Agenda item

The Leader welcomed Councillor Georgina Thomas to her first meeting of the Council, saying that she was born and raised in Trench and was now one of the representatives for Trench Ward.

He advised that Councillor Martin Coffin would shortly present the Cabinet’s recommendations on the budget to Council and in considering the budget proposals, it was worth reflecting on the context of the challenge faced at Tonbridge and Malling.  Firstly, this was the first meeting of Council when budget setting would be taken in the knowledge that revenue support grant no longer existed (for TMBC at least).  The means of paying for services provided by the Borough Council including emptying the bins, sweeping the streets, providing a housing service, the planning function, licensing, leisure activities and parks was now wholly dependent upon taxation, a share of business rates, charging and how the Council made best use of its capital resources. 

The Leader said that Members would also be aware that the Council, at its November meeting, had adopted a scheme of special expenses covering the costs of selected local services, which were provided by the Borough Council in some areas of the Borough and by parish councils in other parts.  He believed that the new arrangements had cross party support.

Secondly, the Leader indicated that the stretch on local government was increasing and the means of balancing expectation of the delivery of those public services and the human and financial resources available continued to widen.   He set out those thoughts because, in going through the agenda that evening, his concern was to do the best to protect what was cherished in Tonbridge and Malling, providing the services believed to be important to local people but also being mindful of the wider challenges faced.  The Leader stressed that over the coming months the Council would have to turn its attention to making some more very difficult choices within the context of the Savings and Transformation Strategy.  It was simply not possible to continue to provide everything in the same way and to the same level, given the financial pressures.

On a positive note, as in previous years, the Leader was pleased to report that the latest audit letter from Grant Thornton was extremely complimentary about the financial approach of the authority.  Two key passages worthy of note were:

In respect of value for money, as they had in many previous years, the auditors were “satisfied that the Council put in place proper arrangements to ensure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources”; and commenting on the savings challenge, they observed “the Council continues to address this gap in a structured way.”

A further positive was the announcement that local growth funding had been secured towards the Medway Flood Storage Area Project. This was the final tranche of funding that would now enable the £24 million project to go ahead, giving the Council and local people/businesses more certainty on the future of flood defences and much needed improvements to the Leigh Flood Storage Area, together with a flood protection bund at Hildenborough and a separate scheme of flood mitigation measures at East Peckham.

The Leader reported that the Council had been single minded on this issue, holding the line purposefully and working very closely with the Environment Agency, Kent County Council and other agencies during the bid process.  He particularly wished to acknowledge the dedication and professionalism of those officers involved in the project - in particular Julie Beilby, Steve Humphrey, Mark Raymond, Jeremy Whittaker, Ian Bailey and Andy Edwards.