To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Partnership Panel held on 26 May 2022

RESOLVED:   That the Minutes of the meeting held on 28 May 2022 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

·        PPP 22/11 General Policing and Anti-Social Behaviour

The Chair was pleased to announce that the Police and Crime Commissioner (Matthew Scott) had accepted the invitation of the Cabinet Member for Community Services and would attend the meeting of the Parish Partnership Panel on 3 November 2022 to answer questions relating to strategic issues and victim services.  Any questions to be put to Mr Scott  should be submitted to Democratic Services by no later than Friday 21 October

·        PPP 22/12 Local Plan

Details of the Regulation 18 Consultation would be presented by the Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure later in the meeting.

Item raised in advance of the meeting by KALC regarding the collection of smaller electrical/textile items and co-operation between County/Borough on fly-tipping – response to be provided by Cabinet Member for Technical and Waste Services

(1)             Collection of smaller electrical items, textiles and batteries

In response to a question raised by the Kent Association of Local Councils, Tonbridge and Malling branch (KALC) related to the collection of smaller electrical items and textiles, the Cabinet Member for Technical and Waste Services advised that this service had not been suspended. Some temporary hire vehicles did not have the required cages for these collections and where a vehicle did not have the necessary fittings for batteries, WEEE or textiles, (such as when hire vehicles were used) the crews were supposed to contact their local supervisor who would take a van out to collect. Any incidents of missed collections should be reported to Waste Services using the online form at:

https://www.tmbc.gov.uk/bins-waste/check-waste-collection-updates/1

Members were also reminded that there were textile collection points across Tonbridge and Malling at the Borough ‘bring sites’. 

(2)             Co-operation between Kent County Council and the Borough Council on fly tipping

In response to this question raised by KALC, the Cabinet Member for Technical and Waste Services confirmed that co-operation was achieved via the Kent Resource Partnership (KRP) of which all thirteen Kent councils were active members.

The KRP was funding further Operation Assist events in 2022/23 financial year, which were joint operations with the Police aimed at deterring and detecting illegal waste carriers and fly tippers.  These were intelligence led and targeted at hot spot areas.

The most recent Operation Assist event in Tonbridge and Malling had taken place on Tuesday 30 August and a number of Fixed Penalty Notices had been issued to operators who had failed to produce an appropriate licence.  However, the Cabinet Member for Community Services was pleased to report that Tonbridge and Malling continued to have one of the lowest level of fly tipping incidents in Kent. 

Members were advised that the Borough Council had recently engaged a third-party enforcement team dedicated to investigating and issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for littering, fouling and fly tipping incidents.  Prosecution  was a difficult and protracted process but the Borough Council were keen to be pro-active in addressing fly tipping and to bring forward prosecutions wherever possible.  In addition, the authority had submitted a bid for camera equipment to assist with the monitoring of hotspots.

Finally, the Cabinet Member for Technical and Waste Services noted a number of concerns raised that would be progressed with Waste Services, including reports of dog bins not being emptied regularly, the impact of an ongoing road closure on waste collections and the unavailability of the website to report fly tipping incidents.

Item raised in advance of the meeting by KALC requesting an update on UKSP Fund – response to be provided by Leader

In response to a question raised by KALC requesting further information on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Leader of the Borough Council advised that the Tonbridge and Malling Investment Plan had been submitted to Government ahead of the 1 August deadline. The next step was for the Investment Plan to be approved and it was hoped that this would happen from October 2022 onwards.  This was a good opportunity to secure potential funding of £1M to be spent in the Borough.

In the meantime, the Borough Council was progressing preparation for five projects due to start in the 2022/23 calendar year.  These were:

·        Youth Initiatives to help address low level anti-social behaviour

·        Mobile CCTV that could be placed in various locations across the borough

·        Leisure Centre Carbon Descent Plans to support the leisure centres to move closer to net zero

·        Tonbridge Town Centre Review to look at how to use Council owned land to best serve the town and create a better sense of place

·        Tonbridge Wayfinding to improve signage between key locations

The aim of the funding was to ‘build pride in place’ such as improving satisfaction in town centres.  As a result of the focus on regeneration there were more benefits for town and urban areas.  However, the Borough Council had tried to identify as many projects as possible across the borough and were mindful of the requirements in communities and parishes.

