Cabinet Member decisions

Background:

The Public Rights of Way and Access Service adopted asset management principles for the maintenance of the PROW network in 2007. This approach has brought benefits in targeting investment in the network, managing risk and evaluating new products and materials where they may help reduce long term expenditure. This plan has now been reviewed and updated.

Alternatives to the continued operation of asset management principles for Public Rights of Way maintenance have not been  considered.

How the proposed decision meets the objectives of ‘Increasing Opportunities, Improving Outcomes: Kent County Council’s Strategic Statement (2015-2020)’: The strategic direction for the management of the PRoW network is set out in the Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP), adopted by the County Council in November 2018. The ROWIP is aligned to meeting the County Council’s strategic objectives:

·         Children and young people in Kent get the best start in life.

·         Kent communities feel the benefits of economic growth by being in work, healthy and enjoying a good quality life.

·         Older and vulnerable residents are safe and supported with choices to live independently.

As Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services I agree to:

(a)  The Public Rights of Way and Access Service Asset Management Plan,

(b)  The approach taken to managing the risks associated with not fully funding the maintenance of the PRoW network in line with asset management principles; and

(c)  The proposed Service Level Risk Assessments which set out our approach to the management of risk on the PRoW network.

Background

Dungeness B is a qualifying site under The Radiation Emergency Preparedness Regulations 2019 Regulations Under the new REPPIR 19 guidelines, KCC has a legal obligation to produce an off-site plan for Dungeness B

As Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, I agree to confirm the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ) for Dungeness B Nuclear Power Station to remain at the 2.4km radius.

Background:

There is no single waste food processing plant within Kent for domestic food collected by the Waste Collection Authorities. Whilst waste food is collected as a single stream it is either hauled to Basingstoke for processing or mixed with garden waste to produce compost at a plant near Kings Hill.

This is commercially expensive with a poor environmental outcome. There is a significant commissioning opportunity for Waste Management as a food waste processing plant is under construction in Kent; this is an Anaerobic Digester that has the capacity to accept and process all food waste collected in the County.

The current food contract expires in April 2020 and the plant will be completed within this timeframe.  This plant will eventually cater for all the County’s food waste collected from kerbside over a phased approach with initially Mid Kent and South West Kent food being accepted upon service commencement, with East Kent food following in January 2021 when KCC takes title of the material.

As Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste, I agree to approve the decision to openly tender & award a new food waste processing services to a supplier within the County.

Background:

Due to the very limited KCC waste infrastructure in East Kent, there is a continued requirement to commission Waste Transfer Station services from third parties to deliver KCC’s statutory role as Waste Disposal Authority. There are currently no KCC owned Waste Transfer facilities in Thanet, Canterbury and Folkestone with only very limited, unsustainable capacity at Dover Transfer Station.

KCC Waste Management proposes to put in place three contracted services to deliver the statutory requirements of Waste Management disposal and to ensure designated facilities for the continuity of supply for the reception, bulking and haulage of kerbside collected waste from Canterbury City Council, Thanet District Council and Dover District Council. This is a statutory undertaking of the Waste Disposal Authority.

As Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste I agree to award contractual arrangements for three contracts across Canterbury City Council, Dover District Council and Thanet District Council of variable terms to cover KCC’s Statutory Requirement as the Waste Disposal Authority.

Approval to take the highway improvement through the next stages of development and delivery including authority to progress statutory orders and to enter into funding and construction contracts.   

As Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport & Waste I agree to:

(a)  give approval to the outline design scheme for the A20 Coldharbour roundabout in Tonbridge & Malling for development control and land charge disclosures, drawing number CLDHBR-CAP-HGN-00-DR-C-0035 S3-P01;

(b)  give approval to progress all statutory approvals or consents required for the scheme, drawing number CLDHBR-CAP-HGN-00-DR-C-0035 S3-P01;

(c)  give approval to enter into land agreements with third parties as necessary;

(d)  give approval to enter into construction contracts as necessary for the delivery of the scheme subject to the approval of the Infrastructure Construction Board to the recommended procurement strategy,

(e)  give approval to undertake engagement with all relevant stakeholders as identified in the communication plan; and

(f)   investigate the inclusion of full/part time signalisation as part of the design for the A20 Coldharbour roundabout.

