Visitors and members of the public who are unfamiliar with the building and procedures are advised that:

(a)      The fire alarm is a continuous loud ringing. In the event that a fire drill is planned during the meeting, the Chair will advise of this.

(b)      Exit routes from the chamber are located on each side of the room, one directly to a fire escape, the other to the stairs opposite the lifts.

(c)      In the event of the alarm sounding, leave the building via the nearest safe exit and gather at the assembly point on the far side of the car park. Do not leave the assembly point or re-enter the building until advised to do so. Do not use the lifts.

(d)      Anyone unable to use the stairs should make themselves known during this agenda item.

The Mayor outlined the emergency evacuation procedure.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 October 2023 (Minute Nos. 343 - 351) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 October 2023 (Minute Nos. 343 – 351) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Mayor as a correct record.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their families or friends.

The Mayor will ask Members if they have any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) or disclosable non-pecuniary interests (DNPIs) to declare in respect of items on the agenda. Members with a DPI in an item must leave the room for that item and may not participate in the debate or vote. 

Aside from disclosable interests, where a fair-minded and informed observer would think there was a real possibility that a Member might be biased or predetermined on an item, the Member should declare this and leave the room while that item is considered.

Members who are in any doubt about interests, bias or predetermination should contact the monitoring officer for advice prior to the meeting.

No interests were declared.

The Mayor said it was an exciting time for Sittingbourne as she sent her congratulations to two local radio stations, Sittingbourne FM radio station who recently received a King’s award for voluntary services, and Sheppey FM who won the best local community radio station 2023, beating over 400 other radio stations.

The Mayor had attended a number of events since the last Council meeting including:

·         Celebrated the fifth anniversary of Rotary Radio station;

·         Faversham carnival;

·         lunch at the Freedom Centre, Sheerness viewing artwork of the residents;

·         two Royal Society of St. George events - Trafalgar Day and 40^th Anniversary;

·         Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal launch at County Hall, Maidstone and The Forum, Sittingbourne; and

·         launched the ‘Bringing History Alive’ exhibition at 34 High Street, Sittingbourne.

In advising of the exhibits in place and the hard work that had been carried out to set it up, the Mayor encouraged everyone to attend the Bringing History Alive exhibition and the War Time House museum in East Street, Sittingbourne, which would be free entry for children for the coming weekend.

The Mayor spoke of the moving and delightful Remembrance service she had attended at Tunstall School, at which the Mayor’s Chauffeur’s grandchildren had taken part.

The Mayor said that the Avenue of Remembrance, Sittingbourne ,was the only working Avenue of Remembrance in the Commonwealth and she encouraged Members who had not seen the trees there, dressed in poppies, to visit. She described the Remembrance Day parade including the release of 25 white doves representing the 25 parishes of Swale.  The Mayor thanked all Members who had laid wreaths at churches on Remembrance Day but expressed her disappointment that the local press had not reported on any of the special historical moments that had occurred throughout Swale.

Finally, the Mayor said she had attended a special film screening on behalf of the MenTalk group, made by Ryan who had sadly passed away earlier this year. The Mayor said family and friends of Ryan attended the screening and he would be very sadly missed.

To consider any questions submitted by the public.  (The deadline for questions is 4.30 pm on the Wednesday before the meeting – please contact Democratic Services by e-mailing democraticservices@swale.gov.uk or call 01795 417330).

There were no questions from the public.

To consider any questions submitted by Members.  (The deadline for questions is 4.30 pm on the Monday the week before the meeting – please contact Democratic Services by e-mailing democraticservices@swale.gov.uk or call 01795 417330).

The Mayor advised that five questions had been received from Members.

Question 1 – Councillor Mark Tucker

In my Councillor training in this chamber on Monday 15^th May. The Section 151 Officer explained that there was approximately £15 million left in reserves. With the current business model, the Officer said that this council would be bankrupt by March 2025. It has been exactly six months since then and I am still unsure as to what the administration’s plan is to correct this very worrying position. Can the leader please explain what the plan is to prevent this council going bust?

Response – Deputy Leader

Thank you for your question, however for clarity, the S.151 officer was on leave on Monday 15th May and the training was delivered by the Deputy Section 151 Officer.

