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 in the car park at the side of the building. Await instructions from the Fire Marshal before 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.

The Chairman read out the emergency evacuation procedure.

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.

Councillors Mike Henderson, Ben J Martin and Tim Valentine disclosed a non-pecuniary interest as they were Trustees of Faversham Swimming Pools Management Committee Ltd.

Councillor Mike Henderson disclosed a non-pecuniary interest as Chairman of The Friends of Oare Gunpowder Works Steering Group.

Councillor Eddie Thomas disclosed a non-pecuniary interest as a Trustee of Oare Gunpowder Works Steering Group.

Councillor Carole Jackson disclosed a non-pecuniary interest as a Trustee of West Faversham Community Association.

To approve the Minutes  of the Meeting held on 3 February 2022 (Minute Nos. 566 - 574) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 3 February 2022 (Minute Nos. 566 – 574) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record subject to the following amendment:

Minute No. 569 the following to be added:

“That the Greenspaces Manager advised Faversham Recreation Ground was a contributing factor to the flooding in Whitstable Road.”

Members noted the progress on actions.

Flooding in Faversham

Since the meeting arranged by Helen Whately MP on 12 November 2021 and the update given at the Eastern Area Committee meeting on 3 February 2022, the Chairman advised the following actions had taken place:

·         On 4 March 2022, Helen Whately MP called a virtual meeting where Swale Borough Council (SBC), Kent County Council (KCC), and Southern Water (SW) representatives were in attendance and the issue of flooding in Faversham, including Whitstable Road, Church Road, The Brents, and  Tanners Street were discussed.  The Cabinet Member for Environment gave a summary of the discussion and shared the slides from that meeting.

·         A site meeting took place on 9 March 2022 with Councillor Denise Knights, SW and a representative from the Cooksditch Stream volunteer team in attendance.  The drains around the flooding area were inspected and plans to clear them were put in place.  After the site meeting the KCC Asset Manager for Drainage & Structure advised: “As discussed once the ditch outfall is unblocked, I will arrange for a tanker to flood test the system to ensure the water is reaching the ditch, if not then I will then arrange a full CCTV survey but I do not believe this will be necessary.”   SW confirmed that they had a plan of action to carry out maintenance and repair work in April 2022, full details of the full action plan were yet to be received.

·         On the same day Councillor Denise Knights met with the SBC Head of Environment and Leisure, and the Greenspaces Manager and discussed  plans on how to slow and minimise the run-off water from Faversham Recreation Ground and identified where water naturally gathered.  Methods to minimise debris which entered and blocked drains were discussed.  Following the meeting the Head of Environment and Leisure provided the following feedback: “We have recently attended the site to discuss the issue with the Ward Member. We explained the measures that have already been taken in recent years including two soakaway drainage solutions and the specifications of the pathways. However we have committed to looking at some measures that may be effective in slowing the flow down during peak storms. We welcome the intentions of partners to work with us to try and resolve this issue.”

The Chairman undertook to prepare a full report on the progress which she would circulate to the Eastern Area Committee Members.

A Member of the public in attendance welcomed the progress that had taken place and asked that the matter remained on the Eastern Area Committee agenda to keep the momentum up.  Another member of the public spoke about how frightening the flooding could be and stressed that sewage in the flood water was a public health issue.

The Chairman requested that the Cabinet Member for Environment write to SW to request a full update and action plan.

Defibrillators in the Eastern Area

The Interim Area Committees Coordinator advised that an action that came out of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 705.

No issues were raised.

A Member raised the issue of the green space at the bottom of Whiting Crescent, Faversham, lacking play facilities.  She said that she would like to see some progress on this as there were many young families in the area who would benefit from such equipment.  She asked that the Eastern Area Committee noted this matter.

A Member spoke on behalf of residents in Newnham and Doddington who were experiencing problems with Shaw Haulage lorries travelling between the A20 and A2 transporting spoil.  Residents at Doddington had tried to get a weight restriction on that road but with no success so far.  KCC were concerned that would divert the lorries through other villages with less suitable roads.  The KCC Councillor for Swale East advised that he had attended a meeting last week at the Golf Club in Tonge which was the end destination for many of the Shaw Haulage lorries.  Shaw Haulage made assurances that the movements should reduce or stop by the time the Tonge site opened in mid-June.   Some residents were dubious that would resolve the problem.  The Maidstone Borough Council’s schemes officer recommended a much wider weight restriction which would cover about 30 roads and displace lorries to either the A251 or the A249.

