Agenda and minutes

Councillor Rusiecki proposed, Councillor Connor seconded and Members agreed that Councillor Campbell be the Chairman.

Councillor Campbell in the Chair.

Apologies were received from the following Members:

Councillor Jaye-Jones;

Councillor Curran, substituted by Councillor Taylor-Smith;

Councillor Dexter, substituted by Councillor D. Saunders.

To approve the Minutes of the Corporate Performance Review Working Party meeting held on 16 February 2017, copy attached.

With only one Member who attended the previous working party meeting present and there being not enough Members to confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 16 February 2017, Members took the minutes as read.

Members gave positive feedback to the good TDC fourth quarter corporate performance, particularly the trend of improvement. The working party also noted the comments of officers present that the April/May performance in Q1 of this year showed a continued positive trend. The working party thanked the staff for the positive performance.

In response to Member query regarding reporting of Freedom of Information requests, officers agreed that a report would be provided of a breakdown of cases in order to provide more information for Members. Members made further observation as follows:

• The proposed merger of some East Kent local councils was no longer going ahead, how would TDC manage future budgets towards 2021/22?
• Household recycling was below target;
• Where did beach and parks cleaning get reported in the performance report?
• Can council use the media to send out a message on fly tipping?
• Some residents are tipping their waste in council bins;
• Officers could use the neighbourhood engagement meetings as a source for more public engagement;
• TDC could approach Ramsgate Town Council to add fly tipping adverts in the community magazine that is run by the town council in order to reach out to about 16,000 households;

Tim Willis, Director of Corporate Resources and Trevor Kennett, Head of Operational Services gave the following responses:

·  The potential merger offered the prospect of greater financial resilience for the four councils. In the absence of progress towards a new single council, TDC’s previous Medium Term Financial Strategy will prevail. We have plans for a sustainable future, albeit with significant risks, not least the uncertainty of government policy regarding local government finance;

·  TDC received some feedback regarding recycling – the recycle waste collected by TDC was the least contaminated compared to other neighbouring councils’ collections;

·  £400 fixed penalty for fly-tipping was having a deterrent effect. 20 tickets had been issued to date;

·  Council sends out fly-tipping adverts through various media including Facebook. Officers would continue to improve the message;

·  It was the residents ‘s responsibility to check that the companies they used to dispose of their waste were registered for such purposes as it was their responsibility to ensure that waste was disposed of appropriately;

·  Tipping into council bins was a challenge. However officers had issued out 27 community protection tickets to offending individuals;

·  Officers will look to involve attendees at forums such as neighbourhood engagement meetings to build a pool of residents with whom a more qualitative approach can be adopted to consult on existing and future council services.

Councillor Rusiecki proposed, Councillor Taylor-Smith seconded and Members recommended that the cleaning of beaches and parks be included in the corporate performance report as separate performance indicators from the next quarter moving forward.

Members noted the report and thanked staff for the improvement in corporate performance.

The working party received the EK Services performance report from Dominic Whelan, Director of East Kent Services. The report was positive as it reflected good performance across the services provided.

EK Services were working on increasing the number of residents who use e-billing foe paying council tax. Staff training that had been provided had helped improve the processing of payments by the revenue and benefits payments team.

The working party was also advised that EK Services (in partnership with TDC, CCC and DDC) recently received a national award for their ‘Behaviour Change’ work at the Municipal Journal Awards.

Members noted the report.

Ms Deborah Upton, CEx of East Kent Housing introduced the report and said that the performance was good across various activities. The complaints procedures were now centralised and the organisation was in the process of recruiting a complaints officer. The expenditure on the capital programme had increased in the period under review and this was a welcome development.

A Member asked a question regarding EK Housing’s response to government advice that local councils they should consider retro-fitting of fire proof measures (including sprinklers) in some of the tower block buildings owned by councils. In response Mark Anderson, Director of Property Services said that it was advisable to wait for the new anticipated legislation before taking any course of action.

Mr Anderson also reported that East Kent Housing (EKH) had carried out inspections to check fire safety measures at the six tower blocks and completed new Fire Risk Assessments (FRA’s) for these. EKH is continuing to work with TDC, Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and Kent Fire and Rescue Services (KFRS) to respond to information requirements. EKH has additionally communicated with residents to provide reassurance about the safety of their homes and to remind them of evacuation plans in the event of a fire.

Bob Porter, Head of Housing further added that validation checks are to be carried out at the blocks to give added assurance and double check that they comply with current building regulations. KFRS has also inspected Arlington House and were satisfied that these were appropriate. TDC officers in private sector housing department were part of the joint inspection team. There were no issues of concern that were raised from that inspection and therefore there were no issues of concern reported to the council following this inspection.

Members noted the report.

Future meeting dates:

04 September 2017;

13 November 2017;

15 February 2018.

There were no new issues raised at the meeting.