Minutes:
The Leader referred to the forthcoming Remembrance Sunday commemorations by communities across the Borough which this year would also mark the centenary of the First World War. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor would be attending a ceremony at the newly refurbished Memorial Gardens in Tonbridge in the morning. In the afternoon the Mayor would attend the remembrance service and parade in West Malling while the Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayoress would take part in those at Snodland, with the Chief Executive and Leader attending a service and parade at the Royal British Legion Village, Aylesford.
The Leader indicated that protecting residents and businesses from the threat of flooding was a key priority for the Council. He was pleased to report that the Kent and Medway Economic Partnership had included improvements to the Leigh Flood Storage Area in a bid to the South East LEP for submission to the government. The capacity improvements at Leigh had been costed at £11.2M and whilst there was confidence in an award of core funding, further partnership funding would be required, resulting in the bid to the Regional Growth Fund. The Leader thanked the officers for their continuing work with colleagues at the Environment Agency and Kent County Council in providing technical support and it was noted that additional financial support of £100k had been committed towards development and design work for increasing the capacity of the flood storage area.
The Borough Council had recently received the Annual Audit Letter for 2013/14 which, the Leader advised, had concluded that: “the Council continues to have a strong focus on effective financial management, with a robust medium term planning framework and well-established processes for budget monitoring. There is an effective framework to address financial pressures and to deliver planned savings." In acknowledgement of such a strong endorsement of the Council’s approach to financial stewardship the Leader, on behalf of Members, particularly wished to thank the Director of Finance and Transformation and her team, as well as Management Team colleagues. It was noted that the Audit Letter would be reported formally to the General Purposes Committee on 13 November.
The Leader referred to the recent speech by the local government minister, Kris Hopkins, at the annual general meeting of the National Association of Local Councils when he had applauded those councils that were passing funds down to the town and parish councils. He was therefore pleased that for a second year running, the Council’s support to local town and parish councils had included New Homes Bonus (NHB) income within the settlement. He indicated that if NHB had not been included, the reduction this year would have been 13.4% or £23,011 whereas the increase of 1.3% actually approved was worth £2,232, resulting in a net benefit to the parishes of £25,243.
Referring to the recent consideration by the Communities and Health Advisory Board, the Leader advised that 102 community groups and 15 parish councils had also received funding totalling almost £219,000 from the Community Enhancement Fund, set up in 2011 using money allocated to the Council from the government’s New Homes Bonus Scheme.
The Leader reported that he and the Mayor had attended the special presentation at Lords Cricket Ground on Sunday 5 October when 15 young cricketers from Tonbridge and Malling had received a prestigious Young Leaders in Cricket Award. The Young Leaders in Cricket Programme was open to people aged between 14 and 16 and offered comprehensive training to include a Coaching Award, an introduction to umpiring and scoring, groundsmanship and basic First Aid awareness, leading to an increase in self-esteem.
Members were advised that the Park Run in Tonbridge would celebrate its first anniversary on the following Saturday. The Leader was pleased to report that the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Youth and Arts was working with officers and Snodland Town Council to establish a Snodland park run. On the subject of Snodland, he congratulated Councillor Anne Moloney and the town council on achieving their ambition for the new facilities at the Community Centre, the official opening of which he had been delighted to attend.