Agenda and minutes

Agreed.

Received a report outlining the need to amend the Employment of Children Bylaw 1988 following the publication of the Care Standards Act 2000.

Agreed to amend section 3(n) and 16 of the Employment of Children Bylaw 1988 in order to comply with the Care Standards Act 2000 and to enable the Child Employment Officer to monitor the employment of children in markets more clearly.

Received a report setting out the current position with respect to the Crossrail scheme and the implications for Barking and Dagenham, including regeneration and transport benefits.  The report also outlined proposals for safeguarding land necessary for the construction and operation of Crossrail.

Agreed, the following in order to support the Council’s Community Priorities of “Regenerating the Local Economy” and “Making Barking and Dagenham Cleaner, Greener and Safer”:

With respect to the main consultation on the Crossrail project:

1.  To support the Crossrail scheme in view of its likely overall benefits to the Borough, particularly with regard to regeneration and transport;

2.  That Officers continue to work with Crossrail on mitigating localised impacts and that further reports on this issue are brought back to the Executive in due course;

3.  That the Council’s preference for an alignment via Barking, as set out in section 4 of the report, is reiterated;

4.  That to maximise the potential benefits of Crossrail a full review of complementary/feeder public transport networks be undertaken by and with the relevant agencies such as Transport for London; and

5.  To refer this report and agreed recommendations to Cross London Rail Links Ltd in response to consultation on the Crossrail scheme;

With respect to consultation on the proposed new safeguarding Direction:

6.  No objection be raised other than that Purchase Notices should not be served on the local planning authority (London Borough Barking and Dagenham) but on the scheme promoter Cross London Rail Links Limited; and

7.  This report and agreed recommendation be referred to the Department for Transport with respect to the draft safeguarding Direction.

Received a report presenting a draft copy of the new housing allocations policy, ‘More Choice in Lettings’, which complies with the amendments to Part VI of the Housing Act 1996, introduced by the Homelessness Act 2002 and which will replace the existing complex points system.

Agreed, in order to comply with the requirements of the Homelessness Act 2002 and produce a lettings system which is more open and transparent, contributing to the Community Priority of “Developing Rights and Responsibilities with the Local Community”, to:

1.  The new allocations policy, ‘More Choice in Lettings’, to be implemented on 1 April 2005;

2.  Open the scheme to all applicants aged 16 or over;

3.  Abolish the current practice of dealing with homeless, waiting list and transfer applicants differently in line with the legislative requirements;

4.  Authorise transitional protection for category ‘A medical’ priority cases, but otherwise review all existing applications under the new criteria; and

5.  Set the effective date of an application by the date at which the need arose.

Received a report presenting the final draft of the proposed new Conditions of Tenancy for approval prior to printing and distribution to all tenants with a final Notice of Variation.

Agreed, in order to bring all tenants up to date in regard to the legal conditions of their existing and future tenancies with the Council, to:

1.  Submit the new Conditions of Tenancy to the Plain English Campaign for Crystal Marking;

2.  Recommend the revised Conditions of Tenancy to the Assembly for approval;

3.  The new Conditions of Tenancy being printed and distributed to every tenant in the Borough following approval by the Assembly; and

4.  A further report on the enforcement of the new Conditions of Tenancy be submitted to the Executive in due course.

Agreed to exclude the public and press for the remainder of the meeting, as the business was confidential.

* Item considered as a matter of urgency with the consent of the Chair under Section 100 (4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972