Council tax, Maldon's high street, and the Local Development Plan are some of the major talking points set to be discussed at a meeting next week.

Maldon District Council’s extraordinary meeting will take place on Tuesday evening (February 23).

Here is a round up of some of the important issues councillors will decided on:

Council tax

A recommendation has been put forward for Maldon District Council’s Band D Council Tax share is set at £207.40, an increase of £5.

Parish precepts are excluded from this calculation as they will vary.

A spokesman said: “A £5 increase would represent a 2.47 per cent increase on 2020 / 21 Council Tax.

“Every one per cent increase in Council Tax will bring in an additional £50,491.

“Due to the unknown impact of future changes to Local Government finance, it is proposed that the Council should take the opportunity to increase its financial base by increasing the average band D council tax by £5.”

High street consultation results

Councillors will discuss the results of a survey on how to boost Maldon high street after the impact of the pandemic.

The Maldon High Street Consultation took place between October 5 to November 16 last year as part of the wider High Street Recovery Strategy in consultation with the council’s interim measures group to respond to Covid restrictions and restart.

A spokesman said: “High Streets must adapt to changing consumer habits (online shopping), behavioural change to reduce the environmental impacts of pollution on our health and wellbeing (promoting walking, cycling and public transport) and adapting to climate change through decarbonisation and sustainable transport options.

“The consultation results were positive. The headlines from the consultation are: a majority would like improvements to the High Street and support a pavement widening scheme, and a majority would like to see the High Street prioritised for people.”

There is a recommendation to note the results and see what strategies can be put forward.

The results of the High Street consultation are also expected to align with the emerging Maldon District Climate Change Statement.

Bradwell B and the LDP

The Maldon District Local Development Plan 2014-2029 was adopted in July 2017 but since then, the district’s environmental, economic and social circumstances have been changing.

This includes the Climate Emergency decision, the Covid pandemic, Brexit, and a reduction in the supply of land for housing.

The Government has proposed changes to the planning system in England to make it more responsive to national socio-economic needs, infrastructure delivery and environmental issues.

Therefore, it is considered an good time to bring forward a review of the LDP to ensure the council's planning policy framework remains 'fit for purpose' and responsive to the district’s changing needs.

A spokesman said: “On January 29, 2021, BRB wrote to the council advising that due to the impacts of the Covid pandemic, engagement with local authorities is to pause and the current funding agreement will be withdrawn for at least 12 months.

“BRB has made it clear that despite the closedown, it remains committed to bringing forward more detailed proposals for a new nuclear power station at Bradwell in due course.

“In light of this, it would be of a longer-term advantage to the council if it were to be in a position where it can quickly re-assemble a Bradwell B project team, with previous expertise and specific knowledge of the project, in order to ensure continuity when the project is restarted.

“Following the close down on the Bradwell B project, it is recommended that the redeployment of fixed-term contracted staff to the current Local Plans team should be permitted to enable the Council to deliver the LDP Review faster, whilst also preserving as much of the expertise built-up in the Bradwell B project team that could be re-deployed once BRB restart the Development Consent Order process.”

The meeting will be live-streamed on YouTube on Tuesday evening from 6pm.

For details, click here.