Present: Chairman: Cllr. B. Beale

Vice-Chairman : Cllr. J. Buchanan

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

One member of the public and the Town Clerk.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs. R. Crew, G. Dann (message on answerphone), J. Devlin (email), J. Garlick and Essex County Councillor K. Twitchen and District Councillor R. Moore.

Members received and considered the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2007.

Minute 84(b) – Finance & General Purposes Committee, 11 January 2007, Cllr. Wilson pointed out that "Bewell" in the third line of the second paragraph should read "Bedwell"

Minute 91(b) – Essex Heritage Trust – In answer to a question, the Chairman reported that it had been agreed that the letter from the Trust was to be forwarded to the Secretary, St. Mary Magdalen Church for general information as refurbishment works were being undertaken and they may not have been aware of grants provided by the Trust.

RESOLVED: that subject to the amendment to minute 84(b), the minutes of the Town Council meeting held on 25 January 2007 be taken as read, approved as a correct record and signed.

The Chairman reported on his attendance at the Air Corps Training Day on 4 February followed by the unveiling of a memorial to Squadron Leader R. Ferris. Both he and Cllr. Buchanan had attended the District Council Forum on 15 February at which District Councillors Archer, Buckenham and Sullivan had been in attendance and approximately twenty members of the public. Subjects discussed included planning issues, car parking and residents parking plus the current situation with the Car Wash, Crown Road. Concern had been expressed that District Councillors were not responding to emails and letters sent to them from members of the public. In this respect he reminded members of the Town Council that they should acknowledge communications they might receive and this could be done via the Town Council office if necessary.

The Chairman urged as many members as possible to take part in the "Big Litter Pick" on 17 March stating that a number of members of the community and representatives of different organisations within the town would be participating.

Resolved: that the report be noted.

96. (a) Planning Committee – 30 January, 13 and 27 February

    Cllr. J. Buchanan, Vice-Chairman, of the Planning Committee presented the

    minutes of the Planning Committee meetings and reported on various applications considered at the meetings.

    Resolved: that the minutes of the meetings held on 30 January, 13 and 27 February be approved and adopted.

    (b) Environment Committee – 6 February 2007

    RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2007 be approved and adopted.

    (c) Finance & General Purposes Committee

    Cllr. Guest, Chairman of the Committee presented the minutes of :

    (i) Special meeting held on 25 January 2007

97. RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2007 be approved and adopted.

(ii) Meeting held on 22 February 2007

Minute 48(c)(ii) – National Association of Local Councils Annual Conference – Cllr. Wilson reported that, although noting that Cllr. Buchanan would be attending this Conference on behalf of the Essex Association of Local Councils, the Town Council had, three years previously, made the decision that two representatives of the Council should attend the Conference as it was not possible for one member to attend all the sessions. Considerable benefit was achieved from attendance at this particular Conference.

Cllr. Wilson also expressed concern that this had been a resolution when a negative decision had been made and she felt that it should have been a recommendation. The Chairman of the Committee said the recording as a resolution was correct but the Council could always overrule the decision.

It was therefore proposed that the Town Council should send a delegate to the Conference, preferably someone who had not been previously. This was seconded but lost when put to the vote.

Minute 55 – Signage – Town Council Office

The Town Clerk reported that a response had now been received from the Agent of 92A High Street informing that the tenant could request a sum from the Town Council for the sign on that building. Discussion ensued regarding this matter during which some of the longest serving members of the Town Council expressed the view that they thought all necessary consents had been obtained prior to the erection of the sign. Members felt that the payment of £1,000 could not be justified from Council Tax payers money and it was

Resolved: that (a) the Town Council sign be removed from the wall of 92A High Street ;

(b) in all other respects the minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2007 be approved and adopted.

Cllr. Bowditch, Chairman, reported that this meeting had been called to consider the minutes of the Public Convenience Working Party meeting and the situation regarding the District Council. Cllr. Bowditch reported that, since the meeting, correspondence had been received from the District Council regarding the rent review and stating that it would be based on car parking charges. Information received from Healthmatic indicated that the utilities would be accessible from Holly Court and therefore there should be minimal disruption to the car park.

It was noted that the minutes should have read "Chairman" at the end instead of "Vice-Chairman"

Resolved: that, subject to the above amendment, the minutes be approved and adopted.

Cllr. P. Bowditch, Chairman of the Working Party presented the minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2007 and reported on additional presentations which had taken place and responses received which had all been very encouraging. A meeting was to be held with those interested in serving upon the Steering Committee at the end of the month.

Resolved: that the minutes of the Working Party meeting held on 21 February 2007 be approved and adopted.

