Minutes:
1. The Cabinet Members Mr Dance and Mr Hill gave their verbal updates and highlighted the following:
Mr Dance, Cabinet Member for Economic Development
2. Mr Dance advised that he visited West Flanders, Belgium, where he signed a Memorandum of Understanding to forge a partnership with European partners, which would aid access to European funding.
3. Mr Dance advised that he attended a secondary school in Picardy, accompanied by Ms Jacqui Ward, Expansion East Kent Programme Manager, which had a large engineering workshop, containing £62 million of machinery that had been funded mostly by the State. The young people were trained to a high standard and local businesses were able to come to the workshop with engineering problems which the students would be tasked to solve. This operation had put them in a position for funding from a fund called ‘Horizon 2020’ which had €79 billion funding available for innovation and research projects. Mr Dance said that Kent could work with Picardy and Nord pas de Calais on similar models.
4. Mr Dance attended Dover Harbour Board (DBH) where the Secretary of State for Transport, Stephen Hammond, was in attendance. The Minister had changed the Trust status slightly which would allow the DHB to access funds and grow its assets to allow the Harbour Board to expand. This would be in place in June/July. There would be representation from the People’s Port on the new Trust.
5. Mr Dance spoke on Garden City Ebbsfleet and referred to the 2 major road initiatives at Ebbsfleet and Bean junction and the housing developments in Dartford and Gravesham. He considered that having Paramount as part of this expansion would be a unique opportunity.
6. Mr Dance responded to comments and questions by Members which included the following:-
a) A comment was made that Paramount would be an enormous opportunity for Kent, potentially producing 40,000 jobs.
b) In reply to a question, Mr Dance considered that the benefits of the workshop in Picardy to Kent would be to mirror that model in eg the Skill Centre in Sittingbourne.
c) A comment was made that Kent Members and Officers should not need to travel to France to gain information. Mr Dance responded saying that meeting people face to face broke down barriers and was to Kent’s advantage.
Mr Hill, Cabinet Member for Communities
7. Mr Hill advised that although the Communities Directorate had been decommissioned as a result of a decision at the County Council meeting on 27 March, the Communities portfolio continued and had been split over the 3 newly appointed Directorates. As well as this Cabinet Committee, Mr Hills portfolio fell within the remit of the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee and Education and Young People Services Cabinet Committee.
8. The Communities portfolio within the remit of this Cabinet Committee was; Arts, Big Society and Volunteering and Voluntary and Community Sector Liaison. Mr Hill agreed to submit a report on the Big Society to the next meeting of this Cabinet Committee.
9. Mr Dance, Mr Hill and Mr Austerberry responded to comments and questions by Members which included the following:
a) Mr Austerberry confirmed that Sport was within the remit of the portfolio of this Cabinet Committee. [Libraries and Registration and Archives were also within the portfolio of this Cabinet Committee]
b) Mr Hill concurred that all the Cabinet Committees could have a service linked in some way to the voluntary sector. He advised that the database of volunteers for the Olympics in 2012 could be used by Kent to allow contact for various projects but there were very tight rules regarding its use.
10. RESOLVED that the responses to questions by Members and the information in the verbal update be noted with thanks.