Mr Gary Cooke, Kent County Council and Chair of Maidstone Locality Board Priorities Focus Group

The paper circulated to the MLB sets out three priorities endorsed by the Locality Board on 25 June 2012.  Sub-groups to be set for each of the three priorities, with the strategy, action plan and dashboard ensuring there are measurable outcomes against each priority.  The priorities are:

·  Community Budgets;

·  Tackling worklessness and poverty: with a focus on unemployed young people in the Maidstone borough and lessening the gap for those defined as living in poverty.  GC suggested inviting the Margate Task Force to present at a future Locality Board meeting, who have developed focused work supporting tackling worklessness and poverty.

·  Local Environmental Improvements.

Recommendation: for the Maidstone Locality Board to endorse the strategy and action plan for delivering the Tackling Worklessness and Poverty priority.

Discussion:

DE: KCC circulated the performance dashboard supported by two report cards for the priorities; tackling worklessness and poverty and local environmental improvements. As some indicators can only be measured annually, KCC is proposing to update the dashboard once a year (and not six-monthly as stated in the report).

IC: Could we highlight/incorporate empty retail/office properties based in Maidstone town centre?

JT: This information is available and collated by Maidstone Town Centre Management and can be circulated by the Chamber of Commerce.

GC: Unclear how this information could be used and represented – no direct correlation between empty properties and employment rates. Both rates can be extremely variable. Our focus needs to be on growing the employment base.

FW: Need to fully understand the Local Environmental Improvements priority – how do we propose to develop the outcomes more broadly. With regards to Tackling Worklessness and Poverty, we need to ensure that skills and training reflect the job market/job creation.

Decisions:
The Maidstone Locality Board approved the following:

·  The draft strategy and action plan included in the Tackling Worklessness and Poverty Report Card;

·  Margate Task Force to be invited to present at a future Locality Board meeting;

·  Development of the Local Environmental Improvements Report Card;

·  Development of the Locality Board dashboard and regular reports for the Board on how these indicators are changing for Maidstone;

Set up sub-groups for the 3 priorities to agree, progress, monitor and report on actions.