Issue - meetings

The Head of Policy, Governance and Communication presented the report setting out the Council’s proposed response to the Kent County Council (KCC) consultation on their five year plan.  There was strong alignment between the outcomes in KCC’s plan and the Council’s strategic plan with emphasis on working collaboratively with districts which was welcomed.  However, the response also challenged the County’s ambition under outcome 4 on climate change, requesting a target of 2030 to align with the Council’s.  The response also highlighted to KCC that under outcomes 6 and 7 there was a district role for health and the wider determinants of health (such as quality of housing). 

The Committee commended the response and asked for the following suggestions to be incorporated:

·  Emphasise support for joint working with regional partners on highways issues;

·  Emphasise support for the approach on lorries and HGVs;

·  Request additional audits of gullies on lesser roads;

·  Request that KCC ensure a consistent specification is provided for contractors repairing potholes to ensure consistency;

·  Clarification be sought that infrastructure covers suitable waste and recycling infrastructure and sites;

·  Emphasise that decent housing includes the sites for gypsy and travellers that KCC are responsible for

·  Amend the response wording to emphasise the importance of infrastructure and to swap Maidstone to appear before County when listed as it is the Council’s response

·  Change the word ‘promotion’ to ‘provision’ on page 11 of the response under Outcome 3.

RESOLVED: That the consultation response on “Your Future, Our Priority”, amended to reflect the comments of the Committee, be approved for submission to Kent County Council.