Agenda item

To receive verbal updates from the Cabinet Members for Commercial & Traded Services, Community Services and Environment & Transport and the Corporate Director for Growth, Environment & Transport on the following:

 

·               Community Safety including Conference

·               Kent & Medway Police & Crime Panel

·               KCC's 6th Annual Rail Summit

·               Road repair update

·               Major Projects update (Poorhole Lane, North Farm, M20 J10a)

·               Trading Standards and convictions

·               Eco2Mobility

·               Coroners

·               Waste Management update (Procurement, Church Marshes facility, tonnages and fly-tipping)

·               Single Local Growth Fund

Community Services

 

Mr Hill, Cabinet Member for Community Services, gave a verbal update as follows:

 

Community Safety Annual Conference – 4 June 2014

 

(1)       The 12^th annual conference had been convened by the Kent Community Safety Partnership and been attended by over 150 delegates from all public services and local authorities as well as elected Members. 

 

(2)       The theme of the conference this year was the electronic scene and it had focused on the emerging issues around personal and business safety presented by the ever increasing use of the internet, social media and other forms of electronic and web based methods of communication.  The range of electronic technology today was startling but this merely increased the playing field for cyber bullying and threats to personal information from the ‘dark web’.  This was a timely presentation of an ongoing problem and would be revisited at a later date.

 

Domestic Homicide Reviews

 

(3)       Following changes in the statutory requirements since November 2011 the Community Safety Partnership had taken over responsibility from the Home Office for initiating and undertaking Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) in response to tragic events across Kent.  There have been 10 DHRs since the enactment of the legislation and three Lessons Learnt Seminars have been hosted for the completed DHRs for frontline practitioners and multi agencies to share the lessons and recommendations from several reviews.  These seminars had involved presentation of the cases from the Independent Chairs and key agencies responses to the recommendations.  The events were hugely successful, with over 350 attendees and planning was current underway for the next set of seminars in the early part of next year. 

 

Kent and Medway Police and Crime Panel (PCP)

 

(4)       The Channel 4 documentary ‘Meet the Commissioner’ had sparked much media and social comment.  The PCP had asked the Police and Crime Commissioner to come and talk to them, which she had agreed to do and as a result of this she would be reporting back to the Kent and Medway Police and Crime Panel at its next meeting on her revised engagement strategy and to explain some of the thing which had occurred during the documentary.

 

 

Environment & Transport

 

Mr Brazier, Cabinet Member for Environment & Transport, gave a verbal update as follows:

 

Highways & Transportation

 

Major Projects

 

Poorhole Lane, Thanet – Local Pinch Point Fund Scheme

 

(5)     Jacksons Civil Engineering had been appointed to construct the scheme and had started on site on 23 June.  The first sod had been cut on the 3 July and work was due to be completed by 31 May 2015.

 

North Farm, Tunbridge Wells – Local Pinch Point Fund Scheme

 

(6)     Lafarge Tarmac had been appointed to construct the scheme and had started on site on 14^th July.  Work on this was also due to be completed by 31 May 2015.

 

M20 J10a

 

(7)     The Highways Agency (HA) was now actively promoting the full junction scheme including the KCC interim junction scheme.  KCC were working with the HA and the Department for Transport (DfT) to reach agreement on the delivery programme, the funding package and the governance required for the full junction scheme.  This would provide better access to Ashford from the M20 and open a new area of the town to economic development.  

 

Strategic Economic Plan

 

(8)     On the 7 July, the Government had announced an investment of £442m in the South East LEP area.  Kent & Medway’s allocation was £133m and includes a commitment of over £68m to start a number of schemes in 2015/16. 

 

(9)     Funding had been identified for several major projects including: the A28 Chart Road improvements in Ashford; the M20 J4 Eastern Overbridge widening; the Maidstone Gyratory Bypass and the Sturry Link Road, Canterbury.

 

Pothole/Road Repairs

 

(10)   The improved weather throughout April and May has allowed good progress with the weather damage repairs.  Work ranged from heavy patching, through small localised areas of resurfacing, to major resurfacing.  Rural roads were to be targeted in addition to the strategic road network while roads with areas of heavy patching would be identified for surface treatment in the next financial year.