Background:

A new HWRC facility to serve Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (T&M BC) and West Maidstone residents is required as the existing HWRC network in this area is at capacity.  The nearest facility is the Maidstone HWRC at Tovil which has reached its practical capacity; resulting in severe congestion on the local highway network around the site, causing delays to both visitors to the HWRC as well as local residents.  Measures to improve the efficiency of the site, including the increase of the Permitted tonnage (Environmental Permit) capacity have been investigated, and where possible implemented over the past few years.  However, demand has continued to grow, such that there are now no practicable solutions to make further efficiency improvements at this site.  Future housing growth / population increase indicates a significant increase in capacity is now required in this area.

The capacity issues are further exacerbated by the large catchment of the Tovil site and are compounded by the fact that T&M BC does not have a HWRC facility. Additional pressure will also be placed upon the Tovil site when the current agreement for Kent residents to use the Medway Council facility at Cuxton terminates in November 2020. 

As Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste I agree to:

(a)  award a contract for a new Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) to serve the needs of Tonbridge and Malling Borough and West Maidstone; and

(b)  take action as required to endeavour to retain access to Medway HWRC for Kent residents until the new facility is ready.

Background Information:

The future of the council owned and operated Wayfarers Care Home has been considered on at least three occasions since October 2010.  A previous public consultation carried out in 2015 considered KCC’s preferred options for four of its owned homes. This included a preferred option for Wayfarers to sell the home ‘as a going concern’ and approval was given through an executive decision in February 2016, to secure the sale of the home ‘as a going concern’.  This envisaged selling the home to an external provider with the successful bidder required to retain the building and the existing staff and being responsible for any future maintenance or upgrading of the building.  Despite a buyer being found, a decision had to be taken not to proceed with the sale as it was felt unviable for both parties.  The proposal put forward will support the KCC strategic objective that older and vulnerable residents are safe and supported with choices to live independently in modern and refurbished fit for purpose accommodation.

Decision:

Following the outcome of public consultation to close the current Wayfarers Care Home and for Kent County Council to seek to find a buyer for the building and its land and to explore Housing with Care options preferably in the Sandwich area; proceed with the alternative proposal received from the residents and staff of Wayfarers to relocate the Wayfarers service to an unused, purpose-built unit at Westbrook House, near Margate, and to find accommodation for any residents who instead may wish to move to alternative care homes; and delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health, or other nominated officer, to undertake the necessary actions to implement the decision.

As Leader of the Council, I approve a variation to the existing school place planning in Thanet through an urgent application being made to the Secretary of State to terminate the Academy Presumption process published in November 2017.

On the basis of approval from the Secretary of State being forthcoming, I further agree, subject to normal KCC and statutory school consultations, to KCC reversing its decision (17/0088) to establish a new secondary school in Thanet and instead;

• Agreement is given to the expansion of Ursuline College by 1 Form of Entry (FE) (5FE to 6FE) and King Ethelbert’s School by 2FE (from 5FE to 7FE)

• Agreement is given to the temporary expansion of Royal Harbour Academy to meet the additional need up to 2023/24

Reason(s) for decision:

My reason for the decision is as follows:

• It provides the best use of public resource with potential savings of at least £10.3 million capital.
• School rolls have not grown to the extent predicted in Thanet. Principally as a result of new housing build out rates being significantly lower than anticipated based on the Thanet Local Plan.  I believe that the shortfall against earlier projections should be materially reflected in our planning for future years and accordingly am persuaded that reducing the anticipated need is reasonable.
• In my view, the proposed strategy presents the best case for improving Educational Outcomes for young people in Thanet
• Numbers currently entering primary schools in Year R, 1 and 2 are dropping significantly.
• Expanding existing secondary schools strengthens the viability of Thanet secondary schools – both financially and educationally.
• The strategy to expand existing secondary schools in Thanet, has the full support of all Thanet secondary heads The extent of their support is shown in a letter signed by all secondary headteachers on 15 October 2019 and is appended to this decision.

