Issue - meetings

To enable the Cabinet to formally endorse the Leader’s decision in relation to this matter which was taken as a matter of urgency on 30 June 2022.

RESOLVED that Cabinet endorses the decision taken by the Leader of the Council for Tendring District Council to sign up to a new Joint Committee Agreement of the North Essex Parking Partnership under the terms proposed.

Cabinet considered a report of the Leader of the Council (A.3) which sought its endorsement for the decision of the Leader of the Council taken on 30 June 2022 (and published on 4 July 2022) to sign up to the new Joint Committee Agreement of the North Essex Parking Partnership.

Members recalled that Essex County Council (ECC) had a statutory responsibility for the delivery of on-street parking management and enforcement and that it had delegated that responsibility to two partnerships consisting of boroughs and districts within Essex, namely the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) and the South Essex Parking Partnership (SEPP). The District of Tendring fell within the NEPP.

Cabinet was reminded that, within each partnership, there was a lead authority responsible for the employment of staff engaged in both frontline and back-office requirements for delivering the service. In the case of the NEPP this was Colchester Borough Council. The NEPP had been formed in April 2011 and reported to a Joint Committee (JC) of ECC under the terms agreed within a Joint Committee Agreement (JCA).

It was reported that the original JCA had been for seven years with an option for a further four-year extension. That extension had been agreed in 2018 and the JCA had then expired on 31 March 2022. At that time a further three-month extension had been agreed subject to the provision of a new JCA with individual districts or boroughs expected to sign up to the new JCA by 30 June 2022.

Cabinet was informed that, on 30 June 2022 the Leader of the Council acting on behalf of the Cabinet, and with the agreement of the Chairman of the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee, had made an urgent decision to commit to the new JCA on terms broadly similar to the previous agreement, but this time for five years with options for the Joint Committee to renew annually for up to three further years.

Recognising that failure to sign up to the new agreement within the ECC proposed timescale would have excluded  Tendring District Council (TDC) from the partnership preventing it from being able to influence its priorities and actions and forcing TDC to apply for membership of the Joint Committee later, thereby increasing the risk of additional officer time and including the possibility of a refusal of membership:-

It was moved by Councillor Stock OBE, seconded by Councillor McWilliams and:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet endorses the decision taken by the Leader of the Council for Tendring District Council to sign up to a new Joint Committee Agreement of the North Essex Parking Partnership under the terms proposed.