Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R J Frost, J M Heron and S C Manion.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4 Councillor P J Hawkins had been appointed as substitute member for Councillor J M Heron.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members in respect of business to be transacted on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

To confirm the attached Minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 10 October and 25 October 2017 (to follow).

The Minutes of the meetings held on 10 October 2017 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Please note that in accordance with the agreed Protocol for Public Speaking at Overview and Scrutiny, the right to speak only applies to agenda item 12.

The right of the public to speak does not apply to the following agenda items: Apologies, Appointment of Substitute Members, Declarations of Interest, Minutes, the Forward Plan, the Scrutiny Work Programme, any agenda item that is not accompanied by a written report and items that are exempt business.

Members of the public wishing to speak must register to do so by no later than 2.00 pm on the second working day before the meeting.

The Democratic Services Manager advised that no members of the public had registered to speak on items on the agenda to which the public speaking protocol applied.

The following decisions were taken by the Cabinet at its meeting held on 6 November 2017 in respect of recommendations from the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee:

·         EK Services Face-to-Face Service Provision at Deal Area Office

·         Petition for Additional Parking at Aycliffe

Members received the decisions of the Cabinet relating to recommendations made by the Committee.

RESOLVED:     That the Cabinet decisions relating to recommendations from the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee be noted.

There were no items for consideration.

(a)    Items placed on the agenda by a Member of the Committee or any individual Non-Executive Member

       Any individual Councillor may request that a matter is placed on the agenda of one of the Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committees by providing Democratic Support with notice of the matter prior to the agenda being published.

       There are no items for consideration.

(b)    Items the subject of Call-In

       Executive Decisions may be called-in by the Chairman or Spokesperson of the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee or any three non-executive members.

       There are no items for consideration.

(c)    Public Petition

       There are no items for consideration.

There were no items for consideration.

The Democratic Services Manager presented the Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions to the Committee for its consideration.

RESOLVED:   That the Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions be noted.

The Democratic Services Manager presented the Scrutiny Work Programme to the Committee for its consideration.

Councillor M I Cosin requested that updates on Universal Credit and Homelessness be provided to a future meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:     That the Work Programme be noted, subject to the inclusion of updates on Universal Credit and Homelessness.

To scrutinise the issue of illegal and anti-social lorry parking in the Dover District.

A representative from Kent Police will be in attendance.

In the absence of representatives from Kent County Council and Kent Police, the Committee received an update from the Portfolio Holder for Access and Licensing, Councillor N J Collor, and the Director of Environment and Corporate Assets.

Members were advised that there was anecdotal evidence from the number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) that had been issued since the introduction of the clamping scheme being trialled in Ashford lorry parking was being displaced to the Dover District. The trial was set to run for 18 months.

Councillor N J Collor advised that he had informed the Kent County Council Cabinet Member, Councillor Balfour, that he wanted a similar clamping scheme for Dover.

There was also an issue with lorry parking capacity as they were often full by 6pm which meant that vehicles arriving in Dover later had nowhere to park.

Members were advised that the payment rates for FPNs issued to foreign registered lorries remained low as reciprocal recovery in European nations was an issue.

Councillor K Mills expressed concerns that Brexit could result in the lorry holding area in Stanford being used as a clearing area.

At the invitation of the Committee, a member of the public present updated Members on the situation in respect of lorry parking in Dover. He advised that in Menzies Road some of the bollards had been knocked down so that lorries could park there and that the far end of Poulton Close was being used by lorries for parking. The Director of Environment and Corporate Assets advised that the far end of Poulton Close was outside of the area that had been designated for restrictions.

RESOLVED:       That the Committee receive a further update on the matter and that Kent County Council and Kent Police be invited to that meeting.

To receive an update on the Regent Cinema, Deal.

The Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Environmental Health, Councillor T J Bartlett, and the Director of Environment and Corporate Assets provided an update on the Regent Cinema.

Members were advised that although there had been no planning application for the site of the former Regent Cinema received at this time, the Council had remained in contact with the developers and believed that they were still serious in their intention to bring forward proposals. The latest information received was that the developers were still refining their design.

In response to a question over the designation of the site, Members were advised that the Regent was not listed in the local plan as having a community use as it had not been used as a cinema since 1962. A submission to the Local Plan Review process could make the case for the site to be classified as having community use but would also need to demonstrate that such a use was viable.

Members expressed frustration at the lack of a planning application.

RESOLVED:       That it be recommended to the Cabinet that the Regent Cinema site be submitted for consideration as a community facility as part of the consultation on the Local Plan.

To consider the attached report of the Director of Governance.

The Director of Governance presented the Performance Report for Quarter 2, 2017/18.

There were 28 Green Performance Indicators (80% of total indicators), 2 Amber Indicator (6%) and 5 Red Indicators (14%) for Quarter 2 2017/18.

The red performance indicators for Quarter 2 2017/18 were as followed:

·         EKS026d (Average call waiting time in minutes);

·         EKHC2 (Rent arrears as % of annual debit);

·         HOU010a (Number of households living in Temporary Accommodation including B&B);

·         HOU010b (Number of households in bed and breakfast); and

·         LIC005 (The percentage of licensed premises inspections completed by target date)

Members were advised that the figures for HOU010a and HOU010b were based on the number of households in accommodation on the last day of the quarter.

EKS026d

The Director of Shared Services (EK Services) advised that the target if 50 seconds was a stretch target as the previous year’s target had been achieved. EKS would be increasing its resourcing with the appointment of 2 new apprentices in addition to the staff being redeployed from the area offices. There had been no call spike seen as a result of the decision taken to withdraw face-to-face services from the Aylesham, Deal and Sandwich area offices.

EKHC2

The Director of Customer Services (East Kent Housing) advised that the target was an end of year target rather than a quarterly target. There had been an impact arising from the roll out of Universal Credit, although it was not yet clear exactly what that impact was, in respect of rent arrears. In respect of the performance indicator the cycle of rent and income was not lining up with the reporting deadlines for the performance indicator. 

East Kent Housing had taken a number of measures in respect of the roll out of Universal Credit and tried to address the issue of arrears arising from delay built into the process. As a consequence, the number of evictions for the period to September 2017 was only 1 compared to 6 the previous year.

HOU010a and HOU010b

Members were advised that a report would be submitted to the Homelessness Project Advisory Group on the possible solutions to the issue.

RESOLVED: That it be recommended to the Cabinet:

(a)  That the Performance Report and Actions for Quarter 2, 2017/18 be noted.

(b)  That the Director of Shared Services be requested to provide details on the ratio of calls to staff and the duration and complexity of calls.

(c)  That East Kent Housing be requested to provide a further update on the impact of Universal Credit on arrears to a future meeting of the Committee.