The financial position that was presented to new members confirmed that savings would need to be made to avoid the council being in the position of being able to deliver a balanced budget. This is a situation faced by many councils in light of the severe cutting of Government Grants and of course high levels of inflation whilst we have to observe a Council Tax cap way below that inflation. It has not been helped by previous Conservative administrations at swale failing to increase Council Tax year on year, causing an annual £1 million shortfall in our base budget, and costing us some £11 million extra in reserves.

The annual budget cycle was also presented to members at the induction session which confirmed that the administration publishes their draft budget for consultation in November. Since July 2023 the Administration’s Finance Sub group has been working with Senior officers to deliver the Medium Term financial plan that will address the budget gap over the period of the plan. The draft budget will naturally contain some areas of uncertainty as the local government draft financial settlement is not due for publication until late December and as has been the case for several years now, local government have only seen 1 year settlements. This makes the financial planning process even more difficult.

Question 2 – Councillor Richard Palmer

Can the member for constitutional affairs confirm if it is acceptable for planning consultants to use their private business email accounts, i.e. a non- Council email, when communicating with developers on behalf of Swale Borough Council and can you confirm that all planning consultants are provided with a Swale Borough Council email address for conducting Swale Council business?

Response – Deputy Leader

Thank you for your question. You raise a very concerning issue. We have a number of consultants who work for the council and currently some of them have a Swale email address and some of them do not. Our computer usage policy forbids forward of emails to a personal email address but not to a business email address, and is silent on consultants using their business accounts. This raises some serious issues about confidentiality and about transparency, and I  ...  view the full minutes text for item 419.

The Deputy Leader said:

“Firstly, as you may be aware, our leader Cllr Gibson has had an accident, which has led to a number of broken toes and ribs so you have me instead. I am sure we would all like to extend our best wishes to Tim and hope for a speedy recovery.

By way of an update, Councillor Gibson wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Steven Barclay following the motion at our last full council meeting about this council's concerns regarding the inadequate provision of GP’s in our Borough. He also took the liberty of copying the letter to both of our local MP’s Gordon Henderson and Helen Whatley and he will let you all know when he receives a reply.

As this council battles with homelessness and temporary accommodation impacts I together with another 157 council representatives participated in a summit on the issue, organised by the District Councils’ Network (DCN).The scale of the problem was highlighted by a recent survey in which 96% of our member councils reported an increase in use of temporary accommodation with four-fifths of them describing it as ‘significant’. In a letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt signed by a cross party group of leaders, Councils are requesting:

·A rise in Local Housing Allowance rates; 

·Provision of £100m additional funding for Discretionary Housing Payments;  

·Provision of a £150m top-up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant; 

·A review of the cap for housing benefit subsidy rate for local authority homelessness placements. 

·Developing policy to stimulate retention and supply in the privately rented sector. 

It was also bitterly disappointing to hear that KCC have closed Blackburn Lodge on the Isle of Sheppey.  This is a cruel and disheartening move by KCC that will devastate both our residents and staff alike.

Our Council, through the Community Safety Partnership, worked with the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner to secure £323,000 from the Government’s Safer Streets Fund.

Members will recall, in fact a number of you will have taken part in last years LGA peer review the outcomes of which a subject to an action plan which was agreed by the policy and resources committee last month. The action plan included finalising a new corporate plan, with the input of staff and members, that will outline their strategic priorities and how they can be achieved within the agreed budget.

On another note, I am delighted to say that the threat to the closure of Faversham HWRC has been removed and it will now remain open. Members may recall that both Cllr Gibson and Cllr Lehmann wrote strongly worded letters to Kent County Council in opposition to the closures in support of the excellent work and lobbying that has been carried out by both members of this council (in particular those representing Faversham Wards) and of course members of the Faversham Town council. The outcome for residents in Faversham and the wider Swale Borough represents a victory for common sense.

On that theme Milton Creek  ...  view the full minutes text for item 420.

Councillor Hannah Perkin proposed the motion as set out on the Agenda. 

Firstly, she congratulated SATEDA who recently won a King’s award for their services in the community. Then, she set out the statistics of those women who had been victims of domestic abuse. Councillor Perkin said that often the first and only contact women have from professionals to support them was through their GP.  She described how the IRIS programme worked and highlighted its benefits.  Finally, Councillor Perkin relayed the testimonial of a victim of domestic violence who had been through the programme, and she urged members to support the motion.

