Cabinet Decisions

As part of the Margate Town Deal the Theatre Royal Margate has an allocation of £2,000,000 to deliver much needed works to the Theatre. This funding will help unlock other public and private match funding in order to develop a hub of performing arts in Margate.

This is an exciting time for Margate’s creative industries and the Theatre provides a significant opportunity to build on the performing arts for Margate and the wider area.

Delegated authority was given to the Director of Regeneration in consultation with the Interim Director of Property to market the proposal for the Theatre Royal and 19 Hawley Square in order to identify an operator/commercial partner.

Authority was provided to the Interim Director of Property and Interim Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer, in Consultation with the Portfolio Holder to negotiate the lease heads of terms and all other ancillary documents.

The finalised lease heads of terms and relevant ancillary documents to be brought back to Cabinet for final approval.

Approval was provided to submit an application for a Development Phase Grant to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Authorising the Director of Regeneration to agree the final submission documents, based on approval from the S151 Officer.

Approval was provided to commission the urgent works to the Theatre Royal, as set-out in the surveys completed in 2021 funded from Historic England.

Thanet District Council called a Climate Emergency on 11th July 2019. Officer and cross party councillor working groups were formed to create and initiate actions on a first environmental action plan. All of the actions within that action plan were completed and in December 2021, the councillor working group was changed to the Climate Change Cabinet Advisory Group to produce this strategy and action plan, focussed specifically on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

An updated TDC pledge which includes actions to address District wide emissions is recommended to the Cabinet by the Climate Change Cabinet Advisory Group. This net zero pledge is as follows:

To do what is within our powers and resources to:

·  make Thanet District Council net zero by 2030 in our core carbon footprint (this includes emissions we have direct control over e.g. the estates and activities that we own and manage)

·  address emissions that TDC has partial control over (those outside of the core carbon footprint e.g. projects, procurement and social housing) as soon as possible, and by 2050 at the latest.

·  support KCC, the Government, business, industry and the community to make Thanet as a whole net zero by 2050.

In order to make these targets possible we will:

·  call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the targets possible;

·  continue to work with partners across the county and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies;

·  investigate all possible sources of external funding and match funding to support this commitment

The strategy shows how we will meet our net zero pledge and is split into addressing emissions in TDC’s core carbon footprint, wider TDC emissions and Thanet wide emissions.

The data for TDC’s core carbon footprint and Thanet wide emissions has been calculated and 12 priorities to address these emissions have been agreed.

Each of the 12 priorities are described in the strategy document and then specific, immediate actions to 2024 are set out. The actions have been agreed with the relevant TDC directors and officers across the council and the action plan will be monitored monthly by the Cabinet Member for Environmental Services & Special Projects, the Director of Finance and Climate Change Officer, and every two months by the Climate Change Cabinet Advisory Group. It will also be externally audited, the report submitted to the OSP and cabinet on an annual basis.

Option 1: Approve the recommendations 1-4:

1.  That the Cabinet approves the proposed amended wording of the TDC pledge;

2.  That the Cabinet approves the Net Zero Strategy 2022 for public engagement

3.  That Cabinet notes the additional sentence included in the strategy following the receipt of feedback from OSP and CC CAG (see 2.17);

4.  That the Cabinet recognises that the strategy cannot be fully implemented without external funding being available and agreed, in accordance with the pledge, to lobby external agencies and government

Cabinet were asked to consider endorsing the housing delivery paper which was attached to this report through annex one. This asks central government for legislative and regulatory changes to better balance the delivery of new homes with the needs of the community, and for additional national resources to increase the delivery of new affordable homes. 

The report highlighted the mismatch between the type and affordability of new homes that have been built in the district and the needs of the community. Specifically, identifying flaws in the way in which housing numbers had been allocated across the country.  The report referenced data published by the council in 2020 through the Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy and concluded that the cost of housing needs for affordable homes and pressures placed on homelessness services over the last two years have been significantly impacted through economic pressures. 

The report drew attention to the urgent need for the delivery of more affordable homes.  Urgent changes were needed to ensure better balances between the new homes which were to be built in the district and the needs of the community. It is the Cabinet's intention to lobby central government for urgent changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, funding arrangements relating to affordable housing delivery and financial support for housing costs for those residents on low incomes. 

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1: 

Councillor Whitehead; 

Councillor Albon; 

Councillor Garner; 

Councillor Austin; 

Councillor Everitt; 

Councillor Bailey. 

Councillor Jill Bayford proposed, Councillor Pugh seconded and Members agreed that Cabinet endorses the Housing Delivery Paper, and the specific asks of the Central Government for legislative and regulatory changes to better balance the delivery of new homes with the needs of the community and for additional national resources to increase the delivery of new affordable homes.