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.
(Up to fifteen minutes is allowed for the Report of the Leader (and Cabinet), up to ten minutes is allowed for the Leader of the Major Opposition Group (or his nominee) to respond, up to five minutes is allowed for the Leader of any other Opposition Group (or his nominee) to respond. The Leader is allowed up to five minutes as a Right of Reply or 25% of the time given to the Opposition Group Leaders, whichever is the greatest.)
(a) Leader of the Council – 15 Minutes
(b) Leader of the Major Opposition Group (Labour Group) – 10 Minutes
(c) Leader of the Other Opposition Group (UKIP) – 5 Minutes
(d) Leader of the Council’s Right of Reply – 5 Minutes
Minutes:
The Leader of the Council, Councillor P A Watkins, included the following matters in his report:
(a) That the Council was working to identify possible projects and assist them in bidding for funding under the Coastal Communities Fund.
(b) That three groups had been set up as part of the group to look at the regeneration of Dover Town Centre after the delivery of the Dover Town Investment Zone. The groups would deal with (i) transport, (ii) tourism and (iii) heritage and planning.
(c) The possible changes to the South East England Local Enterprise Partnership following the decision by the Essex LEP area to ask the Government for separate status. There was also support amongst local authorities and business in Kent for the idea of a Kent and Medway LEP.
(d) At the recent Kent Leader’s meeting, the issue of combined authorities for Kent along the lines of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority was discussed. A combined authority would deal with matters such as transport, economic development, health and social care.
(e) That the East Kent Spatial Development Company had reported a surplus of £6 million and received healthy annual income from its land holdings. The EKSPDC was looking at providing commercial loans for infrastructure projects that struggled to receive bank funding and there were potential projects in the pipeline.
(f) That there was a need for more decision-making to be delegated from the Kent Health and Wellbeing Board to the local CCG level boards.
(g) The recent case of an East Kent man who had been sent to Manchester due to the shortage of mental health patient beds and the need for partner agencies to work together to effectively triage patients at the first point of contact.
(h) The rising projected deficit of the East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust meant that changes to services would have been made. The proposals for these, which would be both financially and clinically driven, were expected to be revealed by September.
The Leader of the Main Opposition Labour Group, Councillor M R Eddy, included the following matters in his report:
(a) To congratulate the Chairman on her first ordinary meeting of the Council following the Annual Meeting in May.
(b) To welcome the news of the Coastal Community Fund bids while emphasising the need for proper longer term funding for the district.
(c) To state that he looked forward to hearing the outcomes from the three groups looking at aspects of the regeneration of Dover.
(d) That the option of a Kent Local Enterprise Partnership, which was the favoured approach of Kent County Council, could result in improved funding opportunities for Dover.
(e) The need for the Government to find an urgent solution to the transport difficulties affecting Dover and the wider regional implications caused by the longest Operation Stack run to date.
(f) That the experience of shared authorities elsewhere was that the arrangements broke down over a number of years.
(g) To express concern over the ramifications for the future of services at Buckland and Deal Hospitals and the funding of improvements in local mental health services following the disturbing news emerging over the East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust’s finances. In addition, there was anecdotal information to suggest that following the closure of the chemotherapy unit at William Harvey Hospital there were issues with the treatment of some Dover and Deal cancer patients at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital.
The Leader of the Opposition UK Independence Party Group, Councillor A F Richardson, included the following matters in his report:
(a) That the reality in many areas was the need to bid for grant funding and that local authorities were no different. It was important for the Council to have the expertise to bid, or support others to bid, for grant funding.
(b) To highlight the wider integration issues raised by any plans for a Kent Local Enterprise Partnership, while expressing support for preserving the historic identity of the county of Kent.
(c) To express concern over the projected deficit for the East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust and the anecdotal patient comments over the pressure on cancer care services.
(d) To emphasise the immense economic damage and inconvenience caused to local residents by Operation Stack.
In response, the Leader of the Council raised the following matters as part of his right to reply:
(a) That the Council’s funding was being top-sliced to provide the project funding that it had to bid for.
(b) That the Government was looking at economic rather than historic geographic areas for the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) and that rural West Kent and rural East Sussex faced similar economic challenges despite being in different counties.
(c) The success of the Coastal Communities Group in the LEP, which had been set-up by Dover, Thanet and Hastings Councils.
(d) That while Operation Stack highlighted the transportation issues affecting Dover to a national audience, lorry queues were a daily issue in Dover regardless of whether Operation Stack was in effect or not. While the introduction of variable speed limits had been positive from a Dover viewpoint, there were still pressures on the A2 and problems caused by blocked roundabouts.
(e) The impact of reductions in Kent County Council’s public health service.