To agree the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 13 November 2013, as a correct record.

Resolved: That the minutes of the Sevenoaks District Kent Locality Board held on 13 November 2013, be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Any interests not already registered.

There were no declarations of interest.

With reference to Action 4, Cllr. Mrs. Bosley was not happy that the request to have a report brought back on CXK had been postponed. There was a serious lack of communication with relevant parties, and with Hartley and Ash it would be more prudent to return to a locally delivered service.  The Chairman advised that commissioned services were being delivered well elsewhere.  County Cllr. Brookbank advised that this area would now come under a new Director, Mrs Crowell, who would be attending the next meeting to report on this matter.

The remaining actions from the previous meeting were noted. 

Verbal update from County Councillor Gough and Published GCSE Results from 2013

The Board noted the published GCSE results for 2013.  County Cllr. Gough advised that there had been an improvement across Kent despite the national downward trend.  Over the last year, 19 primary schools in the Sevenoaks District had been inspected by OfSted.  These had not been as good as the general Kent picture but this could be down to the peculiarities of sampling.  Two had achieved ‘outstanding’; 8 ‘good’; 8 ‘requiring improvement’; 1 in category for concern’.  Therefore overall 6 showed deterioration, 7 had improved and 6 had not changed.  Shoreham had gone from good to special measures, however the Head of Kemsing as acting Head had achieved encouraging results taking the school out of special measures and a new Head Teacher had been appointed to start in the new term.  West Kingsdown had now gone up to ‘requiring improvement’ with a good general direction.  He clarified that the GCSE figures were for school children educated within Kent schools, and did not mean that they were all from Kent.

With regards to the grammar annex, the planning application had been approved and the timetable for building had been pushed back to 2016.  Discussions were ongoing with potential partners such as Weald of Kent Grammar School.  A partnership with an already mixed sex grammar school was more likely to be accepted by the Department for Education.

End of year monitoring 2013/14

The Chief Officer Communities and Business presented the end of year monitoring explaining the results, which the Board discussed.

Action 1: Chief Officer Communities and Business to find out and have explained what the criteria for being green was for G1 (Maintain the extent of the Greenbelt, conserve & enhance the value of our green spaces, particularly AONBs).

With reference to Action S3 – Deliver a low crime rate in the district, the Chief Officer Communities and Business advised that the reported figures were an increase but if the Area Commander were there he would probably advise Members of a different recording methodology.  In addition, from the following Monday a different policing regime with additional and better placed resources should help to reduce crime.  Members noted that Police Officers would now be mustering at Swanley rather than Ebbsfleet  so that Officers would start and finish their shifts within the District instead of having to travel to Ebbsfleet.

Action 2:  Area Commander Tim Cook be invited to a future meeting and "police numbers" be circulated for information to the Board including where PCSO resources are allocated, an indication of where the resources are based and also when and where they are deployed. 

At the Local Strategic Partnership meeting held on 16 June 2014 the Area Commander had requested that the target be changed to reflect the change in the recording methodology to rolling year rather than year on year

Looking at Action S4 – Support Vulnerable  and repeat victims of crime ad anti-social behaviour, Members queried the requested change of recording repeat incidents of domestic abuse to ‘increase the number of referrals  to domestic abuse support’ .  Members had already acknowledged that should the support system work figures would most likely increase as more incidents were reported and therefore they did not fully comprehend the reasoning behind the request.  The Chief Officer Communities and Business advised that the request arose directly form the voluntary sector who thought that this new target would help more victims to receive the support available.  Members were keen that it be noted that they did not want the target changed but would like to know the issues and therefore be better able to prioritise and identify where resources might be better placed. The Chief Officer Communities and Business advised that the requested indicator measuring take up of support could be added as an additional target rather than as a replacement.

Resolved:  That

                      a)          the target S3.1 be changed to reflect the change in the recording methodology to rolling years; and

                      b)          an additional target at S4.1 be added as ‘to increase the number of referrals  to domestic abuse support’.

Kent County Council (KCC) proposal to focus on Swanley as part of a pilot exercise to map how communities access services.

A paper was tabled entitled ‘KCC Community Asset Mapping and Resilience Project’ which advised that KCC were funding a community asset mapping project across three geographical areas in Kent and would include Swanley.  The project was expected to last six months with a final report being produced at the end of August. 

A briefing paper was tabled outlining progress made so far.

Verbal update

A representative was not available to give a verbal update and a  KCC report was tabled for information entitled ’Facing the Challenge: Phase 1 Service Review and Market Engagement Outturn Report,’ which had been agreed at KCCs Full Council meeting on 15 May 2014.

County Cllr. Chard advised that the intention was that the general public would not see a great change but a continued service, with greater community use of the libraries.  An exact timescale was not known, however this was Phase 1 with further decisions being taken around Christmas/New Year.  The Clerk to Westerham Town Council was allowed to address the Board and voiced her Parish Council’s concerns over the proposals for Westerham library.  It was unclear whether the newer proposals had been properly communicated.

Action 3:  KCC to be asked to supply further information.