Reference was also made to the work underway in preparing for 2023/24 with particular focus on grant schemes including:

·        Community Development Grant Scheme for which Parish/Town Councils would be eligible to apply for funding of up to £5,000.  Further details would be provided in due course;

·        Green Business Grant Scheme which had benefitted some Parish/Town Councils in the past for village halls;

·        Shopfront and Vacant Unit Improvement Scheme for which a further round would be opening in early 2023.

Ahead of the projects starting, a perceptions survey had been circulated to gather information to help measure the impact of projects.   Parish/Town Councils were encouraged to submit views and to share the survey with residents to reach a wider audience.

The Panel to be updated on the current progress and latest timetable – Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure

The Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure detailed the process for the Regulation 18 Consultation in respect of the Borough Council’s draft Local Plan for the period 2021 – 2040.  

A first draft of the Local Plan, known as Regulation 18, had been prepared for public consultation.  The purpose of this consultation was to seek views from  individuals, communities, stakeholders and parishes and invited comment on the strategic direction the Local Plan should take. This was an opportunity for  concerns to be highlighted and priorities to be identified.

The Regulation 18 Consultation would also seek comments on the Interim Draft Sustainability Appraisal.

Members were reminded that as a result of not having an adopted Local Plan, the Borough Council were unable to demonstrate a 5 year housing supply and had difficulty in defending against development.  In addition, the Governments Objectively Assessed Housing Need, using the standard methodology, had identified that Tonbridge and Malling needed to build 15,941 houses between 2021-2040.  If these housing targets were not addressed in the Local Plan it might be rejected by the Planning Inspector.

At this stage, the information set out in the draft Local Plan consultation documents should only be considered as a broad indication of the Borough Council’s ability to meet its objectively assessed needs and did not represent the amount or pattern of development to be proposed through future site allocations. 

Subject to the views of the Housing and Planning Scrutiny Select Committee on 6 September, it was hoped that the consultation would start on 15 September for a period of 6 weeks.  Responses could be submitted via a consultation portal on the Borough Council website.  However, email and postal addresses would also be provided to enable receipt of other responses including via a consultation form. 

Representations received during this consultation would be reviewed and key issues identified and summarised.  Feedback received would inform the next stage of the plan preparation (Regulation 19), alongside new and emerging evidence base documents.

There was detailed debate on a number of issues including the lack of infrastructure to support significant development, the availability of maps to print/download for convenience, the vulnerability of existing settlements and potential coalescing of conurbations, the lack of brownfield sites available to meet the assessed housing needs, the importance of  utility and public transport companies participating in the consultation so issues could be highlighted early and the need for development to be spread across two housing market areas (Maidstone and West Kent).

Particular reference was made as to whether comments submitted as part of this consultation would be available to view.  In response, Members were advised that once the consultation period had finished all comments would be reviewed and published to the website in due course.   However, the exact detail of how comments would be shared was still being considered by Officers.   Regard would also be given as to whether GDPR should be applied. 

There was also discussion on building standards and the desire for these to reflect climate change  ...  view the full minutes text for item PPP 22/18

To consider any other issues raised at the meeting.  Any answers, actions and/or outcomes may be provided at the next meeting of the Parish Partnership Panel.

(1)             Community Safety Unit – Inspector

In response to a question, the Cabinet Member for Community Services advised that Inspector Mark Stubberfield had replaced Inspector Elizabeth Jones who had recently been promoted.

(2)             Next Meeting

The Principal Democratic Services Officer confirmed that the next meeting of the Parish Partnership Panel would be held at the Council Offices on Thursday 3 November.   Everyone was reminded that the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner would be attending and any questions should be sent to committee.services@tmbc.gov.uk no later than Friday 21 October.