The Principal Democratic Services Officer introduced the report and stated that the Committee was being asked to consider the call-in request received against the Cabinet decision made, which were shown respectively at Appendices 1 and 2 to the report. The options available to the Committee were outlined.

Councillors Naghi, Munford and English outlined their reasoning for calling-in the decision. The issues raised were that:

·  The Linton Crossroad Junction (LCR) was the second most dangerous in Kent and that the junction improvement should take place to improve safety and mitigate road congestion;

·  Safety was not discussed enough by the Cabinet in its deliberations, with the urgent update provided to the Cabinet at its July 2023 meeting referenced;

·  The Linton Crossroads Improvement scheme (the scheme) was part of the infrastructure delivery plan (IDP), within the adopted local plan (2017);

·  The funding had been collected for the scheme, which could be delivered by Kent County Council’s Highways department following engagement with and by that authority’s design and delivery teams; and

·  There was concern over the collection of monies that were not then used on road improvement schemes.

In referencing the Cabinet’s decision at appendix 2 to the report, it was stated that the scheme was ready for implementation whereas other schemes were not. The Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Policy Advisory Committee (PIED PAC) had supported allocating funding to the scheme and had recommended a time-delivery clause on the funding’s provision, to enable the funds to be returned should the scheme not be delivered by the infrastructure provider.

The Leader of the Council addressed the Committee to outline his reasoning for the decision and stated that:

·  The Cabinet had a lack of confidence in the scheme’s delivery, given the performance of KCC Highways and that the authority already held funds for other improvement schemes that had not been used;

·  The proposed LCR scheme was not currently ready for delivery;

·  KCC were consulting on a different Linton Crossroads improvement scheme at the time of the Cabinet’s decision, that was not the scheme bid for and would cost a different amount. It was unusual to make a decision on the matter when there was an ongoing public consultation;

·  The safety of the junction was important, but some of the incidents shown in the cluster map of the urgent update at appendix 3 to the report were outside of the proposed scheme area, and the improvements from the proposed scheme would be marginal; and

·  Other road improvement schemes could be progressed, with the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) process currently being reviewed.

The Cabinet Member for Communities, Leisure and Arts stated that it was the provision of funding, as opposed to the scheme itself that had been rejected. It was reiterated that other road improvements scheme were required, such as in Coxheath and the Fountain Lane improvement scheme that could be re-visited and developed by KCC.

In response to questions:

·  The Director of Regeneration and Place stated that the grant agreements between the Council and infrastructure providers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64