Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Tuesday 3 March 2026, 6:00pm - Folkestone & Hythe webcasting

Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Tuesday, 3rd March 2026 at 6:00pm 

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  1. Webcast Finished

Good evening.
And welcome to the meeting of the Overview and Strutiny Committee.
This meeting will be webcast live to the Internet.
For those who do not wish to be recorded or filmed, you will need to leave the Chamber.
For members, officers and others speaking at the meeting, it is important that the microphones
are used so viewers on the webcast and others in the room may hear you.
Our technology is not working as well as we would like today, so it will not pan to individual
councillors when they're speaking, so it would be wonderful if you could stand so the audience
knows who is speaking at each point.
Thank you.
Would anyone with a mobile phone please switch it to silent mode as they can be distracting?
I'd like to remind members that although we all have strong opinions on matters under
consideration it is important to treat members, officers and public speakers with respect.
So we start with apologies for absence. Are there any apologies?

1 Apologies for Absence

Thank you, Chair. We have received no apologies.
Thank you very much. Declarations of interest. Are there any declarations from members? Thank
you.

2 Declarations of Interest

Okay, so now moves to Item 3 to consider and approve as a correct record the minutes of

3 Minutes

meeting held on the 27th of May, 2026. Can I have a proposer, please?
Councillor Hills and the seconder, Councillor Thomas. Can we vote, please? Thank you. I'll
sign all of them together. Okay. And then item 4, minutes of finance and performance

4 Minutes of the Finance and Performance Sub-Committee

subcommittees to consider and approve as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting
held on 15 January and 3 February 2026. Can I have a proposer, please?
Councillor Thomas, thank you, and a seconder?
Councillor Horgane. And can we vote? Thank you. I will just quickly sign them.

