Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies received at the meeting.

To approve the summary of recommendations and decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on 20 January 2015, copy attached.

Councillor Nicholson proposed, Councillor Harrison seconded and Members agreed the minutes of the previous meeting held on 20 January 2015.

To approve the summary of recommendations and decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on 19 February 2015, copy attached.

Councillor Nicholson proposed, Councillor Harrison seconded and Members agreed the minutes of the extraordinary meeting held on 19 February 2015.

Capita Asset Services (Capita) the Council’s external Treasury advisors had recently alerted the authority that there was a possible future impact on the financial institutions’ credit ratings from the main ratings agencies due to the implied removal of sovereign support.

Currently the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy, Minimum Revenue Provision Policy Statement and Annual Investment Strategy (TMSS) used a Lowest Common Denominator assessment in its minimum credit ratings criteria. Capita suggested that this assessment be removed from the TMSS so that the Council continued to have a practical workable counterparty list despite the implied removal of sovereign support.

Councillor Everitt proposed, Councillor Nicholson seconded and Cabinet agreed to recommend to Council Option 3.1 which is as detailed below that:

1.  Following approval by the Governance & Audit Committee on 17 March 2015, that Cabinet recommends that (i) the LCD assessment no longer be included in the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS), and accordingly that (ii) the Council’s TMSS for 2015/16 be amended as per the relevant extracts (sections 4.2 and 5.2) shown in Annex 1 to the Cabinet report.

The Council had a statutory duty to publish a Homeless Strategy. The previous strategy covered the period 2008/9 – 2013/14. The East Kent Prevention Strategy was a joint response to Homelessness across Thanet, Canterbury, Dover and Shepway Districts.

As part of the overarching strategy, a Thanet District profile had been developed with an accompanying action plan. The draft strategy, district profile and action plan had gone out for public consultation and the results of this consultation had been taken into account in the producing the final draft.

Councillor D. Saunders spoke under Council Procedure 24.1.

Councillor Nicholson proposed, Councillor D. Green seconded and Members recommended to Full Council the approval of the East Kent Homelessness Prevention Strategy.

The Fort Road Hotel in Margate had been empty and derelict for a number of years. The Council undertook a compulsory purchase order in May 2010 and the general vesting declaration was made in October 2010. Since then, the property had been held in the general fund.

The Council had considered a number of options for the property and had requested development proposals from the market through an expression of interest process on a number of occasions, the latest being in 2014. The expressions of interest had not identified any feasible or suitable schemes for the building.

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure Rule 24.1:

Councillor Wells;

Councillor D. Saunders;

Councillor Bruce;

Councillor Bayford.

Councillor Nicholson proposed, Councillor Harrison seconded and Cabinet agreed the following:

1.  To transfer the Fort Road Hotel from the general fund to the housing revenue account;

2.  To allocate the property for housing purposes;

3.  The use of HRA balances and 141 receipts where appropriate to undertake the development works up to £950K;

4.  The use of repairs reserve to fund the General Fund costs already incurred prior to transfer.

The meeting was advised of the process that had been undertaken to develop the Community Safety Plan for 2015/16. Members were requested to consider the priorities and emerging issues for 2015-16. The Community Safety Plan priorities and draft action plan had been considered by the Community Safety Partnership Working Party on 3 March 2015 and received support from cross party support and was also debated at the Overview and Scrutiny on 26 March 2015 and recommended to Cabinet for onward submission to Council.

In 2014/15, significant changes had been proposed to the Police and community safety landscape with the new ‘Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill’ being passed into law. This brought in wholesale changes to the Probation Service and the commissioning of victim support services to be undertaken by Police and Crime Commissioners. The Community Safety Plan makes due reference to these changes in the industry. Members thanked officers and Councillors for their contributions to the development of the Thanet Community Safety Plan for 2015.16.

Councillor D. Saunders spoke under Council Procedure 24.1:

Councillor Johnston proposed, Councillor Nicholson seconded and Members agreed that, taking into consideration the recommendations from the Community Safety Partnership Working Party and Overview & Scrutiny Panel; Cabinet recommends to Council for approval the priorities and emerging issues in the Thanet Community Safety Plan 2015/16 as set out in Annex 1 to the Cabinet report.