Minutes:
(a) Reduction in the voting age
The Chairman informed the Council that he had received an acknowledgement on behalf of the Prime Minister to his letter setting out the motion passed at the last County Council meeting on reducing the voting age. He undertook to inform Members when he received a full response.
(b) Office Visits
The Chairman stated that following the refurbishment to the first floor of Invicta House he and the Vice-Chairman had visited the teams. They both enjoyed the visit immensely and were now planning to visit many teams and offices across the County.
Ms Birch, the Registration and Nationality Manager, had shown them around Archbishop’s Palace and he had been surprised to see so many different teams working within the building. Ms Birch would also be showing him around the register repository in Tunbridge Wells in January. The Vice-Chairman had also visited Brenchley House with Mr Gibbens at the beginning of this week, to see the work being carried out by the social care teams.
The Chairman had found these visits interesting and informative and planned many more for the New Year. He encouraged as many Members as possible to visit the different teams and various staff working across the County to see the fantastic services and frontline support that the County Council was delivering.
(c) Royal Mail’s Delivery Office Visit
The Chairman stated that he had visited Royal Mail’s Delivery Office in Maidstone to pass on Christmas wishes and encouragement during their busiest time of the year. He had been shown around the office by Delivery Office Manager, Steve Nelson. He had been pleased to meet many of the post office staff who went out in all weathers, and to see first-hand the effort put into delivering for the people and businesses of Kent during the run-up to Christmas.
(d) Royal Visits
The Chairman made the Council aware that there had been the following 10 Royal Visits to the County in the last six months:
HRH Duke of Kent – 3
HRH The Princess Royal – 2
HRH Duchess of Cornwall – 1
HRH Prince Henry of Wales– 1
HRH Duke of Gloucester – 2
HRH The Countess of Wessex – 1
(e) Variation of order of agenda items
The Chairman stated that in order to facilitate the more effective conduct of today’s business he proposed to swap the order of items 7 & 8 on the agenda and he drew Members’ attention to the version of the Outcomes Framework circulated separately.
(f) Eynsford Concert Band
The Chairman was pleased to announce that the Eynsford Concert Band had won the 2014 National Concert Band Symposium in a competition featuring some of the finest wind ensembles in the country. The band was celebrating forty years since its foundation. It attracted players from all over the south east, worked to support instrumental music particularly amongst Kent young people, and raised substantial funds for charity each year.
He had attended a spectacular concert at the Pamoja Hall, Sevenoaks staged by the band with the band of the Grenadier Guards.
(g) Honorary Alderman
The Chairman reminded Members that the additional meeting for the Honorary Aldermen would take place at 12.30pm or on the rising of the County Council whichever was the later.
(h) Carols
The Chairman invited all Members to join him for lunch with carols in the Atrium, Invicta House at 1.00 pm.