Meeting Details

The following speakers addressed Council pursuant to the provisions of Remote Meetings Procedure Rule 5(1) in respect of the motion on Reducing Inequality:-

Alison Andreas of Colchester Institute explained that the Institute saw the inequalities described in the motion every day and worked hard to address these inequalities especially where they acted as a barrier to student welfare and success. It provided additional learning support, counselling services and financial support through bursaries and its charity, Colchester Institute Foundation Trust.  Nevertheless over 200 students a year left their course, and in approximately half these cases, social and economic inequalities played a significant role.  Education was a key determinant in health and wellbeing and there was an integral link between education, economic wellbeing and health.  The provision of the vocational training provided by the Institute was vital and being in work was a key factor in an individual’s wellbeing.  The motion was central to the Institute’s purpose and it would work in partnership with Colchester Borough Council and partners in One Colchester to take forward these ambitions.  

Ed Garratt of the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group and Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Group expressed his support for the motion. He was committed to working with partners to address inequality.  The Covid 19 pandemic had exposed the inequalities in society, but they had been there for generations. There was a direct relationship between economic health and physical health.  He was keen to dedicate his leadership and work with partners to drive forward the principles and actions set out in the motion.

Tracy Rudling of Community 360 expressed her support for the motion.  It was highlighted that money was not the only factor in addressing the issue. The Covid 19 pandemic had shown the value of mobilising communities and their assets, and that if the message was clear, communities would respond.  Joined up communication and connectivity were crucial. Sharing information across partnerships and working together had been vital in Colchester’s response to Covid 19.  In order to deal with the issues in the motion it would be necessary to continue to work with communities on the ground, to build from the ground up and to take account of the individuality of each community.  The asset based community development approach needed to be developed further. The twice yearly reporting envisaged by the motion was welcomed and should be linked into Community 360 and partners Insight and Asset Mapping Programme. Issues around digital inclusion also needed to be considered. Mental health and social isolation were the key issues for citizens across all demographics, and many face to face services had ceased during the pandemic. One Colchester was well placed to provide leadership on the issue and should be resourced further to enable it to develop a robust community strategy. Consideration should be given to how operational resources across One Colchester were deployed to reduce duplication and to concentrate on reducing inequalities and promoting integration.

Oonagh Corrigan of Anglia Ruskin University informed Council about a study that the University had undertaken with Colchester Borough Council and Tendring District Council focusing on inequalities in North East Essex. This had focused in particular on community assets. The study had shown the benefits of community assets and groups and how important they were to vulnerable individuals and groups who used their services. The recommendations made during the study had been taken forward by the relevant local authorities and the North East Essex Health and Social Care Alliance, who had funded the study.  Further work was now being undertaken to understand the impact of lockdown on these vulnerable groups, and in particular on black and ethnic minority communities.

A written statement submitted by Angel Kalyan pursuant to the provisions of Remote Meetings Procedure Rule 5(1) was read to Council.  The statement set out some of the history of case 9CO00038 and asked how the Council intended to deal with this matter and how long it would take the Council to conclude Case 9CO00038 for and on behalf of the Council and the Court?

Andrew Weavers, Monitoring Officer, was invited to respond to the statement and confirmed that claim 9CO00038 was settled by the Court by an order dated 19 July 2011 and that order concluded all matters in relation to that claim.

RESOLVED that the recommendation contained in minute 509 of the Cabinet meeting of 14 October 2020 be approved and adopted.

RESOLVED that the recommendations contained in draft minute 229 of the Governance and Audit Committee meeting of 20 October 2020 be approved and adopted.

Councillor Hogg (in respect of holding a premise licence on behalf of a registered charity) declared a non-pecuniary interest in the following item pursuant to the provisions of Meetings General Procedure Rule 7(5).


RESOLVED that the recommendation contained in draft minute 121 of the Licensing Committee meeting of 11 November 2020 be approved and adopted.

RESOLVED that the recommendation contained in draft minute 521 of the Cabinet meeting of 23 November 2020 be approved and adopted.

RESOLVED that the recommendation contained in draft minute 522 of the Cabinet meeting of 23 November 2020 be approved and adopted.

RESOLVED that the recommendation contained in draft minute 233 of the Governance and Audit Committee meeting of 24 November 2020 be approved and adopted.

RESOLVED that the recommendation contained in draft minute 235 of the Governance and Audit Committee meeting of 24 November 2020 be approved and adopted.

Councillor Cory (in respect of his membership of the board of North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group) and Councillor J. Young (as the Chair of Anglia Community Enterprise) declared a non-pecuniary interest in the following item pursuant to the provisions of Meetings General Procedure Rule 7(5).

It was PROPOSED by Councillor Bourne, also on behalf of Councillor King, that:-
“In July 2020 this Council agreed a Motion of Thanks recognising the considerable effort undertaken by many in our Borough during the pandemic crisis that in turn has created a force for good.  We are all proud of the response of our Council, their officers, our partners and the wider community effort across the Borough of Colchester.  Marcus Rashford MBE's campaign on feeding school children in the holiday helped to harness Colchester's community effort once again during the recent half term break, with over 2500 meals provided to families across the borough and a welcome promise by the government to fund food for families entitled to Free School Meals throughout 2021. 

