Agenda item

Questions to the Leader of the Council

Councillor Hogg asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

Back in February 2014, Councillors from all parties were invited to attend the draft Local Plan meeting to discuss what sites Officers were putting forward to develop on, of which the Opposition Group failed to attend and represent their residents in their wards.  Six sites were recommended to be taken out of the Local Plan by Councillors, and at the Cabinet meeting these six sites were removed.  Can the Leader advise Council why Officers are choosing to ignore Cabinet and Councillors after the Cripple Street site, which is a green field site, was removed from the draft Local Plan but now the developer has put a planning application in to build 36 homes and furthermore Officers are willing to accept this application? What do you intend to do about this application and Officers, for I can see the Conservative Group which is running the Council getting the blame for allowing this site to be built on when it is clear that development sites for homes are being driven by Officers?

The Leader of the Council responded to the question.

Councillor Hogg asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

Maidstone Borough Council over many years values comments and complaints made by our residents so that we can deliver a better customer service to them, but of late our present Monitoring Officer is not willing to allow a resident’s complaint to be processed against three Councillors, of which two are Borough Councillors, for breaching the Code of Conduct.  For the present Monitoring Officer’s reply was that the resident was three days outside the three month deadline which was agreed at Council back in 2012.  Does the Leader consider that due to this time limit not being placed on the MBC website by an Officer since 2012 for residents to be aware of, and that the resident who made the complaint found this out and informed Officers at MBC that there was no date highlighted, this complaint should be allowed to be processed and upheld, for this could send the wrong message that Councillors can break the rules and get away with it?

The Leader of the Council responded to the question.

Councillor Hogg asked the following question of the Leader of the Council:

After the recent feast festival which took place at Mote Park, what action will be taken against the event organisers who have failed to take down their posters and have littered the whole of Maidstone, making the county town a mess, and what will be put in place so that this does not happen again?

The Leader of the Council responded to the question.

Question to the Chairman of the Planning Committee

Councillor Black asked the following question of the Chairman of the Planning Committee:

The Members’ Overview and Scrutiny Handbook, Page 7, Paragraph 1.4, precludes a Scrutiny Committee from examining decisions made by the Planning Committee.  In Paragraph 7.2 on Page 30 of the same publication it precludes Councillors calling for action in regards to Planning Issues also.

This question does not wish to breach these guidelines, but recently in the local press there were adverse comments about decisions made.

The priorities set by Maidstone for the 2014 and 2015 years pose two very strong requirements on all Councillors.

One of the first priorities under this rubric of to have a growing economy is:

Outcomes by 2015

*a growing economy with rising employment. Catering for a range of  skills set to meet the demands of the local economy.

The second of the priorities for Maidstone to be a decent place to live requires one of the outcomes to be:

*decent and affordable housing in the right places across a range of  tenures.

In view of the article mentioned in the Kent Messenger Business paper of 4 August 2014, can the Chairman of the Planning Committee comment on how the Committee will meet these objectives in view of the article?

The Chairman of the Planning Committee responded to the question.

To listen to the responses to these questions, please follow this link:

http://live.webcasts.unique-media.tv/mbc184/interface