Essex County Council delivers some of the poorest children’s services in England

I woke this morning to the news that Essex County Council has, for the second year running, been rated as delivering some of the worst children’s services in England. Nine councils are rated as poor, including Essex [PDF report here] and the London Borough of Haringey, which faced massive criticism because of the way it handled the awful Baby P case.

It seems extraordinary that the Conservative councillors who run Essex County Council allowed children’s services to deteriorate so much, especially given the number of high profile child abuse cases that have featured in the national news in recent years. Effective work to protect children is difficult, expensive and unglamorous. Nevertheless it is one of the most important functions that the county council is responsible for.

Read the rest of this entry.

Cold calling warning

The district council yesterday published advice about yet another cold calling scam.

A fire and security company, claiming to be linked to Crime Stoppers and The Home Office, has been cold calling people – usually elderly residents. They offer a free alarm fitting service and once they have done this try to tie the client into a contract often leading to them parting with thousands of pounds.

Consumer Direct and Essex Police have some good advice about dealing with cold callers here and here.

At the recent Safer Communities Conference I spoke to a representative from Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (or the Fire Brigade as most people still think of it). The service is heavily promoting the use of smoke alarms and in some circumstances will carry out free fire safety checks and even install a smoke alarm. Call 0845 601 2495 for details.

Epping Forest Safer Communities Partnership (which brings together the district council, police, fire service and other public services which deal with crime) can also offer advice to people thinking of installing an alarm system. Contact them by email at safercommunities@eppingforestdc.gov.uk or on 01992 564608. They will put you in touch with reputable local security companies.

Club 195 Licence review – agenda published

The district council’s Licensing sub-Committee will discuss Club 195 at its meeting tomorrow (starting at 10am). You can read the agenda (including all the representations which people have been willing to make public) on the district council website here. Be warned – some of the files are very large!

It looks likely that the actual discussion will take place in private.

UPDATE: According to the local paper the sub-Committee revoked the club’s licence. See here for the story, which includes a short explanation from the sub-committee chairman. It was evidently a marathon meeting. I believe the club has the right to appeal to a magistrates’ court but this is something I need to check.

Grange Hill by-election boost for Lib Dems

Last Thursday’s district council by-election was a boost for the local Liberal Democrats. Gavin Chambers ran the Conservatives much closer than anyone expected and was just 43 votes from victory. The result was:

  • Conservative 453 (52%, -31%)
  • LD (Gavin Chambers) 411 (48%,+31%)

    • Majority 42. Turnout 17.2%.

The Conservative vote at the last set of district elections in May 2008 was 1262 so this is a big loss of support for them, even taking into account the lower turnout. One factor seems to be have been local frustration at the decision of the Conservatives on the district council to block talks about introducing a Freedom Pass style scheme in Epping Forest. At the moment older people in London can travel free on the tube but not those on the other side if the border in Epping Forest, despite the fact we all share the same tube network.

Club 195 Update

I’ve spoken to a member of the Licensing Committee who has told me that after a very long meeting and hearing evidence from both sides the committee today upheld the original decision to suspend Club 195’s licence. So the club will remain closed at least until a full hearing later this month.

As I mentioned below, local residents are entitled to submit their views to the committee but should do so by 13 October (next Tuesday).

Club 195 Licence Review – how residents can have their say

Janet Whitehouse and I have been contacted by residents concerned about anti-social behaviour and violence outside Club 195 in Cottis Lane, Epping, especially following the shocking incident on Saturday 26 September which has been extensively covered by the local press.

Last Wednesday the district council responded to a request from the police and temporarily suspended the licence of Club 195. This temporary suspension was due to be reviewed yesterday (Monday 5 October) but the hearing has been postponed until Wednesday. This is not a full review but will simply decide whether the temporary suspension should continue pending a full hearing. The agenda can be accessed here.

The full hearing is expected to take place during the week beginning 26 October, and councillors on the Licensing Committee will consider representations from Club 195, from the police and other relevant organisations.  Local residents can also submit comments if they respond before Tuesday 13 October.

The law is quite strict about the issues that the Licensing Committee can take into account. These are:

(i) The prevention of crime and disorder
(ii) Public safety
(iii) The prevention of public nuisance
(iv) The protection of children from harm

so it is best to concentrate on these issues if you submit a representation. Recent experience suggests to me that points (i), (ii) and (iii) ae all very relevant. Submissions should be sent to: Mrs Kim Tuckey, Licensing Section, Epping Forest DC, Civic Offices, Epping, CM16 4BZ or licensing@eppingforestdc.gov.uk. Please also send me a copy at jon@jonwhitehouse.org.uk.

You can obtain a full copy of the council’s licensing policy from here [PDF].

