Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no Substitute Members.

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 on the agenda be taken in public.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 April 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 23 May 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed.

There were no petitions.

There were no questions from members of the public.

In response to questions from Members, it was agreed that:-

·  A report on enforcement action against litter thrown from cars would be put on the work programme for later in the year once the new legislation was in place.

·  Parish Services Scheme – this item would be taken off the work programme as this was now dealt with by the Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transportation Committee.

RESOLVED:  That the Committee Work Programme be noted.

Subsequent to the meeting the Director of Finance and Business Improvement confirmed that the Parish Services Scheme had not been transferred to Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transportation Committee.  The Scheme was being reviewed and a report would be presented to the Communities, Housing and Environment Committee in September/October 2017.

The Head of Policy and Communications presented a report on the Strategic Plan Performance Update Quarter 4 2016/17.

The Committee was informed that:-

·  7 out of the 8 targeted KPIs reported achieved their target for this quarter.

·  The weight loss programme at the Leisure Centre had been a success with 65 people having completed the course and had all lost weight.

In response to questions from Members, Officers advised that:-

·  To measure the amount of detritus on relevant land and highways, some 300 roads were inspected and graded according to DEFRA regulations. 

·  The Child Sexual Exploitation training was delivered to staff at McDonalds as this was classed as a high risk area.

·  The safeguarding training for Members would be carried out over the next two months and would be added to the Committee Work Programme to ensure progress on this was monitored. 

·  That Officers would be contacting the Police to check if the figures quoted were correct.

·  The Housing Team were monitoring the backlog on the processing of housing applications.  It was noted that the length of time to process medical assessments had reduced due to additional resources being directed to the work.  The Head of Housing and Community Services undertook to provide a regular update to the Committee by email.

·  The increase in crime incidences could be raised as an issue by the Committee to the Safer Maidstone Partnership when acting as the Crime and Disorder Committee.

RESOLVED:  That:

1.  The summary of performance for Quarter 4 of 2016/17 for Key Performance Indictors (KPIs) and corporate strategies and plans be noted.

2.  Where complete data was not available this be noted.

3.  The progress of Strategic Action Plan updated at Appendix II to the report of the Head of Policy and Communications be noted.

4.  No action needed to be taken or any amendments made to the Quarter 4 report.

The Director of Finance and Business Improvement presented a report on the Fourth Quarter Budget Monitoring.

The Committee noted that at the end of the fourth quarter there was an overall underspend for services within the Committee’s remit of £380,390.

In response to a question from a Member the Head of Housing and Community Services advised that the adverse variance for CCTV related to loss of income and works that needed to be carried out but this did not form part of the current review of CCTV.

RESOLVED:  That the financial position at the end of the fourth quarter for services within the Committee’s remit be noted.

The Head of Housing and Community Services presented a report on the Maidstone Housing Strategy 2016-2020 Annual Update.

The Committee noted the work undertaken during the first year of the current Maidstone Housing Strategy and the three Key Priority Themes which formed the action plan.

In response to questions from Members, the Head of Housing and Community Services advised that:-

·  The Maidstone Health and Wellbeing Group was chaired by the Council’s Chief Executive and there were various sub-groups that focussed on specific areas to deliver the Health Inequalities Action Plan.

·  Following the recent tragic events at Grenfell Towers in London the Chief Executive had been in contact with Kent Fire and Rescue and other partners to ensure that necessary checks were being carried out on high rise blocks of flats in the borough and fire safety plans were in place.  Members asked for the results of this to be reported back once it had reached a certain stage.

·  The Council had recently acquired 8 properties for the homeless and another 5 were nearing completion.

RESOLVED:

1.  That the work undertaken during the first year of the Maidstone Housing Strategy 2016-2020 be acknowledged.

2.  The progress made in achieving the stated aims of the three Key Priority Themes highlighted in the Maidstone Housing Strategy as detailed in Appendix A to the report of the Head of Housing and Community Services be noted.

The Director of Regeneration and Place presented a report on the Maidstone Community Lottery.

The Committee considered the proposal to set up a local lottery to benefit local community groups and charities.

Members raised a number of concerns, which included:-

·  The consultation undertaken with the voluntary sector was only responded to by 10% of those targeted which did not give a true reflection of support or otherwise for the lottery scheme.

·  There should have also been a public consultation to test the views of the ‘man on the street’.

·  The principle of gambling to raise funds for voluntary organisations felt uncomfortable.

·   

Arising from the discussions it was proposed and seconded and agreed that the recommendations as set out in the report be refused.

RESOLVED: That recommendations 1 to 3 be refused.

Voting:  For: 8  Against: 0 Abstentions: 1

6.30 p.m. to 7.55 p.m.