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 08 September 2016, copy attached.

Councillor L. Fairbrass proposed, Councillor Stummer-Schmertzing seconded and Cabinet agreed the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 08 September 2016.

To approve the summary of recommendations and decisions of the Extraordinary Cabinet meeting held on 27 September 2016, copy attached.

Councillor Crow-Brown proposed, Councillor L. Fairbrass seconded and Cabinet agreed the minutes as a correct record of the extraordinary meeting held on 27 September 2016.

Members were informed that a solution was identified to retrofit the existing lighting with LED tubes in some of the council’s car parks. This would reduce the annual electric consumption by £24k per annum and have an annual estimated maintenance saving of £10k over the two sites. It was hoped that this project would replace the car park lighting system in the Multi-story car parks in Margate and Ramsgate which is very old and expensive to run both in terms of electricity and also ongoing maintenance costs.

Cabinet was advised that the project would be funded through a Salix interest free loan scheme. Salix is a central based government loan scheme, which is 100% interest free. Council applied for this scheme and had been successful. The cost of the project, for both car parks combined is £70,000, this is repayable over 4 years, i.e £17,500 a year. However after the loan is repaid Council would make a saving in electricity of around £24k per annum, and £6.6k during the loan period. Members were in support of the idea for the project.

Councillor I. Gregory and Councillor K. Gregory spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1.

Councillor Brimm proposed, Councillor Crow-Brown seconded and Members agreed that Cabinet takes advantage of the interest free loan offered by the government for energy savings and agree to upgrade the lighting in both Mill Lane car park and Leopold Street car park to LED lighting.

It was reported at the Cabinet meeting that Thanet had a thriving events industry which appealed to both local residents and visitors, adding to the cultural offer of Thanet whilst improving the local economy. This year the district would be hosting approximately 280 varied events. Thanet District Council recognised both the economic impact that events bring in boosting the local economy and the costs to the Council for processing events, providing additional services and using Council land. A new fees and charges schedule was therefore being introduced through the Events Policy.

This charging schedule was based on the full cost recovery of providing additional services and resources for events, to ensure that they are not detract from other services. The Policy contained a number of key changes to help organisers plan effectively, undertake their responsibilities more easily and to make the charges easier to understand.

The policy will also designate premium or standard sites including clearer identification of what type of events can be held on each site, designate clearer event categories and introduce an application fee. Wide consultation on the draft policy had been undertaken and feedback received from the Overview and Scrutiny Panel, Events Safety Advisory Group, partners, members of the public, local businesses and event organisers. Members expressed their support for the policy framework to manage the process for organising events in the district.

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1:

Councillor Bayford;

Councillor K. Gregory;

Councillor Game;

Councillor Taylor-Smith.

Councillor L. Fairbrass proposed, Councillor Brimm seconded and Members agreed the adoption of the Events Policy as per section 3.1 of the Cabinet report.

Cabinet considered proposals for designating conservations areas in some parts of Cliftonville. Members acknowledged that Thanet was rich in heritage buildings and assets, and Thanet District Council was committed to protecting the special architectural and historic interest of the district. The council had the authority to designate conservation areas to control development within areas of historic interest in the district, and this often results in the increase in the attractiveness of an area to investment and to property values in the area.

At the Cabinet meeting on 10th September 2015 it was agreed to carry out an eight week public consultation exercise from 11 January 2016 to 7 March 2016 on the proposed designation of 5 conservation areas in Cliftonville, and proposed adoption of associated character appraisals and management plans. The areas for the proposed designation were as follows:

·  Northdown Road;

·  Edgar Road/Sweyn Road;

·  Cliff Top;

·  Norfolk Road/Warwick Road/Surrey Road;

·  Clifton Place/Grotto Gardens.

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1:

Councillor Bayford;

Councillor Game;

Councillor Savage.

Councillor L. Fairbrass proposed, Councillor Stummer-Schmertzing seconded and Cabinet agree the following:

1.  That the following 5 conservation areas as indicated by the boundaries shown on the plans appended to the Cabinet report be agreed for adoption as designated conservation Areas;

  i.  Northdown Road;

  ii.  Edgar Road/Sweyn Road;

  iii.  Cliff Top;

  iv.  Norfolk Road/Warwick Road/Surrey Road;

  v.  Clifton Place/Grotto Gardens.

2.  That the conservation area appraisals and management plans associated with those areas as appended to this report be approved and adopted, with suggested actions subject to the availability of resources.