To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 25 June 2015, as a correct record

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2015, be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Any interests not already registered

No additional declarations of interest were made.

The actions were noted.

The Portfolio Holder and Chairman introduced Emily Haswell the Economic Development and Property’s team’s new Economic Development Officer. Aisha Bello was the Project Programme Officer and recruitment for a Construction Project Manager would be taking place.

The Portfolio Holder advised that he had attended meetings with Community Safety Partners, most recently with Kent Fire and Rescue Service. An emergency flood prevention exercise took place with Town and Parish Councils, particularly those who were situated in Eden, Darent and Medway areas.

a)     Reference from Planning Advisory Committee (Minute 8, 7 July 2015)

The Chairman referred Members to the Planning Advisory Committee referral, which asked the Committee to agree a joint working group of 6 Councillors, looking at the protection of employment land especially with regard to the Swanley and Hextable Area Action Plan (AAP).

Resolved: That Councillors Hogarth, Maskell and Raikes be appointed to the joint working group.

(Appendix A To Follow)

The Chief Finance Officer advised that the report before the Committee was the second stage of the budget process and would be presented to all Advisory Committees.  The first stage had been the ‘Financial Prospects and Budget Strategy’ report which had been reported to Cabinet on 17 September 2015.  The purpose of this report was to ensure that all Members of the Advisory Committees had a role to play in the governance of the Council and the budget decision making process and to make suggestions to Cabinet on growth and savings ideas for the services within their terms of reference. 

The main message was that this should be a significant step towards the Council becoming financially self-sufficient.  The 10-year budget at Appendix F to the report, included no Revenue Support Grant (RSG) from 2016/17 and no New Homes Bonus (NHB) from 2019/20.  In practice it was likely that some funding would still be received from these sources in the near future but the amounts were unknown.  The Financial Prospects report had recommended that any amounts that were received were placed into the Financial Plan Reserve which could be used to support the 10-year budget by funding invest to save initiatives and support for the Property Investment Strategy.  Using the funding for these purposes would result in additional year on year income that was not impacted by Government decisions.

Members had agreed the last 10-year budget in February and the changes that had been made since then included:

• Rolling the 10-year budget on for one year and updating base figures.
• Removing reliance on RSG
• Reducing the Council Tax increase assumption to 2% for all years
• Reducing fees and charges inflation to 2.5% for all years
• Reducing pay award inflation to 1% for 4 years
• Including income from PIS for the first time of £500k from 16/17, £700k from 18/19, £800k from 23/24
• Savings of £500k in 16/17 and then £100k pa for all future years

The current list of growth and savings proposals was £52,000 short of the £500,000 target (if all of the proposals were accepted), and Members were therefore being asked for further suggestions for growth and savings ideas.  He further reminded Members that that £5.3m had been saved from 2011/12 to 2016/17 (113 items) and there had been over £10m of savings since 2005/06. 

Members reviewed Appendix D which contained the growth and savings proposals put forward by the Portfolio Holders and Chief Officers, and the Service Change Impact Assessments (SCIAs) in Appendix E.  Members also considered and gave individual answers to the following five questions:

a)         What services should the Council invest more in?

b)         What services should the Council disinvest from?

c)         What services work well?

d)         What services don’t work well?

e)         What issues would you like Cabinet to take into account?

The Chief Finance Officer summarised the views put forward and Members considered whether there was anything they wanted taken forward as potential growth or savings suggestions.

In response to questions the Chief Officer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

The Head of Economic Development and Property presented a report that updated Members on the work of the Economic Development Team and advised there would be regular updates on the Economic Strategy.  Key highlights of the seven Strategic Objectives from the Economic Development Strategy and Action plan was summarised and a Broadband update was tabled which provided details of Kent County Council programmes, voucher schemes and local activities. 

Members discussed how local people could be engaged earlier with planning applications for employment developments to ensure that they were aware the economic development aspects of proposals as often the main focus was on concerns about increased traffic and noise. 

In response to questions, Members were advised that a Communications plan would be created for any improvement works coming forward to Swanley Station, Beven Place or Whiteoak Leisure Centre.

Resolved: That the report be noted

The Community Safety Manager gave a presentation which informed Members of the statutory duty of the Local Authority within the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 and the Prevent Duty.  Members were advised that the Action Plan was available on the Members’ Portal and the Council’s website.  Training sessions on the Prevent Duty for Members would be held on the 27 October and 4 November 2015 and there was also an online training course that could be completed.

In response to questions, Members were advised that the Council had a statutory duty to report anything they became aware of that could lead to vulnerable people being radicalised.  She advised that if there were any doubt it was always best for a person to report their concerns.

Action 2: Community Safety Manager to circulate the link to the online training.

Resolved: That the Counter – Terrorism and Security Act 2015 and the Prevent Programme be noted and the contents of the report be supported.

The Community Safety Manager gave a presentation which provided an update on the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014. The Act replaced 19 pre-existing measures with 6 new measures for tackling anti-social behaviour and each of these were summarised.  A report by the Police and Crime Commissioner was tabled explaining how the Community Remedy worked.

In response to a question, Members were advised that information about whether Anti Social Behaviour orders and notices were being complied with was very reliant on the public and local Parish & Town Councils, as they were the ones who were most likely to witness the behaviour before it was reported.  If they were aware of this it was important to notify the relevant agency. 

Resolved: That the report be noted.

The work plan was noted with the inclusion of youth being added to the April 2016 meeting was agreed.