In seconding the motion, Councillor Richard Palmer reserved his right to speak.

Members were invited to speak and made comments including:

·      Councillors must support any action that helped those who were victims of domestic abuse;

·      suggested the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) to be included when the letter was sent;

·      were figures available from neighbouring authorities that had rolled out the scheme and how had Swale acted differently to be less successful in the take up from GP’s?;

·      had GP’s in Swale not undertaken the training because they simply did not have the time or had it not been advertised?;

·      highlighted the importance of the topic;

·      welcomed the valuable training;

·      highlighted the lack of communication in advising of the scheme;

·      suggested writing to Primary Care Network Education Needs and training hubs to reach a wide number of GP’s in one go;

·      did the training cover how victims were supported during the court process?; and

·      drew attention to child to adult domestic violence and carers’ violence.

A Member gave a moving personal experience of domestic violence.  She said that the psychological and emotional impact could affect so many within a family and domestic violence had been hidden and considered to be a stigma for too long.  She said the training could make life-changing differences for decades to come.

Councillor R Palmer spoke of the positive impacts a GP with IRIS training could have in assisting victims of domestic violence.

Councillor Perkin thanked everyone for their support, and particularly thanked those who had relayed their personal experiences of domestic violence.  She said she was happy to include the ICP as suggested.  Councillor Perkin said that SATEDA did support the court process and advised everyone that there had been a domestic homicide review by KCC, which had led to concerns that GP’s did not always refer cases of domestic violence.

On being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously to support the motion.

Resolved:

(1)  That the Council write to GP partners and the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) in Swale encouraging them to sign up to receive the free IRIS training and to work with the specialist domestic violence worker that covers Swale so that victims and survivors were able to access direct referrals to an advocate educator through their GP.

In introducing the report and proposing the recommendations the Deputy Leader thanked the Monitoring Officer for his input.

The recommendations were seconded by the Leader of the Conservative Group who also thanked the Monitoring Officer and the Constitution Working Group.  The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group stressed the importance of the Constitution.

On being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously to support the recommendations.

Resolved:

(1)  That the amendments at Appendix I be agreed and adopted into the Constitution.

(2)  That the Monitoring Officer be delegated to make the necessary amendments to the Constitution.

The Chair of the Audit Committee introduced the report and proposed the recommendation. He thanked Councillor Derek Carnell who had chaired the Audit Committee during 2022/23, and gave praise and thanks to officers.  Councillor R Palmer seconded the recommendation and on being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously in favour of the recommendation.

Resolved:

(1)  That the Audit Committee Annual Report for 2022/23 (appendix I) be agreed.

The Deputy Leader introduced the report by giving a history of the Council Tax Support Scheme, drawing attention that it moved to a banded scheme in April 2023. He highlighted that working age claimants had less changes to the amount of Council Tax they paid and said the scheme was working well and 65% of all information received from Universal Credit, was now automated allowing teams more time to deal with complex claims and provide support to more vulnerable claimants. The Deputy Leader drew attention that the Policy and Resources Committee had recommended a percentage increase in line with the Department for Works and Pension (DWP) annual percentage uprating.

In seconding the recommendations, the Leader of the Conservative Group reserved his right to speak.

Other Members were invited to speak and made comments including:

·      Needed to look at how the Council supported care leaders better; and

·      referred to the responses to the questionnaire that highlighted that 61% of responders were woman and asked that future prevention be looked at.

The Leader of the Conservative Group said that the scheme was still relatively new so it was difficult to know whether it could be improved.  He highlighted the economic challenges going forward.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 3.1.19(2), a recorded vote was taken, and voting was as follows:

For:  Baldock, Bonney, Bowen, Brawn, Cavanagh, Cheesman, R Clark, S Clark, Golding, Gould, Hall, Harrison, Henderson, Jackson, Jayes, Last, Lehmann, MacDonald, Marchington, B J Martin, C Martin, Miller, Moore, Neal, Noe, C Palmer, R Palmer, Perkin, Speed, S Stephen, Thompson, Tucker, Valls, Watson, Wooster, Whiting, Winckless and Wise. Total equals 38.

