Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors G Coleman-Cooke, Curran, Martin and Townend.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 8 February 2018.

It was proposed by the Chairman, seconded by the Vice Chairman and agreed, that the minutes of the meeting of Council held on 8 February 2018 be approved and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman, Leader, Members of the Cabinet or Chief Executive in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 2.2 (iv).

There were no announcements.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members in accordance with Council Procedure rule 2.2 (v)

Councillor Dexter and Councillor Wells declared a significant interest in items 6a, 6b, 6d and 7a of the agenda.  After consideration by the Monitoring Officer, both Members were advised that they could remain in the meeting during consideration of these items.

To receive petitions from the public in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.

Mr Irving was not present at the meeting.  His petition, containing 69 valid signatures, had the following prayer:

“We the undersigned wish to petition Thanet District Council regarding the following: We request that the income (£350.000) from the sale of a Broadstairs asset, (Viking Bay lift shaft, former toilet and shelter, be reinvested in Broadstairs to improve Broadstairs facilities and infrastructure, specifically the public toilets. These facilities are very important to our visitors and residents and require urgent refurbishment and upgrading to reach a standard that reflects people’s expectations in 2017, it will also ensure these facilities present a positive image of a popular coastal resort.”

In accordance with the Council’s Petition Scheme, the petition was referred to Cabinet without debate.

Members noted the report.

Dr Gordon-Nesbitt asked the Leader the following question:

“Does Cllr Wells back the plan to make savings of £457m on health service funding for Kent & Medway as part of a Sustainability and Transformation Plan that seems to disadvantage people the already deprived people of Thanet?”

The Leader responded with the following points:

·  Although this did not relate directly to a Council function, the Council had set up a Cabinet Advisory Board to assess and monitor the potential impact of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan.

·  The Council would always lobby to ensure that the local residents of Thanet were not disadvantaged.

·  The Leader felt that the Plan had caused disruption and difficulty for East Kent organisations, and for the hospital governing body itself.

Mrs Jeffrey asked the Leader the following question:

“Will losing our emergency stroke unit at QEQM mean that we're more likely to lose our A&E as well as a result of the loss in 'co-adjacencies'? Has the council investigated this possibility in depth?"

The Leader responded with the following points:

·  The Cabinet Advisory Group had been tasked to consider a council response to the consultation on proposed changes to the emergency stroke unit.

·  From the information currently available, it would appear that the loss of the emergency stroke unit would not make the loss of A&E services more likely.  The location of A&E services would be considered later in the year.

Mr Wraight asked the Leader the following question:

“Have TDC explored and exploited all legal avenues to keep Manston airport for aviation use?”

The Leader responded with the following points:

·  The Council does not own the site and therefore its legal powers to secure the site for aviation use are limited.

·  The Council has explored the use of its compulsory purchase powers but has failed to find a suitable indemnity partner to fund the purchase and operate the airport.

Ms Farrance asked the Leader the following question:

“Given that Councillor Wells has not attended any of the bimonthly Health and Wellbeing Board Meetings since November 2015 (of which he is one of just two TDC members), what is he doing to ensure that Thanet retains its 14 remaining GP practices, A&E dept, and stroke service?”

The Leader responded with the following points:

·  Currently Thanet GP practices were supporting each other in clusters, this approach was supported by the Thanet Clinical Commissioning Group (TCCG) and Thanet Health and Wellbeing Board (THWBB).

·  The Council and the TCCG were co-located and worked closely together.

·  The Cabinet Member responsible for health and wellbeing had represented the Council at THWBB meetings.

·  The distribution of A&E services would be the subject of a decision by the East Kent Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust.

·  The Cabinet Advisory Group would draft a response for the Council to the consultation regarding emergency stroke unit provision.

To receive questions from Members of the Council in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 14.

This question was withdrawn at the request of the Councillor who submitted it.

This question was withdrawn at the request of the Councillor who submitted it.

To receive any Notices of Motion from Members of Council in accordance with the Council Procedure Rule 3.

No motions on notice had been received in accordance with council procedure rule 3.

To receive a report from the Leader of the Council in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 2.4.

This item was withdrawn from the agenda.

To receive a report from the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 15.1.

Councillor D Saunders, the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (OSP), presented his report and the following points were noted:

• The Overview and Scrutiny Panel had met on two occasions since the last report to Council.
• The Community Safety Partnership Working Party met this week and received an update from Kent Police and the Council’s plans to tackle nuisance parking outside of schools.
• Members were encouraged to attend OSP and its sub-groups, as topics would often be of interest to all Members.

During Members’ response to the report, the following points were notes:

·  Parking was an important element of community safety outside schools.

·  CCTV should be installed outside schools as this could permanently eliminate illegal parking.

It was noted that in accordance with council procedure rule 17.6, a recorded vote would be taken on the motion or any amendments and substantive motions.

It was proposed by Councillor Stummer-Schmertzing and seconded by Councillor Crow-Brown, that the recommendations set out in the report be agreed, namely:

“1 - That Members approve the Thanet District Council element of Council Tax charges as set out below for the listed property bands:

2- That Members approve the determinations at Section 1 of this report.” 

45 Members voted in favour the motion: Councillors Ashbee, Bambridge, Bayford, Braidwood, Brimm, Buckley, K. Coleman-Cooke, Connor, Crow-Brown, Dawson, Dellar, Dennis, Dexter, Dixon, Edwards, Evans, J. Fairbrass, L. Fairbrass, Falcon, Game, Gregory, Grove, Hayton, Hillman, Howes, Jaye-Jones, Larkins, Messenger, Parsons, L Piper, S Piper, L Potts, R Potts, Pugh, Rogers, Rusiecki, D. Saunders, M. Saunders, Savage, Shonk, Stummer-Schmertzing, Taylor, Taylor-Smith, Tomlinson and Wells.

0 Members voted against the motion.

6 Members abstained from voting on the motion: Councillors Campbell, Constantine, Fenner, Johnston, Matterface and Venables.

The motion was carried.

It was proposed by the Chairman, seconded by the Vice-Chairman and Members agreed the recommendation as shown in the report, namely:

“The council censures Councillor Brimm for her behaviour in:

a.  using social media in a way which compromised the impartiality or integrity of an officer, and

b.  bringing her office and the Council into disrepute.”