Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence received.

The Democratic and Corporate Services Manager advised that no notice had been received for the appointment of substitute members.

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

Councillor T A Bond declared an Other Significant Interest (OSI) in Minute No. 74 (Market Square, Dover) by reason of his directorship in the Dover Town Team and advised that he would withdraw from the meeting during the consideration of that item of business.  

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 26 July 2021 and 13 September 2021 (to follow).

The consideration of the Minutes was deferred.

To receive the Cabinet decisions in respect of recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The decisions of the Cabinet relating to recommendations made by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting held on 4 October 2021 were noted.

The Democratic and Corporate Services Manager advised that there were no issues referred to the Committee by Council, Cabinet or another Committee.

The Council has received a petition from Kay Marsh which is set out in the agenda papers.

In considering the petition, it is important to remember that under the Council’s petition scheme, a valid petition signature is as follows:

“Any person who lives, works or studies in the Dover District Council area, including those less than 18 years of age, can organise a petition or be a petition signatory.”

The petition, which was hosted on Change.org rather than the Council’s e-petition facility, had 27,301 signatures as submitted.

However, this breaks down to 1,141 signatures with a Kent address, 368 signatures with a ‘CT’ post code and 140 signatures with addresses in the Dover District. There is no information provided with the signatures as to whether someone outside of the district works or studies in the district.

For the purposes of the Council’s petition scheme this petition is therefore considered to have 140 valid signatures from people who live in the Dover district.  

In accordance with the Petition Scheme, the Petition Organiser (Kay Marsh) will have the opportunity to address the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in support of her petition.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee can then determine what it wishes to do in response to the petition which can include:

(a)  Referring the petition to another committee, including the Cabinet for consideration;

(b)  Recommending that officers or a Cabinet Member provide a written response to the petition organiser setting out the Council’s views about the request in the petition;

(c)   Recommend that the Cabinet or another Committee take any other action that it considers appropriate; or

(d)  Note the petition and take no further action in respect of it.

It should be noted that the Council has issued a press release in respect of the Afghan Citizens' Resettlement Scheme which can be found here - https://www.dover.gov.uk/News/Press-Releases/2021/Afghan-citizens-resettlement-scheme.aspx

In the absence of the petition organiser to present the petition, the Democratic and Corporate Services Manager advised that a written response would be provided to the petition.

The Portfolio Holder for Social Housing and Port Health was thanked by the Chairman for attending the meeting.

Folkestone and Hythe District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting held on 7 September 2021 agreed with the following recommendation made by a Task and Finish Group formed to look at issues with the waste contract.

“Joint OSC meeting with DDC – with a focus on the detail of the recovery plan and any new proposed route changes, following the review commissioned by Veolia, prior to any further changes being made.”

The DDC Overview and Scrutiny Committee is asked to consider how it wishes to respond to request for a simultaneous co-located meeting of the two Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

If the Committee is minded to proceed with a simultaneous co-located meeting of the two Overview and Scrutiny Committees, it is suggested that the arrangements be made by the Democratic and Corporate Services Manager in consultation with the Chairman and Controlling Group Spokesperson.

The Democratic and Corporate Services Manager advised that a request had been received from Folkestone and Hythe District Council’s Scrutiny Committee for a ‘joint’ meeting to scrutinise the waste service.

The Chairman advised that she supported a meeting of the two committees being held at Dover and from conversations with her counterpart at Folkestone and Hythe District Council believed that this would be acceptable to it. The rationale for the ‘joint’ meeting was that as the contract was a shared contract with Veolia for both authorities the issues in respect of the use of resources and service performance for one authority impacted on the other. In addition, there were concerns that inconsistent answers had been provided to each authority by Veolia and a ‘joint’ meeting would enable this to be explored more comprehensively.  

Members discussed whether the ‘joint’ meeting was necessary given the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had already committed to holding a further meeting of its own on the subject.

The Strategic Director (Corporate Resources) advised that the service was stable now but had required additional temporary measures to achieve this situation. It was expected that Veolia would seek to put in more permanent measures in early 2022.

RESOLVED:       That the meeting of the two Overview and Scrutiny Committees be agreed for November 2022 and the Democratic and Corporate Services Manager be requested to make the appropriate arrangements to facilitate it.

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

There being no dissent indicated, it was agreed that the Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions be noted.

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

There being no dissent indicated, it was agreed that the Work Programme be noted.

Please note that in accordance with the agreed Protocol for Public Speaking at Overview and Scrutiny, the right to speak does not apply to any items on the agenda.

The Democratic and Corporate 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.

To receive an update from the Head of Assets and Building Control in respect of public toilet provision in the district.

This item was identified for inclusion from the Work Programme.

The Head of Assets and Building Control presented an update on Public Toilet Provision in the Dover District.

The Committee was advised that 10 of the district’s public toilets were financially supported by parish council’s and 7 by Dover District Council.

The Council undertook inspections of the public toilets on a weekly or fortnightly basis and the contractor did have prior notice of which facility would be inspected. In accordance with the contract any defects found were immediately notified to the contractor which was required to return to site to rectify them in accordance with the provisions of the contract. This system had resulted in a reduction in reports of service failure and the arrangements had been formalised as part of the new cleaning contract.

The assets maintenance team would deal with the more complex maintenance issues that the cleaning contractor previously was responsible for as it was a more cost-effective arrangement and allowed for repairs to be undertaken more quickly.

Members discussed the need for better sign-posting to public toilets, particularly the ones in the Dover Discovery Centre, to assist visitors to the district. It was suggested that the toilets should be shown on on-line maps as well as with physical signs.

The involvement of Dover Town Council in providing financial support for public toilets was discussed and in particular the provision of toilets in the area of Maison Dieu. The Portfolio Holder for Community and Corporate Property, Councillor O C de R Richardson advised that this was a matter he had taken a keen interest in and that once Maison Dieu had been refurbished its toilets would be open to the public. The Head of Assets and Building Control advised that there were potential opportunities for new public toilet provision in other areas of Dover’s town centre and the potential of schemes such as ‘pay to pee’ were being investigated. It was noted that any new toilet facilities would need to be approaching carbon neutral.

Councillor C D Zosseder thanked the Head of Assets and Building Control and the Portfolio Holder for Community and Corporate Property for attending the meeting and updating the committee on public toilet provision in the district.

(Councillor S C Manion left the meeting at the end of this item of business.)

It was moved by Councillor P M Brivio, duly seconded by Councillor H M Williams 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 items 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 of Head of Finance and Investment.

The Head of Finance and Investment presented the report on the Approval to Enter into Design and Build Contract for Development of Interim Housing at Poulton Close, Dover.

Members considered the report and discussed the decision of the Cabinet at its meeting held on 4 October 2021.

There being no dissent indicated, it was agreed to note the report.

To consider the report of the Strategic Director (Operations and Commercial).

The Strategic Project Manager (Infrastructure) presented the report on Market Square, Dover.

Members considered the report and discussed the decision of the Cabinet at its meeting held on 4 October 2021.

RESOLVED: (a)   That it be recommended to Cabinet that it endorse decision CAB46 as follows:

That the award of the contract to F M Conway for the consideration set out in the report be approved, noting that the external project costs would be funded by the Coastal Community Fund grant (£2.44 million), Dover District Council (£500,000) and a further £700,000 from the Council’s Town Centre Regeneration Fund.

(b)   That an update on the Council’s regeneration programme be added to the work programme.

(Councillor T A Bond declared an Other Significant Interest (OSI) in Minute No. 74 (Market Square, Dover) by reason of his directorship in the Dover Town Team and withdrew from the meeting during the consideration of this item of business.)