The first Full Council Meeting to take place in Havering since May this year, will be held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 01 September 2021. This will be also be the first ‘in person’ meeting since the start of the pandemic.

Due to continuing health measures, the meeting is not open to the public to attend in person, but will, as usual, be webcast live. To view the Agenda and Reports Pack, and for the link to the webcast, visit the Havering Full Council 01 September 21 webpage.

Included in the agenda will be the following motion submitted by the Upminster and Cranham Residents’ Association councillors –

‘In several council departments there are currently significant staffing shortages, apparently primarily caused by high numbers of employees leaving the council. These shortages have in turn led to high volumes of work for the remaining staff in departments such as Highways, where there is a stated wait (as of May 2021) of around nine weeks to repair major potholes, and Planning Enforcement, where there is a backlog of over 750 open enforcement cases.

This Council calls upon the Administration to prepare a report for the November Overview and Scrutiny Board identifying the reasons why so many staff have left and the measures it intends to take to remedy these shortages.’