The Chairman will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency.

The Chairman reminded Members of the evacuation procedure.

To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 January 2016 (Minute Nos. 435 - 439) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 January 2016 (Minute Nos. 435 – 439)  were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves or their spouse, civil partner or person with whom they are living with as a spouse or civil partner.  They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

The Chairman will ask Members if they have any interests to declare in respect of items on this agenda, under the following headings:

(a)          Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) under the Localism Act 2011.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DPI, the Member must leave the meeting and not take part in the discussion or vote.  This applies even if there is provision for public speaking.

(b)          Disclosable Non Pecuniary (DNPI) under the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council in May 2012.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DNPI interest, the Member may stay, speak and vote on the matter.

Advice to Members:  If any Councillor has any doubt about the existence or nature of any DPI or DNPI which he/she may have in any item on this agenda, he/she should seek advice from the Director of Corporate Services as Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

No interests were declared.

The Leader and Assistant Solicitor Mid-Kent Legal Partnership have been invited to attend for these items.

The Chairman welcomed the Leader and the Team Leader – Corporate Governance (Solicitor) to the meeting, and invited them to introduce the item.  The Leader invited Members to give comments on the Policies.

Members gave feedback on each of the Policies, and a summary of their feedback is set out below.  The Leader and Team Leader answered Members’ questions throughout the debate.

Complaints Policy

General comments - add paragraph numbers in the document, as the document refers to paragraph 3.1; review wording to make it consistent (either generalised or personalised);  Include reference to make it clear how complaints about the Chief Executive will be handled;

Page 1 – ‘What is a complaint’ – Members suggested that either the words ‘formal’ or ‘however made’ should be removed; and asked for the third sentence to read ‘A request for a service may be escalated to a complaint if the complainant considers the Council fails to meet our service standards….’

Page 2 – How you can make a complaint:

First bullet point – clarification was sought that this referred to complaints made on Swale Borough Council’s website only, however it was explained that we may have to also accept complaints made on Facebook or Twitter pages in the same way we have to accept Freedom of Information requests.  Reassurance was given that these were monitored.

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Last bullet point – add the words ‘or a Councillor’.

Page 2 – second section, fourth bullet point – review the term ‘respond in plain English’ to ‘plain language’ or ‘any language’.

Page 2 – Stage 1:

Second sentence – amend it to read ‘….the relevant Head of Service to investigate and respond to’.

Clarification that reference to 10 working days is that response should be within 10 working days, not in 10 days.

Clarification that if a complaint was not responded to within 10 working days, could the complainant request that it automatically be escalated to a Stage 2 complaint?

Page 3 – Stage 2:

Remove the words ‘You can request’ from the first sentence.

Whether reference needs to be made to ‘in writing’ given that earlier in the document it sets out the ways to complain.

Page 3 – Local Government Ombudsman

Remove the words ‘most’ in the last sentence.

During the debate, the Team Leader – Corporate Governance (Solicitor) clarified that whilst the complaint was referred to the Head of Service, it was likely that more junior members of staff would be asked to respond, although it would still remain the responsibility of the Head of Service.  The Leader and the Policy and Performance Officer also outlined the duties under the Corporate Equalities Scheme in terms of providing information in different languages.

In terms of monitoring complaints, the Committee welcomed a more detailed report on the complaints received (which would be anonymised). 

Unreasonably Persistent and Vexatious Contact Policy

The Team Leader – Corporate Governance (Solicitor) clarified that the term vexatious was a legal term and was used by the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 528.

The Cabinet Member for Planning, Head of Planning Services and Enforcement Team Leader (Planning Enforcement) have been invited to attend for this item.

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Planning, the Head of Planning Services and the Planning Enforcement Team Leader to the meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Planning welcomed feedback from Members on the document.

The debate centred on the following themes: whether Parish Councils were informed that Section 215 notices had been served and whether more could be done; how the Planning Enforcement Team worked with other departments regarding Section 215 powers; and whether it was possible for more information to be provided on the detail, to include cases where action had not been taken or not taken with reasons why that decision had been taken.

The Planning Enforcement Team Leader advised that Parish Councils were aware when Section 215 notices were issued.  He confirmed that there was not a separate budget for Section 215 action.  He also confirmed that the team does work closely with the Environmental Response Team but given the demographic trends there would be benefit from closer ties with the Housing Staying Put team. However, arranging works at a property needed to be carefully managed given the legal issues to consider with regard to health and safety and Section 215 action.

The Head of Planning Services advised that in his eight years at the Council, there had hardly been any complaints and he was not aware that there was a big demand from the public for Section 215 notices.  However, when information was received it was acted upon.  With an ageing population, it was likely there would be more demand from the public in the future, for example lack of maintenance at a property.  Generally, when complaints were made it was from neighbours who were looking to sell  their homes.  If Members considered this was an important issue and a more proactive and responsive approach was required, then resources would need to be identified.

Discussion ensued during which Members considered that a budget was required, and that the Council should be more proactive in this area to help meet its corporate objectives of making Swale a Borough to be proud of.  The Planning Enforcement Team Leader advised that additional budget would help, but he did not anticipate additional staff resources being required, as they employed outside contractors for this work.  However, the use of Section 215 was very subjective as officers would need to consider whether the property justified a Section 215 notice, taking its surroundings into consideration.

Given that there was recognition that demand for this was likely to increase, it was suggested that the Council should develop a policy on what action it would take with regard to properties that fell into disrepair.  It was clarified that Section 215 notices were used as a last resort when other avenues had been explored, therefore, it was suggested that the policy should be written with this in mind and that perhaps other teams in the Council should be working to resolve the issues before they reached that stage, such as the Environmental Response Team and Housing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 529.

The Committee is asked to review and discuss the Committee’s Work Programme for the remainder of the year.

The Policy and Performance Officer introduced the work programme, in particular the additional meeting on 23 March 2016.

Resolved:

(1) That the report be noted.