To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 16 September 2015 (Minute Nos. 215 - 219) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 16 September 2015 (Minute Nos. 215  - 219) 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.

Councillor James Hunt declared an interest in relation to agenda item no. 5 (Draft Playing Pitch Strategy) as he had been involved in discussions about pitches for Iwade, as a Member of Iwade Parish Council.

Councillor Andy Booth also declared an interest in respect of agenda item no. 5 as he sat as a school governor for Eastchurch Primary School and Borden Grammar School and, was a Trustee of Swale Community Leisure Limited.  

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Head of Residence Services and Strategic Housing and Health Manager have been invited to attend for this item.

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Housing, Head of Resident Services and Strategic Health & Housing Manager to the meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Housing introduced the Housing Allocations policy document and drew attention to the report which outlined the findings of the first-year review of the impact of the changes to the allocation of social housing since April 2014.  He explained that the changes had had a significant effect on the public and the housing section of Swale Borough Council (SBC) and noted that there had been 4,500 on the Swale homeless register prior to the changes and this was now substantially reduced.  He stated that feedback from residents was that they were generally supportive of the changes. 

The Head of Resident Services noted that the draft Housing Allocations Policy had been previously reviewed by the Scrutiny Committee and helped to formulate the current draft.

The Chairman advised that he would take the report section by section and he invited Members to contribute.

Page 9 – Background

In response to a query the Head of Residents Services stated that she was happy to add ‘In Swale the demand for social and affordable housing’ in the first paragraph.

Page 11

Part 3 - Choice and Constraints

A Member requested that more up-to-date housing figures and also neighbouring authority housing figures be included. 

In response to queries, the Head of Resident Services explained that the space- saving requirements were in-line with housing standard regulations.  She advised that the reality was that it was not viable for developers to provide four bedroom affordable homes, so it was necessary to look at adapting three bedroom houses.  In response to a query, the Head of Resident Services stated that in order that to ensure all residents could access the Kent Home Choice scheme website they had provided funding for computers which were available at Swale House reception for public use.  She asked Members to contact her if they were aware of any residents not being able to access the service.

Page 13

Part 4 – Eligibility

In response to concerns about the wording for the affordability criteria, the Head of Resident Services explained it was more to protect against those who had deliberately become homeless and that the wording could be improved to clarify this. 

A Member asked if more could be done to ensure that when residents lost a bid on a property they were clear why they had.  The Head of Resident Services agreed that communication could be an issue and suggested that a focus group be formed to ensure improved communication going forward.

In response to queries the Head of Resident Services explained that the effects on housing lists in relation to safe houses and in particular residents fleeing domestic abuse was outlined under Management Moves on page 20 of the Policy.  She confirmed that anti-social behaviour also included how residents interacted with their neighbours and could be looked at locally.  She encouraged Members to contact herself or the Housing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 303.

The Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage and the Leisure and Technical Services Manager have been invited to attend for this item.

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage and Leisure & Technical Services Manager to the meeting.  He thanked officers for the draft report and extensive Draft Playing Pitch Strategy and Assessment.

The Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage introduced the report which presented the draft Playing Pitch Strategy for comments and consideration.  He thanked the Leisure & Technical Services Manager for his work on the document.  He outlined the importance of ensuring that we had the right number of pitches particularly in light of Swale Borough Council’s corporate objectives.  The Cabinet Member explained that the report set out aspirations for those providing pitches and enabled the Council and other providers to source funding.  He noted that Sport England (SE) involvement was important to ensure validation for funding.

The Chairman drew attention to pages 109 to 217 of the Final Assessment Report and asked Members to contact the Leisure & Technical Services Manager direct if they noticed any typographical errors or had any questions, as those pages contained factual information.

The Chairman advised that he would take the Playing Pitch Strategy 2015 – 2025 report section by section and he invited Members to contribute.

Page 38 - Executive Summary

In response to queries, the Leisure & Technical Services Manager explained the need to liaise with schools as they had great facilities.  He explained that SE had template agreements with schools for community use and there were issues around safeguarding and it was important that schools were committed and involved with the strategy, but it was a challenge for as schools ultimately have the power to withdraw from agreements if they choose to do so (subject to any specific funding or planning agreements not being in place).  Netball was not listed as the strategy only focussed on sports that required a playing pitch, as per the Sport England guidelines for playing pitches.

However, reference to netball for example could be picked up through the Sport & Physical Activity Framework. 

The Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage reported that officers at Swale were in constant dialogue with local schools via the Active Swale Network.

A Member queried whether there was a strategy which included sports such as golf and badminton.  The Commissioning and Open Spaces Manager stated that there was not, but those type of sports would be included in the Sports and Physical Activity Framework. 

Page 39

A Member asked that the shortfall of cricket pitches in the Sittingbourne area should not be addressed by focusing on provision in Faversham, instead the focus should be on providing pitches within the Sittingbourne area.  The Leisure & Technical Services Manager agreed to look at this issue with officers from the Council’s Planning Policy Team and agreed that facilities closer to the problem area would be beneficial.

Page 53

A Member stated that the analysis areas on the Swale map was not legible.  He asked that at larger colour copy be provided.  The Leisure & Technical Services Manager agreed to provide this as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 304.

The Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage advised that Len Mayatt (Leisure & Technical Services) would be leaving the Council.  He thanked Len for his hard work on the Playing Pitch Strategy and other policies and strategies and wished him well for the future.

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 report, which set out the policies, plans and strategies due to be reviewed by the Committee.

The Chairman reminded Members that the next meeting on 18 November 2015 would be considering a review of the Local Engagement Forums.  He asked that Democratic Services invite all Members to attend for that item.

·         Democratic Services Officer

Resolved: 

(1)  That the report be noted.