Agenda and minutes

SITTINGBOURNE LOCAL ENGAGEMENT FORUM

MINUTES of the Meeting held at Phoenix House, Central Avenue, Sittingbourne on Tuesday 27th October 2009 from 7:00 pm to 9:03 pm.

PRESENT: Councillors Derek Conway (Vice-Chairman in the Chair), Councillors Dave Banks, Duncan Dewar-Whalley, Sue Gent, Nicholas Hampshire, Mike Haywood, Gareth Randall, Brenda Simpson, Ben Stokes, Roger Truelove, Ghlin Whelan, Nick Williams, Jean Willicombe and John Wright. Kent County Councillor: Mr Mike Whiting. Kent Association of Local Councils: Mr Don Jordan (Rodmersham Parish Council) and Mr Paige (Borden Parish Council).

OFFICERS PRESENT: Eric Fisher, Joanne Hammond, Bob Pullen, Pete Raine and Jean Wood (Swale Borough Council) and Bill Ronan (Kent County Council).

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Sylvia Bennett, Jennifer Chandler, Clive Eglinton, Anne Lewis, Peter Morgan, Elaine Nappey, Keith Nevols, John Owen and Carole Owen (local residents), Station Commander Alan Monk (Kent Fire and Rescue), Mike Danso (Volunteer Reading Help), Rebecca Perry (Swale DV Fora), Sarah Williams (Swale Council for Voluntary Services), Laura Jobson (Home-Start), Eileen Martin (AmicusHorizon), Christine Locke (Diversity House and NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust), Police Community Support Officers Matthew Link and Lauren McCall and Chief Inspector Tony Henley and Inspector Evan Jones (Kent Police).

APOLOGIES: Councillors Simon Clark, Gerry Lewin, Elvina Lowe, Adam Tolhurst and Manuella Tomes (Swale Borough Councillors) and Mr Bowles and Mr Alan Willicombe (Kent County Councillors).

446    MINUTES

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 7th July 2009 (Minute Nos. 157 - 167) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

447    DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Duncan Dewar-Whalley declared a personal interest in respect of agenda item no. 7 (funding for community projects) as he was the Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Church of the Sacred Heart, Sittingbourne.

448    WELCOME TO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC AND OPPORTUNITY FOR QUESTIONS

The Chairman welcomed all those present to the meeting and introduced Officers from Swale Borough Council and Kent County Council.

Mr Peter Morgan, Chairman of the Swale Seniors Forum, asked the following question:

Will the Leader of Swale Borough Council and the representatives of Kent County Council give assurances that the free bus-pass service will remain as it is at present in the budget for 2010?

The Chairman confirmed that a written response to the question would be provided.

   RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS RAISED AT THE MEETING

Added 19th November 2009.

449    SWALE BOROUGH COUNCIL'S BUDGET CONSULTATION 2010/2011

The Interim Head of Finance outlined the budget consultation, which sought the opinion of members of the public, local businesses and key partners on SBC's priorities for spending for the 2010/2011 budget. He explained that the consultation would be available on the Council website at www.swale.gov.uk and paper copies could be requested from the Council. The deadline for responses was 30th November 2009. The level of Council Tax for 2010/2011 would be agreed at Council on 24th February 2010.

Mrs Anne Lewis, Milstead Parish Council, considered that the budget questionnaire did not recognise that residents in different parts of the Borough would have different priorities for their local area.

The Interim Head of Finance explained that the purpose of the questionnaire was to gather a general understanding of residents' priorities across Swale.

The Interim Director of Regeneration advised that respondents could include their postcode on the questionnaire as part of the Equalities Monitoring Form. The postcodes could then be used to look at responses by areas and identify trends.

450    UPDATE FROM PARTNERS

Chief Inspector Tony Henley, Borough Commander for Swale, advised that a ward-based newsletter was being delivered to every household in Swale which showed how the Police had responded to issues raised by local residents. He welcomed feedback on the content and benefit of the newsletter for residents.

Chief Inspector Henley reported that Kent Police and Swale Borough Council were working together to improve public confidence in how they dealt with anti-social behaviour in the Borough. A Community Safety Unit had been established and was located at Swale House. Police Officers now worked alongside Swale Borough Council Officers to deal with community safety issues, which prevented duplication of work and made best use of resources.

Christine Locke, Diversity House, commented on the problems of race and hate crimes for some local residents. She raised concern that residents had lost confidence in the Police so they no longer reported incidents of race and hate crime.

Chief Inspector Henley agreed to follow these comments up directly but stressed that the Police would investigate any reported incident and that a hate crime unit had been established in the past six months.

