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MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF EPPING TOWN COUNCIL HELD IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM, EPPING HALL, ST JOHN’S ROAD, EPPING, ON TUESDAY, 15TH MAY 2007 AT 8.15PM
PRESENT Councillors: J A Smith); N. Hines; Mrs Janet Hedges; K. Avey; Ms L. Clarke. R Macrae; Mrs M-L Whitbread; Ms M Starling. H. Pegrum; Miss O D Dunseath and J. Lewis
OFFICERS Bob Whittome (Town Clerk), K. Harrigan (Finance Officer) and G. Ratcliff (Senior Admin Officer)
Two members of the public were in attendance.
1. ELECTION OF TOWN MAYOR
Councillor Pegrum proposed, and Councillor Avey seconded, the nomination of Councillor Nick Hines for the office of Town Mayor for 2007/08. No further nominations were received and Council RESOLVED to elect as Town Mayor Councillor Nick Hines. The outgoing Mayor, Councillor Smith, invested Councillor Hines with the Mayoral Chain of Office and Councillor Hines took the Chair.
2. DECLARATION OF OFFICE
Councillor Hines read and signed the declaration of acceptance of the office of Town Mayor which countersigned by the Clerk.
3. MEMBERS DECLARATIONS OF ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE
The Clerk advised Members that declarations had been received from all Members with the exception of Councillor Murphy who was unable to attend the Annual meeting due to a flight delay. Council RESOLVED to direct the Clerk to contact Councillor Murphy as soon as practical on his arrival in Britain to receive his declaration of acceptance of office and to report on this matter to the next ordinary Council meeting.
4. ELECTION OF DEPUTY TOWN MAYOR
Nominations had previously been received for Councillor Mrs J. Hedges and Councillor B. Murphy to stand for the role of Deputy Town Mayor. Because Councillor Murphy was unable to attend the meeting, Members RESOLVED to defer a decision on the appointment of a Deputy Town Mayor until the next Ordinary meeting of Council.
5. OUTSIDE BODIES
The Clerk advised Council on the list of nominations received for appointments to outside bodies. The nominations were proposed by Councillor Smith and seconded by Councillor Miss Dunseath as follows:-
Local Councils' Liaison Committee: TOWN MAYOR/DEPUTY TOWN MAYOR
Essex Association of Local Councils: TOWN MAYOR/DEPUTY TOWN MAYOR
Epping Citizens Advice Bureau: Janet Hedges
Friends of Swaines Green Rob Macrae
Royal British Legion - Epping Branch: J Alan Smith
Epping Forest PCT User Group Janet Hedges
Epping Old People's Welfare Association: Olive Dunseath
Epping/Eppingen Association: Ben Murphy
Epping Society: Ben Murphy
Town Centre Partnership Rob Macrae
Theydon Trust Hugh Pegrum, J Alan Smith and Ken Avey as representatives and shareholders to this organisation. It will be practical for these members to serve in this capacity for the life of this Council. No other councillor will be involved in any capacity with Theydon Trust Limited during this period except by Formal Resolution of Council following consultation with Theydon Trust’s Office.
Trustee of Epping Forest Band: TOWN CLERK
Police Liaison Groups: Ben Murphy
Epping Horticultural Society: Olive Dunseath
Trustees of Town Mayor's Appeal: (5) (Minute 287 of 05/06 refers)
Town Mayor, Nick Hines ) Town Clerk, Bob Whittome ) ex officio Deputy Town Mayor )
The two most recently serving Mayors (J Alan Smith and Ken Avey) serve ex officio.
Corporation of London Forum and Trust: Rob Macrae
Area Representative to ECC on Public Transport: J Alan Smith
Epping Forest Countrycare: Rob Macrae
Theydon Bois United Charities: Hugh Pegrum
Epping & Theydon Garnon Almshouses and Relief in Need Charity: Mrs L F Berry 4 yrs Sep 2010 H Pegrum 4 yrs July 2008 Mrs D M Miller 4 yrs Jan 2010
Coopersale Institute Janet Hedges
Council RESOLVED to appoint those Members nominated as set out above to the Outside Bodies noted.
