Councillor Ashbee, Leader of the council made
a presentation on the vision for the council. The main points of
the presentation were as follows:
- At the end of the current term of
office, cabinet want be able to demonstrate some deliverables
achieved;
- With regards to governance matters,
the council was moving on well in addressing those issues and
cabinet welcomed the governance review;
- The council was looking to
leveraging as much as possible inward investment into Thanet, as
Government funding of council activities has been declining year on
year;
- The building blocks for success from
the levelling up funding was to encourage inward investment into
the district for the future.
- Levelling Up Funds: The council was
bidding for about £50million. If successful, this fund would
form the foundation of for further investment into the area;
- Young people would be encouraged to
stay in Thanet after graduating and work in the area;
- Parkway Station: This was a big
investment for Thanet and it opens up new opportunities for the
local area;
- There was a need for the council to
focus on investment areas that would create the greatest economic
impact;
- Visit Kent: The council supports
this campaign for attracting tourism into Kent;
- Local Plan: The Local Plan enables
investment by defining investment opportunities in different parts
of the district;
- The council would encourage big
digital companies to come and invest in Thanet. However these
companies can only come here if there are the right skill sets
among the local population. That is why is it important to invest
in education as well;
- The coastline is one of
Thanet’s greatest assets.
- Support for the Ramsgate Port and
Harbour would also create inward investment;
- Council Property Strategy: This was
being renewed and once it was completed, it should give the council
opportunities for development;
- TDC Office Accommodation: This issue
was also still under review, more so in view of the flexible
working that has been introduced by the council (initially on a
pilot basis); There was need to review and ascertain how much space
was needed for TDC conduct its business.
- Manston Depot: There was also a need
to explore the potential for the Manston Depot
rationalisation;
- Working as East Kent: Moving forward
the model of district councils of Thanet’s size was probably
no longer viable. It was therefore necessary to look at better ways
of working by combining with other councils. A Unitary Council
approach is a long process and not achievable in the shorter term.
However, a Combined Local Council would be a more viable approach.
This was once considered a few years back but was dropped following
the failure to get support from all of the other councils.
- A White Paper on Devolution was
expected to be published soon. This would give some steer on how
the council can move forward;
- The Leader’s vision was for
TDC to be part of a Combined local Council;
- Cabinet had also identified to
deliver on the following areas:
a.
A Youth Council;
b.
Identify an approach for offsetting the costs of visitors to
Thanet, particularly in areas of cleaning up the beach and
promenade areas, cleaning of toilets and enforcement especially
during peak visitor periods. There was a need to review options for
concessions in order to make more income;
c.
Explore the possibility of establishing overnight beach huts by
setting up pods along the seafront, to increase visitor experience
and raise income;
d.
Seek the resolution of setting up Travellers temporary sites;
e.
Push for Thanet District to be known as Isle of Thanet.
Members asked questions and made comments as
follows:
- How will the Margate Town Deal
benefit the area if implemented successfully?
- Were there any current outline ideas
regarding the setting up of overnight beach huts?
- On previous occasion the idea of
overnight beach huts was mooted, but there was significant outcry
form some local residents against the idea;
- Were there any examples of
successful collaborations by councils that were not unitary council
models?
- Was the council doing anything to
encourage visitors into Thanet to use public transport in order to
address the issue of Climate Emergency?
- How can the council assist those who
have been homeless from becoming homeless again?
- Coming out of the pandemic what was
the council doing to encourage a focus on health and wellbeing for
local communities?
- Could the council issue out council
waste bags to popular seafront shops to encourage shoppers to
discard their rubbish appropriately?
- These are bags similar to the ones
issued out to volunteer litter picking groups;
- Was the council going back to the
drawing board regarding identifying some temporary sites for
Travellers?
- Could the council consider reforming
the tax bands and business rates?
- The council should be allowed to
keep the money from sale of right to buy properties, instead of the
current 30%;
- Currently the council got 12p in
every pound. The council should be getting more;
- Did the council make regular
representations to the two local MPs on these issues?
The Leader and Madeline Homer responded to
Member questions and comments as follows:
- Margate has been fortunate with the
establishment of the Turner Contemporary, which has led to the
development of the creative arts industry in the area, including
the Dreamland;
- The Town Deal will add to that
development and this will keep the momentum of the regeneration of
the district going;
- The Creative Land Trust is gaining
national attention and viewed as a good and successful model for
development of local economies;
- The Town Deal is about community
involvement in the regeneration of their area as can be
demonstrated with the setting up of the People’s Panel that
works with the Margate Town Board;
- The council could review coastal
parking facilities as a way of improving council income and
increasing positive visitor experience. The council also needs to
consider reviewing the car parking facilities in general, looking
at underutilised car parks and consider to review the pricing
structure of parking charges;
- The visitor traffic does not slow
that as we get to September. It seems to continue for a while
longer. The council needs to tap into this income potential by
creating more attractions and consider the idea of providing for
overnight campervan parking;
- Combined Local Councils model: the
government was currently looking at this issue;
- There was no one size fits all as
council have various levels of capacities;
- Government funding was now being
accessed through a bidding process. Those councils with a higher
capacity for bidding which are the bigger local councils would
normally make successful bids much more often that smaller
councils;
- It therefore makes sense for TDC to
be part of a bigger local authority, as this creates economies of
scale;
- Successful bidding frees financial
resources that can then be used for other works;
- Climate Emergency: The council and
as individual residents have to move away from current consumer
behaviour to an electrical transport mentality;
- For the council this would mean
setting up a number of charging ports across the district,
particularly at the seafront;
- There is a need to find the right
balance with the green agenda;
- Supporting the homeless: TDC has won
a number of awards for the homelessness initiatives that the
council has implemented over the years;
- Homelessness pressures were
affecting a number of local councils across the country;
- TDC has a proactive housing team.
There is a RISE programme which prevents repeat homelessness;
- There was a lot of council activity
during the pandemic to support individuals to prevent
homelessness;
- However it should be noted that it
is up to the government to come up with policies at a national
level to deal with this challenging issue;
- Health & Wellbeing initiatives:
Cabinet will be re-establishing the health and Wellbeing Cabinet
Advisory Group to work on council initiatives for promoting health
and wellbeing in the district;
- The Leader will chair the CAG
- CAGs are important vehicles for
working through some ideas before forwarding them to Cabinet for
adoption. However the Leader has received some reports about
attendance at other CAG meetings which was not particularly
good;
- Issuing litter bags to popular
seafront shops: The council consider this approach;
- Temporary Travellers Sites: The
council advertised for a call for sites. However there were no
returns received by the council;
- There were a couple of potential
council sites and now there was a need to consider the feasibility
of those sites;
- A public consultation would also
have to conducted;
- The facility to be provided should
be able to give back a return on investment;
- The Local Plan would fail if the
these facilities were not provided;
- Council tax: How much a local
authority gets out of the council tax is determined at a national
level, by the government. It would be good if councils got more
than the 12p in every pound;
- While social housing would indeed
bring more income to council, borrowing was also possible. However
there are limits about how far councils could go down the path of
commercialisation. Officers will confirm this issue after the
meeting. However it should be noted that there were strict rules
about councils engaging in borrowing;
- Officers would also verify how much
councils get from the sale right to buy properties;
- The Leader making representations to
the local MPs: The leader invited Members to submit their questions
for the Leader to forward them to the two local MPs.
Thereafter the Chair thanked the Leader and
Members noted the presentation.