To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 22 July 2015 (Minute Nos. 124 - 127) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 22 July 2015 (Minute Nos. 124 – 127) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

A Member requested whether the consultation, reported under Minute No. 126, with Ward Members and Parish Councils programmed for August/September 2015 had gone ahead.

Post Meeting Note: The Head of Planning provided this update: ‘Unfortunately due to the demands on the service, the consultation on the Planning Enforcement Strategy and Charter will take place during October 2015’.

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 Head of Economy and Communities have been invited to attend for this item.

The Vice-Chairman in the Chair welcomed the Leader, the Head of Economy and Communities and the Communications Manager to the meeting.

The Leader introduced the report which set out a draft Communications Strategy for 2015/16 with the approach and priorities for effective communications, so that residents were more informed about, and satisfied with, Council services.

The Communications Manager explained that feedback was sought from the Committee on any further suggested channels that should be explored, as well as any additional activities or campaigns that could be considered.

The Vice-Chairman in the Chair congratulated the report authors and advised that he would take the report page-by-page and he invited Members to contribute.

Page 6

A Member was disappointed that there was no mention of webcasting, or access to live access to meetings which he considered to be a powerful tool for communications.  The Leader explained that initial steps had been taken to update the Council Chamber to facilitate this in the future, and audio recordings of some meetings was part of the first step towards webcasting.

A Member considered one-to-one communication via the Customer Call Centre was very important and he raised concern with the response time to calls.  He hoped this would be addressed in the final version of the Strategy, together with recognising this method of communication as an important tool, with targets set and how they were to be achieved.

The Leader stated that he had not received any complaints on response times, but would look into the matter further.

The Head of Economy and Communities also explained that this would be looked into as part of the Customer Access Strategy.  She advised that there was an increasing trend to comment on issues via social media, and at this stage residents were then referred to the Council’s complaints procedure.

Page 7

A Member pointed out some grammatical errors in the Strategy and it was agreed that she would liaise directly with the report writer to address these.

In response to a question, the Communications Manager advised that the Local Area Perception Survey (LAPS) figures referred to in the Strategy helped to prioritise and see where residents’ concerns were and to improve residents’ perceptions.

Page 8

A Member raised concern with the low response rate to consultations and that residents’ views were not listened to by the Council; he considered it should be made clear that LAPS figures were taken into consideration.  A Member was disappointed with the level (76%) of residents who did not feel informed about how to get involved in local decision-making; he considered it was also Members’ role to advise the public how they could get involved.

Page 13

A Member suggested the wording of the first bullet point be changed to read ‘…..and the surrounding countryside and villages’, instead of ‘surrounding localities’.

Page 14

A Member acknowledged the need to maintain non-digital communication links with residents, such as through ‘Inside Swale’, and the Local Engagement Fora (LEFs).  A Member stated that the communication process  ...  view the full minutes text for item 217.

The Cabinet Member for Environmental and Rural Affairs and the Climate Change Officer have been invited to attend for this item.

The Vice-Chairman in the Chair welcomed the Climate Change officer to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member for Environmental and Rural Affairs had sent his apologies, and the Leader responded on his behalf.

The Climate Change officer introduced the report which set out the second version of the Kent Environment Strategy, and SBC’s draft response to the consultation.

A Member considered there was too much emphasis on climate change issues, rather than other environmental aspects, such as pollution, and natural habitats.  The Climate Change officer explained that the environment was effected by climate change and considered different environmental issues were included within the document.

A Member considered bio-diversity to be an important aspect and the Climate Change officer confirmed that this was included within the KES.  The Member welcomed the target to increase the overall extent of priority habitats by 10,260 hectares by 2020.  He suggested that point 10 on the response be amended to include ‘improve natural environment’.  This was agreed by Members.

The Chairman thanked the Leader and Climate Change officer for attending for this item.

Resolved:  (1)  That the responses to the consultation be endorsed, with the additional wording to point 10, as above.

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

The Policy and Performance Officer explained that although the agenda for the meeting on 28 October 2015 looked to be very full, some items could be grouped together and considered as one item.

Resolved:

(1)  That the report be noted.