Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J H Goodwin, P S Le Chevalier, S M Le Chevalier and P Walker.

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

Councillor D Hannent declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) in Minute No 18 by reason of his ownership of a property in Castle Street, Dover and withdrew from the meeting for the consideration of the matter.

Councillor C J Smith declared an Other Significant Interest (OSI) in Minute No 19 by reason of his issues with his planning application and appeal and withdrew from the meeting for the consideration of the matter.

(a)          Manston Airport

The Leader of the Council spoke of the recent runway closure of Manston Airport. The closure would impact on the Enterprise Zone at Sandwich and on the area as a whole. The Leader expressed his support of its retention and would make appropriate representations as necessary.

(b)          Discovery Park

That it was unclear at this time what implications, if any, there would be for the residual Pfizer staff at the Discovery Park in the event of a successful Pfizer bod for AsreZeneca.

In accordance with paragraph 8 of the Council’s agreed Petition Scheme, Mr A Shirley will have a total of 10 minutes to present his petition in respect of the following:

“We the undersigned petition the council to, in the persons of a) the Leader and Cabinet, b) the Scrutiny Committee and c) the Chief Executive and the Head of Regeneration, call a public meeting and present, within 8 weeks of the closure of this petition, a full and detailed summary of costs incurred, progress made and forward plans to secure the completion of the Dover Town Investment Zone. The presentation should allow questions from the floor without notice and provide full disclosure of status, costs (capitalised and expensed), plans, accountabilities, timeframes and reasons for past inabilities to deliver. We respect the existence of certain commercial in confidence factors which should not be used as a shield to full and proper disclosure.”

Following the presentation of the petition, the scheme allows for councillors to debate the matters raised by the petition for up to 20 minutes.

The Council received a petition from Mr A Shirley that had exceeded the threshold of 1,600 signatures required to trigger a council debate in accordance with Paragraph 8 of the Council’s agreed petition Scheme. The petition requested that:

“We the undersigned petition the council to, in the persons of a) the Leader and Cabinet, b) the Scrutiny Committee and c) the Chief Executive and the Head of Regeneration, call a public meeting and present, within 8 weeks of the closure of this petition, a full and detailed summary of costs incurred, progress made and forward plans to secure the completion of the Dover Town Investment Zone. The presentation should allow questions from the floor without notice and provide full disclosure of status, costs (capitalised and expensed), plans, accountabilities, timeframes and reasons for past inabilities to deliver. We respect the existence of certain commercial confidence factors which should not be used as a shield to full and proper disclosure.”

The petition scheme granted Mr Shirley as the Petition Organiser the right to address the Council in support of the petition. Mr Shirley raised concerns over the lack of tangible progress in delivering the Dover Town Investment Zone (DTIZ) development over the last decade and what he saw as a lack of transparency from the Council and its development partners. He also questioned whether the Council had sufficient skills in-house to deliver a project of this nature.

In response Councillor K Mills stated that in his capacity as Committee Chairman, the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee would be holding a meeting on 23 June 2014 in Dover to scrutinise the DTIZ which would be attended by senior council officers and key development partners. He stated that the meeting would be open to the public and advised that members of the public would be permitted to ask questions at the meeting.

Councillors F J W Scales, P M Beresford, M R Eddy and P A Watkins spoke to the meeting in support of the motion stating that it would be an opportunity to ask specific questions of the officers and developers however, highlighted that some information would be commercially confidential. Councillor P A Watkins reminded the meeting that previous meetings regarding the scheme had been held in public throughout the process and the press and public were able to attend.

It was moved by Councillor K Mills, duly seconded and

RESOLVED:   (a)        That Mr A Shirley’s petition presentation be noted.

(b)        That the meeting of the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee to be held on 23 June 2014 to consider the DTIZ development be noted.

(Councillor D Hannent withdrew from the meeting for consideration of this item of business by reason of his Disclosable Pecuniary Interest.)

To consider the report of the Head of Paid Service (to follow).

The Cabinet at its meeting on 12 May 2014 considered the attached report of the Head of Paid Service upon the Regeneration and Development Resources. 

The Cabinet recommendation will be circulated at the meeting.

The Council considered the report of The Head of Paid Service to seek additional financial resources for the Council’s Regeneration and Development function.

The Cabinet had approved the changes to fees and charges for pre-application advice and the use of fee income to create a pre-application service at its meeting on 12 May 2014.

Cabinet recommended that the Regeneration and Development budget be increased by £230k to enable an increase in staff resources to improve handling of the planning application caseload and that the Legal Services budget be increased by £100k to provide the necessary level of legal support to support the function.

It was moved by Councillor N S Kenton, duly seconded and

RESOLVED:  That Council approved the increase of £330k in the Council’s General Fund budget.

(Councillor C J Smith withdrew from the meeting for consideration of this item of business by reason of his Other Significant Interest in the matter.)

The Cabinet at its meeting on 12 May 2014 considered the attached report of the Director of Finance, Housing and Community upon the Financing New Housing Management System for East Kent Housing.

The Cabinet recommendation will be circulated at the meeting.

The Council considered the report of the Director of Finance, Housing and Community. The report sought approval to make loan finance available to East Kent Housing for the procurement of a new housing management IT system.

It was moved by Councillor S S Chandler, duly seconded and

RESOLVED:  (a)       That Council approve the provision of loan finance to East Kent Housing for the procurement of a new housing management IT system, the amount and terms to be approved by the Director of Finance, Housing and Community in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Children’s Services and Safeguarding, Youth and Community Safety.

(b)        That subject to loan terms being agreed and procurement and implementation being undertaken to the council’s satisfaction, to transfer current system support budgets to East Kent Housing.

The Cabinet at its meetings on 14 April 2014 and 12 May 2014 and the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee at its meeting on 22 April 2014 considered the attached report of the Director of Environment and Corporate Assets upon the Review of On and Off-Street Parking Charge Period.  The following is recommended to Council:

Cabinet – 14 April 2014

It was agreed to recommend to Council that the supplementary budget of £64,000 be approved.

Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee – 22 April 2014

Cabinet – 12 May 2014

The Cabinet recommendation will be circulated at the meeting

The Council considered the report of the Director of Environment and Corporate Assets.

At its meeting held on 14 May 2014 Cabinet had approved to reduce the on and off-street parking charge period from 9am-6pm to 9am-5pm from dates to be determined by the Director of Environment and Corporate Assets. Decisions on any objections received during the consultation process would be delegated to the Director of Environment and Corporate Assets in consultation with the portfolio Holder for Property and Access.

It was moved by Councillor N J Collor, duly seconded and

RESOLVED:   That Council approved a £64k supplementary budget.

(Councillor C J Smith withdrew from the meeting for consideration of this item of business by reason of his Other Significant Interest, declaring that he was a regular user of the leisure centre car park.)

To consider the report of the Head of Regulatory Services (to follow).

The Chairman advised the Committee that this item had been withdrawn from the agenda.

It was moved by Councillor P A Watkins, duly seconded and

RESOLVED:  That, under Section 100(a)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the remainder of the business on the grounds that the item to be considered involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To consider the attached report Director of Finance, Housing and Community and the Head of Asset Management, East Kent Housing.

The Council received the report of the Head of Asset Management, East Kent Housing.

It was moved by Councillor S S Chandler, duly seconded and

RESOLVED:   That a supplementary HRA budget of £590,000 be approved.