Minutes:
1. Mrs Bell, Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, provided an update on the following:
(a) Herne Bay Library would reopen to the public on Wednesday 4th October following essential maintenance works including internal and external improvements.
(b) The Library Summer reading Challenge ‘Ready, Set, Read!’ took place over the summer and libraries hosted a range of activities and events to support the challenge. Over 19,000 children take part in person in a library, an increase of 9% on last year, with just under 2,000 joining online. In total 20,106 children took part in Ready, Set, Read!
(c) The Council’s social prescribing service, Positive Wellbeing, developed by the EU funded Connected Communities project ended in April and was now provided by all senior Community Wardens across Kent. The pilot was a great success with a significant overall reduction in social isolation and loneliness amongst service users. The next step was to complete an analysis of who in Kent needed the greatest support and identify potential delivery partners for the Positive Wellbeing service. Monitoring and evaluation across the service would take place to ensure results were measured and reported.
(d) The Community Warden consultation would close on 3 October 2023 and the Council was keen to ensure everyone had a chance to have their say, particularly those from vulnerable groups or individuals with protected characteristics. Mrs Bell urged Members to promote the consultation to their residents.
2. Members asked about the Community Wardens Consultation and how the potential drop in numbers of wardens would affect the delivery of the Positive Wellbeing Service, and Mrs Bell said social prescribing would continue to be offered through Adult Social Care to promote support in the community and work was ongoing with the NHS to develop social prescribing and community navigation.
3. Mr Murphy, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, provided an update on the following:
(a) A number of visits had taken place including with the Portfolio Holder for Economic and Social Regeneration and Inward Investment at Medway Council, the Leader of Folkestone & Hythe District Council regarding Otterpool and small modular reactors in Dungeness, and the Cabinet member for Place Plan, Heritage, Tourism and District Economy at Folkestone & Hythe District Council regarding levelling up funds. More visits with counterparts within the districts were planned.
(b) On 26 July 2023 Mr Murphy attended the naming of a hybrid and double-ended P&O Pioneer Ferry at Dover Docks. The ferry was expected to reduce carbon emissions by 40% and had been designed for the Dover to Calais route.
(c) Along with the Leader Mr Murphy visited the Berkley Group factory in Gravesend in August which employed 90 people for the automated building of modular homes. At full production 1,000 home units per annum could be produced and work was also taking place regarding apprenticeships.
(d) Since December 2021, the Straits Committee member authorities had collectively committed over £200,000 to nine cross-Channel projects, allowing schools, universities, business, voluntary and public sector partners from Kent and the near continent to work together on themes that include education, social care, climate change, culture, heritage, and sport. Mr Murphy attended a commemoration to mark the 70th anniversary of the tragic 1953 North Sea flood which included a conference for water experts to exchange good practices on addressing climate challenges.
4. Mr Murphy responded to the following questions and comments from Members:
(a) Members discussed Manston Airport and requested that an update be presented to the Cabinet Committee at a future meeting.
(b) Members discussed the future consideration of apprenticeships at cabinet committees with reference to specific sectors. Mr Murphy said apprenticeships were discussed at the Employment Task Force and Mr Smith confirmed that statistics were considered periodically by the Employment Task Force and the county was currently tracking the national average but within Kent the performance differed within districts.
5. Mr Jones, Corporate Director Growth, Environment and Transport, provided an update on the following:
(a) The Libraries, Registration and Archive (LRA) Service was hosting its annual Customer Service Excellence inspection, the results of which would be provided in due course.
(b) The Community Warden Service was busy over the summer addressing anti-social behaviour in communities and undertaking a number of referrals to support vulnerable people. On 11th September the team delivered a community safety information session covering the Kent and Medway Domestic Abuse Strategy Consultation.
(c) The coroners and the staff supporting them had now moved into their new space at Oakwood House. Final works were underway to open the court rooms, collocating the courts with the service for the first time.
(d) The Economic Development team had been working on LEP transition and were preparing for the reopening of the Kent & Medway Business Fund. The team had been collating applications for a final round of ‘Getting Building Fund’ administered by SELEP. The Kent & Medway Economic Partnership (KMEP) had been working to rank the projects and submit a prioritised list of bids for later consideration by SELEP.
(e) Mr Jones had visited two sites in Dover transformed by loans from KCC’s No Use Empty Scheme including the Tridax Business Park in Whitfield which had created a number of new commercial units and the Railway Bell site near River which had seen a derelict pub converted into 6 apartments with 6 high quality houses on the grounds.
(f) The Community Protection communications team continued to support the cost-of-living crisis and those it affected the most using alerts and social media messaging. Ongoing messaging and awareness raising of doorstep crime continued and the team was warning about high levels of illegal and unsafe e-cigarettes and vapes.
(g) The Trading Standards ports team continued to tackle the issue of illegal vapes imported through Kent ports.
(h) Kent Scientific Services had secured a further £100,000 grant from the Food Standards Agency as part of their drive to support the capacity and capability of Official Control Laboratories post EU Exit. Following the visit by the Prime Minister, the BBC had filmed a programme linked to the presence of allergens in vegan food.
(i) The film, The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar, filmed in Kent was being released on Netflix on 27 September and contributed £2.5million to the Kent economy.
6. A Member commented on potential opportunities available to the Council by promoting the films that were filmed in Kent.
RESOLVED to note the verbal updates.