Agenda item

Up to 60 minutes is allowed for this part of the meeting unless extended by the Chairman of Council on a motion moved, duly seconded and approved by the Council.  Members may ask one supplementary question in addition to their original question.

Members may ask one supplementary question in addition to their original question.

The questions received are set out in the agenda papers.

In accordance with Rule 12(1) of the Council Procedure Rules, Members of the Cabinet responded to the following questions:

(1)  Councillor R S Walkden asked the Portfolio Holder for Transport and Licensing, Councillor N J Collor:

“In view of recent days - on the 26th. and 27th. of July and the 10th. of August, when central Dover became gridlocked for hours, will the Portfolio for Transport and Licensing, please advise on discussions to keep Dover moving, that are associated with Brexit?”

In response Councillor N J Collor advised that the Council has been working with partners within the Kent Resilience Forum for more than a year now on the development of the plans known as Operation Brock to deal with the potential delays to freight traffic caused by Brexit. The importance of this was highlighted by the events in July and August, a matter of which he was acutely aware, living as close as he did to the A20. The Council has been lobbying all of the agencies involved in the development of these plans for many months and its concerns regarding the likely effectiveness of the Brock plans were well known.

Diverting port bound traffic to Manston was not a policy that the Council supported, and he remained convinced that if introduced it would quickly need to be abandoned, leading in all likelihood to the reintroduction of Operation Stack. More positively, the Council had been closely engaged with Kent County Council on developing plans to protect box junctions on key routes within Dover amongst other things and the Council had been seeking additional powers from government to allow it to enforce these regulations. Kent County Council were also looking to improve the sequencing of traffic lights within the town and improve CCTV coverage of key junctions, which should help to improve traffic flows.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor R S Walkden exercised his right to ask one supplementary question.

(2)  Councillor P Walker asked the Leader of the Council, Councillor T J Bartlett:

“Could the Leader please provide a complete update of DDC employees, following on from that profile of 2016, where age profiles and grades are supplied in order to aid succession planning?”

In response the Chief Executive advised that the work referred to by Councillor Walker was originally undertaken in 2015 as part of a wider Workforce Planning exercise. It was then updated in 2017 but included only age ranges in respect of each department across the Council, not grades. The Council was currently undertaking work with East Kent Human Resources to produce an updated People Strategy, which included a specific strand looking at Skills for the Future, which will include work relating to succession planning.

Age profiling would be undertaken as part of this process and the Chief Executive advised that he was happy to arrange for this to be reported to a future meeting of the General Purposes Committee.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor P Walker exercised his right to ask one supplementary question.

(3)  Councillor H M Williams asked the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Health, Councillor D P Murphy:

“How is the air quality being monitored at Aycliffe and what type of sampling is currently being used for monitoring or has been done previously?”

In response Councillor D P Murphy stated that the Council was actively looking at opportunities to develop and acquire low energy homes for affordable housing. Subject to cabinet approval, an application was shortly to be made to Homes England to support the acquisition of 8 carbon zero flats in Dover for affordable rent. Officers and Members had already visited construction sites to see the installation in progress and completed properties. Further visits are in the pipeline, including a potential visit to the Norwich development.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor H M Williams exercised her right to ask one supplementary question.

(4)  Councillor E A Biggs asked the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Commercial Services, Councillor O C de R Richardson:

“How is the air quality being monitored at Aycliffe and what type of sampling is currently being used for monitoring or has been done previously?”

In response the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regulatory Services, Councillor N S Kenton advised that a total of 17 sites were monitored for Nitrogen Dioxide throughout the district using diffusion tubes. Monitoring had previously been carried out at three locations in Aycliffe, Dover during 2015 – 2017 due to concerns around the implementation of Dover Tap. All results recorded during that period showed levels below national Air Quality Objectives and all monitoring data was available to download on the Kentair website.

(5)   Councillor P M Brivio asked the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regulatory Services, Councillor N S Kenton:

“Can the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regulatory Services confirm if the council will include proposals in the Local Plan to adopt a code for standards of sizing of new properties.”

In response Councillor N S Kenton advised that it was the intention that the new Local Plan would adopt the nationally described space standard as set out in the Government’s Technical Housing Standards published in March 2015.

(6)  Councillor C D Zosseder asked the Leader of the Council, Councillor T J Bartlett:

“Can the Leader confirm that no important council business has been neglected or delayed while Brexit preparations take place? If they cannot confirm that this is the case, can they explain what particular decision have not been taken by the council as a result of the chaos going on at government level.”

In response Councillor T J Bartlett advised that to his knowledge that no council business had been neglected or delayed while BREXIT preparations were taking place.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor C D Zosseder exercised her right to ask one supplementary question.

(7)  Councillor J P J Burman asked the Portfolio Holder for Transport and Licensing, Councillor N J Collor:

“We understand that it is proposed, the platform at Sandwich Railway Station will be extended for the Open Golf in 2020 but after the event the platform extension will be closed off again. This means that the dangerous overcrowding of the station platform that occurs on a daily basis will continue.  Will DDC use its influence to make sure the platform extension remains in use after the open Golf Event?”

In response Councillor N J Collor advised that it was correct that the platform extensions at Sandwich Station, which would enable 12 car High Speed trains to use the station without overhanging the main road access into Sandwich, had been designed and approved to be used for the duration of the 149th Open Championships having regard to the significant levels of use that would occur during the event or future events. 

The extended platforms would not be used on a day-to-day basis as they would require significantly enhanced full access for all (lifts) beyond the special arrangements being put in place for the 149th Open Championships which would mean that the costs would have been prohibitive. In relation to the suggestion that dangerous overcrowding of the platform occurs on a daily basis, both Southeastern and Network Rail did not share this view.  Southeastern had not identified any risk to safety from day to day use at the station, which was less than 1000 passengers. 

While it was recognised that there are times where the station becomes busier than normal, particularly at the end of the school day, when children from a couple of local schools used the station to travel home, this was common across the network. Network Rail was also of the view that they did not believe that there was ‘dangerous overcrowding’ on the platforms. If such a situation had been identified, it was expected that some form of restriction would be put in place to enable the trains to stop at Sandwich Station over and above passengers being required to stand behind the yellow lines on the platforms. The Council would lobby The Department for Transport, Network Rail and the train operating company for improvements to rail related infrastructure when future circumstances warranted such approach.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor J P J Burman exercised his right to ask one supplementary question.