Agenda item

To receive a report from the Leader of the Council in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 2.4.

During his report the Leader covered the following areas:

• The Council had been allocated an additional £483,000 to tackle rough sleeping in 2019-20.
• Currently there were no families with children living in temporary accommodation.
• Feedback from the House of Lords Select Committee visit to Margate had been good.
• New rules had come into force regarding Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO’s), these rules would mean that more rented properties would fall into this category and required a license from the Council.
• The Council was looking at the possibility of transferring the Cliftonville shelter to a community group.
• 80 assets had been transferred to community groups, Parish or Town councils and sold on the open market.  This had bought revenue into the Council.
• The recent beach clean event had been a success and had seen more volunteers than ever before.
• There had been a large number of visitors to the District over the summer; the Visitor Information Centre at Droit House had recorded a 19% increase in footfall compared to the previous year.
• Public toilets would remain open until the end of October.

In the absence of Councillor Wells, Councillor Crow-Brown as Opposition spokesperson for the Independent and UKIP Group, made the following points:

• It was good to hear of extra funding to tackle rough sleeping.
• The new rules around HMO’s were welcome, the selective licensing scheme in Margate and Cliftonville had also been effective in dealing with bad landlords and antisocial behaviour.
• It was good that visitor numbers to the District had increased.

Councillor Reverend Piper as Leader of the Thanet Independent Councillors Group made the following points:

• Homelessness was an increasing problem, congratulations were offered to all those connected with the success of Winter Shelter project who helped the most vulnerable.
• The HMO changes were welcome as they would help to protect vulnerable tenants.
• It was a shame that the House of Lords Select Committee did not see Ramsgate when they visited the District.
• If the Western Undercliff site had to be disposed of, the Council should consider a partnership with the new owners, because the site was an important part of community.
• The Visitor Information Centre in Ramsgate should also be recognised for its important work.

The Leader replied to Councillor Reverend Piper’s comments with the following points:

• Rough sleeping was an increasing problem nationally, however the Council had responded well to the challenge.  The Winter Shelter project had received a number of awards and the volunteers that were involved deserved recognition for their hard work.
• Once the Western Undercliff site had been registered as a community asset the Council was obliged to follow the legal process that was currently in progress.

Councillor Constantine as representative of the Labour Party Group made the following points:

• There was double the national average number of rough sleepers in Thanet.
• While there were no families in temporary accommodation, children were still being moved away from their support networks.
• Volunteers who worked in the Visitor Information Centres should also be thanked for their effort.
• It was good to hear that visitor numbers had increased and that the public toilets would remain open until the end of October, however the toilets needed to be cleaned more regularly.
• The East Kent University Hospitals Trust had recently been cited as one of the worst four health care providers in country, what had been done to support stroke services in the District?
• Unlike the Council, other councils had been acquiring assets while borrowing rates were so low.

The Leader replied to Councillor Constantine’s comments with the following points:

• When ever families were put into accommodation outside of the area, these families were bought back into the district as soon as possible.
• At the last count, taken on 3 October, there were 40 people sleeping rough in Thanet.
• The Council always looked to undertake suitable investment opportunities when they arose.