To receive any declarations of
interest. Members are advised to consider the advice contained
within the Declaration of Interest advice attached to this Agenda.
If a Member declares an interest, they should complete theDeclaration of Interest
Form
Minutes:
There were no declarations of interest made at the
meeting.
To approve the Minutes of the
Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 18 July 2019, copy
attached.
Minutes:
Councillor Albon
proposed, Councillor Rusiecki seconded
and Members agreed the minutes as a correct record of the meeting
that was held on 18 July 2019.
Councillor Bayford, Leader of Council
introduced the item for discussion. In his background comments,
Councillor Bayford said that Cabinet
had agreed an approach to the Corporate Business Planning on 13
June 2019. This was followed by the adoption of the draft Corporate
Statement by Cabinet on 25 July and thereafter shared with Members
at a Members Briefing session on 30 July.
The Leader was now engaging the Overview &
Scrutiny Panel to get their view on any proposed changes to be
considered by Cabinet (on 19 September) before taking a final
position to Full Council in October.
Members made comments to the draft Corporate
Statement as follows:
The current Council Planning policy
did not have a clause on climate change. There was a need to have
such a provision in order to give direction for large developments
that incorporate solar panels;
Wording regarding working with the
Electoral Commission on electoral boundaries needed to be
clearer;
The wording under Ramsgate Port and
Harbour needs to be changed to reflect more the relationship
between the port and the local area including Ramsgate Town;
Comments on social housing need more
detail;
There should be a commitment to
reduce carbon footprint whilst pursuing economic growth for the
district;
The commentary on the
Council’s contribution to the Parkway Station project should
reflect how this would benefit the local area;
The commitment to recycling was
welcome. Could there be a commitment to work with KCC on such
initiatives as introducing a park and ride service?
There is a need to reflect in the
statement that Council was striving to improve service delivery
with limited resources. This was especially so considering that the
council was working with a reduced staff resource.
The Leader of Council and Madeline homer, CEx
responded to Member comments as detailed below:
the Corporate Statement was an
aspirational document, more detail was to be included in the
implementation plans that supported the vision;
Cabinet would consider all comments
and recommendations forwarded by the Panel before finalising the
corporate statement to go Full Council;
Council was studying the Preston
model in relation to the Parkway Station to learn any lessons from
that experience which could be used for managing such a strategic
infrastructure project;
TDC £2million contribution to
the Parkway Station project should be judged in the light of KCC
contributions of £3million as well as a commitment to
underwrite the project and a commitment to contribute £14
million to the project from SE LAP;
Significant railway infrastructure
development contributes to significant economic growth to an
area;
Council was reviewing the services
being delivered to test if resources were sufficient to deliver
such services and because the resources were limited, there was a
need to make difficult decisions at times on resource
allocation;
Members could assist by explaining
to the public, the services that TDC provided from their share of
the Council tax, as some of the services were provided by other
public agencies.
Councillor Albon, Chairman of the Travellers
Review Group gave a verbal update on progress regarding the work
activities of the review group and made the following points:
The review group met and identified
a number of proposed sites for consideration as proposed temporary
campsites for travellers;
These sites would be presented to
the Panel in a full report back to the Panel at the November
meeting and not the October meeting as previously agreed;
Members would be meeting with the
travellers community representatives at the next meeting of the
review group.
Members agreed to add the report back item to
the agenda for the November Panel meeting and thereafter noted the
report.