Agenda item

a)    The proposal for the establishment of a Joint Committee (JC) in respect of matters pertaining to the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town be supported.

b)  Subject to all Garden Town partner authorities approving the Agreement, the arrangements set out in the Inter Authority Agreement at Appendix 1 to this report be endorsed and agreed.

c)   Authority be delegated to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, in consultation with the Leader, to make any necessary, nonconsequential and minor amendments and refer to the HGGT Chair and Director.

d) Authority be delegated to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to make consequential amendments to the Council’s constitution to facilitate the establishment of the Joint Committee on the basis of the Terms of Reference set out in Schedule 10 of the Inter Authority Agreement once all constituent Council’s have confirmed their approval of the Agreement.

The Leader of the Council presented the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town – Joint Committee report. He said that the council were working with two county councils; Herts and Essex and two district councils; Epping Forest and Harlow on the Garden Town which meant that some decision making was slow. The proposal in the report would allow for more agile decision making and make the process more transparent and accountable to public scrutiny.

The Leader of the Council made it clear that planning decisions and strategic plan making would remain with the constitute partners and the joint committee would enable cross border strategic decision making and policy making. He added that if all partners could not agree or officers could not negotiate a shared solution, then the option was still available for councils to withdraw.

Councillor Crystall proposed that the recommendations in the report be supported. Councillor Goldspink seconded the proposal.

Councillor Dumont referred to recommendation (c) in the report which asked the Executive to delegate any necessary minor amendments to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services. He asked what these amendments would be made to.

The Head of Planning said that the report and the inter-authority agreement had been through each council’s democratic process and had already been considered by Harlow, Hertfordshire and Epping Forest. She said there could be some minor changes in relation to clarification points that had been picked up along the way. She said that some of the changes might relate to small points and it would be best placed for the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to agree those.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that if the delegation was not agreed, all changes would have to go through the democratic process each time. He said that any minor amendments would be reported back to the committee.

Councillor Goldspink said she was strongly in favour of the proposals. She said that the new committee would speed up decision making which would be a great advantage.

Councillor Hoskin referred to the option of councils being able to leave the partnership and asked for more clarity. Councillor Crystall said there were a lot of stages to go through before the final option.

The Head of Planning added that there was a clause in the agreement relating to the termination of the partnership. She said that if the partnership could not reach an agreement, officers would want to make sure that any issues were worked through by officers in the first instance. She said that officers would not put any proposals forward for a decision that put the committee in a difficult position.

Councillor Dumont asked about the process for making members aware should the unlikely event happen that the committee could not come to an agreement.

The Head of Planning said that each council’s Overview and Scrutiny process still applied and any issues within the joint committee would be reported.

The motion to support the recommendation having been proposed and seconded was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – That (A) the proposal for the establishment of a Joint Committee (JC) in respect of matters pertaining to the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town be supported;

(B)  Subject to all Garden Town partner authorities approving the Agreement, the arrangements set out in the Inter Authority Agreement at Appendix 1 to this report be endorsed and agreed;

(C) Authority be delegated to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, in consultation with the Leader, to make any necessary, nonconsequential and minor amendments and refer to the HGGT Chair and Director; and

(D)   Authority be delegated to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to make consequential amendments to the Council’s constitution to facilitate the establishment of the Joint Committee on the basis of the Terms of Reference set out in Schedule 10 of the Inter Authority Agreement once all constituent Councils have confirmed their approval of the Agreement.