It is on this basis that I seek to vary the existing commissioning plan and apply to the Secretary of State to terminate the presumption process and seek support to pursue alternative arrangements to meet the educational needs in that locality.

Reason for urgency:

The Department for Education (DfE) have indicated that they are only willing to consider proposals when they are formally put before them. Given the urgent timelines, I have concluded that it is imperative to bring forward the decision urgently and that KCC cannot wait for the conclusion of the normal key decision timetable.

The short-term demand on places in Thanet in the next two to three years rises to 5FE in 2021 and reduces to 1FE in 2025. Urgency is therefore required to obtain the DfE’s formal support. Note, building a new 6FE school in Margate would not be completed until September 2022, which is predominantly post bulge and therefore an interim solution needs to be found.

To provide clarity on the way forward and seeking clarity in their respective statutory positions, both the General Counsel and Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education also believe that the decision is now urgent.

Equality Implications:

An Equality Impact Assessment has been undertaken and can be viewed on request.  All identified issues have been mitigated and considered as part of this decision.

Business Plan:

The decision relates to the method for KCC to meet its Statutory duty to provide suitable education provision.

As Leader of the Council, I approve a variation to the existing school place planning in Thanet through an urgent application being made to the Secretary of State to terminate the Academy Presumption process published in November 2017.

On the basis of approval from the Secretary of State being forthcoming, I further agree, subject to normal KCC and statutory school consultations, to KCC reversing its decision (17/0088) to establish a new secondary school in Thanet and instead;

• Agreement is given to the expansion of Ursuline College by 1 Form of Entry (FE) (5FE to 6FE) and King Ethelbert’s School by 2FE (from 5FE to 7FE)

• Agreement is given to the temporary expansion of Royal Harbour Academy to meet the additional need up to 2023/24

Background

Following discussions in 2015/16 with all district housing authorities and within Kent County Council (KCC), it was agreed that KCC would coordinate the support provision for refugees resettled in Kent under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme, with the exception of those to be settled in Ashford and Canterbury.

In order to respond in a timely manner to the need to resettle refugee families, KCC entered into grant agreements with providers that were able to provide the required support.  It has been decided that the resettlement casework support provided to individual families and property set-up aspects of the scheme should now be formally commissioned in order to put the requirements of the scheme on a firm contractual basis, to give all potential providers the opportunity to bid and to ensure the specification covers all current and future refugee resettlement schemes.

At present the service is solely focused on the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme (VPRS). However, it is the intention to include in the tender the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (almost identical to the VPRS) for arrivals up to Spring 2020 and from then the new UK Resettlement Scheme which will absorb and extend the existing resettlement schemes going forward. Any future similarly arranged and funded schemes will also be covered by the tender. The proposed contract with providers will allow additional local authorities to be added if needed.

It is the intention to retain within KCC the coordination and management of the scheme and for the district housing authorities to remain, as now, responsible for decisions on the number of refugee families to be resettled and for the housing to be used.

Options considered

The options considered for the delivery of the resettlement support included to maintain the status quo (that is to continue to use the existing three providers and to pay them via annual grants), to provide the support from an in-house KCC team, to devolve the responsibility and budget back to the districts or to externally commission the support (either via one external provider for the whole of Kent, via a Dynamic Purchasing System or via a Framework Contract with Lots according to geographical area).

