Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Criterion Blue Town, 69 High Street, Blue Town, Sheerness ME12 1RW

Items
No. Item

450.

Emergency Evacuation Procedure

The Chair 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 Chair will inform the meeting that: there is no scheduled test of the fire alarm during this meeting. If the alarm does sound, please leave the building quickly without collecting any of your possessions, using the doors signed as fire escapes, and assemble outside. Await instructions before re-entering the building. Should anyone require assistance in evacuating the building, please make the Swale Borough Council Democratic Services Officers aware of any special needs so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

Minutes:

The Chairman read out the emergency evacuation procedure.

451.

Declarations of interest

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 Interests (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 meeting 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.

Minutes:

Councillor Peter MacDonald declared a Non-Pecuniary Interest as he was a Trustee of The Sheppey War Memorial Trust.

 

Councillor Ken Ingleton declared a Non-Pecuniary Interest as he was a Trustee of Sheppey District Scouts.

 

Councillor Ken Ingleton declared a Non-Pecuniary Interest as he was a Trustee of Blue Town Remembered.

 

Councillors Ken Ingleton and Peter McDonald declared a Non-Pecuniary interest as they sat on Sheppey Heritage Trust.

452.

Minutes

To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 14 September 2021 (Minute Nos 260 - 275) as a correct record.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2021 (Minute Nos. 260 – 275) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

453.

Matters arising from previous meetings pdf icon PDF 110 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members noted the progress on actions.

 

Members were pleased to note the progress with Sheerness town centre regeneration.

 

 

454.

Public Forum

Minutes:

Parish Councillor Linda Brinklow spoke about housing quotas imposed by  Government.  She said the system of building housing first and then the infrastructure being put in after resulted in a lack of coherent planned systems for roads, paths and cycle paths.  NHS and social care were not geared to meet the needs of the population.  Public transport was not considered as essential to new developments and there was not enough social housing.  She said that accelerating active travel would address many health issues in the community and  Parish and Town Councils were concerned about their own areas and not the whole area.  The Area Committee gave the opportunity for Parish and Town Councils to discuss these issues together.

 

Parish Councillor Mike Brown welcomed everyone to Blue Town.  He spoke about the development of the Criterion and the run down state of Blue Town and asked that Swale Borough Council (SBC) looked at addressing these issues to make it into a place visitors would want to come to.  A Member responded that the Sheerness Focus Clean Up Project was addressing these issues and an improvement should be seen in Spring 2022.

 

Parish Councillor Linda Brinklow raised a number of issues on behalf of Sheerness Town Council:

 

·         An update was requested on the progress of replacing the lighting along the Promenade, Sheerness.  The Director of Regeneration & Neighbourhoods responded that an allocation of £70,000 had been made by Cabinet towards the replacement of lighting across the Borough to LEDs. SBC were currently working through where this would be spent as it would not cover all of our lighting assets in one go.  Town Councillor Dolley White asked if Sheerness Town Council could be involved in the decision making and suggested partners such as the Police should be involved to help with issues such as anti-social behaviour.

 

·         An update was requested on replacing Neptune Terrace steps with a slope.  The Director of Regeneration & Neighbourhoods responded that this was a Sheerness Town Council project and SBC understood they had submitted plans to the Environment Agency (EA) on 14th October 2021.  A Member added that two EA officers were going to look at the site.

 

·         Could the flood gates at Beachfields & the Catholic Church be kept open all year round and only shut when there were storms and high spring tides which would allow access for disabled people, bikes and buggies? The Director of Regeneration & Neighbourhoods responded that SBC only had limited funds to cover the contractor costs for opening and closing of flood gates over the year so it was unlikely that regular responsive situations could be facilitated.  However, SBC would take this away to look at and report back at the next Area Committee Meeting.

 

 

455.

Local issues to be raised

Minutes:

Parish Councillor Pat Sandle raised the issue of the outflows at Warden Beach and said that flooding issues had not been resolved.  The Chair confirmed that SBC had addressed this with the EA.  Officers would ensure that the outcome of discussions were communicated to Councillor Sandle.

 

A comment was made that items in the latest Inside Swale focused mainly on Faversham and there was very little about Sheppey.  Officers agreed to pass this comment on.

456.

Update on work plan - to include funding allocations for 2021-22 - TO FOLLOW pdf icon PDF 119 KB

To follow papers added Monday 22 November 2021.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members noted the report and officers were thanked for their work.  A comment was made that the scoring system had worked very well.

 

A Member said that the funding should be used for the Area Committee to achieve their vision to improve the area but the bids set out in the report didn’t correlate with that.  The Chair responded that Members had been asked for proposals for allocating funds but nothing had come forward.  All the bids presented complied with the criteria agreed by Sheppey Area Committee.

 

Councillor Cameron Beart proposed and Councillor Pete Neal seconded a proposal that the following funding be allocated to each project:

 

Warden Bay Playgroup, resurface play area - £3,010.56

Sheppey District Scouts, repairs to the Sheppey District Scout Hut - £1,550.00

Queenborough Town Community Centre Ltd, Castle Connections, repairs and replacement flooring - £9,000.00

Member bid, installation of benches in shelters overlooking the gardens by the Sheerness leisure centre -          £1,400.00

Sheppey War Memorial Trust, extend memorial wall - £21,464.00

Member bid, Whitehouse toilet painting - £2,500.00

Blue Town Remembered, installation of lift - £2,000.00

Teddy Bear Day Care Sheppey, replacement ceiling -             £2,798.00

Sheppey Heritage Trust, extension to existing Eastchurch Aviation Museum - £4,228.70

 

On being put to the vote the proposal was agreed.

 

Resolved:

 

1)    That the £56,000.00 funding be awarded to projects in the following proportions:

 

a)    Warden Bay Playgroup, resurface play area - £3,010.56;

b)   Sheppey District Scouts, repairs to the Sheppey District Scout Hut - £1,550.00;

c)    Queenborough Town Community Centre Ltd, Castle Connections, repairs and replacement flooring - £9,000.00;

d)   Member bid, installation of benches in shelters overlooking the gardens by the Sheerness leisure centre -          £1,400.00;

e)    Sheppey War Memorial Trust, extend memorial wall - £21,464.00;

f)     Member bid, Whitehouse toilet painting - £2,500.00;

g)   Blue Town Remembered, installation of lift - £2,000.00;

h)   Teddy Bear Day Care Sheppey, replacement ceiling -        £2,798.00; and

i)     Sheppey Heritage Trust, extension to existing Eastchurch Aviation Museum - £4,228.70

 

The Committee were asked to consider how they would like the remaining £8,048.74 to be allocated.  Any proposals should be submitted to the Area Committees Coordinator by 1 February 2022.  After going through an assessment process by officers, the proposals would come back to the March 2022 meeting for consideration.  Committee Members were reminded that any unspent allocation could not be rolled over to 2022/23.

 

457.

Matters referred to Committee by Cabinet

Minutes:

No issues were raised.

458.

Matters referred to Cabinet by Committee

Minutes:

No issues were raised.