Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies made at the meeting.

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

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

To approve the summary of recommendations and decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on 30 January 2025, copy to follow.

Councillor Everitt proposed, Councillor Yates seconded and Members agreed the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 30 January 2025.

Cabinet debated proposals for fees and charges that would subsequently be presented to Council on 27 February for approval. A review of fees and charges had been completed as part of the 2025/26 budget setting process. The review of fees and charges commenced in the early summer and proposed fees and charges were based on a broad 2% increase, which was expected to generate additional income of around £250k. There was a proposal to enable £100k to be distributed to allow areas that were in a deficit to pause their budgets to avoid setting targets that were not achievable. A net contribution of £150k had been factored into the budget as a result. This excluded items such as On Street Parking, Selective Licensing, and Housing HRA.

The report summarised the main proposed changes to fees and charges, with the details set out in annex 1. Given the need to balance the budget, locally generated sources of income such as fees and charges remained as important as ever. It was important the Council organised itself and invested in ways that maximised that income, whilst balancing this with managing the impact on residents and service users.

Members were advised that as discussed at the Overview & Scrutiny Panel meeting and the previous Cabinet meeting, the Fees and Charges had been updated with regards to Bulky Waste collection. This proposed a Bulky Waste collection fee of £28 for 1 to 3 items, and £36 items for 4 to 5 items.

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1:

Councillor Dawson;

Councillor Rogers;

Councillor Rattigan;

Councillor Austin.

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

1.  The fees and charges that relate to the Council’s statutory harbour authority function;

2.  To make the recommendation to Council for approval of the fees and charges as part of the main Budget Report.

Cabinet discussed proposals for the 2025/26 draft General Fund Budget. The theme of this Council’s budget was again delivering a compassionate, progressive budget, focused on the services that residents were calling out for, namely Feeling Safe, Clean streets and Thriving towns. This year’s consultation on the budget has just been received and the same three themes are repeated. A Temporary Accommodation (TA) acquisition programme was in place to bring 170 homeless families currently housed out of area, in properties, under TDC control, and within Thanet. An additional £1.1m of investment was being proposed for key public services, such as graffiti clearance, street cleaning, additional, safeguarding support, tree planting, and refurbishment of local shelters. This included the following:

·  A further £94,000 for graffiti removal;

·  Expand the Street Scene team;

·  Improving the recycling rates, and;

·  Improvements to the public realm, which were a key focus for the administration. Cabinet was pleased that Council had again been able to bring forward proposals that would benefit the whole district.

All this was on top of the work to achieve Net Zero that was going on behind the scenes to be ready for the next government funding opportunities. One change that was recommended was the inclusion of an additional empty homes officer, to be funded from the Priority Improvement Reserve, with a view to identify longer term funding in future years. The cost of this was £43,000 and, although it was being funded for one year from reserves, this was with a view to identify longer term funding in future years. This role would focus on bringing empty homes back into use.

Councillor Austin spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1

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

1.  That the draft 2025/26 General Fund revenue budget be recommended to Council for approval; and

2.  That the 2025-29 General Fund capital programme be recommended to Council for approval.

Cabinet considered proposals that sought approval of the 2025/26 Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget and associated capital programme. A review of the Council’s HRA reserves for both revenue and capital was included. The report further set out the assumed housing rent increases to assist in funding the budget.

Next year’s HRA budget was underpinned by a 2.7% increase in rents next year, representing CPI (as at September) + 1%. The majority of which would be covered by increased benefit or Universal Credit payments to Council tenants. Based on the proposed increase across the whole stock, the average rent was £107.39. This was an average increase of £5.28p per property per week.

This rent increase was needed to continue to drive the HRA to a balanced and sustainable financial position, and also to finance the Council’s ambitious house building programme and housing investment plan. Cabinet was pleased to report that there were no rents that were above the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rent. Last year, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, the Council created a Hardship Fund and this remained in place. £30k had been allocated to assist those tenants on a low income who may be struggling to meet the rent or associated service charges levied.