5 Review of the Council's Carbon Reduction and Ecological Works

Okay, so item 5, Review of the Council's Carbon Reduction in Ecological Works. This item will
be introduced by Adrian Toss, Strategy and Policy Manager. Following the introduction,
I will open it up for discussion.
Yes, thank you and good evening.
This report provides an update on our climate change and biodiversity work.
We last provided a report in November 2024 to this committee.
We've structured the report around the questions that were set out in the overview and scrutiny
work programme so that there are various topics on national policy or local action that we've
So, the first of the topics, the committee asked about carbon reduction across the district,
and so we've set this out in section two of the report.
Data on greenhouse gas emissions for the district as a whole and for the country is published
by Department for Energy Security and then Xero.
So, that's published every year and it has been since 2005,
but important to say there is a two year time lag.
So, the latest figures relate to 2023.
And those figures are broken down by county,
by region and by local authority area.
As we set out in the report, there are two main data sets
that the department publishes.
is one is labelled as being within the scope of influence
of local authorities and that is a smaller data set
that excludes emissions from motorways
and large industrial sites.
The other main data set is the total emissions
that the department collects.
And those are broken down, both of those are broken down
into totals and also emissions per capita.
If you look at the first data set within the scope of influence of local authorities,
emissions for Folkestone and the Hive have fallen by some of the fastest rates in Kent to the lowest totals.
The picture is less pronounced if you use the other data set, which is the total data set,
Although, as I said, that does include major sites, industrial sites and also motorways.
If you use that data set, we're kind of currently in the middle of the pack, so to speak, in
terms of our emissions per capita and also total emissions.
And so I think you can say while reductions of around half over that 19 -year period may
seem quite encouraging, it's likely that some of the trickiest emissions remain to be tackled
and those would be emissions from people's homes and also transport and they may be much
harder to reduce.
With no powers to force people to reduce emissions from their homes or to take public transport
or whatever it may be, so we can only try and lead
by example and work together in partnership
with organisations.
And to do that, over the last year,
James has been working on a district -wide carbon strategy
to position the council in a leadership role
to try and tackle these district -wide emissions.
So the next topic asked by the committee was around government policy towards nuclear energy.
So in the report we've kind of summarised what the government's position is.
The National Energy System Operator, or NSO, has set out various scenarios for what the
power mix will be for this country by 2030.
And the scenarios depend on how fast
renewable energies are deployed,
and also how much flexibility there is
in demand from consumers.
At this point, I should perhaps point out
there is an error in paragraph 3 .2 of the report,
and both of the first two bullet points
refer to onshore wind.
and it should be, the first bullet point should say offshore wind.
The second bullet point is correct in onshore wind.
But kind of however, whichever scenario you choose,
it looks like we will be heading for a varied energy mix by 2030,
including contributions from wind, solar, gas, energy storage,
batteries and consumer -led flexibility.
Throughout most government documents, nuclear power is referred to as providing what the
government says will be a backbone of vital, firm, low -carbon power, whichever scenario
is chosen.
So in terms of what projects the government is pursuing, in terms of large -scale conventional
nuclear energy, as you might call it.
The government is working with EDF to support the delivery of large -scale nuclear power
at Hinckley Point in Somerset.
And the government has – last year, the government announced it would be a major shareholder
alongside private investors in large -scale nuclear power at Sizewell in Suffolk.
Alongside these large -scale schemes, the government is also pursuing plans for advanced nuclear
nuclear technologies and those include small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors.
These are designed to be smaller nuclear reactors that are sort of prefabricated off -site and
then transported on -site for construction and the idea is they may also be sited closer
to sources of energy demand.
And last year the government announced that it had selected Rolls -Royce as a preferred
partner to build small modular reactors at Wilver on the Anglesey.
And there are also plans that the UK firm Centrica and the American firm X Energy are
pursuing to build advanced modular reactors in Hartlepool.
This position is also set out in government's national policy statements on energy.
If these schemes are to come forward, they will be decided through the nationally significant
infrastructure projects route, which we discussed last week in relation to large -scale solar.
and that they would be decided by the Secretary of State
and go through that public inquiry process.
So then turning to section four of the report,
that looks at what we're doing to reduce emissions
from our own estate and operations.
We had a baseline survey that was done by Laser Energy
in 2018 -19, and over the last few months,
James has been working with laser to update that.
And we've set out the findings in the report.
If you look at scope one and two emissions,
which are direct emissions from fuel, heating and electricity,
those have fallen by around 20 % over that period.
And the report also sets out that there have been significant falls
in emissions from the diesel fuel the council uses, street lighting and gas use.
However, as you can see from the report, there are large sources of emissions remaining around
our key buildings and Hives Swimming Pool is in particular.
The Council is exploring measures to address the emissions from Hives Swimming Pool as
part of wider considerations about the site, but emissions from other buildings may wait
for local government reorganisations.