Alignment with the Strategic Statement

The proposed decision will enable KCC to deliver support to resettled refugee families in Kent in a way that meets the objectives of each of the three strategic outcomes in the Council’s Strategic Statement (2015-2020).

Outcome 1 – Children and young people in Kent get the best start in life: almost all the families resettled through the scheme contain children and young people.  They have all had to flee their country of origin following the witnessing of traumatic events; they have usually spent a few years in one of the countries surrounding Syria living an insecure existence where access to education, health care and other services is poor.  Settling in Kent enables children and young people to have their needs fully assessed and addressed where at all possible, thus enabling them to dramatically improve their life chances.

Outcome 2 – Kent communities feel the benefits of economic growth by being in work, healthy and enjoying a good quality of life:  a fundamental objective of the scheme is to enable all adults for whom it is appropriate, to access full-time employment and to eventually not require support from the benefits system.  To this end the scheme supports English language and skills training to enable individual refugees to secure employment. The support is very tailored to individual needs as the cohort of refugees arrive with very varied levels of education, qualifications and skills (e.g. there are craftsmen, manual workers, architects, teachers, people skilled in the hospitality trade, care professions etc).  In addition to benefitting the families themselves, the skills many of the refuges bring with them are a significant asset to the communities in which they are settled.

Outcome 3 – Older and vulnerable residents are safe and supported with choices to live independently:  all the refuges are vulnerable to an extent, having experienced trauma and displacement. On top of this a significant proportion have physical and mental health problems that need addressing once they arrive in the UK.  The support provided through the scheme enables them to access the services they require and to live as independently as possible in the community.  To date none of the refugees have had to access residential care or, if children, been taken into care.

Decision:

To commission via a competitive tender the refugee resettlement support service in Kent. Decisions about the commissioning process and the implementation of the new contracts to be delegated to the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education.

Background:

The County Council’s Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2019-23 is a five-year rolling plan which is updated annually. It sets out our future plans as Strategic Commissioner of Education Provision across all types and phases of education in Kent. A copy of the plan can be viewed from this link:

http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/strategies-and-policies/education-skills-and-employment-policies/education-provision

KCC forecasts indicate a growing demand for Year 7 places in Gravesend from the start of the 2019-20 academic year.  The Gravesend and Longfield Non-Selective Planning Group is forecast to have a deficit of 74 Year 7 places (2.5FE) from 2019-20 that increases to a deficit of 316 places (10.5FE) by 2023/24.

Thamesview School has a Published Admission Number of 150, but offered 30 extra places in 2016, 2017, 2018 and for the September 2019 intake.

KCC propose increasing the amount of school social space including, dining, recreational and circulation space over the next twelve months.  Without this building work, the school considers it may be unable to offer 180 places for September 2020. It is therefore proposed that for the September 2020 intake Thamesview maintain their PAN at 150 but will consider whether they can offer an additional 30 places nearer the time.

KCC propose planning and building a new block at the school, together with other infill work.  This work would be completed before the September 2021 intake.  This build would enable the school to offer 210 Year 7 places for September 2021.

Decision:

To publish a Public Notice on a proposal to expand Thamesview School, Thong Lane, Gravesend, Kent, DA12 4LF by increasing the Published Admission Number (PAN) from 150 places to 210 places from September 2021; and support further resources being expended to enable the scheme to proceed to planning stage.

Proposed Decision:

To agree the extension of collaborative partnership arrangement with Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT) until at least March 2025 and ongoing delivery of Public Health services through this approach. Public Health services included within the current arrangement are listed below:

·         Health Visiting

·         School Health Services

·         Sexual Health Services

·         Lifestyle Services and NHS Health Checks

·         Oral Health Services

·         Postural Stability Services

Background:

Kent County Council took the decision to enter into an innovative partnership with Kent Community Health Foundation Trust (KCHFT) in September 2017, with the aim to maximise the opportunity to improve the health of Kent residents, deliver common objectives and accelerate delivery of the Sustainability Transformation Plan (STP), known as the Sustainability Transformation Partnership.  This arrangement was also designed to offer the flexibility to align to new local care arrangements.