Cllrs. Guest and Knight reported on this Conference which they and the Town Clerk had attended. Cllr. Guest referred to the fact that there is a great deal of money available from many sources with approximately 8,800 different organisations able to supply grant funding. He said the Conference was demonstrating how to claim money by making sure application forms are read and the questions answered in the correct manner. Once a project has been defined research should be undertaken to determine the correct funder and a business plan prepared.

Cllr. Knight reiterated that the amount of funding available was unbelievable and he proposed that the terms of reference of all Project Groups should stipulate that appropriate funding be sought. He made reference to a "Grants and Funding" form which was circulated at the Conference and it was:

Resolved: that (i) the Terms of Reference of all Project Groups stipulate that investigations be undertaken for funding sources;

(ii) the "Grants and Funding" details form distributed at the Conference be circulated to all members of the Council;

(iii) in all other respects the report be noted.

Resolved: that the next meeting of the Environment Committee be held at 3.00 p.m. on Tuesday 20 March and apologies absence from Cllrs. Beale and Wilson be recorded.

Further to minute 90 of the Council meeting held on 25 January 2007 members were informed that the District Council were pursuing the winding- up of the Trust and the formation of a new Trust to enable the property to be handed over to another housing charity within Billericay.

Cllr. Bowditch referred to the fact that Mr. M. Everett had agreed to be a Trustee and he felt a letter should be forwarded to Mr. Everett notifying him of the up-to-date situation.

Resolved: that the information be noted and an appropriate letter be sent to Mr. Everett.

At the request of Cllr. T. Gandy members were asked to consider commemoration of St. George’s Day. In this respect reference was made to minute 1015 of the Town Council meeting held on 13 April 2006 when it had been agreed that, to enable this matter to be pursued further, the appropriate Project Proposal Form should be completed and submitted to members.

Discussion ensued regarding this matter during which Cllr. Gandy said that, although realising it was too late for this year, he felt more should be done within the town to commemorate St. George’s Day. It was pointed out that if the matter was pursued there would be various avenues of funding.

Resolved: that Cllr. Gandy prepares an appropriate Project Proposal Form for future consideration by the Council.

Members received and considered a letter from the Chairman of the Trustees of The Foundation of Essex Arts and the Essex Architecture Centre regarding a permanent visual arts space for the Basildon Art Collection. In particular they were looking into the possibility of the Basildon Swimming Pool area, which was due to be decommissioned in the near future, being used for this purpose and were inviting people to attend a meeting at the Towngate Theatre on Wednesday 28 March or sign a form offering support.

Cllr. Wilson reported that this was something that had been pursued for a number of years and it was

Resolved: that the matter be left to the discretion of individual members.

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2007 be noted.

Members received the minutes of the meetings held on 24 January 2007.

District Council Liaison meeting with Billericay Town Council:

minute 1 – Day Centre - reference was made to the fact that the Town Councillors should have been invited to a meeting to discuss the Day Centre and this had not yet taken place. The Chairman said that once the District Council had made a decision they would present the options to the Town Council.

minute 2 – CCTV - concern was expressed about the monitoring situation and the staff cover and it was suggested that details of the actual number of hours and times should be ascertained.

Reference was also made to the fact that Town Councillors had requested a visit to the monitoring station. Cllr. Bowditch reported that he and the Town Clerk had viewed the monitoring screens had been informed that Town Councillors would be able to attend once the system had been handed over by the contractors.

Reference was also made to a recent email regarding the transmitting signals from Billericay to Basildon and it was felt that clarification was required as to whether this was in respect of all the cameras within Billericay or those to be installed at the Railway Station and Lake Meadows.

Minute 7 – The Council’s Plans for the Deployment of Litter Enforcement Officers

Discussion ensued regarding this with particular reference to the fact that "the biggest enforcement issue was with regard to early and late deposits of refuse sacks" i.e. people putting their refuse out over night or too early in the morning. The view was expressed that the Enforcement Officers should be more pro active with regard to the dropping of litter but it was appreciated that this was often difficult to prove.

Members were informed that Mr. B. Boyce, Manager of Technical Services would be attending a meeting of the Litter Working Party at 4.00 p.m. on Thursday 19 April.

Resolved: that (i) further information be obtained from the District Council regarding:

the number of hours and what times the CCTV cameras are monitored;

when it will be possible for members of the Town Council to visit the monitoring station;

transmission of signals from Billericay to Basildon.

(ii) in all other respects the minutes of the meetings be noted.

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

The member of the public expressed support for St. George’s Day events and representation at the NALC Annual Conference and enquired if there were ways of encouraging more people to attend Council meetings.

The Chairman reconvened the meeting.

Cllr. B. Beale

Chairman

The Chairman closed the meeting at 8.32 p.m.

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