Agenda item

Leader's Report

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council advised that many of the issues in her report had been covered in Cabinet meetings, Members’ briefings, other Council reports and press releases.  She expressed her thanks to Individual Cabinet Members and for the cross party support demonstrated through some pretty heavy work schedules.  She then highlighted some good news stories such as the receipt of Coastal Community Funding of over £1.8 million for Dreamland, and that eight local businesses obtained Success Support.

 

The Leader advised on progress of a number of items including:

 

The Local Plan, would go to public consultation from 5 January; Dreamland, procurement of an operator was with officers, a full report would follow upon formal conclusion; Manston Airport, a report would go to Cabinet on 11 December about the market testing, the Leader was in touch with the new owners and understood that they were working on plans to develop the site, any building plans that were not aviation related would need planning permission.  The Leader had asked Sir Roger Gale to reconvene his Taskforce and was awaiting an invitation to the Select Committee; Pleasurama and Victoria Pavilion Sites, work was on-going and positive, thanks were expressed to Mrs Crowley and Councillor Everitt for their work; The Fort Hotel, officers were working on a scheme for social housing flats; 19 Hawley Square, work was progressing; The Theatre Royal, the future would need to be resolved next year through discussion with Kent County Council and The Arts Council about funding; A Meeting with Southern Water, was held at Foreness Point. As a result a stakeholders group had been set up which would meet regularly; Pierrement Hall, arrangements had been made to move HomeStart and another business into the Kent Innovation Centre, Folk Week and other businesses were helped as much as possible, the boiler and electrical repairs would be costly; The East Kent Maritime Museum, an update was planned for the Ramsgate Matters meeting on 12 December; Heritage Bids for the Margate Museum, Mayors Parlour, Tudor House - particularly the barn, were underway by officers; Community Safety Partnership, the Leader expressed thanks to everyone who attended these meetings, particularly to the Executive Board, Councillor Campbell and his working party, a conference would take place on 10 December; Neighbourhood Engagement Meetings, these were well attended, the Leaderthanked Councillor Cohen and others who chaired the meetings, she also thanked Councillor Matterface on her street light campaign.  The Leader advised that she had visited children’s homes to look into rumours that children were being moved into the area from other authorities; Dispersal Orders, the last dispersal order under the old system was in Westgate, the Leader expressed thanks to Ward Councillors Scobie, Moores and King for alerting her to issues which were being dealt with; Anti-social Behaviour Changes, a briefing session was held for members; The Margate Task Force, had continued to deliver positive outcomes, had received national press coverage and is a template for others; Tourism, the Destination Management Plan and Beach Management Plan were covered in reports recently, and Wayne Hemmingway launched the excellent toolkit on 25 November. The Leader noted the great affection felt for Harry Lagan, the Chairman of the Destination Management Plan, and expressed sadness at his passing and sympathies to his family for their loss; Pride in Thanet, nominations for good service were out now; Events, thanks expressed for the Margate Events Group, Ramsgate Events Organisation and Broadstairs Team for their work throughout the year, and suggested that a Thanet Events Group maybe formed; Sports Awards, the Leader and Councillor Harry Scobie presented some of the prizes on 21 November which was also attended by triple jumper Michelle Griffiths-Robinson a mentor of local children for the Dame Kelly Holmes trust; Broadstairs, Margate and Ramsgate Town Teams, excellent work by all teams which was very much appreciated.  The Leader noted the sad loss of Mrs Brewer who passed away recently; The Improvement Board, positive feedback from the peer reviewers, and Members were encourage to attend the equalities training; Health and Well-being Board, meetings were held regularly and were still pushing for CCG monies for Sport Preventative Work. 

 

The Leader thanked everyone for their support and efforts noting that it had been an eventful six months.

 

Councillor Bayford, as Leader of the Conservative Group, acknowledged that probably the biggest issue was in regard to Manston that would go to Cabinet the following week.  He explained that the public were looking for answers to questions such as;

 

-  In what way had RiverOak failed TDC’s due diligence test?

-  Why were RiverOak being asked to provide a 20 year detailed business plan?

-  Why did the Leader appear to be following the officers recommendations rather than leading the process?

-  Why would only six Councillors make the decision on the CPO when there were 56 Councillors that had a view that they wished to express publically? Previously the Leader had promised to bring the Item to Full Council if it was to approve a CPO, but not if it was to reject a CPO, he said this seemed perverse. 

-  Had the Leader made up her mind regarding the CPO on 23rd September, when in a Meridian interview she had stated that she would not CPO Manston Airport if the new owners promised 4000 jobs?

-  Why had Dover District Council held a Full Council debate on the issue, and yet Thanet would not be doing so? The public noted that Dover Council were unanimous in their support of this Council going through with the CPO.

