Minutes:
(1) Mr Ferrin explained that the arrangement for John Hobbs of Worcestershire County Council to undertake project work for Kent had been terminated by mutual agreement due to Mr Hobbs having taken sick leave following an injury shortly after starting work. Unfortunately, by the time Mr Hobbs would have been fit to return to work it would be too late for the project to be useful, so the arrangement had been cancelled. Worcestershire County Council and Mr Hobbs had been thanked for their willingness to help. In response to a question, Mr Ferrin and Mr Austerberry explained that the payment Kent had had to make to Worcestershire to cover Mr Hobbs’ time was minimal, being about £600 per day for five days.
(2) Mr Ferrin confirmed to the Committee that the present interim appointments of Mr Austerberry and Ms C Bruce were still in place and would continue. He was very pleased with the way the appointments had worked out. Members welcomed Mr Austerberry and invited him to meet the political groups. In response to a question, Mr Ferrin explained that there was no timescale at present for permanent appointments to be made but that, when the time came, such permanent posts would be advertised openly for competition. He emphasised that this was not because he had any doubt or lack of confidence in the interim officers, and confirmed to the Committee that interim directors had all the powers that would be held by permanent directors. He added that the last few years had been very difficult and stressful and assured Members that he had every confidence that, with the officers currently in post, the next six months would be very different from the previous three and a half years.
(3) Mr Ferrin and Mr Austerberry then went on to answer questions from Members about several other topics, as follows:-
(a) Public engagement by Kent Highways Services (KHS) officers. Members reported that some local bodies had previously been advised that it was not the practice of KHS officers to attend evening meetings for bodies other than parish councils, but Members agreed that attendance would be very helpful. KHS had always been very helpful when attending parish council meetings, but many areas of the county did not have parish councils. Mr Ferrin expressed the view that, where any democratically elected body wished to invite KHS to a discussion of highways issues then KHS officers should attend, as long as an agenda item was specific and sufficient notice of it had been given so KHS officers could prepare properly and be ready to respond to questions. The volume of meetings that KHS officers were asked to attend should also be reasonable. It was suggested that this issue be discussed further at a future meeting.
(b) Officer Contacts. Members had asked to be given contact numbers for Highways officers in their local area, such as those involved with PIPKIN projects, but these had not been forthcoming and Members had to contact the PIPKIN team via the Community Liaison Manager in their area. Mr Austerberry agreed that Members should be able to contact Kent Highways staff directly, but added that it was important for officers to ensure that all contacts made by Members with staff were still centrally captured and recorded. For routine matters, the most efficient system would remain for Members to continue to go via the Contact Centre. Members said they had experienced problems when ringing via the KCC Contact Centre to pursue questions on behalf of local residents as the Contact Centre staff was not familiar with Members and the way they worked.
(c) Developers income. Mr Ferrin highlighted the need to consider that the reduction in development in Kent due to the recession might lead to a drop in income for KCC. This would be a particular issue for next year’s budget.
(d) Winter salting. Mr Ferrin said that in icy weather KCC would always salt roads where needed, regardless of the cost, and would not cut down salting to save costs. The only decision to be made was whether or not salting was required. He expected this year’s salting budget to exceed the sum previously estimated.
(e) EDF Energy and Street Lighting. Mr Ferrin said that continued frustration was being experienced with the performance of EDF in repairing street lights, although he understood that a performance improvement protocol would shortly be signed between EDF, KCC other local authorities who shared the same problem.
(4) Mr Long, Lead Member for Regeneration & Supporting Independence, updated the Committee on the forthcoming launch of a Kent Leader programme called “Kent Downs and Marshes” in Ashford on 23 January 2009. This programme would make available (via KCC?) £400,000 of grants to small businesses and the rural economy of mid Kent over five years. Responding to a question, Mr Long said that details of the bidding process should become clear after the launch, but confirmed that anyone could bid for funding under this programme.
(5) Mr K Lynes outlined a number of projects he had been involved with and answered questions put by Members. He referred to the launch of KCC’s Regeneration Framework earlier that morning and undertook to make available to all POC Members the “Unlocking Kent’s Potential” document which related to this. Members had the opportunity to submit views during the initial consultation period of six weeks.
(6) The “Backing Kent Business” campaign had also been launched that morning, with KCC signing a formal agreement and action plan for joint working with partner organisations with the aim of providing the best possible support to local businesses through difficult times. KCC’s webpages offered a link to the pages of various partner organisations.
(7) The Ashford Future Partnership Board (AFPB) had been set up to allocate £4 million of growth area funding? Much discussion had been going on with key partners to decide how to allocate the money, and Mr Hallett added that the financial modelling was very complex. Other KCC directorates were also involved in this and the issue was regularly discussed at Chief Officers Group (COG). It was agreed that Ashford Members be sent copies of minutes of those discussions and meetings of the AFPB.
(8) Partners in the development of Fastrack had met recently to discuss how to take the project forward. All were keen to extend the scheme, although the recession would inevitably slow down the development of Fastrack and related housing development.
(9) Mr Lynes also mentioned briefly other current projects for which he had been visiting and liaising with KCC’s partner organisations, including the Port of Ramsgate, the Array Windfarm, Manston Park, the “No Use Empty” initiative and the Rendezvous site.
(10) RESOLVED that the updates be noted.