Theydon Bois Parish Council
Parish Office, The Village Hall, Coppice Row,
Theydon Bois, Essex CM16 7ER
Clerk to the Council: Mrs Jennifer Endean
Deputy Clerk to the Council: Mrs Julia Gale
Minutes of the Full Council Meeting of the Council held at the Village Hall 7:30pm on
Thursday 28th July 2022
• Councillors Present: Cllrs. Purkiss (Vice Chairman), Blake, Burn, Cowup,
Hannibal, Morris, Morton, and Wood.
• Officers Present: Jennifer Endean Parish Clerk
• Members of the Public: The meeting was attended by 6 members of the public.
1496. Apologies for Absence: Cllrs. Gooch and Amos
Apologies for Lateness: Cllr Burn
1497. To discuss and approve the minutes from 30th June 2022. Approved with the amendment of wording “Station
Hill”
1498. Police report. PC Cook attended the meeting to provide the following update.
Quiet month, 1 theft of a range rover and 2 thefts from motor vehicles. No dwellings burglaries. 15 reported incidents
and 21 phone calls. Donkey Derby went well with no issues. Monitoring Station Hill where 2 pieces of plant/JCB vehicles
were found.
There was a road traffic accident on 27th July along Coppice Row involving a parked vehicle left by a commuter.
Clerk asked the question from a member of public which was received earlier in the week. Is it possible to use our CCTV
to help prosecute the parking offenders outside Tesco’s? This was discussed and PC Cook advised this was not a Police
area. Cllr. Purkiss suggested a layout change to the parking which may help. This led onto a discussion around the
increased litter around Tesco’s and the Queen Victoria Public House car park. It was decided that Cllr Morton would
write to Tesco’s Head Office.
1499. Clerks Report
1) We are pleased to say that the large pothole in Woodland Way has been spray painted with the intention of being
repaired soon. Thank you to Deputy Clerk Julia Gale and Cllr. Holly Whitbread for moving this forward.
2) We received a poster from the City of London regarding the works to the Deer Sanctuary which will take place
between 1st August – 30th September. We have posted in this in the noticeboard.
3) We have posted on social media for residents to water verge trees which may be struggling in the heat and
gave a letter to shop owners asking them to water the planters earlier this month.
4) Following on from last month’s Full Council Meeting the Parish Council wrote to NEPP, objecting to the Traffic
Regulation Order (‘TRO’) proposal of double yellow lines Purlieu Way.
1500. Reports from Parish Representatives on outside organisations.
None.
1501. Reports from District and/or County Councillors’
Cllr. Amos sent his apologies of absence along with the below report which was read out by Cllr. Hannibal.
As previously mentioned, the first Council meeting that I attended was largely ceremonial with new councillors being
formally welcomed and retiring councillors thanked. Committee membership and representatives on outside bodies
was agreed either without a division or by vote.
Tonight’s Council meeting does not appear to have a great deal that would directly affect the residents of Theydon
Bois.
I am a member of the Planning Sub Committee East; the Stronger Communities committee and the Standards
committee.
Plans East has met twice and you were present a both meetings, so what I am about to say, you will be aware of, but I
state it for the sake of the record. the application for the demolition of part of 4 Hill Road with compensatory rear
extensions and the erection of a separate dwelling between 4 and 2 Hill Road, which the Parish Council Planning
Committee had opposed and which I voted against at the EFDC committee, was nevertheless passed. The application
for the extension of the rear garden building at 21 Woburn Avenue has been adjourned for a site visit. I understand
from the applicant that this visit is scheduled for 30th July, 2022.
The only thing that may be of interest to Theydon Bois residents from the Stronger Communities committee meeting,
is that local authorities are now subject to the same requirements regarding the condition of their properties and
liaison with their tenants as other social housing providers. It remains to be seen if this will require any changes.
The Standards committee has not yet met.
From a webcast that I was watching, I understand that the bid for £10,000 for cemetery developments has
been included in the list of items for this year’s “levelling up” financing.
1502. To discuss the possibility of erecting a metal “Tommy” Statue on the Green.
Cllr. Cowup lead the initial conversation. Councillors felt that the more suitable location would be the Hoppit or War
Memorial and the statue/statues should be displayed as a temporary feature on the lead up to Remembrance Day
and a week or so after. Cllr. Morton felt their purpose would enhance, support and promote the existing
Remembrance Service whilst raising public awareness of Memorial Day. Decision went to Councillors’ vote by show of
hands, six Councillors in favour and two opposed. Cllr Morris would relay the proposal to the City of London for their
approval. Depending on cost, two or three statues could be brought and possibly personalised with the Parish
Councils name.
