Councillor Duckworth led the discussion with
an overview of the portfolio areas in her cabinet role and made
comments as follows:
- The main areas of the cabinet post
included Economic Development, Property Management (also known as
Estates), Building Control (which falls under the Planning
Department) and Climate Emergency;
- Currently this portfolio area was
managing a number of externally funded activities most of which
were related to covid funding;
- Most of the activities that fall
under this cabinet post operated across a number of council
departments;
- The Regeneration Team was also
working on government funded activities that were aimed at helping
with the reopening of the high street in Margate;
- The Estates Team was responsible for
rent income from and rent reviews of council properties;
- The management of foreshore
properties was cross departmental responsibility between Estates
and Operational Services;
- Estates offered advice to other
council departments about property management including advice on
major projects.
Member asked questions and made comments as
follows:
- Do you have any view on what 2020
might have been like from the point of view of tourism
figures?
- Was there an indication that there
were some local businesses that may not reopen due to the covid-19
impact?
- Were there any thoughts on how the
district would continue to attract visitors to Thanet during winter
in order to boost tourism throughout the year?
- Have asset transfers (like Harold
Car Park) been affected by the pandemic as well?
- The Foreness Water Ski Club had also
come up as an asset for disposal as well. Could Members be given an
update on the disposal process for this asset?
- How is the developer contributions
calculated and what impact have they had, particularly considering
the effects of the current pandemic?
- Was the council satisfied with the
current state of the rent reviews for council properties?
- Could external experts be used to
conduct rent reviews?
Councillor Duckworth, Louise Askew, Director
of Regeneration, Iain Livingstone, Planning Applications Manager
and Madeline Homer, CEx responded as follows:
- The pandemic did affect the visitor
numbers to Thanet;
- It was a mixed picture as some
business adapted to the new operating environment by introducing
takeaways as part of their services;
- Other business had closed down
during the lockdown;
- A more detailed update on how
businesses have performed under the pandemic conditions could be
obtained from the economic unit at KCC’s Growth Hub. This
information would also infirm some of the approaches that TDC could
use to support local businesses;
- Local businesses could also be
approached to find out how they were faring under these
conditions;
- It was worth considering indoor
leisure as part of boosting local tourism during the winter
period;
- The council was looking into how
they could join in large campaigns run by other organisations;
- It was highly unlikely that Harold
Car Park would come off the disposal list;
- The disposal of some of the assets
had been put on hold largely due to the pandemic. However there was
currently a budget for disposal of assets next year and the team
had identified how the disposals would be done;
- Estates were still working on the
disposal list for the new financial year;
- Officers would provide an update to
members (by email) regarding the Foreness Water Ski Club
disposal;
- With regards to the calculation of
developer contributions, there was a slowing down of some stats.
This had affected developer contributions as the trigger for that
source of revenue was either prior to occupation or prior to
starting work on project site;
- This was because most of the
development that had been completed in the last six months had been
mostly from SME builders. This had led to few triggers of developer
contributions;
- An Infrastructure Funding Statement
would be announced most likely in the coming month which would
provide more detail;
- Some work was still required to
bring the rent reviews up to date and Estates were also working
with Tim Willis, Deputy Chief Executive and Madeline Homer on how
best to address the issue of rent reviews.
Members noted the report.