All Decisions

Following the recent Black Lives Matter campaign and the concern about statues and other commemorative artifacts which are no longer acceptable, the Leader gave consideration to similar artifacts in the District. 

In particular this concerned the memorial plaque to James Summerson, known as ‘Uncle Mack’, a seaside entertainer in Broadstairs between the 1880s and 1940s.  This plaque has given rise to offence and hurt because the entertainment celebrated by it involved a Black and White Minstrels troupe where white entertainers blacked up their faces and behaved with distorted African-American stereotypes.

The plaque was initially covered up as a temporary measure until a decision was made on a permanent solution. Once removed, consideration will be given to the future of the plaque and whether it can usefully be put on display in a museum setting which describes its historical context to act as a lesson for the future.

The Leader has decided that the James Summerson (‘Uncle Mack’) memorial plaque should be permanently removed from its site in Broadstairs.

The 2020/21 capital programme includes provision for the replacement of a substantial proportion of the council’s refuse vehicle fleet.  In accordance with the constitution, this report seeks approval of a key decision to commit £2.2m of the budget allocation for the purchase of 11No. 26 tonne freighters.

Cabinet approved Option 1 in the Cabinet report, which was to commit £2.2m from this year’s approved capital programme budget on the purchase of 11No. refuse freighters.

Cabinet were asked to approve the provision of additional budget to support the transition of the single housing management system to TDC in-house management, including on-going maintenance and support of the system. This involves migration to a cloud hosted system.

Cabinet agreed the following:

1.  To approve a 2020-21 only supplementary HRA revenue budget of £187,000 for the transition of the single housing management system to TDC in-house management, to be funded from HRA balances;

2.  To approve a recurring 2020-21 supplementary HRA revenue budget of £82,000 for the on-going maintenance and support of the housing management system, to be funded from HRA balances in 2020-21 and incorporated into the budget setting process for 2021-22 and beyond.

The adoption of new tenant and leaseholder health and safety compliance policies for fire safety, water hygiene, gas and electrical safety, passenger lists and asbestos.

The proposed policies reflect both the statutory requirements on landlords for tenant and leaseholder health and safety and industry best practice.

The policies are written to reflect the decision of the Cabinet on 17 February 2020 to deliver the council’s tenant and leaseholder services in house and terminate the agreement with east Kent Housing. The new policies will be in place ready for the launch of the new service.

The report proposes that the policies are kept under review to enable a process of continual improvement in performance and recommends a formal policy review every 2 years.

Cabinet agreed the following, to:

1.  Adopt the proposed compliance policies as detailed in annexes 1 to 6 to the Cabinet report;

2.  Delegate authority to the Head of Housing and Planning, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Neighbourhoods to make minor operational changes to the policies, as required;

3.  Formally review the policies every 2 years.