Minutes:
The Leader began by acknowledging the activity which had taken place in the towns and villages of the Borough throughout the Christmas period and recorded thanks to the town and parish councils, voluntary groups and schools for their hard work in putting on events for local communities and retail centres.
He mentioned that before the next Council meeting Parliament would have been dissolved for the General Election. He referred to Sir John Stanley’s retirement as a Member of Parliament after over 40 years of public service and to the wide recognition of his tireless energy and dedication to his constituents.
The Leader indicated that on this occasion he wished to reflect on what had been achieved by the Council against a backdrop of four very challenging years. Councillor Coffin in presenting the Council’s budget would say more about the prudent approach taken to protect those services known to matter to the residents whilst striving to deliver value for money. Reference was made to savings of £2.8m which had been achieved through shared services, taking advantage of technological changes – the piloting of a web chat link on the website being the latest – and doing things differently. Members were reminded that the approach had been independently assessed by the Council’s auditors as “a strong focus on effective financial management” and “an effective framework to address financial pressures and to deliver planned savings”.
The Leader said that the Council could be proud of its recycling service where residents recycled or composted 43% of household waste. Almost 90% of waste collected was subject to reuse, recycling or energy recovery with only 10% going to landfill. In addition most of the waste was dealt with locally, 85% in Kent. Reference was also made to the “Love Where You Live” campaign which continued to inspire local support and activity. The Council was an Ambassador Authority for the national campaign and a lead authority in the Love Kent campaign with numerous local projects including Bash the Trash events, the Street Monitor scheme, Voluntary Litter Code for businesses, and Bag and Flag dog fouling events.
The Leader expressed pride in the quality of the Council’s leisure facilities and increased leisure activity within the Borough, the Easter and Summer programmes for young people and the Youth Forum having been maintained. For older residents the Council had supported the Tonbridge and Malling Seniors and organised events to encourage take-up of services by elderly people within the communities. Sports participation rates had been increased across the Borough by 6% as measured by the Sport England Active People Survey, placing the Borough in the upper quartile in Kent. Initiatives had included Spring into Sport and the Young Cricket Leader Programme together with support for voluntary groups in staging the Tonbridge Half Marathon and continued support for local clubs.
The Leader reflected on the support to local community groups, town and parish councils through the Community Enhancement Fund with £456,000 awarded to over 200 community and voluntary groups and 20 town and parish councils. Reference was made to the fact that for the second year running the Council’s support to local town and parish councils had included New Homes Bonus income within the overall settlement. This meant that rather than facing a 13.4% reduction, the Council’s support constituted a 1.3% increase resulting in a net benefit to the parishes of £25,243.
The Leader indicated that the successful establishment of a new Leisure Trust, achieving annual revenue savings to the Council of around £500,000, had meant that exceptionally high standards of service delivery could be maintained. External funding had been secured to support continued improvement and investment in the Council’s leisure facilities and work in partnership with schools had secured community access to facilities. Most notably this included new floodlit all-weather pitches at Tonbridge, Wrotham and Hayesbrook Schools.
The Council had also delivered a number of high profile events including the Olympic Torch Relay through Borough Green and the welcoming of the Commonwealth Baton to Tonbridge Castle.
The Leader reflected on the proactive approach to stimulating economic activity throughout the Borough, including the provision of grant funding to local traders’ groups to boost trade in local retail centres and support for the Tonbridge Town Team and their initiatives to promote trade in the High Street. In partnership with the County Council, the ESCALATE business loan programme had been delivered providing loans with a total value of £850,000. Reference was also made to the Council’s role in helping deliver the West Kent LEADER Programme to provide grant support to rural businesses resulting in a total investment of £3.3m across the West Kent area and a successful bid for a new programme for 2015-2020.
The Leader indicated that the Council had been a key member of the successful lobby group that secured the dualling of the A21 between Tonbridge and Pembury and would continue efforts in securing East Facing Slips at junction 5 of the M25. The Council had helped secure a total of £4.36m from the Local Growth Fund to improve junction 4 of the M20 and to enhance Tonbridge High Street, along with a share of a further £4.89m to improve local rail stations including improvements to accommodate the new HS1 service at Snodland.
The Leader referred to the response to the severe flooding last year when emergency financial support had been delivered to over a hundred local businesses directly affected by the 2013/14 flooding in Tonbridge and East Peckham.
The Council had seen considerable success in securing investment from the government’s Affordable Homes Programme with over £7m of capital grant funding allocated to its housing association partners between 2015 and 2018 to provide new affordable homes. The 283 constructed or in the pipeline was the highest number of affordable units proposed across the programme.
The Council was reminded that it had consistently featured within the top three authorities in Kent for the most successful implementation of Help To Buy. The Leader referred to the critically important local housing allocations policy which was bringing practical changes to ensure affordable housing to those households which were local and in most need of housing assistance. The Council’s planning policy, the Local Development Framework, had delivered a robust land supply for new development which ensured the protection of the best natural and historic features of the Borough through the development control function.
Finally, the Leader reflected on the Council’s continued strong influence on rail and bus services by lobbying for better public transport as highlighted by the “Rail Manifesto” and facilitating new improvements such as the successful bus/rail interchange at West Malling. In conclusion the Leader believed that this was a record of service delivery to be proud of, the record of a “can do” Council.