Interview with Councillor Malcolm Greer.

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Malcolm Greer to the meeting, and invited him to present the update to the Committee.

Councillor Greer summarised that the river and heritage had been a big success so far but work was ongoing with respect to further planting and work to the sluice area. With regard to the river, £2500 from the Growth Point Revenue had been allocated to provide a Feasibility Study for the provision of a cycle path from Maidstone to Tonbridge. In answer to a question Councillor Greer informed the Committee that the cycle path will go from Maidstone to Tonbridge via East Farleigh and Teston and that although this extends out of Maidstone Borough area, Maidstone would be funding the feasibility study within its boundaryrather than Kent County Council. The Chairman asked how this project related to Kent County Council's £50,000 project to re-line and hard surface the towpath between East Farleigh and Maidstone, which is due to happen this financial year and is awaiting Environment Agency approval. Councillor Greer said there was a chance the funding could be lost and the project cancelled if this was not secured before the end of the financial year. The Committee asked what was next for the development of the river; Councillor Greer stated that the feasibility study will advise what the next stage should be.

The Committee was informed of changes that have happened within Building Control to comply with Building Charges Regulations 1998. This included making it more commercial, for example the hourly rate had been increased for services and in future, it would address other functions  such as fire assessments etc.Likewise with Development Control, Councillor Greer informed the Committee that although planning fees were subsidised by the Council they too were focussing on being more commercial with a new service level introduced offering applicants gold to standard service agreements. This included changing the level of service provided at planning committees by reducing the amount of input given, and to use the delegated decision making powers more, this had resulted in saving of more then £1000 per case.Councillor Greer informed Members that the number of Enforcement cases outstanding had reduced considerably to 90. It was noted that this was a vast improvement and the Committee requested further information on how this had been achieved.

Councillor Greer informed the Committee that the company G Force had received planning permission, which allowed them to create 60 new jobs, of which 90% would be for Maidstone residents. A further 15 jobs were expected to be created in the near future, which marked a 66% growth rate in the last year, 9 new work placements with Kent Educational Institutions , the start of an Academy for local young people, and at present a benefit to the local economy of £5 million per year. This is expected to increase to £10 million in the next 12 – 24 months.

It was noted that MidKent College is redeveloping in the next year following a £20m investment. Other developments in Vocational Skill Studio in Senacre had provided £5m for the local economy, with a predicted increase to £10m within the coming months, and a £62 million new build of the New Line Learning Academy opening. There was also ongoing consultations with UCA on courses at Maidstone Studios.

Councillor Greer stated that the possibility of being a twinned town with Ghent, Belgium was looked into and hoped to get this agreed momentarily through the Intereg Programme, which makes money available to districts within the E.U for funding of common projects.

The High Street Project has completed the design, stakeholder consultations have been undertaken and the Cabinet decision will take place in February 2011. The Committee enquired whether to proceed with this project at a time when cuts are imminent was suitable and if service cuts were predicted. Councillor Greer stated that as asset sales continued to produce funding, and with no cuts to services related to the project that it was an important part of Maidstone’s future to proceed as planned.

It was noted that Councillor Greer had been working closely with KCC over the last 2 years to remove street furniture that could cause accidents. This has resulted in the removal of over 800 panels in Maidstone. In answer to a question Councillor Greer stated that most of the street furniture belonged to KCC, therefore we were not able to re-use them as a means of savings or gain from their sale. He stated that the cost of repairing barriers across Kent is over £200,000 per year and so this was a ‘spend to save’ project.

Councillor Greer stated that with respect to housing – it was at present a waiting game to see how new funding grants are to be allocated. He believes that money will be allocated to affordable new homes and to bring back old houses into the market. He also stated that Maidstone is among the top suppliers of affordable housing in Kent.

Councillor Greer said Maidstone Borough is still the most popular business location in Kent, and that the new Locate in Maidstone website is now ‘up and running’.  Members should visit www.locateinmaidstone.co.uk  to have a better view of what Maidstone is offering the business world.

Councillor Greer informed Members that in the past 5 years 11,000 trees had been planted within Maidstone and that he was encouraging developers to plant trees at the start of building works to allow time for them to mature during the development.

The Committee considered the role of parish councils and requested be kept updated and to have more involvement with projects from the start where appropriate.

Resolved:  That the Cabinet Member for Regeneration be thanked for   the information and it be recommended that: 

a)  Additional information be provided for outstanding enforcement cases;

b)  The Parish Councils be kept involved at the beginning of major projects, and be informed of all news positive and negative; and

c)  The Feasibility Study report be circulated to Members upon competition.