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
To approve the Minutes of the
Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 27 October 2020, copy
attached.
Minutes:
Councillor Campbell proposed, Councillor Paul Moore
seconded and Members agreed the minutes as a correct record of the
Panel meeting held on 27 October 2020.
Tim Willis, Deputy Chief Executive & S151
Officer introduced the report and said that Cabinet had agreed the
proposals which they recommended to Full Council.
Members asked questions and made comments as
follows:
There should have been a significant
increase in fines for unauthorised depositing of waste to deter
would be offenders;
Why was there an expectation that
there would be less collection of enforcement revenue in 2021/22 in
comparison to 2020/21?
Why was there a parking charge for
the car park (in Westbrooke Avenue) in Westgate-on-Sea?
There should be greater enforcement
to deter fly tipping particularly in problem areas in the district
that included Cliftonville;
In previous years the Council had
agreed not to charge cremation fees on bereaving families if it
involved child deaths. Why was the charge being imposed?
Why was there free parking for Mill
Lane and St Peters car parks during winter as this facility should
only be offered in summer to boost tourist visitor and related
business activity in the high street and sea front?
What confidence did officers have
that the current fees and charges figures would be achieved this
financial year?
The projections for planning fees
and building control fees would be difficult to achieve in the new
financial year.
Mr Willis, Councillor Yates, Cabinet Member
for Finance, Administration and Community Wealth Building and
Councillor Albon, Cabinet Member for Operational Services responded
to Member queries as follows:
Council had received a number of
complaints from ward councillors and residents about motorists
using the Barnes Avenue car park for non parking matters that
included overnight stays;
Bereaved families would not be asked
to pay the cremation fee as this would be paid for through a
government grant. The council would do all the processing and
filling in of forms involved in accessing this grant and if the
policy changed in the future, there would be no charges to be
imposed on bereaved families;
The issue regarding free parking in
Mill Lane and St Peters car parks might be a historical matter
which officers would look into and address;
Officers were not as confident as
would normally be the case about achieving the projected fees and
charges totals for 2020/21 due to the impact of Covid-19. The
pandemic was making it difficult to come up with an accurate
estimate;
The council was anticipating a
£100k shortfall in Planning Applications income this year.
There would be a negative impact to Building Control income as
well. These observations had been reported to Cabinet and
Council.
Thereafter the Panel noted the report. This
meant that the recommendations made by Cabinet on 19 November would
be forwarded to Full Council for final decision on 10 December
2020.
267.
BREXIT - TDC Plans regarding the EU Transition coming to an end
The Panel to consider a presentation by the Corporate
Director of Communities.
Minutes:
The Panel received a presentation led by
Councillor Everitt, Leader of Council and Gavin Waite, Director of
Communities. The key points made during discussion of this issue
were as follows, that:
There was a plan to hold up to 4,000
lorries at Manston Airport in the event of significant congestion
on the M20 at the end of the transition at 11.00pm on 31 December
2020, in the worst case scenario;
TDC had never been in favour of this
plan to use Manston Airport, because of the potential impact on the
district;
However it should be noted that the
plan is part of a national scheme to address traffic concerns when
the UK is out of EU;
The Council was still trying to
understand the impact of the scheme and to mitigate any negative
impacts this may have for Thanet. This would include the council
making representations to the national authorities;
TDC had been engaged in a number of
meetings with MPs and government ministers going back to three
years;
The Council had not been given
detailed information required to understand fully the potential
impact on Thanet so that the council could come up with mitigatory
measures to address the impact and a plan to communicate with the
local residents
The council had not been provided
with detailed information to enable a full comment on the traffic
flow modelling (including managing traffic flow in and out of the
airfield), environmental impact including noise vehicle emissions
and light intrusions;
The Council had received information
on the draft Operational Management Plan (OMP) which included key
areas like on-site medical provision, driver and staff welfare,
Covid-19 outbreak plans, measures for preventing antisocial
behaviour and site security. Discussions were still ongoing
focusing on risk issues;
The proposed plan placed a
disproportionate burden on the district in comparison to other Kent
local authorities. This could have significant long term impact on
Thanet;
The council had not received any
information that reflected that the plan would not have detrimental
effect on public health and safety at a critical time in combating
the current public health emergency;
The impact of local drivers being
held up in traffic for long periods of time on surrounding
services, communities and environment must be assessed and
mitigated including addressing the issue of the welfare of drivers
and staff on site;
In the event of a Covid outbreak, a
site specific plan must be formulated and be ready for
implementation. This must include the provision of medical
facilities on site to manage positive cases and self isolation
requirements of a large cohort of drivers on site;
The district had already seen an
increase in Covid cases (the 3rd highest in England) in recent
weeks. Any uncontrolled outbreak at Manston Airport site could have
a significant impact on already stretched local services;
The council continued to engage with
the command and control structures and raised issues through the
Strategic Command Group (SCG) and the Tactical Command Group
(TCG);