1503. To discuss Council response to emergency situations, such as recent unprecedented heat.
Councillor Cowup opened the discussion regarding using the Village Hall to help the elderly/vulnerable community in
extreme temperature. It was suggested installing air-conditioning units and supplying drinks throughout the day. The
Councillors discussed the options and were concerned about loss of earnings the Village Association would incur and
how practical it would be to safely transport vulnerable people to and from the Village Hall. It was felt the boundaries
of purpose or eligibility were hard to define, such as, with the cost of energy utilities increasing, would the Village Hall
be used to keep people warm in the winter. The Parish Clerk would follow up by finding out if Voluntary Action
Epping Forest did anything to help within the heatwave and if Epping Forest District Council had considered an
Emergency Plan for extreme weather conditions.
1504. Finance and General Purpose.
Approve Payments. Approved
Cllr. Purkiss notified the Council of a quote from Essentials of around £1500 to repair the CCTV at the Bull Public
House. Approved within CCTV budget
1505. Planning Committee:
Item 12.1 – Of the 9 Planning Applications considered by the Planning Committee since the Full Parish Council
Meeting of 30th June 2022, strong objection was raised to those relating to Certificate of Lawful Development
applications for existing continued use of part of a warehouse building as units of residential accommodation, one for
the retention of railings around a flat roof of a property, and those relating to bulky extensions to existing dwellings
or the construction of a high brick wall in a Green Belt location.
Since the last Full Council meeting, four planning breach enforcement enquiries have been submitted by the Planning
Clerk to EFDC, which included concerns raised with the Council relating to high boundary treatments, work which
may not comply with approved plans, and large advertisements.
Item 12.2 – On 18th July 2022, the Parish Council submitted its response to the Local Government Boundary
Commission for England concerning the Commission’s consultation regarding its Ward Boundary Review of Epping
Forest District: the proposal being that the number of Ward Councillors elected to Epping Forest District Council is
reduced from 58 to 54. The Parish’s response suggested that the changes implied by the reduction would result in
significant change and upheaval, in order to create fewer, but larger, Three-Councillor Wards.
The response pointed out that many parishes are likely to wish to retain their own identity, and suggested that the
Boundary Commission should attempt to avoid splitting parishes, avoid combining towns with parishes, avoid
creating wards with large land allocations, retain sustainable parish and ward boundaries that will continue to be
clearly delineated after future housing development has been built, and that it may be helpful to adopt a flexible
approach to the total elected representatives, before determining that this should be restricted to 54.
The draft recommendations of the Boundary Commission will be published on 4th October 2022.
1506. Highways, Cemetery and Environment Committee
Cllr. Purkiss opened the report by saying that the Parish Council had written to NEPP objecting to their consultants
proposing two sets of double yellow lines in Purlieu Way near to the junction of Harewood Hill.
Parish Contractors have been cutting the hedge line in Sidney Road and clearing some fly-tipped hedging on the
corner of Hornbeam Road. The new wooden gates in the Cemetery have been adjusted. The very poor pavements in
Thrifts Mead are due to be re-surfaced following numerous complaints from the residents. The revetments alongside
the Village Pond are to be renewed shortly by the City of London. Following a meeting with TFL agreement has been
reached to remove the fly tip along the roadway close to the junction of Station Hill and to look at implementing
other anti- social measures to reduce crime in that area. A stolen generator was recovered by the Police nearby.
There was much disappointment that after a considerable time no updates had been received from the County
Council regarding the ETRO in Station Hill and the availability of Officer time despite this being made available in
other areas.
The Parish has bid for money from the UK Prosperity Fund to enable further much needed works in the Village
Cemetery and will receive news of the outcome in October.
1507. Community Engagement Committee
Cllr. Morton gave a brief summery from the working groups last meeting.
The Christmas Market 2022
It was agreed that the 2021 Christmas market had been a great success, no major changes needed to be made for the
next Christmas Market. A few minor details had been discussed such as moving the position of the DJ, turning
him down the street so the music carried better. Extending the market by two or three stalls in the parking bay
outside the Bagel shop. Improve the decoration to the Christmas grotto.
Website
We received an update that the Village website as is would be closing. There would be a transfer of content onto the
Parish Council website such as old minutes and Village News magazines, plus village information such as events etc.
Search Engine Optimisation may give us credit if we have more content and boost our position in Google. To be
discussed in more detail at the September Community Engagement meeting.
1508. AOB
1509. Public Participation
Jim Watts explained after 20 years of running the Theydon village website it would so be wound down. This created
an opportunity for the Parish Council to improve its optimization.
Sue Sowerby spoke of an emergency incident meeting she would be attending at Stansted airport.
Mr Risdon confirmed Purlieu Way had sent a letter to NEPP and he would be having a meeting with District Councillor
Sam Kane. Mr Risdon felt that the Reverend John Fry should be notified about the earlier discussion regarding the
Tommy Statue.
Cllr. Purkiss closed the meeting at 20:53PM
Signed: ……………………………………….. Dated: 29/09/2022
Cllr Peter Gooch
Chairman