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.
(a) To Chairmen/Vice-Chairmen of Committees
To receive answers in respect of questions from Members of the Council to the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Council or the Chairman of any Committee or Sub-Committee asked in accordance with Rule 12 of the Council Procedure Rules.
There were no questions for the Chairman of the Council, a Committee or Sub-Committee.
(b) To the Executive
To receive answers in respect of questions from Members of the Council to a Member of the Executive asked in accordance with Rule 12 of the Council Procedure Rules.
(1) Councillor P M Brivio will ask the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health and Wellbeing, Councillor P M Beresford:
“What effect does the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health and Wellbeing think the government’s decision to freeze rents for social housing will have on the ability of East Kent Housing to maintain and carry our improvements to council stock?”
(2) Councillor M R Eddy will ask the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Waste and Planning, Councillor N S Kenton:
“Can the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Waste and Planning inform the Council of Kent County Council’s policy towards members of the public who chose to take a couple of bags of recycling on foot to the Civic Amenity sites rather than using their car to do so?”
(3) Councillor P M Wallace will ask the Portfolio Holder for Access and Licensing, Councillor N J Collor:
“The RAC’s 2015 shows that a majority of Britain’s motorists consider that the state of the country’s roads are getting worse, with potholes and general road repairs topping the list of complaints from road users. Can the Portfolio Holder for Access and Licensing inform the Council what steps is DDC taking to ensure that the roads in Dover District are improving rather than deteriorating?”
(4) Councillor L A Keen will ask the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources and Performance, Councillor M D Conolly:
“Will the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources and Performance join me in welcoming the comprehensive training provided for all recently elected councilors and will he outline how he proposes to review the impact of the training on the work of the Council and feed the results of that review into further enhancement of future training provision?”
(5) Councillor A S Pollitt will ask the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health and Wellbeing, Councillor P M Beresford:
“As a number of my constituents are concerned by the current Government’s plan to privatize parts of our National Health Service, could the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health and Wellbeing inform this Council who owns the land and buildings of the Buckland Hospital in Dover and the Victoria Memorial hospital in Deal?”
(6) Councillor D A Sargent will ask the Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Public Protection, Councillor T J Bartlett:
“It has been reported in the national press that some local authorities are switching off their CCTV cameras to save money. Could the Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Public Protection inform the Council whether there are plans to do the same in this district?”
(7) Councillor S Hill will ask the Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Public Protection, Councillor T J Bartlett:
“Can the Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Public Protection assure the Council that the 11 public conveniences currently being cleaned by Dover District Council contractors on behalf of 7 town and parish councils at a cost of £123,450 last year are up to the standard of cleanliness, safety and sanitation that he would expect for that amount of expense?”
Minutes:
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12, Members of the Cabinet responded to the following questions:
(1) Councillor P M Brivio asked the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health and Wellbeing, Councillor P M Beresford:
“What effect does the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health and Wellbeing think the government's decision to freeze rents for social housing will have on the ability of East Kent Housing to maintain and carry out improvements to council stock?”
In response, Councillor P M Beresford advised that the detail of the Government’s proposals had yet to be circulated. However, the Council understood that rents would not be frozen and instead would be reduced by 1% per annum over the next four years. It was anticipated that routine maintenance and stock improvements would continue to take place.
Councillor P M Brivio declined the opportunity to ask a supplementary question and instead asked for a written copy of the answer.
(2) Councillor M R Eddy asked the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Waste and Planning, Councillor N S Kenton:
“Can the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Waste and Planning inform the Council of Kent County Council's policy towards members of the public who chose to take a couple of bags of recycling on foot to the Civic Amenity sites rather than using their car to do so?”
In response, Councillor N S Kenton advised that Kent County Council’s policy was that the carrying of waste on foot to the sites was not permitted and this was supported by signage at the entrance to all of the Household Waste Recycling Centres. This was due to the large amount of traffic movements at the sites which would make entering on foot unsafe.
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor M R Eddy exercised his right to ask one supplementary question.
(3) Councillor P M Wallace asked the Portfolio Holder for Access and Licensing, Councillor N J Collor:
“The RAC's 2015 shows that a majority of Britain's motorists consider that the state of the country's roads are getting worse, with potholes and general road repairs topping the list of complaints from road users. Can the Portfolio Holder for Access inform the Council what steps is DDC taking to ensure that the roads in Dover District are improving rather than deteriorating?”
In response, Councillor N J Collor advised that apart from trunk roads owned by Highways England, Kent County Council was responsible for repairing pot holes and urged elected members and the public to report them to KCC Highways on-line or their divisional Member.
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor P M Wallace exercised his right to ask one supplementary question.
(4) Councillor L A Keen asked the asked the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources and Performance, Councillor M D Conolly:
“Will the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources and Performance join me in welcoming the comprehensive training provided for all recently elected councillors and will he outline how he proposes to review the impact of the training on the work of the Council and feed the results of that review into future training provision?”
In response, Councillor M D Conolly agreed that he welcomed the comprehensive training provided and advised that feedback, which had generally been extremely positive, would be used to inform which training providers and learning styles best suited the training needs in the future. He was satisfied that the training provided met the requirements of Article 13 of the Constitution.
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor L A Keen exercised her right to ask one supplementary question.
(5) Councillor A S Pollitt asked the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health and Wellbeing, Councillor P M Beresford:
“As a number of my constituents are concerned by the current Government's plan to privatise parts of our National Health Service, could the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Health and Wellbeing inform this Council who owns the land and buildings of the Buckland hospital in Dover and the Victoria Memorial hospital in Deal?”
In response, Councillor P M Beresford advised that according to the Land Registry the land and buildings in Deal were owned by NHS Property Services Limited and the land and buildings in Dover were owned by East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.
Councillor A S Pollitt declined the opportunity to ask a supplementary question.
(6) Councillor D A Sargent asked the Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Public Protection, Councillor T J Bartlett:
“It has been reported in the national press that some local authorities are switching off their CCTV cameras to save money. Could the Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Public Protection inform the Council whether there are plans to do the same in this district?”
In response, Councillor T J Bartlett advised that there were no plans to reduce or switch off the Council’s CCTV system.
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor D A Sargent exercised his right to ask one supplementary question.
(7) Councillor S Hill asked the Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Public Protection, Councillor T J Bartlett:
“Can the Portfolio Holder for Property Management and Public Protection assure the Council that the 11 public conveniences currently being cleaned by Dover District Council contractors on behalf of 7 town and parish councils at a cost of £123,450 last year are up to the standard of cleanliness, safety and sanitation that he would expect for that amount of expense?”
In response Councillor T J Bartlett stated that Monitor Services had been awarded the public conveniences contract in 2014 following a retendering process that had achieved significant savings that had been passed on in full to the Town and Parish Council’s providing financial support. In addition to the cleansing of the public conveniences the contract included some elements of basic maintenance.
It was acknowledged that there had been some issues in respect of cleansing standards earlier in the year that the Council had raised with the contractor but this had been resolved by the contractor changing the personnel it used on the contract. Anyone with concerns about the level of service was urged to raise them with the Property Services team but currently there were no continuing concerns about the service.
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor S Hill exercised her right to ask one supplementary question.