Agenda and minutes
Venue: by Video Conference
Contact: Charles Hungwe
Link: This meeting will be held by video call
Media
No. | Item |
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Scott and Councillor Hopkinson. |
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Declaration of Interests PDF 87 KB 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 the Declaration of Interest Form Minutes: There were no declarations of interest received at the meeting. |
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Minutes of Previous Meeting PDF 262 KB To approve the Minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 18 February 2021, copy attached. Minutes: Councillor Coleman-Cooke proposed, Councillor Currie seconded and Members agreed the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 18 February 2021. |
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Minutes of Extraordinary Meeting PDF 147 KB To approve the Minutes of the Extraordinary Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 17 March 2021, copy attached. Minutes: Councillor Coleman-Cooke proposed, Councillor Currie seconded and Members agreed the minutes as a correct record of the extraordinary meeting held on 17 March 2021. |
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Domestic Violence in Thanet - How Kent Police are addressing the Issue Minutes: Chief Inspector Rhiannan Pepper led the discussion and made a presentation in which she made the following comments:
Members asked questions and made comments as follows:
Chief Inspector Pepper responded as follows:
The Chair thanked Chief Inspector Pepper and thereafter Members noted the report. |
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Memorials Working Party Update PDF 98 KB Minutes: Councillor Stuart Piper, Chairman of the Memorials Working Party gave a brief update of the activities of the working party and advised the Panel that it would be best to wait for the upcoming new legislation on monuments before advising cabinet on a council policy on this subject. The new legislation would provide government guidance that would help shape the council policy on how to manage memorials, plaques and monuments in the district.
Councillor Bayford proposed, Councillor Coleman-Cooke seconded and the Panel agreed to keep the Memorials Working Party activities in abeyance until the new government legislation on national heritage monuments has been passed by Parliament. |
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Planning Enforcement Review PDF 93 KB Minutes: Councillor Bayford introduced the item and proposed that the Panel set up a working party with a membership of seven. The working party would have a single meeting to consider how best the Overview and Scrutiny Panel could inform the review of planning enforcement protocol.
Councillor Garner spoke under Council Procedure 20.1.
Members made comments as follows:
· There were a number of climate emergency policies being adopted by Thanet District Council; · These policies had implications for planning permission compliance for any planning applications being submitted in the district; · Currently officers made follow ups only when there were complaints received regarding a development; · The current enforcement team was not resourced enough to be proactive in monitoring compliance; · The review of the current enforcement protocol should be open to the public; · It was suggested that the working party being proposed should have a wider remit that would include meeting with managers and inviting stakeholders before proposing any changes; · There was a need to know more about how other similarly sized councils were managing this issue.
Councillor Bayford and Madeline Homer, CEx responded as follows:
· Scarcity of resources was the reason why the Panel would be suggesting this time around for a single meeting by the proposed working party; · This approach had been agreed with the officers; · Once it was viewed necessary and appropriate at a later stage, a working party with a bigger remit could be set up; · It was important to manage the public’s expectations from such a review; · The work of the panel had been finely balanced with the finite resources that the council had; · Consideration had also to be given to the fact that officers would need to set aside time to support this work stream.
Members agreed to set up a Planning Enforcement Review Working party with a membership of seven to consider how best the Overview and Scrutiny Panel could inform the review of planning enforcement protocol. The working party would have a single meeting before reporting back to the Panel.
Thereafter the Chair called on volunteers to be on this working party and the following Members volunteered:
Councillor Huxley; Councillor Coleman-Cooke; Councillor Lynda Piper; Councillor Rattigan; Councillor Paul Moore; Councillor Currie. |
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The Impact of Covid-19 on businesses and communities in Thanet Minutes: Madeline Homer, CEx introduced the item and said that it 2020/21 had been a year like no other in terms of challenges for the public sector and that local government was no exception to that. Ms Homer then gave an overview of some of the achievements made by Thanet District Council as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms Homer said that the Council was already dealing with the pandemic prior to the national lockdown at the end of March 2020. Prior to that, the council had already conducted the following:
The CEx said that when the national lockdown was introduced; whilst for most industries this meant reduced work; for TDC it meant everyone stepping up and working that little bit harder. Within the first week the council had:
This set the pattern for how the council would be responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic, for 2021 as TDC responded to the announcements from the daily government briefings. The council carried out the following activities:
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Review OSP Work Programme 2020/21 PDF 95 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: Members noted the report. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: Members noted the report. |