 

Councillor Bayford advised that people had asked for the report to be removed from the Cabinet agenda to allow a further discussion with RiverOak.  The public were confused and this was an opportunity to put the record straight.

 

The Leader responded by saying that she could not reveal confidential information about RiverOak, however the report was in the public domain upon her request, and the executive of the Council had to make a decision based on the results of the soft market testing.

 

The Leader then described how both she, and Councillor C Hart when he was Leader, had supported the airport through regular meetings ever since it was announced that Mrs Globe would be selling the airport.  When a petition was to be bought to the Council on the issue, she arranged for the submission deadline to be extended.  The petition was heard on 10 July.  At that Full Council meeting, Members supported a resolution that the Leader look into the legal and financial situation, this was done at an Extraordinary Cabinet meeting held on 17 July at which it was decided to conduct market testing.

 

The Leader advised that the due diligence process was a very strict procedure, upon which officers offer advice.  If a back to back investor had been found that would cover all the costs, then the recommendation to Cabinet next week would have been different.  We had not yet found a back to back investor that satisfied the soft market testing, therefore there should be no CPO at the present time.

 

Councillor King, as leader of the Independent Group, drew Members attention to the proposal to allow 1000 additional houses in Westgate as part of the Draft Local Plan.  Councillor King felt that the proposed consultation that would start on 5 January and last for six weeks, would not be sufficient to effectively consult on what would be such a significant development.  Councillor King suggested that everybody in the affected areas of Westgate and Garlinge should be written to in order to ensure the consultation reached every home.

 

The Leader agreed that this would have a significant impact on the area; she noted that when the Government dictates the allocation of 12000 homes by 2031, the distribution of those homes could be challenging.  The Leader highlighted the important role that Ward Councillors had to play in raising public awareness and offered to ask Councillor Nicholson, the Cabinet Members responsible for housing, if it would be possible to hold a presentation at the next Westgate Resident’s Association meeting.  She also noted that there was a programme for public meetings which had been recently agreed.  The Leader expressed concerns at the cost of writing to all residents, and highlighted that the Draft Local Plan should not come as a surprise as discussions had been taking place for years before it was published.

 

Councillor Wiltshire, as Leader of the UKIP Group, requested that Councillors were given a copy of the exchange between Councillor Nicholson and the Mayor of London’s Office in the light of the number of looked after children being sent from London to live in Thanet.

 

With regard to Manston Airport, Councillor Wiltshire noted that the Section 151 Officer’s recommendation in the report that would go to Cabinet was wrong as it was based on a flawed, rushed report produced by Falcon.  She felt that RiverOak gave Thanet the chance for economic development and jobs in the aviation industry.  RiverOak should be allowed to put their case to a Full Council meeting to allow all 56 Councillors to hear what they had to say.  She requested that Thanet Council publish its legal advice and the rationale behind the recommendation, in order to allow people to understand the officer and Cabinet case for refusal to have RiverOak as an indemnity partner.  Councillor Wiltshire advised that overwhelming numbers of people were awaiting TDC’s decision, and they had been disappointed.  She suggested that if the Leader lacked the courage to make the decision, other Members of the Council should be allowed to come together and decide.

 

The Leader responded by thanking Councillor Wiltshire for her participation at all meetings they had attended on this issue.  She highlighted that the deadlines given to RiverOak had been extended a number of times; this demonstrated the extent to which she cared about the airport.  However the Council had a due diligence protocol by which officers made recommendations, and she had a duty to consider their advice.  She noted that she was passionate about Manston, but was also passionate about every child that lived in poverty.  These were the kind of consideration she had to make before committing Council money and officers time, on a project upon which due diligence had been carried out. 

 

Councillor Cohen, as Leader of the Thanet Independent Group, noted that the document in front of Members was quite clear, RiverOak had failed the test, and it would be foolhardy to go further with this particular group.  Councillor Cohen added that he believed some politicians were using the CPO issue for electioneering purposes.  He advised that the Council had spent considerable amounts on legal costs, and hours of experienced officer time in order to establish the true position.

 

Councillor Cohen, thanked the Leader for the manner in which she had conducted the matter, particularly with regard to the way she had kept the group leaders up to date with developments.  He added that he knew the Leader was disappointed that RiverOak could not prove themselves to be a suitable partner. 

 

The Leader responded to say that many people including herself were disappointed that a partner had not yet been found that could satisfy the required due diligence tests.  In addition the Leader noted surprise at comments made by Nigel Farage MEP because he had not attended any of the meetings, and she acknowledged the support from Sir Roger Gale MP who she had met with regularly.  However she noted that she would have felt more supported if the task group he had initially set up had stayed in existence. 

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