Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Deputy McGuiness, George Abrahams, Mark Bollard and Verderer Adams.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes of the previous meeting.

Resolved: the minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate record.

Report of the Superintendent of Epping Forest.

Members were informed that the Epping Forest Field Centre at High Beach consisted of a main block housing five classrooms and office space, and other buildings used as accommodation (Ravensmead, Buxton and Harting) as well as a sundry

classroom known as the Timber Hut.

On Friday 17th January 2014 a Mitie Inspector visited the premises and

confirmed“'both boilers locked off & oil line shut as they are immediately dangerous” this was due to hazardous levels of carbon monoxide being produced from the system. Although it was initially believed that parts could be found and replaced quickly, not all the replacement parts could be sourced from the Italian

manufacturer due to the age of the system. The City Surveyor therefore

determined it was not economical to repair, and a wholesale replacement was

required.

Members noted that heating in the teaching block would be compromised for an extended period of many weeks, and large numbers of temporary electric units could not be used due to loading on circuits, The Epping Forest Assets Manager made the temporarily vacated High Beach Visitor Centre available to the Field Centre Team for lessons. This building’s wood-chip fired boiler was also inoperative at the time, so this space and teaching block offices were heated using supplementary electric units. This arrangement lasted through the cold months until the site was taken over by the Friends of Epping Forest and full heating of the

Teaching Block was not required.

In response to a query, Officers clarified that the costs of lighting, heating and some cleaning of the High Beach Visitor Centre building through this period were met by Epping Forest local risk budgets.

Report of the Head of Centre.

Members noted that the Epping Forest Field Centre (EFFC) delivered the City of London’s environmental learning service in Epping Forest; it was established to commemorate the European Year of Conservation in 1970. From its inception the service has been managed by the Field Studies Council (FSC) for, and on

behalf of, the City of London Corporation. FSC was an independent educational charity that inspires environmental understanding through first-hand experience. The buildings (teaching and ancillary facilities and staff residences) were maintained by the City.

Members noted that they received reports in 2013 and in 2014 at the meeting in May and noted pleasing progress and achievements. EFFC connected a diverse range of learners (school children, adults and families) of all abilities to the natural world in Epping Forest. The majority of learners are from Greater London with a

significant number also coming from Essex with comparatively high numbers of pupils that have free school meals, ‘English as an additional language’ (BME backgrounds) and/or diverse ethnicity. The service promoted Epping Forest as ‘a wonderful place for discovery and learning’ and fostered responsible behaviours in relation to Epping Forest and the wider environment.

Officers said that the Centre delivered its 500,000th learner experience in 2011.

Delivery against the 2011-14 Plan had been effective as outlined below.

Maintenance was carried out by contractors employed by the City of London. (Defect reporting and monitoring, cleaning duties, grounds maintenance duties and routine repairs will be undertaken by Centre staff). The Centre continued to be generally very well maintained by the City and its contractors. The Centre Grounds and nearby learning sites continued to very suitable for the provision of a range of great learning experiences.

The Head of Centre was supported a ten full-time staff of which two are at senior level. Eight members of

Report of the Head of Centre.

Members were informed that progress in the period 2011-14 had been very good. The Committee received a report on 2013 performance at its meeting in May 2014 and noted the strong financial performance and significant achievement. As at the summer of 2014 the Centre performance remained broadly in line with budget.

Income generation remained strong despite a challenging economic back drop and delivery costs had been effectively constrained.

In recent years the Centre had delivered its services at what is effectively capacity level for the physical and human resources of the Centre. The prospects of maintaining this in the future were very good given the exceptionally high levels of service user satisfaction. Flexibility and diversity of provision had been crucial to success and were likely to continue to be important factors in coping with the impacts of curriculum reform and other changes in the operating environment.

Members noted that staffing remained the crucial controllable determinant of income as well as expenditure. It was also the resource that determined the degree of success in the delivery of mission and achievement of the objectives in this Plan; retention and successful succession planning would continue to be of crucial importance.

Officers informed Members that subject to funding it was hoped that Officers could: · significantly increase biological recording and the utilisation of this important data

· pair subject expert Associate Tutors with dynamic and highly skilled ‘new generation’ tutors (this should build the field skills and taxonomic/ecological expertise of the latter and the capacity for continuation of this learning long into the future and ‘freshen’ presentational styles in the short term).

· tower and low ropes project.

· ICT technology (extract from development fund application).

There were no questions.

There was no urgent business.