A Member raised the following two issues regarding KCC Education matters:

·         KCC changed their travel provider for pupils with Special Education Needs (SEN) who needed access to special schools.  Subsequently, a lot of those children were left for about a week without any transport to school; and

·         families with children awaiting diagnosis for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism faced a waiting list of up to five years in Kent.  That meant a lot of children would not be able to access the provision they required.  The waiting list for private assessments was currently 12 to 16 weeks but cost up to about £3,000.00.

It was agreed that as these were borough-wide matters, they should be referred to the relevant Cabinet Member to write to KCC to highlight these issues.

The Vice-Chairman introduced the update report regarding the public consultation on local bus services.  He said that at its meeting in December 2021, Eastern Area Committee Members agreed to award £10,000.00 to undertake a public consultation on local bus services.  Due to SBC resource issues there was a recommendation by the Head of Regeneration and Economic Development to explore an alternative delivery option such as project management by a town or parish council.

A discussion ensued and a Member questioned if a parish or town council would have the resources to carry out this consultation and felt that it would be better for SBC to run this project, which was of huge importance to the residents of the Eastern Area.

Councillor Lloyd Bowen moved the following motion: that the matter should be referred back to Cabinet to request that SBC carry out the public consultation on local bus services.  This was seconded by Councillor David Simmons and on being put to the vote the motion was agreed.

Resolved:

1)    That Cabinet be asked if SBC could carry out the public consultation on local bus services.

The Eastern Area Committee was allocated a total of £48,000.00 for the financial year 2021/22.  At the Eastern Area Committee Meeting on Thursday 3 February 2022, £33,246.00 of funding was awarded.  At that meeting, Committee Members agreed that the unallocated funding of £14,754.00 should be made available for external organisations via a second funding round.

The deadline for the second round of applications was Thursday 17 February 2022 and £29,736.37 of bids were received for consideration by the Committee.  This meant that there was £14,982.37 worth of bids in excess of the remaining allocation.  All applications were assessed for eligibility by officers and a scoring process carried out.  Officers submitted 4 options for allocating funds for the Committee to vote on, as set out on pages 9 to 11 of the report.

A discussion ensued on each of the options.  Councillor Mike Henderson proposed and Councillor Eddie Thomas seconded a motion that Committee Members selected Option 1 to allocate the remaining funding which would allow the three highest scoring applications to receive 100% funding from the scheme.  That would leave £17.63 of funds unallocated at year end.  Therefore the funding be allocated as follows:

Painters Forstal Community Association, cycle destination project - £1,266.37;

Faversham Swimming Pools Management Committee Ltd, pool pump replacement - £8,670.00; and

Friends of Oare Gunpowder Works, restoration of the Leat system - £4,800.00.

On being put to the vote the motion was agreed.

Resolved:

1)    That Committee Members selected Option 1 to allocate the remaining funding which would allow the three highest scoring applications to receive 100% funding from the scheme.  Therefore £14,736.37 funding be awarded to projects in the following proportions:

a)    Painters Forstal Community Association - £1,266.37;

b)   Faversham Swimming Pools Management Committee Ltd - £8,670.00; and

c)    Friends of Oare Gunpowder Works - £4,800.00.

The Chairman spoke about the need for Eastern Area Committee Members to develop a work programme for 2022-23 and how the funding could be used to achieve the Committee’s ambitions.  She said this needed to be decided at the June 2022 meeting and asked Members to consider ideas to bring to that meeting.  Committee Members commented as follows:

·         The funding should not just be a grant scheme for outside bodies;

·         allocation of funding needed to be linked to a work programme;

·         allocating funds should take place earlier in the year;

·         the work programme needed to be deliverable;

·         officer capacity needed to be kept in mind;

·         there should not be lower restrictions on the amounts organisations could bid for;

·         there needed to be active engagement with Members to develop the work programme for the June 2022 meeting;

·         the purpose should be to support SBC priorities, ambitions could link in with ongoing streams of work; and

·         communication was key to ensure the Area Committee focussed on the projects that aligned with the corporate priorities.

No issues were raised.

Eastern Area Committees agreed that the following items should be referred to Cabinet:

Resolved:

1)    That the Cabinet Member for Environment writes to Southern Water to ask for their plan of action for the flooding issues in the Eastern area;

2)    That the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing writes to KCC to raise the matter of SEN pupils not being able to travel to school due to the change-over of travel provider; and

3)    That the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing writes to KCC to raise the matter of lengthy waiting lists for ADHD and autism assessments.