Against: Total equals 0.

Abstain: Total equals 0.

Resolved:

(1)  That the progress of the income banded Council Tax Reduction Scheme be noted.

(2)  That following the recommendation of the Policy and Resources Committee, that the scheme is not changed for 2024/25, except for a percentage increase to the income bands in line with the DWP annual percentage uprating increase.

The Deputy Leader introduced the report, reminding Members it had been considered by the Planning and Transportation Policy Working Group, and the Policy and Resources Committee.  He stressed the importance of tackling the Local Plan issues. The Deputy Leader said various options and been discussed, and this proposal was a combination of options. He set out the infrastructure and service issues in meeting the Government’s housing targets and he proposed the recommendation which was seconded by Councillor Alastair Gould who reserved his right to speak.

Members were invited to speak and raised comments including:

·      Highlighted the high turnover of housing ministers;

·      without more infrastructure, there could be no more housing;

·      proposal was prudent in order that the Council could get their pegs in order;

·      a General Election could result in many changes in the future;

·      how could the Council work to provide evidence from statutory consultees when they often had no comment;

·      should consider writing to central Government requesting the Minister for Housing is not changed again until at least the General Election;

·      was disappointed that the work to improve policies had taken place but was not included in the consultation;

·      there needed to be balance and stability; and

·      the right sort of housing was needed.

Councillor Gould said the document outlined the new emphasis on statutory consultees and challenging consultees was within the process.  He said the need for appropriate houses would be taken on board.  Councillor Gould said the system was constrained and officers were looking at ways to work within the system to make it deliverable and focus on what could be done.

The Deputy Leader agreed that it could sometimes be difficult to receive responses from statutory consultees, but the Regulation 19 had forced responses and useful information was received.  He said the Council had a strong bank of evidence to defend why a lower figure for housing was possible and everything was being done to facilitate the process.

On being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously in support.

Resolved:

(1)  That the decision as to a timescale for the future stages of the Local Plan Review until such time as the national planning landscape is clearer be deferred, but independent of this process, to proceed to develop the evidence base regarding local development need and potential, with this process to be wholly reflective of local circumstance rather than central targets be agreed.

The Deputy Leader introduced the report and said that The Meads Woodland Group was part of a project from the Western Area Committee.  He advised that The Meads ward Member, Councillor James Hunt, was currently sitting on the group unofficially.

A Member questioned the status and responsibility of Members sitting on some outside bodies and the Monitoring Officer gave advice and agreed to look at this further.

The Leader of the Conservative Group proposed that Councillor Hunt be nominated to sit on The Meads Woodland Group.  This was seconded by the Deputy Leader.

There were no other nominations and on being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously to nominate Councillor Hunt to represent SBC on The Meads Woodland Group.

Resolved:

(1)  That Councillor James Hunt be nominated to sit on The Meads Woodland Group outside body.

Council is asked to note the recommendations from the following meetings:

Minute No. 359 – Policy and Resources Committee 18 October 2023:

(1)      That the progress of the income banded Council Tax Reduction Scheme be noted.

(2)      That the Council Tax Reduction Scheme be not changed for 2024/25, except to amend the income bands to align with DWP benefit changes, and that delegation be given to the Director of Resources to make that amendment.

Minute No. 360 – Policy and Resources Committee 18 October 2023:

(1)      That the amendments set-out in Appendix I of the report be agreed and incorporated into the constitution.

Minute No. 361 - Policy and Resources Committee 18 October 2023:

(1)      That Council defer a decision as to a timescale for the future stages of the Local Plan Review, until such time as the national planning landscape was clearer, but independent of the process, proceed to develop the evidence base regarding local development need and potential.  With this process to be wholly reflective of local circumstance rather than central targets.

Minute No. 378 Licensing Committee 19 October 2023:

(1)      That the draft Swale Borough Council Street Trading Policy 2024-2027 be noted and the consultation goes ahead.

(2)      That the policy consultation process be noted, and officers proceed with the same.

Resolved:

(1)   That Minute Nos. 359 -360 from the Policy and Resources Committee held on 18 October 2023 be noted.

(2)   That Minute No. 378 from the Licensing Committee held on 19 October 2023 be noted.