To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 November 2014 (Minute Nos. 349 - 353) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 19 November 2014 (Minute Nos. 349 – 353) 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.

To consider the development of the next version of the Community Safety Strategy.  A briefing note and the Swale Community Safety Plan 2014/15 and Community Safety Questionnaire 2014 are attached.

The Economy and Community Services Manager, the Safer and Stronger Communities Officer and the Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Health have been invited for this item.

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Health, the Economy and Community Services Manager and Safer and the Stronger Communities Officer to the meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Health referred Members to the Community Safety Plan 2014/15, Appendix I of the report.  He explained that the document was refreshed annually following the completion of a community safety strategic assessment.  

The Safer and Stronger Communities Officer explained that the priorities of the Strategic Assessment would be considered by the Strategic Partnership at their annual Away Day on 19 January 2015.  She also spoke about a workshop for front line staff recently held allowing them to comment on the draft assessment.  The Safer and Stronger Communities Officer referred Members to the community safety issue questionnaire set out at Appendix II of the report, had been sent out to local residents to enable them to feed into the priority selection process.

The Economy and Community Services Manager stated the importance of Ward Councillor knowledge.  She outlined some of the key activities delivered by the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) in the last year which included: formation of a Violence Against Women and Girls Group; Swale Action To End Domestic Abuse (SATEDA) Freedom Programme; and tackling anti-social behaviour.

A Member considered that individual ward members should have been approached to comment on the document and complete the Community Safety Questionnaire 2014. He queried whether Councillors could attend the Strategic Planning Session?

The Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Health advised that the Strategic Planning Session meetings were not open meetings as some confidential information was discussed.  There was some discussion about the possibility of a Member briefing and the Economy and Community Services Manager advised that all Members would be consulted and should have been sent the questionnaire.

In response to a query from a Member about issues with the Community Payback Scheme, the Economy and Community Services Manager stated that there had recently been significant changes to this service and that ‘Seetec’ had recently secured the local contract for providing this scheme.  She agreed to provide an update on their progress for Members.

·         Economy and Community Services Manager

In response to queries from a Member about migration of people following Welfare Reform and emerging communities, the Economy and Community Services Manager explained that migration to the Borough bought with it fresh issues and it was about understanding how to engage better with those communities.  She spoke about a project that Swale would be running with both Gravesham and Medway authorities to explore how to resolve these issues within Sheerness East ward. 

A Member raised concern that the SATEDA Freedom Programme was not provided in Faversham.

The Safer and Stronger Communities Officer stated that funding had been secured for six Freedom Programmes.  These would enable two for each area ie. Sittingbourne, Sheerness and Faversham.  She was aware that one was currently already operating in Faversham.

In response to a query, the Economy and Community Services Manager  ...  view the full minutes text for item 431.

The Committee is asked to consider the Draft Social Media Policy & Guidelines and Draft Customer Use Policy (both attached).

The Head of Economy and Communities and the Web Officer have been invited to attend for this item.

The Chairman welcomed the Head of Economy and Communities and Digital Communications Manager to the meeting.  He explained that the Cabinet Member responsible for communications was the Leader who was currently out of the country and therefore had not been invited to attend the meeting.

The Chairman drew attention to the tabled papers which included an updated Draft Social Media Policy – Customer Use Statement and questions from the Head of Economy and Communities (both documents had previously been emailed to the Committee).

The Digital Communications Manager gave a short presentation which showed Swale Borough Council’s (SBC) Facebook pages and Twitter.  She explained that to raise awareness and ensure that Officers and Members were clear on how to use social media a draft Social Media Policy – Customer Use Statement and draft Social Media Policy and Guidelines for Officers and Members had been developed.

In response to a query from a Member, the Digital Communications Manager confirmed that the draft Social Media Policy and Guidelines for Officers and Members was currently out for consultation and had been forwarded to Members for comment.

A Member considered that it was important to note in the document that social media was not the only way to contact SBC as there was a proportion of local residents who did not have access to Facebook or Twitter. 

In response to a request from a Member, the Head of Economy and Communities agreed to update the Draft Social Media Policy and Guidelines for Officers and Members to ensure that no images of vulnerable adults were used as well as children under the age of 18 years..

·         Head of Economy and Communities

Following a request from a Member, the Digital Communications Manager agreed to look into the ‘Adult Media Use and Attitudes’ statistics for Swale.

·         Digital Communications Manager

There was some discussion about possible training for Members on how to use Facebook/Twitter.  A Member, also a member of the Member Development Working Group, advised that he believed this was something that would be arranged after the elections in May 2015 and be included as part of the New Member Induction sessions.

The Chairman thanked the Head of Economy and Communities and Digital Communications Manager for attending the meeting.

The Committee is asked to consider the draft Tree Policy.  Please note that the attached draft Tree Policy goes to Strategic Management Team on 13 January 2015 so there might be some minor comments/changes.

The Cabinet Member for Environmental and Rural Affairs, Commissioning and Open Spaces Manager and Greenspaces Manager have been invited for this item.

The Chairman welcomed the Commissioning and Open Spaces Manager and Greenspaces Manager to the meeting.

The Commissioning and Open Spaces Manager introduced the draft Tree Policy which he advised would be considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 4 February 2015.  He explained that trees were a valuable and positive part of the Borough and needed to be managed responsibly. 

The Commissioning and Open Spaces Manager reported that this was the first time Swale had provided a Tree Policy and SBC’s Greenspaces Manager had researched best practice to ensure all requirements were met.  He drew attention to the five objectives of the Policy.

A Member asked whether there were in-house statistics highlighting trouble-spots.  He also considered that residents were often not sure who to contact about issues with trees and improved signposting was required perhaps by including in an edition of ‘Inside Swale’.

The Landscape Officer reported that whilst officers had a ‘general feel’ of where trouble-spots were, there was no accurate record kept.  He considered that the Tree Policy would assist with improving this.  The Greenspaces Managerr agreed that more could be done to inform residents about who to contact and that residents should be referred to Swale’s Customer Services Centre (CSC) in the first instance as they could advise whether the tree was on SBC or Kent County Council land.

A Member considered that item (10) Replanting, should be moved to appear at the beginning of the Policy, and that SBC should be saying that they were looking to improve and increase the use and value of trees within the Borough.  He also considered that the Policy should ensure that Planning Services worked alongside developers to ensure re-planting was provided as part of planning applications.   The Member further requested that the second paragraph of item (10) be amended to read ‘The Council is committed to the replanting of trees to ensure that the amenity of the area is maintained and enhanced.’

Members considered the proposal but felt that re-wording was not necessary and that the policy was fine in its current format.

The Commissioning and Open Spaces Manager explained that the proposed Tree Policy was more about maintenance of existing trees within SBC ownership and replanting on private land was outside the scope of this particular Policy. 

The Chairman thanked the Commissioning and Open Spaces Manager and Greenspaces Manager for attending the meeting. 

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

The Policy and Performance Officer referred Members to the Work Programme.  He reported that the Head of Planning had advised that unfortunately he was not now able to provide an update on Planning Enforcement Strategy and Service Charter for the next meeting on 25 February 2015. 

The Chairman suggested that the item could be considered at the meeting scheduled for 27 May 2015.

Some Members considered the delay unacceptable and requested that the Head of Planning provided reasons for the delay.