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

1.  That the HRA budget for 2025/26 be recommended to Council for approval, subject to the consideration of any recommendations arising from the Overview and Scrutiny Panel;

2.  That the revised Housing Revenue Account capital programme (Annex 1) for 2025-29 be recommended to Council for approval.

Cabinet considered proposals for the review of the Local Development Scheme, carried out in response to a request from the Secretary of State, in the Chief Planner letter dated 13 December 2024, that local planning authorities review their LDS, in the light of the publication of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The Council’s current Local Development Scheme was agreed in July 2024, shortly before, but in anticipation of, the proposed changes to the NPPF, and to the Plan-making process and related matters. It was the recommendation of officers that the work programme set out in the current LDS remains valid.

There were two minor amendments that needed to be made to the table (Section 3, page 7) in the published Local Development Scheme (LDS). These did not affect the list of documents identified in the LDS; the scope of the documents; or the overall timetable:

1.  In relation to the Council’s Biodiversity Strategy: As a result of some delays in obtaining some critical species data, this work will now continue through the next year, so the Biodiversity Strategy should be included in the list of tasks identified for March 2025 - December 2025; and

2.  In relation to the East Kent Design Code work: As a result of changing Government guidance in relation to the preparation of Design Codes, the references to different “phases” should be removed. This is likely to be a much more continuous process than previously envisaged.

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

1.  The reviewed Local Development Scheme to be published and details submitted to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG).

Cabinet discussed the Tenant and Leaseholder Services performance report. The highlights of the report included the following:

·  Contractor performance has remained strong during Q3. This is at a time when demand significantly increases due to weather conditions;

·  Our void turnaround performance met target in Q3;

·  And arrears performance continues to steadily improve.

Cabinet extended special thanks to the Tenant and Leaseholder Services (TLS) team and linked services across this period for identifying 23 households who could have been eligible for pension credit and the Warm Homes Discount, and supporting those households to apply and engage with application.

The Council’s capital expenditure was at 40% at the end of Q3. It was expected to be higher at this stage in the financial year, although the under-spend was due to three major projects being delayed. All three projects would commence in the next financial year. Compliance performance was strong, with gas safety returning to 100% compliance in Q3. The Council was closely monitoring our Fire Risk assessment actions as these increased by 448 new actions in Q3 due to double the amount of FRA’s being carried out in Q3 compared to Q2. This was due to a proactive approach to identifying and addressing potential risks.

The electrical performance was at around 98%, which was where it was expected to be in relation to external conditions. This represents approximately 50 properties that are non-compliant. Non-compliance in these properties is due to external conditions such as residents not giving the Council access to carry out certificates or remedial work following a certificate; or where a resident may be a hoarder and the electrician cannot physically reach the areas they need to inspect to complete the certificate. These cases were always addressed through significant support through Housing and Social Services as well as the courts where necessary to gain access.

The Tenant and Leaseholder Service had already put measures in place to improve access rates. This included following the gas safety process and forced access procedure; which can be adopted for flatted blocks, because a non-compliant property could put other households in the block at risk. The procedure was more complex for individual houses and required lengthier legal proceedings to gain access. This was due to the legal system classifying this as an individual risk rather than a risk to more than one property.

The Council was looking for new ways to improve the rate of obtaining a satisfactory certificate and was continuing with the supportive and multi-agency approaches to improve access alongside legal processes when necessary. The TLS team had completed an internal audit of their compliance arrangements which would be reported to the Governance and Audit Committee meeting in March. They were given 17 recommendations, 12 of which had already been implemented.

Cabinet thanked the Tenant and Leaseholder Services Team for their excellent work, clear, comprehensive presentation of essential information, and excellent understanding of both the reality and context of the information that the team was gathering.

Councillor Bayford spoke under Council Procedure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.