noted.

    

    

2. Executive Committee

   Cllr. Buchanan reported that he represents the Basildon Association of Town and Parish Councils at meetings of the Executive and he informed members that he had been appointed Vice-Chairman of the EALC at the meeting held on 16^th November. He said that a copy of the minutes of that meeting would be forwarded to the Town Council in due course.

   The Chairman congratulated Cllr. Buchanan on his appointment as Vice-Chairman.

   RESOLVED: that the information be noted.

3. Law & Procedures Course

   Members received the report of Cllr. T. Gandy on his attendance at this Course held on 22^nd November, 2006.

   RESOLVED: that the information be noted.

4. Conference Day

Cllr. Buchanan reported on the Conference Day held on 28^th November, 2006 and said that Cllr. Wilson and the Town Clerk had also attended. He said that as Vice-Chairman of the EALC he had opened the Conference and the main subjects discussed were:

The White Paper, Strong and Prosperous Communities led by Justin

Griggs, Head of Development, NALC

The Essex Resilience Forum – Planning for the Future, Paul Walker, Emergency Planning Officer, ECC

Clustering

With regard to The Essex Resilience Forum this session was concerned with the preparation of a Disaster Recovery Plan and Cllr. Buchanan said that this might be something that the Town Council should consider in the future; it could also be of interest to small businesses within the town.

RESOLVED: that the information be noted.

As Cllr. Dyer had lost his voice, Cllr. Gandy reported on the Law and Order Summit Discussion held on Saturday 11^th November, 2006 which had been instigated by John Baron, M.P. Cllr. Gandy reported that Commander Glenn Caton, and three Inspectors, Essex Police had been in attendance but there were not many members of the public. Cllr. Gandy detailed the areas of concern and he said a follow-up meeting was to take place on Saturday 9^th December.

RESOLVED: that the information be noted.

Councillor Buchanan reported on his attendance at the Area Forum on 30^th November, 2006 and said that the Thames Gateway Strategic Framework was discussed together with concerns that the infrastructure would not be in place prior to the commencement of building works. The review of Mobile Library Services in Essex was also discussed as was the Local Area Agreement, Planning and Regeneration. Cllr. Buchanan reported that these meetings are open to the public and the next meeting was scheduled to be held in Rochford.

RESOLVED: that the information be noted.

Members received the report of the Town Clerk regarding the attendance of Cllrs. Bowditch, Buchanan and herself at the Strategy Review Day held at the Towngate Theatre, Basildon on 30^th November. This had been an information gathering day to enable the Local Strategic Partnership to refresh the Community Strategy document.

RESOLVED: that the report be noted.

Members received the report of Cllr. Bowditch on the meeting held on 5^th December, 2006 at Wickford; Cllr. Dyer also attended this meeting. Subjects discussed at the meeting included the setting up of Neighbourhood Action Panels in Billericay, a Community Forum in the District, PCSO’s in the area and CCTV in Billericay. Reference had also be made to Police information being included within the Town Crier.

On the subject of CCTV, the Chairman reported that he had been approached by the Police and asked if the Town Council could put pressure on the District Council to get the situation regarding the CCTV sorted out. It would appear that at present only three out of the nine cameras were working correctly but there was a possibility that four of the cameras may be obscured by the Christmas Lights. The Town Clerk was trying to obtain the relevant information from the District Council.

RESOLVED: that the report be noted.

At the request of the Chairman, members were asked to consider reverting the commencement of the 2007 Annual Town Meeting back to 7.00 p.m. and also suggestions for a guest speaker.

RESOLVED: that (a) the Annual Town Meeting to be held on 19^th April, 2007 commence at 7.00 p.m.;

(b) the Ranger, Norsey Wood and Mill Meadows and Mr. T. Draper, Chairman, Chamber of Trade be approached to ascertain if either of them would be able to speak at the Annual Town Meeting; the responses received to be considered at the next Town Council meeting.

Further to minute 58 of the meeting held on 26^th October, members considered further the request of Sunnymede Junior School for a nomination of a Town Councillor as the Local Education Authority (LEA) Governor for a four year period. A Governor’s Introduction pack had been forwarded to the majority of Town Councillors.

