Audio Recording

The Mayor’s Chaplain said prayers.

The Chairman will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. This is particularly important for visitors and members of the public who will be unfamiliar with the building and procedures.

The Chairman will inform the meeting whether there is a planned evacuation drill due to take place, what the alarm sounds like (i.e. ringing bells), where the closest emergency exit route is, and where the second closest emergency exit route is, in the event that the closest exit or route is blocked.

The Chairman will inform the meeting that:

(a) in the event of the alarm sounding, everybody must leave the building via the nearest safe available exit and gather at the Assembly points at the far side of the Car Park.  Nobody must leave the assembly point until everybody can be accounted for and nobody must return to the building until the Chairman has informed them that it is safe to do so; and

(b) the lifts must not be used in the event of an evacuation.

Any officers present at the meeting will aid with the evacuation.

It is important that the Chairman is informed of any person attending who is disabled or unable to use the stairs, so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

The Mayor outlined the emergency evacuation procedure.

To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 September 2019 (Minute Nos. 212 - 221) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 September 2019 (Minute Nos. 212 – 221) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Mayor 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.

(c)          Where it is possible that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Member might be predetermined or biased the Member should declare their predetermination or bias and then leave the room while that item is considered.

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 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 Mayor advised that he and the Deputy Mayor had represented the Council at 24 functions, none of which had been out-of-borough charitable events.  Two had been out-of-borough, namely the Lord Lieutenant of Kent Awards reception and the High Sheriff of Kent Annual Justice Service, which had been held at Canterbury Cathedral.

He drew attention to the first weekly Park Run on The Leas at Minster and the celebration of 50 years since the handover of Bowaters Railway to the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway Company.

The Mayor thanked Members for agreeing to attend Remembrance Day Services on 10 November 2019 to lay wreaths on behalf of the Council.

The Mayor reminded Members that his Civic Christmas Church Service would be held at Borden Church on Saturday 21 December at 6.30pm.  He also drew attention to the Sittingbourne Fusion Festival on 11 October 2019 and the Faversham evening carnival on 12 October 2019.

To consider any questions submitted by the public.  (The deadline for questions is 4.30 pm on the Wednesday before the meeting – please contact Democratic Services by e-mailing democraticservices@swale.gov.uk or call 01795 417330).

Question added 4.10.19

The Mayor advised that one question had been submitted by Mrs Hilary Apps and invited her to ask her question.

Question:

“Why are there so many neglected, uncultivated plots at the East Hall Farm Allotments when the SBC Website states they are no longer accepting requests to join the waiting list as plots rarely become available and the existing waiting list is very long?”

Response - Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Tim Valentine:

“Many thanks to you for raising this issue with us.

This site is one of the few we continue to manage as most allotments are now rightly sitting with parish and town councils. We inspect them periodically but haven’t done so for a little while. Officers have assured me they will do so as a matter of urgency and report back to me.

The process will involve inspection of plots then writing and warning those plot holders who have not worked their plots and seeking assurance they that will in future. If not, then we will remove permission and work towards reallocating the site to the next in line on the waiting list.”

Supplementary question and answer

Mrs Hilary Apps asked the Cabinet Member if the weeds could be cut down to stop the spread to other allotment plots, and asked if vacant plots could be tidied-up before being offered to new plot holders so they did not look like such hard work?”  The Cabinet Member responded by saying he would raise this with officers.

To consider any questions submitted by Members.  (The deadline for questions is 4.30 pm on the Monday the week before the meeting – please contact Democratic Services by e-mailing democraticservices@swale.gov.uk or call 01795 417330).

Topics republished 02.10.19

The Mayor advised that seven questions had been received from Members.  Each Member was invited to put his/her question, which was responded to by the relevant Cabinet Member.  The questioner was then invited to ask a supplementary question.

Details of the questions and responses are set out below:

Question 1 – Councillor Alan Horton

“Would the leader inform the Council of the meetings he has attended or undertaken since the last Council meeting, in particular with external bodies and inform Council of the outcome of those meetings?”

Response – Leader

“Thank you for the question.

It is a very open-ended question and I could seriously spend the whole half hour allocated answering it, but I will try to summarise as best I can, out of regard for the patience of the Council and the other questions to be asked. However, I hope the Council will appreciate my including some major correspondence in the answer. I have also used the Leader’s Statement later in the meeting to expand on a few of the issues covered.

Soon after our last meeting I had a regular meeting with Gordon Henderson the MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, where we discussed Homelessness, the Council’s Biffa contract, Sittingbourne Town centre, education, the Frank Lloyd Unit closure and poverty locally. I have seen Gordon several times since May and I have also indicated a wish to meet the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent but there has been no response, though I have written to her on preparations for Brexit and on homelessness, rough sleeping and the need for social housing. I have also written to Ms Whateley on the Council’s behalf, reporting our declaration on the Climate Change and Ecological emergency and calling for Government to make carbon reduction central to the planning system, empowering councils to set higher standards for new buildings, improving standards in private rented accommodation, supporting on-shore wind energy(in appropriate locations) the deployment of solar panels, community energy and other environmental improvements. Letters have also been sent to Gordon Henderson and to the Prime Minister, which has been acknowledged.

With others, I have been involved in a series of meetings to try to take forward the Sittingbourne Town Centre scheme and to divine more clarity for the future. These meetings have been with the Chief Executive of U and I, with various parties to move forward on lettings in the Leisure area, and with Light Cinema. I will expand a little on these matters in the Leader statement, later in the meeting.

Tackling homelessness and bringing forward more affordable housing, in particular genuine social housing, is an urgent priority for the administration. I had a helpful meeting with two staff members from the Quays. We have also met with Moat Housing and Optivo since the last meeting to move further forward with the notion of partnership working and to specifically consider known sites. These were very productive meetings but the Council will understand that at this stage I cannot detail what the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 283.

