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 have asked the Chief Executive to look into this issue and ensure a consistent approach is taken across all of our consultants.

Supplementary question

Will the review ensure it highlights the details within the Freedom of Information Act?

Response

Yes, it will be addressed robustly.

Question 3 – Councillor Tony Winckless

I welcome the announcement that Swale has secured £323,000 of funding for the Safer Streets Fund. Any extra funding after huge cuts to policing and Youth Services Budgets is good news.  Anti-Social Behaviour is a big issue for my residents. So can I urge that Milton Regis is also a beneficiary from the initiatives funded by the scheme?

Response – Chair of Communities Committee

I am really pleased that Swale has been successful in securing funding from the Safer Streets Fund, the bid was secured through the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office who identified that Sittingbourne and Sheerness Town Centres met the eligibility criteria for the funding.  The funding therefore will not be able to be utilised in other areas such as Milton, I appreciate all areas will experience issues of Crime and ASB and therefore it is important that these are reported to ensure they can be responded to and when possible will form evidence for any future funding applications.  

Supplementary question

As funding is available, will CCTV be replaced in Milton Regis by the car park?

Response

Officers will review crime statistics and consider the request.

Question 4 – Councillor Kieran Golding

Some of my residents are disappointed to hear that the council’s graffiti service is no longer able to provide a comprehensive service due to funding restrictions.

Real terms Government Settlement funding to Swale Borough Council has been cut in half since 2015. With inflation driving up costs, including for council services, does the Leader agree with me that the Government’s Autumn Statement needs to include additional funds for councils, so that we can continue to provide these services for our residents?

Response – Chair of Environment Committee

The Council’s service for removing graffiti has been reviewed this year following a reduction in the level of funding available to us forcing us to reduce internal staffing levels. We are, however, continuing to remove offensive graffiti from public property via our cleansing contractors and working with property owners to encourage graffiti removal from private property.

The Government have recently pushed for a crackdown on anti-social behaviour (including graffiti) and fines for those caught have risen. However, it is unclear as yet due to an impending consultation, on how any increased income can be used. Furthermore, with reduced staffing it remains difficult to catch people in the act.

A combination of restrictions to the amount we can increase our income by each year, and ongoing high rates of inflation - which even at half the rate they were at the start of the year are still 60% above the limit we can raise council tax by - mean that we are forced into a constant cycle of having to review and reduce services across the board. So yes, I would join my colleague in agreeing that a full review of local government finances is required, and in the short term an improved settlement in next week's Autumn Statement would be very welcome, not least because it may help ensure the solvency of Kent County Council for another year.

Question 5 – Councillor Angie Valls

In a reflection of central government’s economic failure, there are over 18 empty retail units in Sittingbourne Town Centre.

The Conservative Government has announced, re-announced, and repackaged a number of funds over the years to support struggling High Streets. Yet their typically centralised, overly prescriptive and poorly administered schemes don’t deliver what’s desperately needed.

What more does the Chair of the Regeneration and Property Committee think the council can do to support successful business opportunities from pop-up shops and new start-ups, to brands and retail staples on our High Streets?

Response – Chair of Regeneration and Property Committee

Thank you Cllr Valls for your question.

Firstly we have to recognise that our town centres in Swale are predominantly in private ownership, and their ownership is very fragmented with few large land owners in our High Streets, it therefore requires these many parties to acknowledge their part in improving town centres. That noted many of the solutions for improving High Streets, lays in the hands of central Government.  The arcane approach to taxation including business rates, acts as a huge barrier to entry and break on enterprise in our High Streets.  Tax reform would require central government to be proactive and to review the effectiveness of business rates.  To my mind business rates disadvantages businesses with bricks and mortar shops especially in our town centres. 

Where funding for town centres and high streets has been available Swale Borough Council has accessed a number of central government funding streams over recent years with a view to supporting our High Streets. This includes the successful £20m bid to the Levelling-Up Fund for our flagship Sheerness Revival project, which will bring investment and footfall to this important town centre, and which we very much see as a catalyst for future investment.  As part of our match funding for the bid, we committed and secured a combined budget of £1.5m for the complete refurbishment of Masters House, on Trinity Road, to bring this disused asset back in to use as a business hub with a major social impact. This will be a huge boost for the town centre.

We also worked closely with central government to unlock £1.5m of prosperity funding, across the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Rural England Prosperity Fund. This includes £170k for capital schemes for each of our main town centres; £50k for a town centre radio scheme for these centres and Leysdown, over £200k for town centre grants schemes for our main centres plus Milton Regis and Queenborough - all designed to promote footfall, increase options for residents and opportunities for business. Further to this, we will invest over £200k across a range of support options for all local businesses over the three years until 2025, and are investing £45k in marketing collateral to support our visitor economy over the same period.

I agree with you that these schemes are in many ways poorly-administered by central government, and that the processes involved in accessing and delivering the funding that is rightfully ours are not fit for purpose and place huge and unnecessary burdens on staff and members. We have and are lobbying government to make funding release timescales and mechanisms much more realistic, so that the full impact of this investment will not be threatened or lost.  I wrote to the Minister on this last month, and will continue to press for structural changes to central government funding schemes which reduce bureaucracy and enable funding to reach our communities and businesses as quickly as possible, with minimal constraints.