Also circulated to members was a report by Cllr. Buchanan who had contacted the Head Teacher of Sunnymede Junior School and subsequently attended a meeting of the Governors and was still considering whether he wanted his name put forward as a "Community Governor".

Cllr. Knight said he was prepared to put his name forward as a LEA Governor and it was

RESOLVED: that Sunnymede Junior School be informed that Cllr. Knight was prepared to put his name forward as a LEA Governor.

73. WINIFRED EMERY TRUST

Further to minute 60(b) of the meeting held on 26^th October and the letter of the Town Clerk dated 9^th November, 2006 members were requested to consider the appointment of one Trustee.

Concern was expressed that that there was reference within the District Council Bulletin to the fact that Cllr. Devlin, Mr. M. Everett and the Town Clerk had been appointed Trustees of the Trust.

Councillor Devlin confirmed that he was prepared to stand as a Trustee but he would need to see all financial papers before finally making a commitment. The Chairman made reference to the papers that had been circulated in which the appointment of five Trustees was referred to and he questioned why the Town Council had only been requested to appoint three. Reference was also made to the fact that a copy of the original Trust Document had still not been received within the office and it was

RESOLVED: that (a) the District Council be asked for a copy of the original trust deed, an explanation as to why the Town Council only needs to appoint three trustees and a copy of the financial details regarding the Trust;

(b) the matter be considered again at the next Council meeting.

74. MINI-ROUNDABOUT, LONDON ROAD (A129) JUNCTION WITH MOUNTNESSING ROAD

    Members received and considered a proposal submitted by Cllr. T. Gandy for a mini-roundabout to be installed at London Road at the junction with Mountnessing Road. It was reported that Essex County Councillor Twitchen was aware of this proposal and was prepared to pursue it with Highway Officers and this had been confirmed in an email received from Cllr. Twitchen.

    It was:

    RESOLVED: that the request along with the comments of Essex County Cllr. Twitchen be considered by the Planning Committee at their meeting to be held on 19^th December, 2006.

75. CROWN YARD

    Cllrs. Buchanan, Dann and Stansfield declared an interest with regard to this item and did not vote.

    Members received and considered correspondence from the Billericay District Residents’ Association enclosing a draft letter which they wanted endorsed by the Town Council prior to sending it to the businesses that have access from their premises to Crown Yard. The letter to businesses referred to the danger from vehicles using Crown Yard via the High Street as vehicles cross the pedestrian pavement; it also suggested ways to alleviate the situation.

    Discussion ensued regarding this matter during which reference was made to the fact that Crown Yard was an ancient right of way and it was suggested that impeding this could have legal implications. It was

    RESOLVED: that the Town Council does not assist the Residents’ Association with regard to this matter.

76. REVIEW OF MOBILE LIBRARY SERVICES IN ESSEX

    Members received and considered a letter from the Essex County Council. The Chairman said that he felt it was very difficult to respond to this without further information as to the numbers and ages of those using the facilities and the definition of a community. Despite enquiries being made of the Library Service it had not been possible to obtain additional information.

    Members discussed this matter and the Chairman referred to the response form supplied by the Library Service.

    RESOLVED: that the Library Service be informed that the Town Council does not accept the proposed criteria for mobile library provision in view of the large number of elderly people residing in the areas where the stops take place; reference also to be made to the fact that more information would have been beneficial.

77. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION

1. Basildon Association of Town and Parish Councils

   RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 19^th October, 2006 be noted.

    

    

    

2. Closure of Office during Christmas Holiday

It was noted that the office would be closed from Monday 25^th December, 2006 – Tuesday 2^nd January, 2007.

74. QUESTIONS FROM THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

The Chairman closed the meeting for questions from the press and public.

Youth Town Councillor Footring raised questions regarding traffic calming in Greens Farm Lane and the parking situation within the High Street. He also suggested that copies of the Town Council agenda should be forwarded to the Chairman of the Youth Council.

The Chairman said that the Highways Department would be contacted to ascertain if traffic surveys had or could be undertaken in the Greens Farm Lane area with the possible installation of traffic calming measures; furthermore agendas would be forwarded to the Chairman of the Youth Council as suggested.

Cllr. B. Beale

Chairman

The Chairman closed the meeting at 8.42 p.m.

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