The incident outside Club 195 was shocking, and there have been far too many problems late at night in that area. According to the police Club 195 has been directly associated with at least forty seven incidents over the last twelve months including six incidents of Grievous Bodily Harm, ten incidents of Actual Bodily Harm, seven other disturbances, seven thefts and six common assaults.

This is not what we expect in Epping (or should tolerate anywhere else either). I believe these problems can be dealt with if the council and police take the right action

(Not) Building on the Green Belt

I have a map at home which shows almost every field around Epping, North Weald and Theydon Bois highlighted with green shading. These are all places where developers have expressed an interest in building large housing developments – but they can’t because the land is in the Green Belt. As long as the land stays in the Green Belt the council won’t grant planning permission unless there are very exceptional circumstances.

This hasn’t stopped some companies – including in Epping Forest – trying to sell small plots of land in the Green Belt as an “investment opportunity”. They imply that planning permission for new houses will be granted and the land will increase massively in value. (If this is the case why doesn’t the company hold on to the land and profit from the supposed increase in value itself?)

The council issued a news release yesterday with information about one of these “landbankers” which has been advertising plots of land for sale on land at Blunts Farm in Theydon Bois. Sadly this is yet another potential headache for the local residents who have already put up with all sorts of problems and issues relating to the Blunts Farm site.

The council points out that:

The land is entirely within the Green Belt, and therefore the normal restrictions on development apply. The areas of land are isolated from the existing built area of Theydon Bois, and the services it provides. No means of access has been shown to the parcels of land. The land has been submitted to the District Council under the “Call for Sites” exercise, but this does not mean that there is any certainty that this land will be allocated for development purposes. The allocation of 3,500 new homes claimed by the vendors refers to the requirement in the East of England Plan for the whole District over the period 2001 to 2021

Street signs

As I walk or drive around Epping I regularly report broken or poorly maintained street signs to the district council and I am pleased to say that in most cases council staff respond fairly promptly. Sometimes they have even spotted the damage and ordered a replacement before the problem has been reported.

I was pleased to learn that signs in Springfield and Centre Avenue in Epping are to be replaced this week as both have been steadily deteriorating. The nameplate in Springfield is literally on its last leg, as one of the supporting metal posts has disappeared or been taken.

The design of the street signs used by the council has changed over the years. Personally I think the current design, with the black edging and wooden posts (see Tidy’s Lane example below), is more attractive than those used in the past. I hope the council sticks with it.

Springfield street sign - before it lost its leg

Tidy's Lane street sign - an example of the current street sign design

Gypsy and Traveller sites: government consultation

Yesterday was the deadline for responding to the Secretary of State’s Proposed Changes to the draft policy on Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation in the East of England [PDF]. This is almost the final stage of a very lengthy process which will determine how many pitches Epping Forest district is expected to provide. It is an issue which Janet Whitehouse and I and other Liberal Democrat councillors have been thinking about very carefully.

Liberal Democrat district councillor Janet Whitehouse with proposed Gypsy site at Woodside, Thornwood in the background

The submission which I put in as Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Epping Forest District Council described the Secretary of State’s decision to reduce the pitch requirement for Epping Forest from 49 to 34 pitches as a welcome improvement compared with the original proposed policy. It shows some recognition of the particular local circumstances in Epping Forest.

However I argued that it does not fully take into account the difficulty of delivering a large number of gypsy and traveller sites in Epping Forest.

Unlike some other districts Epping Forest has a very low amount of what is described as “unconstrained land”. In other words much of the land in the district is environmentally sensitive (e.g. Epping Forest and parts of the Lee Valley Regional Park or Green Belt or both). It also remains the case that the number of additional pitches sought as a proportion of total new dwellings is disproportionately high when compared to other districts in the region.

The Thornwood Action Group has carried out excellent research and analysis which I relied on heavily when putting in my response. Like other local residents’ action groups, I think the evidence justifies a further reduction down to 19 or fewer sites.  I’ve not yet been shown a copy of the official Epping Forest District Council submission, but this will also seek a reduction.

Although the Secretary of State will decide how many pitches are required locally, it is up to the district council to decide where  the pitches should be located, hence the controversial consultation which ended in February. We are now waiting for an analysis of the consultation responses and technical and sustainability reports on the proposed sites.

Caffè Nero gets another chance

There weren’t many council meetings last week but the regular planning sub-committee took place on Wednesday . The most high profile agenda item [PDF] was about Caffè Nero  in Epping High Street: the latest installment of a long saga which dates back to July 2006.

The coffee shop has been trading in defiance of planning law for the last few years but, judging from the emails and comments I have received, it has built up a loyal group of customers in that time. Councillors were asked whether Caffè Nero’s owners should have the opportunity to submit a new planning application which could take account of changed circumstances since the original planning application was submitted in 2006.

I argued that councillors should have the chance to consider a planning application and I’m pleased that other members thought the same. Caffè Nero now has just under four weeks to submit a planning application which councillors will consider in public at a future planning committee meeting.