Inspector Evan Jones reported that there had been a 10.5 per cent reduction in crime in Sittingbourne since 25th October 2008, which corresponded to 297 less victims of crime. However, public confidence in the work of the Police and Local Authority was lower than they would like. The Police had held a successful "Have Your Say Day" in Sittingbourne High Street and spoke to over 300 residents. These events were being held across Swale to find out residents' concerns and to address these issues in conjunction with partner organisations.

Alan Monk, Station Commander for Sittingbourne and Faversham Fire Stations, explained his role and reported that Sittingbourne had experienced an increase in the number of house fires and grass fires. In response to this, Kent Fire and Rescue were offering Fire Safety Advice and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

451    FUNDING FOR COMMUNITY PROJECTS

The Policy and Performance Officer referred to the tabled paper which listed the bids received for community schemes. He explained that projects awaiting approval from the Local Engagement Forum were set out on pages one to four. The bidding process would continue until all the money had been exhausted but he stressed that funding could not be rolled forward into the new financial year.

The Chairman proposed and Councillor Roger Truelove seconded the applications listed for approval.

Members discussed the process for approval of bids and the Policy and Performance Officer confirmed that Councillors could combine their money to support projects.

Mr Mike Whiting (Kent County Councillor) referred to the grant funding available to Kent County Councillors for community projects. He suggested that Borough Councillors oversubscribed with applications for funding should contact their Kent County Councillor to see if they could assist.

Mr Owen, local resident, considered that it was an excellent scheme that would have a positive benefit for projects across the community.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the bids for community schemes as set out on pages one to four of the report be approved.

452    SWALE CENTRE FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

Sarah Williams introduced this item and gave an overview on the work that the Swale Council for Voluntary Service carried out. She explained the importance of engaging with public, private and voluntary services in order that they could all work together. She invited the Forum to participate in a round-table discussion to gather ideas on how groups could engage better, what they were doing at the moment and how this could be improved.

The comments from the session would be collated by Sarah and reported back at the next Sittingbourne Local Engagement Forum meeting.

Sarah Williams, Swale CVS

   The Chairman thanked Sarah for facilitating the session.

453    TRANSPORT ISSUES

This item was considered as part of the round-table discussion and the Forum were invited to write down their views on transport issues affecting the area. The issues raised would be collated for discussion at the next meeting of the Sittingbourne Local Engagement Forum with appropriate Officers.

Senior Democratic Services Officer

   Mrs Anne Lewis referred to the Sittingbourne to Wormshill post-bus service, which was due to end from early November 2009. She considered that the end of the service would severely affect residents of rural villages, who relied on the service to access Sittingbourne. She considered that the Kent Karrier Service was not a suitable alternative as elderly residents would not be able to use their free bus pass, and it would reduce spaces for disabled people who used the service. She asked for an update on what provisions were being made by Kent County Council to replace the post-bus service.

Councillor Wright asked for information on how assisted bus services were rated and how money was diverted to other bus services.

Mr Mike Whiting (Kent County Councillor) reported that a bid was being prepared to the Kent County Councillors Highways Fund to provide a bus service to cover the post-bus route

454    SITTINGBOURNE TOWN CENTRE MASTERPLAN UPDATE

The Interim Director of Regeneration referred the Forum to the latest Sittingbourne Regeneration newsletter, which was also available to view on the Council's website.

The following comments were made:

The need to continue to engage with the public on the proposals for regenerating Sittingbourne;

Regeneration would be a long process over many years;

The Masterplan had taken a long time to agree and could only be a best guess for land use;

If land was agreed for other uses in the interim period it would undermine the Masterplan;

There was a mismatch between the increasing population of Sittingbourne and the lack of retail provision, and too many buildings in the High Street were empty;

A more accessible overview of the regeneration proposals should be made available on the website for members of the public;

Concern that the Northern Relief Road was not funded between Great East Hall and Bapchild and that this could discourage developers from investing in the town;

The recent refusal by the Planning Committee for a nightclub in Sittingbourne Town Centre could suggest to young people that the Council was not serious about improving the night-time economy in Sittingbourne.

In response to a question, the Interim Director of Regeneration advised that funding for the regeneration proposals would come from Central and Local Government and the private sector. He hoped that the high speed rail link to London would improve Sittingbourne's prospects for regeneration.

455    VENUE FOR NEXT MEETING

The Chairman requested that suggestions for a venue for the next meeting of the Sittingbourne Local Engagement Forum on 19th January 2010 be provided to Democratic Services.

The Chairman thanked all those present for attending the meeting.