To receive an oral report at the meeting from the Leader (and Cabinet) on the business of the Executive or on any topic or subject that it is felt should be brought to the attention of the Council.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10 (Leader’s Time):

(a)  The Leader (and Cabinet) shall have up to 15 minutes to make within this report any statements that they wish on any topic or subject that they feel should be drawn to the attention of the Council.

(b)  The Leader (or their nominee) of the Major Opposition Group (Labour Group) shall be allowed up to 10 minutes to respond.

(c)  The Leader (or their nominee) of the Other Opposition Group (UKIP Group) shall be allowed up to 5 minutes to respond. 

(d)  The Leader of the Council shall be allowed up to 5 minutes to exercise a right of reply (or 25% of the time given to the Opposition Group Leaders, whichever is the greatest).

The Leader of the Council, Councillor P A Watkins, included the following matters in his report:

(a)  That Option C was his preferred choice in respect of the Operation Stack lorry park as well as the continuation of the Dover Traffic Assessment Project (TAP). He thanked Councillor N J Collor for his hard work in respect of Operation Stack and TAP and also Councillors P M Brivio and M R Eddy for supporting TAP at Kent County Council and Mr Charlie Elphicke MP for supporting it in Parliament and with Central Government.

(b)  The importance of ensuring that the Kent road connections for the third Thames Crossing were fit for purpose, with needed improvements undertaken to the M2/A2 and Brenley Corner. He urged Members to respond to the consultation in support of the Highways England preferred option with the A229 variant.

(c)  The need to remove the roundabouts at Prince of Wales and Duke of York to create a clearway managed by TAP in advance of the St James’ (DTIZ) Development opening. Traffic projections had shown that there was the potential for gridlock if this was not undertaken.

(d)  That the Shakespeare Cliff repairs could be monitored via the Council’s website and that 19,000 tons of rock was being used to prevent further damage. While the repairs were being undertaken South Eastern Trains were making timetable amendments to improve connections via Ramsgate but there were still some problems with return trains at night.

(e)  That the Council would be making a response to the rail franchise consultation and the importance of ensuring that the district received the service it needed and deserved. This included the ‘Golden Hour’ for highspeed train journeys to London.

(f)   The 5 East Kent authorities met with Kent County Council at the end of December to discuss the Devolution Agenda. It was proposed that a model lining up with the federated Clinical Commissioning Groups would deliver economies of scale through joining up health and social care.

(g)  That the Dover District had the third highest apprenticeships take-up in Kent.

(h)  That the first meeting of the steering group for the new Dover Leisure Centre was not far off being called.

The Leader of the Main Opposition Group, Councillor M R Eddy, included the following matters in his report:

(a)  To thank Councillor P A Watkins for his kind words and to thank Councillor Collor for his presentation to Kent County Council on the transport issues facing the district. He advised that the needed dualling of the A2 was included in the final recommendations.

(b)  The importance of good transport links for the local economy.

(c)  To express concern over proposed reductions in the Kent County Council highways budget given the £250 million backlog in repairs and to emphasise the need to maintain the highways budget in the Dover District due to the damage caused by lorries to roads.

(d)  The need for cross-party engagement on the devolution agenda.

(e)  To welcome the news in respect of apprenticeships but underline the need for quality apprenticeships and not just cheap labour.

The Leader of the Other Opposition Group, Councillor A F Richardson, included the following matters in his report:

(a)  To welcome the response from the Council in respect of Operation Stack.

(b)  To advocate the introduction of variable speed limits for TAP rather than a static 40 mph limit.

(c)  To express support for the Highways England preferred option in respect of the third Thames Crossing and echo comments on the importance of dualling the A2.

(d)  That the situation in respect of Shakespeare Cliffs was predictable as the beach had been shrinking since the creation of Samphire Hoe and to hope that lessons had been learnt for the future. That while the restoration of the Dover to Folkestone railway line was an urgent matter that it should not just be a quick fix.

(e)  To welcome the news about apprenticeships but emphasise the need for quality apprenticeships.

In response, the Leader of the Council raised the following matters in his right of reply:

(a)  That there would be a litter pick undertaken when the Roundhill Tunnels were closed for maintenance work.

(b)  That the funding of a variable speed limit for TAP would need to be in place by April 2016 otherwise no works would be able to be undertaken until the Autumn due to summer traffic levels.

(c)  To express the view that Kent County Council want a Kent-wide unitary authority rather than being split into 3 unitary areas.