One of the committee's questions was asking about
where we sit in relation to other authorities
in terms of our climate change work.
There's no real official ranking of authorities,
but there is a kind of scorecard that's prepared
by a campaign group called Climate Emergency UK.
That ranks authorities and gives them a percentage score
according to what climate emergency thinks local authorities should be tackling.
I think it's fair to say it gives local authorities across the board fairly low ratings.
Within Kent, the percentages range from 45 % at the top to 23 % at the bottom
and according to climate emergency,
we sit at a kind of 34%,
which is kind of a midpoint in that.
I think it's also important to say
that the latest ranking provided by climate emergency
only uses information up to October 2024.
So the work that's outlined in this report
won't feature in that score.
So, Section 5 of the report outlines some of the work we're doing on biodiversity, and
we set out the local plan policies we have to promote biodiversity as part of new developments,
and we show how they're used to make decisions on planning applications.
There's a standard requirement for most developments to provide at least a 10 % increase in biodiversity
as part of their developments.
But as was set out in the report,
the government is currently proposing
to raise that threshold,
so fewer developments would qualify.
Although that change hasn't been bought in yet,
so the existing standards still apply.
As part of the Environment Act 2021,
were required to report on the actions we're taking
to conserve and enhance biodiversity.
We produced a baseline report
known as a first consideration in 2024,
which set out kind of where we were
when the requirements came in.
We're required to provide an update
covering a two -year period since 2024,
and we're required to publish that by the end of this month.
and Hazel is currently working on that report.
As soon as that's ready and is published,
we can share that with the committee to update you.
As well as that, we've also been working with Kent and Medway
on the local nature recovery strategy.
We're working with Natural England on a pilot project
for a new environmental development plan system
that they are bringing in to look at nutrient neutrality for the Stodmarsh sites in Canterbury.
Grounds maintenance are also doing a lot of work to encourage local pollinators as part
of their site management under the Be Kind initiative.
Section 6 of the report sets out some of the community engagement work we've been doing
over the last year.
And that's been sort of promoted
under the Sustainable Futures Forum banner.
Last April, we held an event in Folkestone
to promote our Green Grants programme
and encouraging networking between participants.
This was followed up by another event in October last year
where we matched volunteers with community groups
to try and bring together resources and places
where there was a need for work.
In January this year, we held another event
aimed at bringing together businesses and community groups.
And I think it's fair to say that interest in the forum
has been growing and the Sustainable Futures Forum
has been going from strength to strength
as we've been putting on these events.
And James is currently working on a new event
for April.
In the report, we also set out details of a Green Grants programme.
That's delivered significant funding to local groups,
town and parish councils and small businesses across the district
for projects to enhance biodiversity
and tackle climate change and climate resilience.
A panel will assess the projects and funding has been awarded to 35 projects.
A few have been completed but most are underway or are planning to launch very soon.
And James is following up with the groups and seeing how they're getting on and if they
need any help from us.
Lastly, the report outlines work we've done on to update the climate change pages of our
website, and that's to provide more information to the public on what we're doing, but also
to try and encourage people to take action themselves to tackle their carbon emissions.
To end, I should maybe say that we concentrated here on some of the projects that directly
addressed the questions that were raised by the committee, but there is other work that
is going on.
For example, we promote the TSCA car scheme for employees to promote the uptake of electric
vehicles.
We're exploring the sustainability adaptions
for the Falka building, Falka 2.
The Folkestone and Brighter Future project is ongoing
and that is encouraging walking and cycling
and active travel measures.
And the housing team has been making a lot of progress
towards decarbonising our housing stock
through the social housing decarbonisation fund work.
So that hopefully provides a sort of outline
of what we're doing and we'll be happy to take any questions.
Thank you very much for what is a comprehensive report,
and we can see that you've put a lot of detail
and a lot of work into trying to
make this council more sustainable.
I'm sure the councillors will have lots of questions in relation to this.
So I'll open this up for councillors.
So Councillor Holgate, then Councillor Hills,
then Councillor Thomas.
I need to stand up.
Oh, quite tall.
I'll just stand tall and shout loud.
Yeah, it's a remarkable report.
I'm ever so grateful for it.
Thank you.
And the work that's gone into it.
It's quite something.
Thank you so much for that.
I had four questions.
Maybe I've asked them all at once.
maybe most useful, but certainly otherwise.
You mentioned about the high screaming port
obviously being quite, it stands out as one of our biggest emitters.
And curious, we may not know the answer yet,
but there's obviously been a pocket of money earmarked to revamp that.
Do we have the energy and the energy efficiency of that revamp
in mind, I suppose, and how much of that 6 million will support that?
Secondly, as a civic centre, we had previous plans,
to move away from the civic centre, it's distilled down to a bigger emitter. I don't know if
we're still looking to move away, so maybe that's no longer a relevant question. You
mentioned about how much, obviously, things in our control, I appreciate there is only
so much we can directly control. I found it fascinating on the supply chain how much was
still, I think it's 82 % of the council's footprint, where obviously the waste is making up 37%.
I'd argue this is something that we could potentially help influence.
