Members may ask questions on the Leader’s Statement. 

Leader’s Statement uploaded (20.01.15)

The Leader introduced his statement and welcomed questions from Members. 

The Leader of the Labour Group made the following comments: the Council was making an enormous amount of money from distribution centres and supermarkets, and whilst the increase in jobs was welcome, they were often low-paid, insecure and temporary, and there were no plans to improve the jobs available to local people; I would urge the Leader to change the terms of engagement with acute trusts; the work of the Cabinet Member for Environmental and Rural Affairs, and all Members who have been involved in the waste contract process, is commendable, and it is due to the success of the collaborative effort shown by Members over many years; and he challenged the Leader on the lack of ambition regarding housing, with people being pushed into private sector accommodation and a poorer standard of properties. 

The Leader advised that housing issues remained a personal priority and he would never lack ambition to improve housing.  He spoke of the excellent work of the Housing Team and Cabinet Member for Housing with 48 families prevented from becoming homeless in December 2014.  With regard to jobs, he advised that he was meeting with the Director of Regeneration and the Leader of Kent County Council (KCC) to discuss how Swale Borough Council could work closer with KCC to improve skills, education and job opportunities in the Borough.  He explained that Swale had seen 800 new jobs over the past year, the largest growth in manufacturing industry in Kent, and the highest number of apprentices in Kent.

The Leader of the Independent Group made the following comments: nationally and locally there was the same issue of income tax receipts declining due to an increase in low-paid and part-time jobs and zero hours contracts, the Council needed the find ways to bring quality jobs into Swale; no mention was made in the statement of the Council’s involvement with Canterbury and Coastal Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and whether we are seeking improvements in health for the eastern end of the Borough; and it was over a year since the Council had agreed to purchase a property for use as temporary emergency accommodation and a similar property was urgently required in Faversham and the Isle of Sheppey and a quick answer was needed.

The Leader explained that the purchase of the property for temporary emergency accommodation had taken a while due to legal issues and the project would be evaluated and reviewed before making further decisions.  He undertook to include further information on the regular meetings held with Canterbury and Costal CCG in the next statement.  He congratulated the business sector for the growth in jobs and the success of businesses in Swale over the past year.

A Member welcomed the increased recycling figure and asked for a breakdown of the recycling between food waste and dry recycling at year end.

The Leader confirmed that these figures would be made available, and he hoped that the recycling rate would continue to increase.

A Member considered that the Council had been offered good advice by an external consultant during the Local Plan process regarding employment, which had included suggestions on how to improve the number of higher-earning and knowledge-based jobs through the creation of hubs around the Borough.  She suggested that the Council should resolve to use this advice in the future.

The Leader advised that the efforts made in meeting with businesses had been equal across the Borough and the job growth at Kent Science Park was important to the area.  He considered it was important to support existing scientific and knowledge-based businesses at Kent Science Park as alternative options for the site could be much worse for local residents.