This decision recognised that KCHFT was integral to the delivery of the STP and recognised that both KCC and KCHFT faced significant challenges which could be better managed through a joint open and transparent approach. The original decision put procurement in “abeyance” until at least March 2020 and a further decision is required on how best to deliver these services in the future. Legal advice taken at this time confirmed that the approach was permitted within the Procurement Regulations.

The Kent and Medway Sustainability and Transformation structures are more advanced than in 2017 and local leaders are working to deliver the local plan, Case for Change. This includes a series of commitments which have been supported by KCHFT. Kent and Medway STP is developing a five-year plan in response to the national LTP and is required to become an Integrated Care System (ICS) in the coming months. Services and health providers will need to align to these changes and work with commissioners to determine how they can best integrate and support acceleration of local care.

Kent continues to face a series of significant demographic pressures alongside budget constraints and pressures, e.g. long-term clarity on national NHS pay and uncertainty on future funding arrangements for the Public Health grant.

As Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, I agree to the extension of the collaborative partnership arrangement with Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, until at least March 2025, and ongoing delivery of Public Health services through this approach.

Public Health services included are listed below:

• Health Visiting
• School Health Services
• Sexual Health Services
• Lifestyle Services and NHS Health Checks
• Oral Health Services
• Postural Stability Services

Background

Sunny Bank Primary School was established on 1 September 2016 when Murston Junior school and Murston Infant School and Maintained Nursery amalgamated. The new primary school opened in the existing accommodation of both schools and it wasenvisaged that in the longer term the Local Authority would pursue opportunities to bring the school together on one site that was in the ownership of KCC and support the school’s operation as an all-through primary school.

The KCP 2019-2023 identifies the need for additional places in the Sittingbourne East primary planning area. The expansion of Sunny Bank Primary by 0.5FE was identified to meet this need. A full feasibility was commissioned in 2018 to relocate the infant department and Nursery to the junior department site and provide the infrastructure to expand by 0.5FE to a 2FE primary school. This ensures that there are adequate places for children from new housing that is already being built out in close proximity to the school, as well as the future financial viability of Sunny Bank.

The current infant department was originally established in the 1860s and additional buildings were added over subsequent years. The buildings are in poor condition and the cost of maintaining the infant school site in order to ensure the buildings are fit for purpose would be considerable. The Infant buildings are on a site that is in the ownership of a local Diocesan Trust that comes under Canterbury Diocese. The lease costs are in the region of £ 20,000 per annum and are currently paid by KCC as the school would not be able to meet these costs and remain viable.The most cost-effective option is therefore to relocate the infant department to the junior site which is in the ownership of KCC and is of a sufficient size to accommodate all the buildings required for a 2fe primary school plus nursery.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education is asked to:

(i)            Allocate £4.2M from the Children, Young People and Education Capital budget;

(ii)          Authorise the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the General Counsel (Interim) to enter into any necessary contracts/ agreements on behalf of the County Council; and

(iii)         Authorise the Director of Infrastructure to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts. Variations to contract value to be no more than 10% above the capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without requiring a new Record of Decision.

This proposal is also subject to Planning agreement.

Background

Previously, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) used to assess how well Local Authorities were performing in Adult Social Care.  They no longer do this, and as part of national changes, all Local Authorities are now asked to produce a document, in partnership with their residents to enable them, to hold the authority to account.  As a result, the Local Account for Adult Social Care has been produced.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health is asked to APPROVE the Local Account document– ‘Here for you, how did we do?’ (April 2018 – March 2019) (attached at Appendix 1).

Decision:

Approval to award a contract for the delivery of Facilities Management Services in East Kent and to delegate authority to the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Corporate and Democratic Services to agree final terms and enter into any necessary contractual documentation.