6. STANDING COMMITTEES
The Clerk advised Council on the list of nominations received for appointments to Standing Committees. The nominations were proposed by Councillor Rob Macrae and seconded by Councillor Mrs Janet Hedges as follows:-
Key Members
Finance: Hugh Pegrum
Recreation Grounds: Janet Hedges
Cemetery: Nick Hines
Market: Maxine Starling
Epping Hall, Jack Silley Pavilion and Outside Services: Rob Macrae
Administration: J Alan Smith
Planning & General Purposes Committee: Members:
1 Maxine Starling 4 Jerry Lewis 2 J Alan Smith 5 Town Mayor 3 Rob Macrae 6 Deputy Town Mayor
of which
Chairman - Ken Avey Vice-Chairman - Olive Dunseath
Corporate Governance Advisory Committee Members (minute 45 of 05/06 refers)
Town Mayor – N. Hines ) Deputy Town Mayor ) ex officio Town Clerk (non-voting) ) Finance H. Pegrum )
Discipline/Grievance Committee Members
1 J.A. Smith 2 K. Avey 3 Miss O.D. Dunseath
of which Chairman is Councillor K Avey
Appeal Committee (Members must be different from those sitting on the Discipline/Grievance Committee) Members
1 N. Hines 2 J. Hedges 3 M-L Whitbread
of which Chairman is Councillor Nick Hines
7. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
The Clerk advised Council that Councillor Murphy had given his apologies for his non-attendance at this meeting due to flight delays in Greece.
8. DECLARATION OF INTEREST
No Member declared an interest in any item of this agenda.
9. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
The Minutes of the Ordinary meeting of the Town Council held on 10th April 2007 were taken as read.
Following this, and in accord with Standing Orders, the Mayor adjourned the meeting to enable members of the public to speak. Mrs. L. Berry requested information about the closure of the newspaper and refreshments booth at Epping Station. The clerk advised Mrs Berry that the Council had lodged a formal objection to the closure of the booth and requested that a compromise be sought which would ensure a similar facility remained available at the Station. The Clerk was also aware that other local people and commuters had made similar objections. However, no substantial response had yet been received from Transport for London.
The Mayor reconvened the meeting and Council agreed to APPROVE the signing of the Minutes by the Mayor as a correct record.
10. RETIRING TOWN MAYOR’S DUTIES AND REPORT
Council NOTED the duties of the retiring Mayor and Deputy Mayor since 11th April 2007. Councillor Smith gave a brief speech of appreciation in regard to his year as Mayor, thanking fellow councillors and Council staff for their assistance during his year of activity. Following Councillor Smith’s speech, the new Town Mayor, Councillor Hines, presented Councillor Smith with a Former Town Mayor’s Badge.
11. MEMBERS REPORTS
No Member had anything to report with the exception of Councillor Miss Dunseath who advised Members in respect of the ETOPWA Annual General Meeting which takes place at Pelly Court on Monday, 21st May..
12. COUNCILLORS QUESTIONS
Councillor Avey requested information upon progress with the purchase of land at Swaines Green. The Clerk advised that no further progress had been made, although a slightly revised offer had been made on behalf of council. Councillor Pegrum advised that the house adjacent to the land was currently under offer. The Clerk will to try to ascertain the current situation and report back to Council.
13. PLANNING & GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE
Councillor Macrae requested information in respect of the strong objections to Costa Coffee’s placement of seating on the footway in the High Street. The Clerk recounted the circumstances leading up to the strong objection placed by Planning & General Purposes Committee, particularly emphasising that the purpose of Committee’s objection was to try to seek a compromise to ensure the public open space in question remained available for public use on Market Mondays and for occasional civic events.
Council NOTED the minutes of the Planning & General Purposes Committee meetings held on 10th and 24th April 2007.
14. LIST OF ATTENDANCES
Council RESOLVED to receive the List of Attendances of Members at meetings during 2006/07 municipal year.
15. SIGNATORIES
Council RESOLVED that the signatories for the Council and Mayor’s Charity accounts should be changed. The new signatories will be Councillors Hines, Murphy, Pegrum and Smith, and the Clerk will continue to be authorised to operate the electronic banking arrangements for transfers and salary payments.
16. ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT
Council resolved to APPROVE payment of the Accounts as set out in the cheque list on page 17 of the Minute Book 2007/08.
17. THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT ORDER 2007
Council considered the new model Code of Conduct and RESOLVED to adopt the Local Authorities (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2007 including paragraph 12 (2) with immediate effect; furthermore, the ten principles from the relevant Local Authorities (General Principles) Order 2001 were also adopted as a preamble to the new Code.
18. PLANNING APPLICATIONS
Six applications for planning permission were considered and the plans inspected and additionally an Appeal notification was considered.
APPEAL – EPF/2033/06 – 24 CENTRE DRIVE. Council RESOLVED that no further comment will be made in regard to this matter
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