We may not be able to control it, but certainly influence it more.
And my question is how are we putting in place more robust
procurement criteria that encourages better
sustainability, I don't know the right word today,
with our supply chain, even either from direct action or at least from a
reporting point of view, just to again help with the
accountability up and down the supply chain.
And I know my green tinted glasses are disappointed,
we're eighth or 12th in terms of council,
but I know the scorecard is flawed and outdated.
I'm just curious, do you have a hunch at all
of what a new score would look like
in terms of percentage swing,
or if it's just a total unknown, then I appreciate that.
But again, otherwise, thank you so much for you
and your colleagues' time in bringing the report together.
It's fantastic.
In terms of high -swing pool, I don't know, James, if you could – you've been involved
with that project.
Yeah, it's very early stages.
We've – I worked with the Greater South East Net Zero Hub, who have modelled a few
alternative scenarios for the high pool, including heat pumps and recirculating air through ventilation
and putting solar panels on the roof and even EV charges in the car park.
So there are some models out there that we've talked to the architects about, but they're
at stage one at the moment, so it's very early design and they're looking about how to reconfigure
the building.
But I'm there talking to them about what sustainable aspects they can include in the building,
very much with the idea that we're trying to hit net zero by 2030.
And so this is our biggest emitter and we're pushing for as much reduction in carbon, if
not turning off the gas completely for that.
So that's, yeah, absolutely part of the agenda.
For the Civic Centre, yeah, it's the second largest emitter.
There are options, but they're expensive,
and I think it's around the use of the building,
especially over government reorganisation,
where we're gonna be, so I think that decision's
getting pushed down the line a little bit.
In terms of supply chain and things in our control,
Violia and that contract is interesting
because we share it with Dover,
and we're talking to them about how we can transition
in the fleet and move towards transitional fuels as well,
like HVO, so that conversation is going
and we could look at piloting different fuels
or even, yeah, when the next contract comes up
about a certain percentage of electric vehicles
being part of that makeup.
So there are ongoing discussions about Viola specifically.
For procurement more generally, sustainable procurement,
the procurement team are aware of it and on it,
there's different reporting mechanisms that they're trying
and they're trying to put the toolkit into place.
That's why they're KCC led, it's why they're Kent initiative
to try and put that system in place.
So at the moment, it's just about capturing the carbon
that we're downstream carbon that we are purchasing
and using in our services.
So at the moment, we still don't have a very accurate picture
of our scope three emissions.
So I should say that the data in this report is heavily
caveated, it's a glimpse of our contract to this year,
distilled down to a one year by year basis.
So it is a high number, but it could be higher depending on how we measure it and how we
do it with the other districts as well.
So and then the last thing on in terms of scorecards, yeah, we would score higher at
this stage with the work that we did to update the website.
That's mainly how they collect their scoring and they give us an opportunity to go back
to them and, you know, argue or point out things that we've done as well.
So we could take more of a role in that process
and show them more of what we're doing.
So I think the next scoring will be this year, potentially.
So we could take more of a positive stance
and try to get that score up if we think it's necessary.
Thank you.
Councillor Hills.
Like Rich, I'd like to say, well done.
I need an exit report.
It really is.
It's a wide ranging subjects and kind of mesh and knit those together well done.
It's so difficult.
Main interest of my point of view of course would be nuclear, where I come from.
And I'm still convinced we'll end up in the next couple of years with a small modular nuclear reactor at Dungeness.
I'm a bit depressed and I expect Paul's got more information than this, that the NDA or NRS now
are getting less funding from the government
in decommissioning of A station.
So they're only going ahead for the next two years
doing, I think, the flasks are coming out.
But beyond that, it's going slower again.
I mean, originally it was, I think,
87 years long -term care and maintenance,
and then it was telescope shorter,
and now it's going back out longer.
So it's all money -driven,
because how much the governments can invest.
But I've said this from day one,
we have the grid connexions and that's what's going to drive all this because I
can't see them getting proper grid connexions in across the country for 15
or more years because basically even though they change the planning I think
it's going to be very tricky and so I think we already ahead of the game it
will come to us eventually I'm sure it will. I know Cape County Council have
change their views on the climate emergency.
I can't do much about that.
But I do think on biodiversity we have big challenges,
particularly with warming oceans and affecting our coastline
and biodiversity of our coastline.
Now, there's a meeting I've got tomorrow morning
and a Met Office will be there,
but it's an accelerating line.
In a year, two years ago, it's out of date.
And with the projections, it's quite spooky.
It's all about changing weather
and changing species in the sea,
and it will affect our coasts and the like.
And that will affect on how we repair the coasts
and how we evaluate that and how we take that put.
We have to do it,
but it's gonna be a large, pure carbon footprint.
Next weekend, I've got the Environment Agency.
they're going down to repair our frontage at lid ranges which got totally battered
by storm goretti and that's a lot of energy is being used by bulldozers running up and down the
beach and we're not necessarily measuring that it's in our district but how we actually look at
that i don't know but these become unfortunately more and more common so i do i do worry about
that going forward. But what I have to say is, I've got my fingers firmly crossed that
