Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Council Offices, Cecil Street, Margate, Kent. View directions

Contact: Charles Hungwe 

Items
No. Item

609.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies made at the meeting.

610.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 113 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:

Councillor Yates made a declaration of interest on Agenda Item 8 (Replacement of Berth 4/5 (Port of Ramsgate) and Provision of Commercial Berth (Ramsgate Harbour).

611.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 63 KB

To approve the summary of recommendations and decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on 17 October 2019, copy attached.

Minutes:

Councillor Everitt proposed, Councillor Albon seconded and Members agreed the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 22 October 2019.

612.

2019-20 Quarter 2 Budget Monitoring pdf icon PDF 197 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The overall General Fund revenue position was forecast to be an overspend of £729,000 at the year-end. Marginal improvement was reported for Quarter 2 in comparison to the position reported at Quarter 1. However the report also showed that some of the in-year pressures had been difficult to quantify due to the volatility of these budgets. The Housing Revenue Account was forecast to underspend by £8,000.

 

Councillor Yates proposed, Councillor Albon seconded and Cabinet agreed the following:

 

1.  To note the 2019-20 Quarter 2 forecast position for:

 

a)  The General Fund;

b)  The Housing Revenue Account;

c)  The General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Capital Programmes;

 

2.  To the updated General Fund and Housing Revenue Account capital programmes as set out in Annex 1 and 2 to the Cabinet report.

613.

2019-20 Mid-Year Treasury Management Review pdf icon PDF 618 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet was advised that during the first half of 2019-20 the council complied with its annual investment strategy and stayed within approved investment limits. In addition, no additional external borrowing was undertaken during the first half of 2019-20 and the council had operated within the statutory borrowing limit.

 

Councillor Yates proposed, Councillor Everitt seconded and Cabinet agreed the following:

 

1.  To approve the report and the prudential and treasury indicators that are shown;

 

2.  To approve the proposed changes to the 2019-20 Treasury Management Strategy Statement;

 

3.  To recommend the report to Council.

614.

Fees and Charges for 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 291 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members considered the proposed fees and charges that would subsequently be presented to Council on 5th December for approval. The proposed overall increase was in the region of 2.5% and would generate an additional £208,000 to help reduce the 2020-21 budget gap. The report summarised the main proposed changes to fees and charges, with the details set out in annex 1 to the cabinet report.

 

These proposals for the forthcoming year had been reviewed by the Fees and Charges Cabinet Advisory Group on 10th October and by OSP on 22nd October. The proposed fees and charges presented to Cabinet reflected and included the recommendations from these meetings.

 

Officers were requested to look at best practice from other councils, to see whether new creative ideas could be developed that would provide a range of options that could potentially meet council budget objectives in the medium term.

 

Councillor Yates proposed, Councillor Albon seconded and Members agreed the following:

 

1.  To approve the fees and charges as listed in Annex 1 (to the Cabinet report);

 

2.  To recommend the agreed fees and charges to Full Council for final decision.

615.

Executive Appointed Outside Bodies for 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 166 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Due to in-year changes to the Council administration, Cabinet agreed to make changes to the council representation on executive appointed outside bodies.

 

Councillor Everitt proposed, Councillor Duckworth seconded and Cabinet agreed the following nominations on executive appointed outside bodies for the remaining part of 2019/20:

 

List of Executive Appointed Outside Bodies – for 2019/20

 

Name of Outside Body

No. of

Reps

Representatives

2019/20

British Ports Association

1

Cllr Everitt

British Resorts Association (AGM, Annual Conference and Executive Meetings)

1

Cllr Duckworth

Community Safety Partnership

1

Cllr Whitehead

Domestic Violence Forum

1 +

1 sub

Cllr Whitehead

East Kent Opportunities Ltd

1

Cllr Everitt

East Kent Spatial Development Company

1

Cllr Albon

Kent Police and Crime Panel

1

Cllr Game

Local Government Association Coastal Special Interest Group

1

Cllr Duckworth

Local Government Association District Councils’ Network

1

Cllr Everitt

Local Government Association (General Assembly)

1

Cllr Everitt

Local Government Association Strategic Aviation Specialist Interest Group

1

Cllr Albon

Margate Town Partnership

1

Cllr Tomlinson

South East England Councils

1

Cllr Everitt

Supporting People in Kent Commissioning Body

1

Cllr Whitehead

Thanet Harbour Users’ Groups

1 +

1 sub

Cllr Albon +

Cllr Duckworth

Thanet Quality Bus Partnership

1

Cllr Gregory

Tourism South East

1

Cllr Duckworth

Your Leisure Thanet Sub Group

2

Cllr Everitt

Cllr Whitehead

 

616.

Replacement of Berth 4/5 (Port of Ramsgate) and Provision of Commercial Berth (Ramsgate Harbour) pdf icon PDF 254 KB

Report to follow.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Having made his declaration of interest earlier on this item, Councillor Yates left the meeting room.

 

Councillor Everitt, Leader of Council advised the meeting that Cabinet was not going to make a substantive decision on the matter. However Members agreed to discuss the report that requested Cabinet to replace berths 4/5 which had reached the end of its operational life. These berths were for the delivery of Bretts aggregate.

 

The meeting was advised that there were opportunities in the proposals to address current and long term shortages of berthing places at the Ramsgate Port and Harbour for the windfarm support vessels. A budget for the procurement process to deliver both these projects was in the 2019/20 capital budget allocation. Cabinet had carefully considered a number of options that were presented to them in the officer report and thanked the Head of Maritime & Technical Services and Director of Operational Services for the detailed work done to produce the report.

 

Cabinet felt that this decision was evenly balanced. Members had listened to the views from the local communities. Cabinet indicated that they were in support of Option 4 in the report.

 

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure 20.1:

 

Councillor S. Piper;

Councillor Wing;

Councillor Campbell.

 

Members noted the report.