During his presentation on the vision for the
Council, Councillor Everitt, Leader of the Council made the
following points:
- This was a good time to be in
administration;
- There were a number of significant
Levelling Up Fund investment projects which would have a lasting
benefit for the district;
- The current administration would be
carrying forward some of the ideas from the previous Cabinet;
- The Leader was full of optimism
about the future for the Council. He said that officers have had to
deal with some of the most difficult circumstances the Council has
had to go through. However new senior officers were coming to join
the Council and that would help deliver on the organisation’s
work;
- The current Cabinet had the
experience to steer the Council through a number of key investment
projects;
- Providing affordable housing was a
key priority for the Council with plans to increase council housing
stock by 400 units over the next four years;
- Full credit should be given to the
Housing and Finance teams for putting together the proposals for
housing;
- Managing the public realm would be
one of the priority areas of focus as this reflects on the
Council;
- In pursuit of that aim, additional
street cleaners would be employed to be assigned to two teams of
four individuals working across all residential areas in the
district from Mondays to Fridays;
- A new Head of Cleansing would be
joining the council shortly;
- Cabinet was delivering on its
promises;
- Cabinet would also be reviewing the
process for asset disposal and a new Head of Legal and Monitoring
Officer would be looking at this issue, when they join the
Council;
- Cabinet would be looking to
addressing issues of deprivation and opportunities in Ramsgate and
Margate;
- The Leader would work on building
good Member/Officer working relationships;
- The Council would need to ensure
that climate change issues were factored in its decisions;
- A new Climate Change Cabinet
Advisory Group (CAG) had been set up to lead on advising the
administration. A lot of work had been carried out by a previous
CAG;
- Cabinet would look at opportunities
for collaborative work across the region and would work with KCC to
lobby on climate emergency issues.
Members asked questions and made comments as
follows:
- One Member said that they were
concerned about the quality and viability of projects due to
inflation;
- Could cross funding of projects be
permitted under the Levelling up Funding?
- Could Members be advised of where
the RoRo funding accounts were?
- The recruitment of new staff for the
Street Cleansing team was good news. Since it was just two teams,
residents would need to be patient for their turn to get their
streets cleaned. Will the activities of these teams be scheduled
across the district?
- There used to be schedules for
street cleansing in Ramsgate. It was hoped that this approach would
return;
- The update regarding TDC working
with other Councils on issue affecting the region was welcome
news;
- One Member asked the Leader what he
hoped to have happened to poverty in the district in four
years’ time;
- Another Member asked if there would
be dialogue with residents to inform them about street cleansing
coming to their communities and could there be any communication
about that initiative;
- Was building council houses a better
option to buying from developers?
- It was welcome news that Cabinet
viewed street cleansing as a priority area of focus. Here was a
need for joined up thinking between the Street Cleansing and Street
Scene teams;
- Had the Council done any cost
benefit analysis regarding the use of portable toilets against
refurbishing toilets in Margate?
- One Member said that the Port was
small and that Berth 4/5 was still not operational. They also said
that Bretts had not put in a planning application for the
development of the Port site. They further said that with this in
mind, it was worrying that the Council was investing in the Port
through the LUF but it would be for little return. There was a need
to scrutinise background work done to inform the decision regarding
project work at the Port;
- Another Member said that the subject
of the youth of Thanet was of great interest to Members. They
further asked where issues regarding the local youth lay in the
vision of the current Cabinet to ensure opportunities for
them;
- Would the Leader give the Panel a
commitment that Cabinet would not allow waste to be shipped through
the Port under its watch?
- Could Cabinet allocate additional
resources to the Enforcement team to increase their capacity on
monitoring fly tipping in the district?
- Could the issue regarding toilets
being closed too early be looked into?
- Working closely with parish and town
councils was a good thing. Could this approach be encouraged among
officers including officers responding timeously to correspondence
from the parishes?
- When would the report on
collaborative working between TDC and parish and town councils be
considered by Cabinet?
- Were there any plans for further
supporting volunteer groups to continue to maximise output?
Councillor Everitt responded as follows:
- A lot of the questions were outside
the context of the presentation
- Cabinet was confident that an
operator for the Port would be identified;
- Council had invited expressions of
and a good number had been received. Member were requested to be
patient with the process;
- The street cleansing in residential
areas would prioritise those areas that had been identified as
requiring priority attention. Funding would be from the base budget
and this was a sustainable approach. It was hoped that residents
would see an improvement;
- Council on its own would not be able
to resolve all issues, but the LUF investment would go a long way
to tackling some of the deprivation issues;
- Communities were excited by the
proposals that had been put forward by the Council;
- Street cleansing resources would not
be apportioned equally among the 23 wards as some wards required
more resources than others;
- It would be Council’s wish to
build its own housing units. However, the Council would need to
find the land and 40% subsidy. The Council was purchasing housing
that the Housing Associations did not want;
- Toilets were a priority for Cabinet.
Condition survey had been conducted on all the toilets and a report
was going to be considered at the Cabinet meeting in
September;
- It was understandable that there was
some scepticism among Members on whether the Council would find an
operator for the Port. Numerous approaches had been made by a
number of organisations to operate the Port and the Cabinet was
confident that an operator would be found;
- Last time around the Council was
unable to find an operator because there was not the kind of
infrastructure like there was now at the Port;
- Under new arrangements the risk
would be transferred to the operator, unlike before;
- The introduction of the youth
Council was a very good idea and Cabinet was keen to continue with
that initiative to be led by Council Heather Keen;
- Cabinet would ensure that the port
would not be used to transport waste;
- Closure of toilets had to do with
the sequencing of the closing schedule which ensures that busiest
locations would be closed last;
- Fly tipping was a major challenge
and Cabinet would be reviewing this area;
- Collaborative working with parishes
was the Cabinet’s current direction of travel;
- The Leader was enthusiastic about
harnessing volunteer groups but the challenge was who would
continue with their work when they stopped.
The Chair thanked the Leader of Council for
the presentation and Members noted the report.