Agenda item

Report of the Director of Open Spaces.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Open Spaces on the Epping Forest SAC Mitigation Strategy progress. The Director of Open Spaces introduced the report and provided a summary of the key points.

The Committee discussed whether the report should be included in the public section of the Committee Agenda noting issue of making the draft letter responses from the Chairman public if the Committee deemed it necessary to make substantive changes. The Director of Open Spaces explained that letters of a similar nature, including the previous reports on the SAC Mitigation Strategy, were included in the public section of Committee meetings. In addition, it was noted that transparency should be considered central to the Committees decisions therefore as many items as possible should be considered in the public session. 

RESOLVED- that: -

1. The text of the three letters at Appendices 3, 4 and 5 of this report be approved for circulation to the relevant Local Planning Authorities; and
2. Officers’ be approved to actively participation in the Epping Forest SAC Mitigation Strategy Oversight Group, chaired by Epping Forest District Council, that has now been re-started to bring together the competent authorities for SAC planning issues.