 

(11)   KCC had been awarded a severe weather fund allocation of £8.6m from the Department of Communities & Local Government (DCLG) in March and an additional £6.3m had been awarded following the pothole application submitted to the DfT from these combined grants as follows: £4.7m was allocated to resurface areas of the highway damaged by the weather and £5.5m was allocated to undertake further potholes repairs and heavy patching.  The balance had funded pothole repairs caused by the winter storms and other associated weather emergency costs incurred at the start of this calendar year.  The funding had to be spent this year and the grant conditions stated that the funding was to complement planned highway maintenance expenditure for 2014/15.  Amey had secured additional Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) resources to complete the Find and Fix Campaign funded by KCC at £3m and an additional £3m has been allocated by KCC to undertake an enhanced capital drainage repair programme.

 

(12)   Pothole enquiries have substantially reduced and we are receiving similar and lower levels than for the same period last year, however, there remains much to do over the summer.

 

 

Environment, Planning & Enforcement

 

Public Rights of Way & Access

 

(13)   With regard to winter storm damage £75k had been allocated from the £8.6m granted from Government at the end of March.  This was good news however approximately £500k damage had been identified to date plus existing backlogs so there were still challenges to be met.

 

Eco2Mobility

 

(14)   Over 90 professionals from 25 organisations from across Europe came to Sessions House on 19 June to attend Eco2Mobility “The Next Generation”, a workshop focussed on sustainable transport and young people’s attitudes to the great outdoors. Twenty children from local Maidstone schools came to the event to contribute to the discussion around how this issue was affecting childhood wellbeing in the UK.  The event was organised by Explore Kent and the Transport Innovations Team.

 

(15)   Mike Austerberry, Corporate Director Growth, Environment & Transport gave a verbal update as follows:

 

Rail

 

(16)    KCC held its 6th Annual Rail Summit on 30 April 2014.  This had been a great success and was attended by Network Rail, South Eastern, Eurotunnel and a wide range of stakeholders. 

 

Trading Standards

 

(17)    Mr Austerberry advised that it may have come to Members attention that the Trading Standards (TS) team had been very visible and active on a number of fronts recently.  Firstly, concerning dangerous goods, TS were currently running a project to identify and remove from sale counterfeit and dangerous phone chargers from shops.  A number of products had been seized and were being tested.  Working with the Borders Agency and acting in its role as the relevant border control authority for product safety, KCC had seized nearly 1000 chainsaws being imported into the EU via Dover which were believed to be unsafe. Expert technical tests were underway.

 

(18)    The targeting of vulnerable victims by rogue traders always made for depressing reading, and currently KCC were investigating a conspiracy to defraud vulnerable home owners for vastly overpriced and shoddy property repairs, one victim alone had lost over £¼ m.  However arrests had been made and KCC’s Financial Investigator was currently tracing the money and further victims.

 

(19)    In the area of supporting business, the team have been supporting a small local Kent business as a major national retailer attempted to prevent them accessing the market.  The local business had been very appreciative of the support.

 

(20)    In terms of the service provided by TS to KCC’s business customers, the latest customer survey shows that 95% of businesses surveyed found the advice easy to understand, 90% took action as a result of the advice, 90% said that the impact on their business of the advice was positive, 80% rated the advice as highly effective (scored 8 or higher) and all would recommend the service to other businesses.

 

(21)    Looking ahead, the Checkatrade.com partnership with a wide range of Kent based businesses would be officially launched by Bryan Sweetland on 10 September outside County Hall.  Trading Standards was currently vetting over 850 individual businesses ranging from plumbers, builders, roofers and driveway companies in preparation for launch of this new public/private sector partnership, which aimed to protect consumers from rogue traders, whilst helping legitimate traders to grow.  Two information days had been held earlier this month with Kent businesses in Ashford and Maidstone.

 

Waste Management

 

(22)    The redevelopment of the waste transfer and Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) facility in Sittingbourne continued to move forward and, subject to planning approval, construction work was anticipated to begin in spring 2015.

 

(23)    The team were currently undertaking a review of KCC’s effectiveness in relation to its statutory duties and level of partnership engagement regarding fly tipping, in order to ensure robust and appropriate procedures were in place within the authority, and the procedures for reporting of incidents effective.

 

(24)    After several years of falling overall household waste tonnages, there had been a national rise in the first half of 2014.  This growth, which had been very much evident within Kent, was linked to both the improvement in the economy and the very favourable growing conditions during the mild winter and spring. Despite this overall growth in tonnage, the proportion of overall waste being recycled or composted had remained on target.

 

(25)    RESOLVED that the Cabinet Members’ and Corporate Director’s verbal updates be noted.