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 Council in February 2022;

·         the Council would be awarding a contract for the “Faversham Car Club” by the end of February 2022.  The specification was for two hybrid cars and one Electric Vehicle (EV), although the EV may be delayed as a specific charger was required which meant the club might commence with just the hybrid vehicles;

·         the Council had appointed a co-ordinator on an 18-month fixed contract for active travel.  The post would draw together initiatives on walking and cycling including work with Faversham Town Council and he hoped that the work could be extended to Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey;

·         funding from the Improvement and Resilience fund was being put into the Climate and Ecological emergency;

·         the Council had received a grant from central government for tree planting; and

·         48 local businesses had applied for Green Growth grants.  The funding would help them to reduce their carbon footprint.

A Member asked what work was being carried out in respect of improving biodiversity in the Borough, as they were concerned it all seemed to be about climate change.  The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency spoke about the tree planting grant which had biodiversity benefits and said that the Council were working with the Kent Wildlife Trust on their “Wilder Carbon” initiative providing offsets for carbon, and biodiversity net gain.  The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency spoke about the Green Grid meetings with external parties working on ecology and he hoped that the meetings would commence again in the Spring.  The Cabinet Member for Environment reported that the Council required the contractor of the new Grounds Maintenance contract to reduce the use of pesticides and changing some of their grass cutting and maintenance regimes to support greater biodiversity.  A Member noted that the draft Swale Local Plan required a 20% increase in biodiversity net gain as a standard for future developments. 

A Member spoke about Public Money for Public Goods under the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) and considered there would be opportunities within agriculture to increase biodiversity and also for Council owned land.  The Member welcomed the return of the Green Grid meetings which he had previously attended.  The Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency advised that the Green Grid meetings were open to all Members and parish councils and that they should contact Grace Couch (Climate and Ecological Emergency Project Officer) climate@swale.gov.uk about attending the meetings.