Minutes:
1. Miss Carey reminded the committee that her environment and waste member briefing, which provided all members with an update on recent developments within her portfolio, had been shared in advance of the meeting.
2. Mr Brazier gave a verbal update. He told the committee that he planned to produce member briefings, on highways and transport developments, in a similar format to Miss Carey’s briefings. He confirmed that he had recently chaired Kent’s annual rail summit and had worked with the Leader to create a member working group to examine ways of funding and operating more effective, better value, bus services. The committee were informed that a meeting had taken place between the Cabinet Member and the Manging Director of Brompton Bikes, ahead of the company’s anticipated move to Ashford by 2030, he noted that the company had high environmental standards and had been impressed with KCC’s active travel schemes. He added that he recently attended an awards ceremony in London, arranged by the Royal Institute of British Architects, where the remodelling of Swanley railway station, which I reopened in November 2021, was nominated for an award. He mentioned that he had also met with Lord Waverley, who was chairing an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on the future of freight and logistics in the UK and had explained Kent’s unique position along with a list of prioritised infrastructure schemes which would be of most value. He informed members that he had attended a meeting of the Margate Town Deal Board, which had received grant to remodel the central Cecil Square, to remove highways infrastructure and create shared space, allowing the townscape of Georgian buildings to become more prominent, it was noted that he would continue to monitor the progress of the project. He concluded the verbal update by explaining that he had attended ADEPT’s live labs dragons den the previous week and introduced to the judges a scheme from a partnership between KCC, Brighton and Hove Council and consultant colleagues which aimed to acknowledge the increased weight of each HGVs and buses powered by non-fossil fuelled means, the scheme would demonstrate how it was possible to improve the resilience of highways by 40% and save the same percentage of carbon emissions.
3. Mr Jones gave a verbal update on recent operational developments across the Environment, Waste, Highways and Transport services. He introduced Haroona Chughtai, the new Director of Highways and Transport, noting her strong track record and previous experience at the Department for Transport. Members were informed that National Highways had resubmitted their Lower Thames Crossing development consent order application on 31 October, Mr Jones explained that the Planning Inspectorate were assessing the application and that KCC’s role as one of the consultees is to ensure the advocacy of their consultation, with teams withing Highways and Transport working closely with the Planning Inspectorate to provide appropriate responses. On parish seminars, Mr Jones noted that many had taken place recently, with particularly positive feedback from communities. In relation to the winter service he reassured members that KCC was in a good position ahead of future cold spells with gritters and salt stocks maintained and on standby. Concerning recent severe weather, he paid credit to the Highways drainage team who had recently dealt with a high volume of emergencies across the county. On the issue of inflation, he noted that it had affected all contracts, across Environment, Waste, Highways and Transport services and had been monitored closely. He assured members that the directorate endeavoured to limit cost rises, where possible, and kept a tight control of the operating budget, to reduce the threats posed. He ended his verbal update by drawing the sustainable communities and businesses team to the attention of the committee, it was explained that they had been working on preparing residents for winter, through the county-wide ‘Share The Warmth’ campaign, with advice given to families on how to be energy efficient, stay warm and address winter conditions.
RESOLVED to note the verbal updates.