To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 October 2018, as a correct record.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting of the Advisory Committee, held on 2 October 2018, be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Any interests not already registered.

There were none.

The actions from the previous meeting were noted.

The update from the Portfolio Holder was noted.

The Portfolio Holder, and Chairman, advised that Quercus7 had completed the purchase of a property in Westerham which would be let as soon as possible.  This was the first part of a two-part investment which in total exceeded £1m and met the investment criteria.

She also advised that discussions on joining the Licensing Partnership were still ongoing with the London Borough of Bromley was looking positive, and highlighted the increased uptake of online registering for the electoral register. 

The legal successes report was noted with a request for more information on costs with regards to the Emergency Hygiene Prohibition Notice.

There were none.

Heidi Skinner, Public Affairs Manager of the Freight Transport Association (FTA) will be in attendance to give members an update on the plans for Dover and the knock on effects of Brexit for West Kent. 

The Chairman welcomed Heidi Skinner, Public Affairs Manager of the Freight Transport Association (FTA) to the meeting, who gave a presentation on the plans for Dover and the knock on effects of Brexit for West Kent including an explanation of ‘Operation Brock’.  Members took the opportunity to ask questions.  In response to some of those questions she advised that there were a lot of unknowns at the moment. Ideally the FTA would like to have more time and an implementation period, however, after any initial issues, businesses would adapt.

The Chairman thanked Heidi for the presentation and the Committee showed their appreciation.

The Policy Officer presented the report and Members discussed the latest news.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

The Chief Officer Corporate Services, presented a report which updated Members on improvements which had been made in Electoral Services within the current legislative framework. Further improvements would continue to be sought to enable the Council to deliver efficiencies, enhance and automate processes and further improve the service delivered to customers.

In response to questions the Chief Officer Corporate Services advised that he did not know if the scheduled date had slipped for the Overseas Electors Bill’s third reading due on 25 January 2019 and would check; the Council would not be involved in any of the Photo ID pilots; and dependant on the Brexit process, if there was a need to hold a European election, there may be a possible impact on local election timings but this was still a very uncertain position at present.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

Members considered a report which sought an increase in the current Land Charges fees schedule.

It was confirmed that historical costs could not be accounted for within the new fee structure, and that the proposed fees were set on a cost recovery basis only in line with current legislation and benchmark data.  It was thought useful if the fees could automatically rise annually in line with inflation.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved:  That it be recommended to Cabinet that

a)     the proposed Land Charges fees set out below be agreed to take effect on 1 April 2019;

b)     the fee schedule above be increased annually in line with the Council’s standard inflationary measure and rounded to the nearest £1.00.

The expansion of the Licensing Partnership report was moved to the next meeting and the work plan was noted.

Members commented that they thought it would be useful to have a debrief with relevant officers as to what they thought would be useful information for newly elected Members in May 2019.

Action 1: Chief Officer Corporate Services to review the Member training questionnaire and arrange a feedback session with Members, especially newer ones, on Councillor induction packs and training.