The Leader advised that last Friday he had attended the Strategy Board meeting in Purfleet of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) on behalf of Kent and Medway. This was one of 38 such partnerships across the country, responsible to government for funding enterprise, investment and economic growth in Kent, Essex and East Sussex.

The Leader South East LEP was the largest LEP outside London and it had been felt for a long time that it was too large. The concept that a community of common economic interest could include three large counties had been questioned for several years but the Government had refused to adapt.  The Leader was sure that there must be common ground of some sort between us and, say, Braintree in Essex but he was not convinced it was local.

More recently the Government had decreed that each LEP should be reduced to 20 permanent members, whatever their comparative sizes. When SELEP questioned the viability of this they were told to conform or get no funding.  The Leader said that this was quite alarming for Kent. It reduced Kent and Medway to only seven representatives and since five of them were from the business community and as Kent County Council (KCC) and Medway Unitary were higher tier authorities, this meant that Kent District Councils like Swale were excluded from direct representation.

Given the very significant funding role of the LEP, the Leader said that the Council must do what it could to play a role in Kent and Medway groups that could act as a lobbying force. SELEP made key decisions on the allocation of Local Growth Funds, and the Growing Places Fund that provided capital to start-up and growing businesses.

The Leader advised that extensive discussions were taking place between them and U and I of the Spirit of Sittingbourne on those considerable parts of the Development Agreement that were yet to executed. Because the outcome was far from clear and not yet one that we would favour, the Cabinet on 25 September 2019 extended the period in which the partners could resolve where they stand in relation to the agreement. That extension lasted until 19October 2019 and that would be the last such delay in resolving where we might go.  Meanwhile, progress was being made on phase 1. As  indicated at the last meeting, the Leader said it would be necessary for the Planning Committee to consider an amendment to the original planning agreement, and this would happen soon.

Interesting discussions had taken place about making the best aesthetic use of the public space between the development and the station. They would need to consider the budget implication of any project and consider the artistic expectations of the thousands of people we hope it will attract.

It was a major concern of this Council to ensure that all the units were let, and there were now four out of seven. Cabinet Members had had a very well-informed briefing from Savills who were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 284.

The Leader introduced the report, which had been considered by the Audit Committee on 18 September 2019, praising officers for the way in which the treasury management role was undertaken.  He proposed the recommendations in the report.  This was seconded by the Deputy Cabinet Member for Finance.

The Leader of the Conservative Group endorsed the comments made by the Leader, drawing attention to paragraphs 2.8, 2.12 and 2.22, and asked for thanks to be relayed to the team. 

The Chairman of the Audit Committee added his thanks to officers and spoke of the Audit Committee’s agreement of the report.

Resolved:

(1) That the Treasury Management Stewardship Report for 2018/19 be approved.

(2) That the Prudential and Treasury Management Indicators within the report be approved.

The Leader introduced the report which gave an update on preparations for Brexit, referring to the work of the Resilience Team and the coordination of work with KCC and the Police.  He emphasised the importance of community leadership and the role that councillors would need to play in communicating with residents, regardless of their own political views on the subject.

The Leader drew attention to various sections of the report, in particular paragraph 2.4, referring to the uncertainties around what would happen and the potential problems identified in the report that may or may not occur.  Whilst Members might have strong opinions on the subject, he encouraged Members to play their part in helping residents to understand what was happening.  He emphasised that key priorities for the Council were to maintain services, in particular for waste collection and food safety and certification, and drew attention to the funding that been provided to assist with the preparations.  He asked Members to note the report.

This was seconded by the Deputy Leader who reserved his right to speak.

The Leader of the Conservative Group thanked the Leader for the update and agreed that Members had an important role to play in communicating with residents and that political allegiances should be put aside.  He clarified that if extra police were required, resources would not be diverted from local policing.

A discussion ensued on the report which was welcomed, during which Officers were thanked for their work on this.  Debate centred around the following themes:

·         Acknowledgement of the fishing and pharmaceutical industries;

·         The method of communication with parish councils that were not members of the Kent Association of Local Councils (KALC);

·         How much money had been allocated to the Port of Sheerness;

·         The report was useful and would help to reassure members and residents;

·         Clarification that KCC had been given powers to direct traffic but not to enforce, which remained the responsibility of the Police;

·         The need for community cohesion and to show community leadership, and for Members to work together;

·         Encouragement to use social media to communicate with residents;

·         Whether problems with waste collection in Teynham and Lynsted would be resolved before 31 October 2019;

·         The need to coordinate work via the Kent Resilience Forum;

·         Whilst social media was a useful tool, many residents did not have access and so other methods of communication were needed.

·         Given the potential for problems on the highway, the need for KCC to keep their work programme under review.  It was confirmed that only essential and emergency work would take place; and

·         Confirmation that arrangements for access to fuel had been considered.

In seconding the proposal, the Deputy Leader confirmed that KALC had been involved at an early stage and that Members had a role to play in communicating with their Parish and Town Councils too, and encouraged Members to liaise with any community halls in their areas.  He encouraged Members to follow the Swale Borough Council Facebook and Twitter accounts and to share posts/re-tweet.

In summing-up,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 286.

Council is asked to note the recommendations from the following meeting:

·         Audit Committee - 18 September 2019

The Council was asked to note the recommendations from the Audit Committee Meeting held on 18 September 2019, as separate reports on the item had been considered earlier in the meeting.

Resolved:

(1) That recommendations in Minute No. 234 of the Audit Committee Meeting held on 18 September 2019 be noted.