Agenda item

The Leader welcomed the opportunity to hold a meeting of the full Council since the emergence of the pandemic and the cancellation of all meetings in recognition of the concerns of many members and those wishing to attend meetings about potential exposure to the virus. In light of Government guidance and officer advice about holding face to face meetings he supported the ability to hold virtual meetings. 

The Leader stated that the immediate response to the pandemic had been rapid, with local communities, including parish councils, churches, community groups, families, friends and neighbours, providing assistance to the most vulnerable within the Borough’s communities.  The Borough Council had opened a Community Hub to help get supplies to the most vulnerable, and had worked alongside the Kent Growth Hub, run by the County Council, to provide business support.

He commented that, due to previous investment in IT, the Council had been able to react quickly, with a majority of staff working from home and the ability to hold virtual Council meetings, which had ensured the delivery of services and democratic decision making process.  He recognised the enormous amount of work undertaken by all officers and thanked the Chief Executive, Management Team and all the Council’s staff for their responses to these challenging and unique circumstances.

He reminded Members that, as with every emergency situation, the Council would review the response to the pandemic.  The review and reorientation process would include the possibility of adjusting how to make best use of buildings in future, further investment in technology and support of the climate change strategy aimed at making the Borough carbon neutral by 2030.  He recognised that these were complex areas and that any decisions would be determined on the grounds of practicality, efficiency and delivering value for money for local taxpayers.

He commented that the Government’s support for businesses had involved eye-watering sums of money with just over £19 million of grants awarded to 1,300 businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. He was delighted to announce that, in June, NIAB EMR had secured £18 million ‘Strength in Places’ funding through a consortium-bid which was only 1 of seven in the UK (and one of only 3 successful projects in England). The total project would see £33 million invested into the horticultural sector in Kent and Medway, with East Malling Research Station as the focal point of research activity into emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, automation and smart-packaging for food production to help improve efficiencies and reduce waste. In addition, NIAB EMR had, with the Council’s support, managed to secure £1.7 million of Local Growth Fund investment into state-of-the-art greenhouses and energy centre to ensure that they have the required facilities to continue the world-class research which takes place on site.

The Leader reported that a further example of investor confidence in the Borough was evident at the Colas site in Tonbridge, where Chancerygate, the UK’s largest privately-owned, multi-unit industrial developer and asset manager will develop the site with 15 units of between 5-15,000 sq. ft. and 2 units between 40,000 and 50,000 sq. ft.  He advised that the Trade Park had been designed to high environmental standards and fitted within the Council’s strategy of working with the private sector to deliver sustainable development on brownfield sites.

He outlined work undertaken with Kent County Council to make travel more sustainable and reported that the Government’s Emergency Active Travel Fund would allow Kent Highways to trial schemes across Kent.

He advised that helping residents and businesses in need had come at a significant cost to the Council which, fortunately, had been cushioned by a prudent approach in previous years. The financial losses were significant and it had been necessary to limit immediate future expenditure to protect core services and the most vulnerable.

Finally, he commented that, while no-one could predict the future and how life would look, it would not be ‘business as usual’ for the Borough Council. The Council would need to adjust the way it served the citizens of the Borough, with a measured and pragmatic response to a profound and long-lasting change.