This Council believes that while the overwhelming majority of residents are playing their part in observing COVID regulations and a large number have taken on community volunteering roles, we are not 'all in this together'.  When the pandemic is over the most vulnerable groups will still be vulnerable - economically, socially, academically and in their health and wellbeing outcomes.  We cannot accept this. 
Public Health England’s Strategy 2020 to 2025 (September 2019) commits it to “work to narrow the health gap”. This Council welcomes the work already undertaken by ECC Director of Public Health before and during the pandemic and notes that the national strategy includes ambitions to: 

• reduce the overall rates of smoking and inequalities affecting lower socio-economic groups and vulnerable communities; 
• advise and influence decision-makers on the effectiveness of actions to promote healthy indoor and outdoor environments (including their ability to reduce inequalities); 
• reduce inequalities in premature mortality for people with long-term and severe mental health problems; 
• reduce inequalities across key markers of maternal and child health; 
• develop new indicators to improve the monitoring of outcomes and inequalities in the early years and facilitate evaluations of early years services; and 
• enhance insights into the population’s health and health inequalities.   

The result of this Motion will be to shine a spotlight on vulnerability in our Borough. There are families struggling on a low income and accessing the benefits system for the first time, adults with learning difficulties losing their weekly lifeline social clubs, those with disabilities isolated from their families and friends, and residents living in poor quality housing with lack of access to green space, all examples of increasing vulnerability. 

Now it is time to recognise, track and address the inequality gaps made more visible during both lock downs.  We want to see this Council and our partners discussing the wider determinants of health with outcomes to tackle the inequality gap that has widened during the pandemic.   

This Council resolves to: 

1. Report twice yearly on inequality across our borough using national, county and local profiles;  
2. Instigate our own locality measures with outcomes that raise the life chances of particular vulnerable groups or neighbourhoods; 
3. Consider the impact on inequality in our decision making; 
4. Encourage formal and informal partnerships to contribute positively to reducing inequality across the borough; 
5. Invite our MPs to take up the mantle of reducing inequality in the constituencies they represent. “

On being put to the vote the motion was approved and adopted (UNANIMOUS).

Councillor Buston (in respect of his employment as a practising solicitor) declared a non-pecuniary interest in the following item pursuant to the provisions of Meetings General Procedure Rule 7(5).

It was proposed by Councillor Bentley that:-

“This Council recognises the frustrations of many residents who have bought new properties on new housing developments in Colchester when the local roads and other amenities have yet to be adopted and therefore residents are left at the mercy of the developers or their contractors to make good repairs to highways or fix streetlights or maintain open spaces or deal with flooding issues . All of these residents pay full Council Tax however, local Councillors are left to negotiate with developers on their behalf without any authority. This is unacceptable.

Therefore, this Council resolves to ensure that any new development of more than 20 properties is subject to a detailed schedule and timetable drawn up and agreed by the developer and CBC Planning department of when works are to be completed and roads and fixtures are to be handed over for adoption. This should form part of the planning application. Failure to comply will result in penalties for the companies involved, to be agreed by Planners and Members.”

A main amendment was moved by Councillor Barlow as follows:-

“The motion on Adoption of Amenities for New Housing Development be approved and adopted subject to the following amendments:-


In the first paragraph:-
• delete “All of these residents pay full Council Tax however,”, and replace with “Councils and”; 
• after “are” insert “often”. 
In the second paragraph:-
• replace “resolves to ensure” with “believes”,
• replace “is” with “should be”, 
• replace “and CBC Planning department” with “Planning, Highways and other relevant departments of Colchester Borough Council (CBC), Essex County Council (ECC) and other organisations”. 
• delete all words from “This should form…” ;
Add new paragraph as follows: 
This Council resolves to begin discussions with ECC Highways and other relevant organisations as appropriate to ascertain the feasibility and practicality of bringing in such a scheme, including resolving the issue of whether it would be possible to introduce under existing legislation. This Council also requests that the Borough’s representatives on ECC and in the House of Commons provide the support necessary to further this proposal and the Planning Officers report progress and options to the Local Plan Committee and a final report is referred from that Committee to Full Council for discussion and approval no later than the July 2021 meeting.”

Councillor Bentley indicated that the main amendment was accepted and the motion was deemed amended accordingly.  Following acceptance of the amendment the motion was worded as follows:-


“This Council recognises the frustrations of many residents who have bought new properties on new housing developments in Colchester when the local roads and other amenities have yet to be adopted and therefore residents are left at the mercy of the developers or their contractors to make good repairs to highways or fix streetlights or maintain open spaces or deal with flooding issues . Councils and local Councillors are often left to negotiate with developers on their behalf without any authority. This is unacceptable.

Therefore, this Council believes that any new development of more than 20 properties should be subject to a detailed schedule and timetable drawn up and agreed by the developer and Planning, Highways and other relevant departments of Colchester Borough Council (CBC), Essex County Council (ECC) and other organisations of when works are to be completed and roads and fixtures are to be handed over for adoption. 

This Council resolves to begin discussions with ECC Highways and other relevant organisations as appropriate to ascertain the feasibility and practicality of bringing in such a scheme, including resolving the issue of whether it would be possible to introduce under existing legislation. 

This Council also requests that the Borough’s representatives on ECC and in the House of Commons provide the support necessary to further this proposal and the Planning Officers report progress and options to the Local Plan Committee and a final report is referred from that Committee to Full Council for discussion and approval no later than the July 2021 meeting.”

On being put to the vote the motion was approved and adopted.

Councillor Warnes (in respect of his membership of the Board of Colchester Commercial Holdings Ltd) declared a non-pecuniary interest in the following item pursuant to the provisions of Meetings General Procedure Rule 7(5).

Apologies were received from Councillors Arnold, Chapman and P. Oxford.

The meeting was opened with prayers from Reverend Dr Amanda Elmes.

RESOLVED that Council Procedure Rule 11(2) be suspended for the following item so that motion on Reducing Inequality could be debated and determined at the meeting.