There were no apologies for absence.

There were no Substitute Members.

RESOLVED: That Councillor D Rose be elected as Chairman of the Committee for the Municipal Year 2021/22.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Purle be elected as Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the Municipal Year 2021/22.

At 6.35pm, following the Election of the Vice-Chairman, the Committee:

RESOLVED: That the meeting be adjourned until the conclusion of the Crime and Disorder Overview and Scrutiny Committee, when the remaining items on the agenda would be discussed.

The Chairman agreed to accept the urgent item request, England Trees Action Plan, as it was a matter currently under consideration by officers, and it would be taken after Item 16 on the agenda.

There were no Visiting Members.

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

RESOLVED: That all items be taken in public as proposed.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 April 2021 be approved as a correct record.

There were no petitions.

There were no questions from members of the public.

Councillor M Rose asked the following question of the Chairman:

‘I would like to ask the Chair for an update on the ongoing pilot scheme for what we call Pets Policy scheme please.’

The Chairman responded to the question.

The full response was recorded on the webcast and made available to view on the Maidstone Borough Council website.

To access the recording, please use the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_8Rr0a9-z0

It was agreed that an invitation be extended to social housing providers for future meetings of the Committee.

It was requested that Street Cleansing Monitoring was added to the work programme.

RESOLVED: That the Committee Work Programme be noted and requests for additional items be considered.

There were no reports of Outside Bodies.

The Head of Housing and Community Services introduced the reference from the Licensing Committee, explaining that the policy is a statutory requirement. Feedback from the trade was received and considered by the Licensing Committee during the examination of the updated policy.

RESOLVED: That the draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 2021-2026, attached at Appendix A to the reference, be approved.

Councillor Purle introduced the item request and explained that more trees being planted within the Borough would be a key step towards tackling the climate emergency and air quality issues.

RESOLVED: That a report on the England Trees Action Plan be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.

6.30pm to 7.42pm.

Note – the Committee was adjourned between 6.35pm and 7.13pm to conduct the meeting of the Crime and Disorder Overview and Scrutiny Committee.