To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 October 2021 (Minute Nos. 385 – 393) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 October 2021 (Minute Nos. 385 – 393) 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 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.

No interests were declared.

Update from the Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing published 19 January 2022.

Update from the Cabinet Member for Environment published 24 January 2022.

The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing drew attention to her update report which had previously been circulated to all Members and she welcomed questions from Members.

A Member raised concern that Sheppey Matters had no knowledge of the grant allocation detailed in the Cabinet Members update on the Sheppey Digital Cafes project run with oversight by Sheppey Matters as part of the Contain Outbreak Management Fund from Kent County Council (KCC).  The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing stated that she was also concerned that they were not aware and agreed to look into the matter and update the Committee.  

Post Meeting Note:

Update from the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing is attached to these minutes.

A Member asked whether Swale Borough Council (SBC) were working to improve the issues in relation to statementing and considering special needs children?  The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing explained that KCC were responsible for this not SBC and she hoped that KCC were working to improve the situation as she was aware of the issues.

In response to a question from a Member about the Faversham Community Fridge and whether it would work better with the Faversham Food Bank, the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing explained that the Deputy Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing had been working with Macknade on the project.  The Deputy Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing reported that the Council were liaising with Macknade and a charity called “Hubbub” who had a countrywide network of community fridges.  The Council were also seeking to secure community fridge funding from the Co-op, however there were certain stipulations around this including: where the fridge would be located; needed to be able to open fully within six months; and required a team to sustain it for three years.  The Deputy Cabinet Member considered the Community Fridge could work in correlation with the Faversham Food Bank and was liaising with them about this.   She explained that the Community Fridge would be looking to service the whole community which was also one of the Co-op funding stipulations.  The project was not just about food emergency but also, to prevent food waste and she hoped that a more central location in Faversham could be found.

A Member spoke about the community fair share project based at Faversham Baptist Church which aimed to recycle food and agreed to forward the relevant contact details to the Deputy Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing.

The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing hoped that once the community fridge was up and running in Faversham community fridges could also be set-up in other areas of the Borough. 

The Cabinet Member for Environment drew attention to his update report which had been circulated to Members and welcomed questions from Members.

There were no questions from Members.

The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency gave a verbal update as follows:

·         The Annual report on progress against the Climate and Emergency Action Plan would be considered by Full  ...  view the full minutes text for item 549.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the report.  He drew attention to Appendix I of the report, the Medium-Term Financial Plan and gave a brief overview for Members.  He said that the biggest financial pressures were from environment and leisure as expected, due to various increase in costs and loss of income from car parking also increased corporate overheads.  He reminded Members that in the summer of 2021 the Council looked at a potential savings requirement of £3.7m savings which was now reduced to £2.3m through savings on the expenditure budget.  The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance reported that funding from Government was now confirmed as £984,000 which was £494,000 more than the Council had budgeted for.  The Council would also receive an additional service grant of £296,000, a lower tier grant of £192,000 and a revenue support grant which was also more than expected.  He stated that the Council were £665,000 better off than on the 8 December 2021 which meant the budget savings requirement had been reduced to £1.6m which could be covered by Council reserves.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance reminded Members that the report would be considered at the Budget Scrutiny Committee meeting due to be held the following evening and encouraged Members to attend.

There were no questions from Members.

The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency introduced the report which presented the draft Electric Vehicle Strategy 2022-2030 as set-out at Appendix I of the report.  The report clarified the Council’s position on the EV charging infrastructure, including the debate between on and off-street charging.  The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency said that the Strategy gave a vision for the provision of EV chargers to encourage people to use cleaner vehicles in Swale.  He said that the Strategy contributed to the Climate and Ecology Emergency and managing air quality, and the Council’s approach was to lead by example and had switched its own fleet of vehicles to EVs.  The Council also encouraged its contractors to change to EVs as per the Council’s new Grounds Maintenance Contract. 

The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency said that there were EV chargers in all three of Swale’s major towns and the Council could monitor their usage.   To ensure that areas with no off-street parking were not disadvantaged the Council was liaising with KCC about provision of EV chargers from streetlamps and closely monitoring installation of cable gullies which was being trialled in other areas.  The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency drew attention to paragraph 2.30 of the report which set-out the five objectives of the Strategy and paragraph 2.9 of the report which set-out questions for Members to consider.

Members were invited to ask questions.

Points and questions raised by Members included:

·         When would EV chargers be installed in Queenborough?;

·         agreed with the stated objectives of the Strategy;

·         asked the Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency to pursue lamp post charging with KCC;

·         the Council should explore free car parking for EV users;

·         when considering planning applications the Council should insist that EV charging points were installed;

·         installing EV charges in lamp columns would be an incentive to people to purchase EVs;

·         were the EV charging bays in the Council’s car parks specifically marked for EV use?

·         were the Council’s wardens asked to issue fines for anyone parking in an EV bay that did not have an EV?;

·         welcomed adequate EV charging points at visitor centres in the Borough but it needed to be advertised;

·         more could be done to exclude HGVs from roads they did not need to use;

·         referred to the diagram on page 49 of the report which outlined the distribution of EVs throughout Kent and noted that the level purchased in affluent areas was higher.  Did the Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency think that those getting EVs was cost led?;

·         referred to private residential EV charging points on the zap-map and asked how this worked?

·         what incentives were being made to taxi companies for in-town usage of EVs?; and

·         did the Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency consider that the increased cost of electricity would be a factor with the take-up of EVs?

In response the Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency explained that the Council were guided  ...  view the full minutes text for item 551.

Tabled paper published 24 January 2022.

The Cabinet Member for Environment introduced the report presented for comments from Members, the Environment Response and Prosecution Policy set-out at Appendix I of the report, which was intended to compliment the corporate enforcement policy.  The Cabinet Member for Environment drew attention to the Introduction section of the Prosecution Policy which identified the ways the Council was seeking to exercise its regulatory activities namely by being: proportionate; accountable; and consistent.  He asked Members to consider whether they felt the policy met those objectives.

The Environmental Enforcement Manager explained that the Prosecution Policy had been written in 2015 and Members were asked to consider the “refreshed” version to update on changes to methods used by the Environmental Enforcement Team (EET) and changed guidance as set-out in Section 8 of the report.  The policy also covered EET Fixed Penalty Notices and working with relevant partners.

In response to a question from a Member, the Environmental Enforcement Manager advised that the EET worked with other agencies in relation to homelessness to ensure they received the help they needed.