Agenda and minutes

-          Apologies

-          Declarations of Interest by Members in Items on the Agenda for this meeting.

Mr Hayton welcomed everyone to the meeting.

All county councillors present introduced themselves.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes were agreed as a true record.

Kent Youth County Council and Thanet Youth Council members will update the Board on their recent elections, their role and the local issues in Thanet that matter to them.

Bill Butler gave apologies for Sadie Williams and the Thanet KYCC/TYC members.  Unfortunately this evening’s meeting had clashed with a young people’s budget consultation group meeting in Ashford.

KYCC had a very successful election last November with almost 30,000 young people voting in the 12 different constituencies.  There were 106 candidates for 48 seats and 170 polling stations in schools, projects and town centres.  Young people in Thanet showed a very active interest with one-third of young people who put themselves forward for election, coming from Thanet.

KYCC members work closely with KCC councillors and officers and recently met with KCC Cabinet members to tell them of young people’s issues and concerns. TYC members work in a similar way with Thanet District Council.

Bill described a number of volunteering projects involving young people around the county.  Currently there is a pilot project in Thanet that is trying to encourage 90% of young people to engage in 50 hours of volunteering.  The project aims to give young people a positive image and give them the opportunity to experience volunteering and acquire different skills.  There is particular focus on intergenerational work to encourage greater understanding and better relationships between younger and older people; for example the South East Seniors Forum has asked for help from young people to build its website and Turner Contemporary’s Time of our Lives project that joins younger and older people together to reflect on what it’s like to be a teenager, now and then.

Q.                Do young people need CRB checks if they work with other young people?

A.                 There is no need to have a CRB check if the work is short term and there is no regular, unsupervised contact, for example Guides working with Brownies.  It is possible to have the under 16s CRB checked, and this is the policy of the Football Association, but currently there is no law that requires them to do this.  However the Independent Safeguarding Association (ISA) will be introducing a new registration system from July 2010 onwards with more stringent safeguards.

Q.                You mentioned that around 30,000 young people voted in the recent KYCC elections.  Does every young person have the opportunity to stand for election and vote?  Do you undertake any studies or profiling on this?

A.                 All the ballot boxes provide information to young people about the election process and the ballot papers have photographs and information on those standing for election.  Young people are given the opportunity to sell themselves to their peers.  Every school is invited to take part in the elections but young people’s opportunity to get involved is affected by how supportive their head teacher is of the KYCC elections.

Nick James, Group Manager Operations East Division, Chris Colgan, Manager, Risk Management Team and Richard Baugh, Team Leader, Risk Management Team will give a presentation on the KFRS draft 2010/2013 Integrated Risk Management Plan titled Making Kent Safer, which outlines plans to improve the services KFRS delivers to the community.  Currently KFRS is consulting on the initial outcomes of a rolling review of emergency cover and Thanet is one of the first two areas it has looked at.  Nick, Chris and Richard will talk about how the fire and rescue service intends to change the services it provides the community and focus upon what needs to be done in the future to reduce risk to life and make the best use of resources.

Nick James thanked the board for inviting KFRS to present its Making Kent Safer Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) and introduced his colleagues, Chris Colgan, Manager and Richard Baugh, Team Leader, both from the KFRS Risk Management Team.

The concept of the IRMP came out as the result of a national dispute in 2003 when it became clear that central government had not given enough guidance on what they expected of the fire service.  While a national framework was necessary for national level issues such as terrorism, it became evident that there was a real need for the local fire services to engage with their local communities and shape their responses accordingly, rather than have a national ‘one size fits all’ approach. 

The 2010/2013 IRMP sets out what KFRS needs to do for local Thanet residents.  It is a rolling review of all emergency response, not just fire cover and includes flooding, road traffic accidents, etc.  The plan is supported by extensive research and feedback from consultation (that ended in January ‘10).  Local people were also invited to comment at a feedback event held at the Thanet Gateway in December ‘09.  Previous reviews have looked at the possibility of redeploying some fire engines and special appliances to maximise their efficiency.  By involving local staff with local expertise, the Risk Management Team can respond to any changes in local risks and look at how these and any new proposals, would impact on the strategic cover for the whole service.

A DVD was shown that highlighted the need for KFRS to put itself in the best position to serve Kent residents over the next 5, 10 and 15 years and identify how risk can be reduced.  By working with local people in Thanet, risk areas can be identified and assessed, for example, vulnerable people, harbours, airports, chemical plants and comparisons made by analysing the number of incidents and trends over the past five years.

Kent has 86 fire engines and six are in Thanet.  Thanet has four fire stations, Margate, Ramsgate, Thanet and Westgate and a key proposal for emergency response provision is the potential to manage these as a single group, including the search for a site to replace Ramsgate fire station.  (Ramsgate still needs a fire station, but the existing building is listed and not fit for purpose as it was designed for a horse and cart, not a modern day appliance.) 

Manston has its own fire station and there is good partnership working and some cross-over but only inside the airport boundary.  To deal with large fires like the one at Kingsnorth Power Station in January, the government brings in assistance from other local authorities, in this instance Essex.

The Risk Management Team use computer generated models to gain accurate information on journey times that include traffic congestion likely at certain times of the day, so that appliances can get to incidents quickly.  The team also has information on population density as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Second Homes funding and adjustments to the previously agreed 2005/06 Second Homes allocation – short presentation by a representative from Thanet District Council.

Mr Hayton welcomed Paul Verrall to the meeting and explained that Second Homes’ allocation was £224,000 of funding that had been given by KCC to Thanet District Council (TDC) in 2005/06 for projects Thanet-wide. 

Paul Verrell outlined the current status of Second Homes 2005/06 funded projects that had previously been agreed by the Thanet Local Board and referred to the detailed report he had provided for circulation at the meeting. (If you would like a copy of this report please email anne.charman@kent.gov.uk.)  He explained that some projects have been completed, some are still to be completed and some have now been completed without the need for Second Homes funding, leaving money unspent.  TDC were now requesting approval for the unspent money to be used for new projects, all of which are still part of TDC’s Environmental Action Programme which targets town centres, sea fronts and entrances to districts.

Three new projects in Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate were described and approval requested.

Mr Hayton told the meeting that these proposed adjustments had been discussed and agreed by the Thanet Local Board members prior to the meeting.  However, as the money was allocated in 2005/06 the Board would like to set a timeframe of one year from the date of this meeting for the completion of all these projects.  After this time the board will consider re-directing any outstanding money to other Thanet projects. 

Mr Hayton thanked Paul for attending and commented that the projects put forward were worthy of support and looked forward to seeing them when completed.

Recommendations of the board to be announced for 2009/10.

The recommendations of the Thanet Local Board for Local Scheme Grant for 2009/10 totalling were as follows:

Mr Hayton then asked Anne Charman to provide a quick overview on how to apply for funding still available to organisations in Thanet from the Member Community Grant.

There were no questions raised.

None.

Mr Hayton thanked all the speakers for their interesting and informative presentations.

The next Thanet Local Board will be held on Wednesday, 31 March 2010 at the Margate Media Centre, Margate.

Mr Hayton thanked the public for attending and closed the meeting.