The Leader said:

“Good evening members, I stand before you this evening on what is a truly momentous occasion for Swale Borough Council, an occasion when each and every one of you will be creating your own little piece of history participating in this full council meeting. On 01 April 1974 exactly 50 years ago on Monday this week the Council was formed as a District Council. A Council named after the stretch of water separating the Isle of Sheppey from the mainland which was awarded Borough status four years later in 1978.Interestingly the Council of the day in 1974 was one of no overall control and had no Mayor but instead had a Chairman the first of which was Councillor R D Sharrock. Had we not had the sad passing of Councillor Ken Ingleton last year I am sure that he would have been able to provide us with more in depth historical musings from those times.

Moving on we have successfully bid for funding of just over £227,000 pounds through Sport England’s swimming pool support fund, working with Faversham Pools Trust, to retrofit Faversham Pools with new energy saving measures. The existing air handling unit, responsible for heating and filtering the air in the pool facility is in urgent need of replacing. The grant will fund a new Air Handling Unit, which aims to make heating more efficient, together with additional improvements including variable speed fans, greatly improving energy efficiency, air quality and importantly reducing costs, in turn helping the Faversham Pools offset significant increases in their energy costs

Further good news for us is that the council has been awarded nearly £33,000 from the Rural Payments Agency to bolster our work tackling waste related crimes. As a Borough we have some of the highest levels of fly-tipping in Kent, which costs the council considerable time, money and resources to clear.

The funding amongst other things will be used to buy additional CCTV cameras, which will be used to deter fly-tippers, gather evidence and help the Council to catch repeat offenders. We will also be using part of the grant to fund a campaign to promote awareness of householder responsibility and duties when disposing of their waste. We will be highlighting the imperative to use licensed carriers and to ensure that the carriers provide waste transfer documents to them.

Op Assist an initiative that stops suspected fly-tippers and takes enforcement action for waste related crimes will also benefit from additional resources to bolster joint operations between Kent Police’s Rural Taskforce and the Council. The funding announcement follows the council approving changes to waste-related fixed penalty notices last month, seeing the fine for serious fly-tipping increase to £1,000. As a council we will continue to work on preventing waste crimes, and identifying those responsible so that we can make Swale a cleaner and healthier place for all. It is worth highlighting that the Council's income from the Fixed Penalty Notices can only be used for environment-related schemes, and we use much of it to help fund initiatives which focus on tackling fly-tipping and littering.

Continuing on the anti social behaviour theme, uniformed marshals have been working to keep the town centres of Sheerness and Sittingbourne safer over the Easter school holidays. The marshals have once again been patrolling the high streets to help prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour, after receiving a positive response during previous school holiday periods. The initiative is part of Swale Borough Council’s Safer Streets campaign, which aims to tackle antisocial behaviour and reduce violence against women and girls in Sittingbourne and Sheerness town centres.

Furthermore we are supporting domestic abuse charities in being able to provide vulnerable women and girls with a paid version of a personal safety app. We are funding 50 annual subscriptions of the Hollie guard app, which SATEDA, Newleaf and Clarion will provide to identified vulnerable women and girls that they work with. The app acts as a secure and discrete personal alarm and deterrent which can monitor a user’s location, planned routes and meeting times. It can then raise an alert with emergency contacts and a 24/7 monitoring centre if the user doesn't confirm that they are safe.

We have also used safer streets funding to ensure that a Sheerness youth club will be able to operate for another year. Vibe's Sheerness Youth Club has been able to put on two sessions every week for young people on the island to meet, socialise and receive support from youth workers since October last year. Youth provision is fundamental in reducing levels of anti-social behaviour and the funding has enabled them to host two age specific sessions creating a safe space for both younger and older children, making for a tailored and effective experience for both. These sessions run every Thursday evening, from 4pm to 6pm for the 8-12 age group and 6pm to 8pm for the 13-16 age group and will be funded until March 2025.The club offers a wide range of activities including pool, table tennis, gaming, darts and even a stage for budding artists. On average 40 children attend each session and they are provided with a free meal. Our support has meant that Vibes have also been able to recruit an additional female youth worker to support the young girls attending, providing a mentor that they can relate to and who understands the unique challenges and experiences that they may be facing.

We have hosted a bike donation day together with the Sittingbourne Rotary Club as part of the Cycle-re-Cycle programme which is a partnership between the council, HMP Swaleside and the Canterbury Bike Project. The project provides an excellent opportunity to save bikes from ending up in the tip or just rotting away in gardens or sheds.

HMP Swaleside inmates refurbish the unwanted bikes, while working towards qualifications including the City & Guilds in Bicycle Mechanics, giving inmates the opportunity to upskill themselves and make a positive step towards rehabilitation.
The programme provides residents with affordable, environmentally friendly transportation, that keeps them active and healthy. The bikes are sold on for just £10 through local community groups, making the scheme self-funding and sustainable.”

The Leader of the Conservative Group acknowledged the 50^th Anniversary of Swale Borough Council. He expressed his pleasure that Faversham Pools had received grant money for improvements, and hoped it would secure a long future for the important asset, whilst the organisation was reminded that funding from other sources would be required in the future. The Leader of the Conservative Group welcomed the funding to tackle waste related crimes and referred to the news in the Leader’s Statement around anti-social behaviour, pointing out that it was not just an issue for the high streets of Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey.  Whilst welcoming news of providing subscriptions to 50 women for the Holly Guard app, he wished that every person who was the victim of domestic violence could be given the app.  The Leader of the Conservative Group said more news on how support could be given to residents from internal functions was needed.  Finally, he thanked the Mayor for her work during her term and wished the Mayor-elect good luck.

In acknowledging the 50^th anniversary, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group suggested celebrating the diversity of Swale Borough Council (SBC). She thanked officers for their work in the successful bid of grant funding for Faversham Pools and welcomed the funding to tackle waste crime. Referring to anti-social behaviour the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group said she would like to see SBC being proactive to reduce violence against women and girls in Faversham also.  She praised SATEDA for the excellent work they did to help keep women safe and said she wished the Holly Guard app did not have to exist but was glad it did. The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group said the Mayor had been a fabulous representative for the Borough. Finally, she drew attention that it was Autism Awareness month and she wanted everyone to recognise the contribution that autistic people made in society, whilst pointing out there was still some way to make things equitable for children and young people with Autism.

Other Members were invited to respond and a Member thanked the Leader for highlighting the historical fly tipping issues in the Borough, and for the initiatives coming forward, and thanked officers.

The Leader said the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) restricted the areas to which the Safer Streets campaign could provide marshalling and acknowledged that anti-social behaviour did not apply only to town centres. He agreed that providing 50 subscriptions appeared to be a relatively small number but said it could save lives. The Leader said conversations had already taken place on how internal processes could be improved to support residents.  He thanked Councillor Perkin for continuing to champion diversity and highlighting Autism awareness.