Resolved:  That Cllr Fleming be appointed Chairman of the Advisory Committee for 2019/20.

(Cllr Fleming in the Chair)

Resolved:  That Cllr Bayley be appointed Vice Chairman of the Advisory Committee for 2019/20.

To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 19 February 2019, as a correct record.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting of the former Policy & Performance Advisory Committee held on 19 February 2019, be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Any interests not already registered.

No additional declarations of interest were made.

Members asked questions of clarification in regards to the red dot system. Further information was sought to inform Members of ways to deal with difficult circumstances and protecting themselves when dealing with Members of the Public. 

The Portfolio Holder, and Chairman advised Members that the three sites in Swanley; Whiteoak Leisure, Meeting Point and Bevan Place were moving forward. Work was progressing on the new Leisure Centre proposals and it was anticipated that plans would be drawn up by the end of the year for Meeting Point and Bevan Place.

In Sevenoaks, construction of the 10 town houses that were being built alongside The Sevenoaks Town car park had commenced with completion due in April 2020.

There were none.

Members received a presentation and report advising them as to the role of the Committee and the areas of responsibility including the key issues and challenges facing those areas, and took the opportunity to ask questions of clarification.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

The IT Services Manager presented the report highlighting the work of the Geographical Information System (GIS) Team including the Street Naming and Numbering function.  He advised how maps were used by a wide range of customers including the emergency services.

Resolved: That the report be noted.

The Corporate Customer Services & Delivery Manager introduced the Annual Complaints Report for 2018/19, which updated Members of customer complaints and feedback monitoring for the past year, compared to 2017/18 and responded to questions of clarification from Members.

Members requested the time scales for the public to expect responses to service requests and were advised that this may be department specific but information would be circulated to Members to confirm.

Action 1: The Corporate Customer Services & Delivery Manager to circulate information to Members on expected response times to the public for service requests.

Resolved: That the report be noted

The Chairman and Corporate Customer Services & Delivery Manger presented the report and gave presentations on the customer redesign project detailing the rationale and the approach taken to deliver Council Services. Demand for Council services was growing. As a result customers wanted to interact with services in the way that best suited them and their expectations. To meet current and future challenges, data, IT and other technology would be used to create more capacity to enable these needs to be met by being more effective and more efficient.

Currently the Planning Service and Housing Advice Service had been reviewed through Customer Redesign. The process was on a team by team basis with the customer journey mapped out and staff from each service area involved in improving processes.

Action 2: For the LGA Peer Review report of Communications be circulated.

Resolved: That the report be noted.

The work plan was noted.