Agenda and minutes

1.                  The Chairman noted that Mr Ridgers had stepped down from his position of Vice-Chairman and offered thanks to him for his support and professionalism in that role.  The Chairman then proposed Mr Wright for the position of Vice-Chairman, seconded by Mr Pugh.  The Chairman invited any other nominations and Mr Farrell nominated Mr Bird seconded by Mrs Dean.  There were no other nominations. 

2.                  Mr Wright was elected by a majority vote. 

RESOLVED that Mr Wright be elected Vice-Chair.

Apologies had been received from Mrs Beresford, Mrs Binks and Mr Ridgers.  Mr Bowles substituted for Mrs Beresford and Mr Pugh substituted for Mrs Binks. 

Apologies had also been received from the Parent Governor and Church Representatives. 

1.  Mr Bird declared an interest as he was a resident of Yalding with experience of flooding in relation to item A8. 

2.  Dr Sullivan declared an interest, as her husband was employed by the County Council in the Early Help and Prevention Team, in relation to item A9.

3.  Mr Bowles declared a non-pecuniary interest as he was a member of the Flood Risk Management Committee, in relation to item A8. 

4.  Mr Cooke declared an interest as he was a Trustee of the Fusion Healthy Living Centre in Maidstone that received grant money from KCC, in relation to item A9.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2019 were a correct record and that they be signed by the Chairman.

In response to a query from Mr Bird the Chairman confirmed that he had not received the information requested previously in relation to the Pupil Premium Select Committee – this would be followed up outside of this meeting.

A Member referred to the comment about the non-attendance of the Church Representatives, the clerk clarified that apologies had been sent and in addition another member clarified that the Parent Governor Representatives and Church Representatives would have had an opportunity to review the education budget at the Children, Young People and Education Committee. 

The clerk explained that the Affordable Housing Select Committee timetable had been agreed between the Chairman and Spokespeople of the Scrutiny Committee outside of the formal committee (in accordance with the constitution). 

Mrs Dean commented that the review started in November and was due to finish in July, with the hearings being held in February.  There were concerns that holding all the hearings in February put undue pressure on the Select Committee. 

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Committee note the timetable for the Topic Review.

Please note the dates and times of the Scrutiny Committee for 2020/21. All

meetings will begin at 10am and will be held in the Council Chamber.

- Wednesday 12 February 2020 (previously reported)

- Thursday 16 April 2020 (previously reported)

- Tuesday 19 May 2020 (previously reported)

-       Tuesday 7 July 2020

-       Tuesday 6 October 2020

-       Friday 27 November 2020

-       Wednesday 16 December 2020

-       Friday 22 January 2021

-       Friday 26 March 2021

-       Wednesday 9 June 2021

The clerk advised the Scrutiny Committee that the meeting dates had been circulated outside of the meeting and were provided for information and noting. 

Mr Hills (Chairman, Flood Risk Management Committee), Tony Harwood (Resilience and Emergency Planning Manager) and Max Tant (Flood and Water Manager) were present for this item.

1.The Chairman welcomed Tony Harwood and Max Tant to the meeting.  Mr Hills introduced the report which covered work between May 2018 to November 2019. 

2.  Mr Hills praised the officer support provided by Tony and Max and set out some of the highlights from the report.  All the information discussed, and presentations received by the Flood Risk Management Committee were available online on the KCC webpage.  Mr Hills gave a short overview of the work carried out at each meeting 

3. Tony Harwood clarified that Officers provided technical advice and were pleased that there was such excellent support and understanding among the committee members on Kent Flood Risk Management Committee (KFRMC).

 4. Members thanked Mr Hills for his excellent report and update, they praised the KFRMC officers and the regular external attendees, however there was disappointment at the low attendance from others. 

5. A Member referred to paragraph 7.2 of the report – flash (or surface water) flooding.  The report set out preparations made for coastal and river flooding but flash flooding did not seem to have any obvious preparatory element.  Max Tant explained that flash flooding was very difficult to predict, these events were very localised and typically due to summer storms.  During winter flooding there was often more notice due to available information.  There was a question about mitigation there were some places that now flooded more often from rainfall events and it might be necessary to look at how this was mitigated.  However, this was very expensive and there needed to be a good benefit-cost ratio.  Tony Harwood referred to the emergency planning element to flash flooding response.    Highways drainage and surface water flooding will become more of a priority as climate change impacts grow, and there was a need to look at a range of adaptation measures. 

6. A Member commented that the report covered coastal and highways drainage, it was correct that transparency was vital and the public should be kept aware of the key issues and risks.   The Member queried the reference to ‘Map 16’ in the report and Max Tant explained that this was the name of a piece of software used by the Highways department to help collect asset data.

7. Regarding flooding on the River Medway, there was concern about planning permission given for mobile home accommodation which was not meant to be occupied all year round.  The Member asked what was the position regarding the occupants of premises when they were not meant to be occupying them?  Did the local authority have responsibility to protect people occupying in such a way?   Tony Harwood explained that protection of life and property was paramount and that all of the protection for mobile homes at Little Venice Country Park worked and all of the evacuated residents were back in their homes in time for Christmas.

9.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Committee consideration based on the draft budget issued on 6 January 2020.

Peter Oakford (Deputy Leader), Dave Shipton (Head of Finance – Policy, Planning and Strategy), Zena Cooke (Corporate Director Finance) and Simon Pleace (Revenue and Tax Strategy Manager) were present for this item.   

1.  Mr Oakford introduced this item, highlighting that it had been a challenging decade, with over £600million being taken out of the budget over that period.  So the increase, of about 6%, in the Government’s settlement this year was very welcomed.  The £100million of pressures in this years’ budget had been addressed by the increase in grant from the Government, the Council Tax increase and Adult Social Care increase and from further savings (£34million) this year.  The increased settlement would result in the  most generous staff pay settlement for a decade.  In addition, following reductions in Member grants these had been returned to previous level.  The Capital budget was still concerning, 10% of the budget was financing the current debt.  It was clear that highways were a priority and were deteriorating, however while it was easy to borrow now to pay for the necessary works, this would still be challenging to pay for as debt later.  Finance were looking at alternative funding options to help manage the capital budget as the current approach was not sustainable. 

2. Simon Pleace gave a presentation to the Committee.  This was available online via this link.  The presentation focussed on the changes since the initial draft budget book was published and there were no significant changes to the assumptions made in the draft budget. 

3. The following questions were asked:

-       There was not as much concern about the revenue budget compared to the capital budget which was pleasing.  There was concern about the underfunding of Highways.  As the Member had specific enquiries it was suggested that this be followed up outside of the Committee meeting.  Mr Oakford spoke about the extra money for highways, through the capital programme of £105million over the next 3 years.

-       A Member asked about the link between the payroll budget increase of 3.6% with average earnings – did this uplift including the pressures arising from the living wage increase? 

-       What was the prudent thing for members to do with regards to managing the debt/spend issue and reserve management?  Considering an additional £121million borrowing over the next few years, this was an annual cost of 8%.  Why was this such a high level of interest/cost?

-       KCC needed to be mindful of the sustainability around borrowing and it would be preferable for KCC to be further away from the worse debt/reserve ratio.  There was also a concern about the income received from the Council’s Trading Companies. 

-       Members thanked Simon Pleace for an excellent presentation and officers were thanks for the briefings they gave the groups. 

-       Caution was urged in a transitional year; it was considered that there were some very fundamental issues that central government needed to resolve.  One of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

RESOLVED that the exempt minute of the meeting held on 19 November 2019 was a correct record and that it be signed by the Chairman.