Agenda and minutes

To declare any interests in respect of recommended items

There were no declarations of interest made in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 31 July 2018

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the proceedings of the meeting of the Council held on 31 July 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the extraordinary meeting of Council held on 12 September 2018

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the proceedings of the extraordinary meeting of the Council held on 12 September 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the extraordinary meeting of Council held on 18 September 2018

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the proceedings of the extraordinary meeting of the Council held on 18 September 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Mayor.

The Mayor reported that since the July meeting, she had visited many school fetes, plays and award presentations.  Some memorable events included the Tonbridge Lions Diabetes Screening, Ightham Mote’s Garden Party, the World War 1 event at Tonbridge Castle, TPS Global Logistics presentation of the Queen’s Award and the Dragon Boat Race.  She had also attended Kings Hill Rotary Club’s Charity Beer, Cider and Music Festival, Liberty Property Trust’s Heritage Open Day at the Control Tower, the launch of Music@Malling, the Young Cricket Leaders presentation at Lords Cricket Ground and a Trafalgar Day event at Wouldham School.

The Mayor commented on the successful Local Schools Debate in the Council Chamber on 12 October, involving 51 children.  Future mayoral events included the Charity Night at the Oast Theatre on 22 January and the Quiz at Hadlow College on 9 February 2019.

The Mayor was then presented with a copy of the New Testament and Psalms by Mr Peter Turner of Gideons International.

No questions were received from members of the public pursuant to Council Procedure Rule No 5.6.

No questions were received from Members pursuant to Council Procedure Rule No 5.5.

Before updating Members on a range of activities since the July Council meeting, the Leader took the opportunity to welcome Steve and Carol Humphrey as observers of the proceedings prior to the former Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health receiving a presentation by the Mayor on behalf of the Council in recognition of his service.

Financial matters

The Leader referred to the previous day’s Budget Statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer in which there were a number of tax and spending announcements of relevance to local government.  While the exact timing of the local government settlement was not clear, it appeared likely that the government would confirm the intention of the consultation on negative revenue support grant, in itself a temporary piece of good news for the Council.  However, the future for New Homes Bonus was unknown together with the outcome of the Spending Review next year and Fairer Funding Review.

The Leader said that Members would be aware that the Kent and Medway authorities had been successful in bidding for the pilot of the business rates retention for 2018/19.  The package available was divided two ways: one was a financial sustainability fund and for this authority should amount to a sum of around £800,000 as a one–off payment by the end of the fiscal year.  This did not count towards the savings target but would provide an opportunity to invest.

The second pot was a Housing and Commercial Growth Fund to support investment in local economic initiatives.  Kent Leaders had agreed that the funding would be distributed across Kent and Medway via three clusters: West Kent, North Kent (including Maidstone) and East Kent with Kent County Council being part of each cluster group.

The initial projection was that the West Kent cluster would receive funding in the region of £1,055,000.  Based on current projections, this had now been revised upwards to circa £1,520,000 subject to ongoing performance in 2018/19.  However, a final sum could not be confirmed until the end of the fiscal year.

Members were advised that the Kent Leaders had also agreed that the West Kent Partnership would receive and administer funding for the West Kent cluster.  The outcome was that a number of projects would be supported across West Kent such as provision of support and advice to smaller businesses wishing to grow and expand. 

Each West Kent authority additionally had its own allocation and, on the advice of the Economic Regeneration Advisory Board, it had been agreed to support a number of initiatives across the Borough.  These included a grant scheme of up to £5,000 to independent shopkeepers to help renovate and improve their shop fronts, support for pop-up shops and creative start-ups and a Tourism Promotion Campaign for Malling, working with Visit Kent to develop a campaign to promote the tourism offer in the Malling area.  At its next meeting, the Economic Regeneration Advisory Board would consider the arrangements for the Commercial Frontages Grant Scheme.

As reported to the Finance, Innovation  ...  view the full minutes text for item C 18/74

Item LA 18/103 referred from Licensing and Appeals Committee minutes of 2 October 2018

Item LA 18/103 referred from Licensing and Appeals Committee minutes of 2 October 2018

RESOLVED:  That the recommendations at Minute LA 18/103 be approved.

Item CB 18/59 referred from Cabinet minutes of 10 October 2018

Item CB 18/59 referred from Cabinet minutes of 10 October 2018

RESOLVED:  That the recommendations at Minute CB 18/59 be approved.

Item CB 18/60 referred from Cabinet minutes of 10 October 2018

Item CB 18/60 referred from Cabinet minutes of 10 October 2018

RESOLVED:  That the recommendations at Minute CB 18/60 be approved.

To authorise the Common Seal of the Council to be affixed to any Contract, Minute, Notice or other document requiring the same.

RESOLVED:  That authority be given for the Common Seal of the Council to be affixed to any instrument to give effect to a decision of the Council incorporated into these Minutes and proceedings.