Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Hastie and McKenna.

Councillor Blackmore stated that she would be leaving the meeting at 8 p.m., with it noted that Councillor Jeffery would arrive during the course of the meeting, due to pre-existing commitments.

Councillor Brindle was present as Substitute Member for Councillor McKenna.

There were no urgent items.

There were no Visiting Members.

There were no disclosures by Members and 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 October 2022 be approved as a correct record and signed.

There were no petitions.

There were no questions from Local Residents.

There were no questions from Members to the Chairman.

The Democratic Services Officer briefly introduced the report, referencing the example questions included within point 2.4 of the report that the Committee could use and/or adapt in consulting the external stakeholders present at the meeting.

The attendees were as follows, with each attendee having provided the Committee with a brief introduction on their organisation and their role within it:

·  Martyn Jeynes, Community and Strategic Partnerships Manager (Maidstone Borough Council)

·  Mark McLellan, District Commander (Kent Police)

·  Steve Kent, Inspector (Kent Police)

·  Ellen Shaw, Youth Hub Delivery Manager Maidstone (Kent County Council)

·  Ilsa Butler, Bid Manager (One Maidstone)

·  Emma Price, Violence Reduction Unit Co-Ordinator (Kent and Medway Violence Reduction Unit)

The Chairman explained that representatives from Golding Homes, Mid-Kent College and The Mall were unavailable to attend the meeting; however written responses would be provided to any questions raised during the meeting specifically for those stakeholders.

In response to questions, the Community and Strategic Partnerships Manager outlined the actions being implemented through the Safer Streets Funding, which included the provision of Bystander training, the renovations proposed to Brenchley Gardens to provide a designated space for police monitoring, the use of control tools such as drinks covers to distribute to users of the night-time economy and additional CCTV cameras for Brewer Street; the maintenance of those cameras would be accounted for through the service’s existing Council budget. One Maidstone would be co-ordinating the funding and support for the ‘Best Bar None’ initiative, with an aspiration for an annual review of the scheme to become standard practice in future years beyond the safer streets funding period.

The funding provided was short term, and it was stated that it was difficult to deliver the types of projects being undertaken by the Town Centre Task Force (TCTF) across short timescales. The financial contributions provided by Golding Homes and One Maidstone to support the TCTF were noted. The positive performance and importance of the partnership working demonstrated through the TCTF and the Council’s work with partner agencies was emphasised; in part, this intended to address factors that may lead to or contribute to traumatic childhood experiences, which in turn could lead to unwanted behaviour in later years.

Several Members of the Committee questioned the attending witnesses on the reporting of crime and use of data. The Chief Inspector emphasised that caution should be taken in reviewing ‘snap-shots’ of crime data, with a full data set likely to demonstrate the successes of the partnership working; consideration should be given to the fact that residents had felt comfortable to report the crimes taking place. The Chief Inspector stated that partnership working was a priority to Kent Police.

The Community and Strategic Partnerships Manager confirmed that the borough’s crime statistics would be reviewed as part of the Council’s annual strategic assessment in early 2023, before their publication within the Community Safety Plan (CSP). The CSP would be considered by the Committee in March 2023. It was expected that the level of crime, particularly serious crime, would decrease given the partnership  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

6.30 p.m. to 8.31 p.m.