The Leader said:

Thank you Mr Mayor and good evening one and all. As this is our last full council meeting before Christmas and looking at the evenings packed agenda I thought it appropriate that I give you all a little gift. By way of  shortening my statement and giving you all two minutes of your life back.

I will commence my musings this evening by offering my sincere congratulations and a very warm welcome to the newest member of the chamber Councillor Carrie Pollard.

Carrie who lives in, and now serves Murston ward was successful in being elected to replace Cllr James Hall in the recent by-election.

On the day that the election count for Murston took place the ballot boxes were to the fore for a second time as the result of the Faversham Town Neighbourhood plan referendum was announced. Residents were balloted on whether they wanted Swale Borough Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Faversham Town to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area and whilst the turnout was a disappointing 18%, 94% of those who did vote, voted Yes

Moving on it was pleasing that councillors from all parties, as always, joined people from across the borough to take part in Remembrance services on Sunday 10 November whether laying wreaths, actively participating or simply providing a civic presence.

I am personally indebted to our Mayor, Cllr Ben Martin, for giving me the opportunity and privilege of narrating the moving, “Shores of Normandy” poem at the War Memorial in Remembrance Avenue whilst he and others laid wreaths in tribute.

I would also like to place on record my gratitude to our officer Lorraine Burke for her commendable work in organising and managing arrangements for us.

Since our last full Council meeting I have made the odd trip or two up to Westminster to lobby together with colleagues from other local authorities across the Country. In particular I represented us on the Special Interest Group as we continue to lobby to bring about change in the unfair way in which Internal drainage boards are funded and the consequent impact that this approach has on our council’s budget. Since the inception of this group we have made real progress in pushing this issue up the agenda for MP’s and our SBC Director of Resources has been particularly proactive in writing to Jim McMahon MP Minister of State for MCHLG staking a specific claim for Swale.

I was also invited to attend an event at the House of Lords hosted by Lord Ravensdale an event that was considering the action required to move to building net zero carbon homes in England, and how reforms to national planning policy can help accelerate action on this important agenda. 

It became apparent at the event that there is real potential to deliver significant action on climate change, through net zero carbon homes – homes designed to reduce demand on the national grid, provide comfortable and healthy spaces for future residents and a consequent reduction in their energy bills. This of course accords with our own ambitions for better standards in carbon efficient and decent homes for both homeowners and tenants.

Talking of decent properties the Council have fined a landlord £12,000 for failing to comply with an improvement notice that was issued after serious hazards were found at a Sheerness property.

Officers from the council’s housing enforcement team carried out an inspection of the property and they found many serious failings including severe and extensive dampness and mould, inadequate heating, and fire safety deficiencies.

We do of course recognise that there are many excellent landlords in our Borough and where issues are found we will always try to work with them to address them, if however, requests for remedial actions go unheeded, we will take robust action to address them.

However in this case despite being served with an Improvement Notice, the landlord failed to take the necessary actions to address these dangerous conditions within the required timeframe.

The failure to comply with the improvement notice doesn’t just show a blatant disregard for the law, but of greater concern is the risk at which it places tenants.

The proceeds of the fine are of course ringfenced, to be directly reinvested back into the council’s private housing enforcement and support ongoing inspections, investigations and enforcement actions.

On to other matters I am pleased to say that we have now partnered with Gravesham Borough and Folkestone Town Council to monitor their Public Space CCTV cameras, which will bring in additional resources and staff, as well as improving the control centre’s facilities.

We also oversee Swale Link, a business crime reduction partnership, which gives local businesses who sign up a radio to communicate with the control centre and the police, allowing for quick coordinated responses whenever any incidents occur and we currently have more than 70 businesses signed up to the scheme.

The benefits of the scheme were seen recently when the control centre supported the arrests of three people who forced their way into a phone store on Sittingbourne High Street to steal thousands of pounds of stock.

Finally at our recent Policy and Resources committee we agreed the final parts of the process that will allow us to launch a new fundraising initiative to support good causes within the borough. Our new community lottery which we expect to launch in early 2025 is a way for us to enable fund raising for causes that offer invaluable services to the people within the borough. It is no secret that councils across the country are struggling to balance their books and with our budget under immense pressure we have to look for other methods to generate funds for the local good causes that we would like to support.

In closing can I take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you and your families a very happy Christmas and a new year full of hope and anticipation that it will be a better one for us all.

In response, the Leader of the Conservative Group welcomed Councillor Pollard. He said he too was honoured to lay a wreath at the Remembrance Day Service. Referring to the action against landlords, he stressed the need to persist to take action. The Leader of the Conservative Group welcomed the news on the CCTV service and suggested that, following reported anti-social events at the Sittingbourne High Street Christmas Lights switch on, the Police be better informed.

The Leader of the Liberal Democratic group also welcomed and congratulated Councillor Pollard. She thanked the community volunteers for their work on the Faversham Neighbourhood Plan project. The Leader of the Liberal Democratic group said the Remembrance Day Service held in Faversham was very moving and well attended, and she thanked the Chief Executive’s PA for coordinating the attendance of Councillors and distribution of wreaths at services. She praised the benefits of the Swale Link initiative, highlighting that it helped vulnerable people get home safely.

Other Members made points including:

·         Was the Leader aware of any movement towards much better standards of housing to be set by the Government, rather than the existing building regulations approach?;

·         referring to fines to landlords, why were landlords not named?;

·         thanked SBC officers for their support in the Remembrance Day parades in Swale;

·         highlighted that SBC paid £1million to the Drainage Board but for every £1 collected, only 9p was allocated to Swale and the public needed to be made aware of this;

·         services brought back in-house, such as CCTV, could sometimes generate an income and provide a better service; and

·         the Council had previously tried to take a proactive approach to improving green credentials in housing but had been knocked back, and improvements should not be made at the price of other infrastructure.

In response, the Leader said there was a big drive to push the Government towards better standards of housing and this was part of the planning reforms. He agreed it was frustrating that landlords who had been fined remained anonymous and said this would be looked into. The Leader said the small percentage of funding that SBC received via Council Tax was well advertised but he encouraged Members to inform their residents. Referring to more implementation of net carbon zero homes, the Leader said the additional cost was in the region of £3k per home and unaffordability should not be an issue for developers.