we don't have to worry about solar farms, money will, but because that's going to create
tremendous problems on our highways and infrastructure, which again will affect our emission levels.
But I have to say thank you anyway for an excellent report.
Thank you, Councillor Hills. Councillor Thomas.
Oh dear. Yeah, thank you chair. Just echo the two previous speakers. Just in terms of
what's already been said, I'd like to put a shout out to our grounds maintenance team.
Certainly the work they do is noticed locally and they set the standard that everybody else
then tries to follow. So I think, you know, what they're trying to do in terms of the
the pollinated plants and the other things. It just goes a long way.
And the same with the work that we're doing with the Green Grant Scheme. That's so
appreciated by so many different companies that can actually do something
positive that we can help them with about their footprint. I do have
a couple of questions. The first one is on table one in the report. So when
have a look at the different authorities in Kent,
Gravesham have been able to achieve a 78 % reduction,
which is nearly 30 % greater than us.
So what are they doing differently,
and can we learn from them?
You know, they've got, I don't know,
I don't know what they're doing.
They must be doing something right,
because if you look at table two,
even when you look at that data per capita,
they're still, you know, significantly ahead of us.
So I think it'd be really useful.
There's nothing in the report that sort of
alludes to what we could be doing differently. Again, in section 413 of the report, you see
when you even compare across Kent, you know, Maidstone are there or thereabouts, aren't
they, in terms of what they're doing and their achievement at Slang High School. So they're
my three main questions. Just in terms of the other thing I'd like to raise as well
is we were presented with a report back last year,
I think it was, about air quality and the impact
on air quality of wood burners, for example.
So again, whether we're trading one thing off
against another, I'm not really quite sure,
but I think Hyde was actually picked out
as being an outlier in that report,
if I remember correctly,
because of the number of wood burners that were used.
So I think that would be very useful if we could understand
is there a correlation between those two.
And just as Tony's already raised about new nuclear,
I think it is important to understand
that whenever you build new nuclear,
you have to apply the new standards,
and that includes environmental standards.
So if you thought the environmental standards
were tough before, you ain't seen nothing yet.
So Hinkley Point C, for example,
have just spent 800 million pounds, 800 million pounds, right,
preventing fish from the River Severn
getting into their cooling system.
800 million quid, that's an awful lot.
Science World C's environmental impact statement
is something like 150 ,000 pages,
with goodness knows how many caveats associated with it.
So whatever we decide to do in the future,
bearing in mind that we still need water from the channel
to cool reactors, you still need that.
Reconnections are all well and good.
You need all those other things which allow you to function
with even a small module or advanced module reactor.
So that's just a point I'd like to make on that.
But on the previous points, if you could give us some hints
as to what we might be able to do different,
what we can learn from Gravesham,
I think that'd be really good.
Thank you very much, Jim.
As we try to sort of allude to in the report, what you're seeing there is a reduction in
the total carbon emissions and what seems to be happening is that there is a dramatic
fall in the amount of emissions that come from the category of large industrial installations.
So I'm not familiar enough with Grazian to know what's going on there, but I suspect it may simply be that there are
industries there which have in a flat closing down or
relocating somewhere else so
Yeah
And and also as was as we set out in the report that part of the data
it does also include emissions from motorways and
and the government has a fairly crude measure
of assessing emissions from motorways
and it is kind of those authorities with motorways
in their geographical areas are assigned emissions
and those authorities which don't have them aren't
and I'm guessing that is because the government
has no way of knowing who exactly is using the motorways,
where they're, exactly where their destinations are
and where their points of departure are,
So it's a very crude measure and perhaps it doesn't do us quite justice in terms of that.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Councillor Jones.
Oh, sorry, Councillor Jones.
Did you want to make a point in relation to that?
I did the standing up bit, but I didn't do the turning up. Right, about 50%. I was just
going to comment on the wood burners, which we did, I think, discuss in the council chamber
at some point or whether it was in my report sometime back. But we have looked into this.
This was a very crude, it was a very interesting analysis of woodburners around the country.
It was very crude data because it was based on simply the certificates that had been issued
at a particular point when you put in a new wood burner.
It doesn't tell you anything about the type of wood burner that was put in.
So it just tells you the number that are in an area.
It doesn't tell you whether they are, some of them are very, very efficient now
and have recycled 95%, 96 % or whatever. Others are very much lower down there.
it doesn't also tell you anything about how often they're used.
So you put those two together and you don't actually learn a huge amount
other than quite a lot of people live in highs
and quite a lot of people have got woodburners installed.
If you go around the coast, you can see the same for Deal or for Whitstable or whatever.
And I forget, I can't remember offhand, maybe it was Ramsgate.
But it's that sort of thing where, so the density,
I suppose it's just a measure of the density,
but we did put a note on this on the new revamped climate
or updated climate change web pages.
So that was in response to public concern.
So I just thought I'd say that.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Councillor Gill.
Thank you.
So I mean, lots of really positive things in this report.
And I think we need to shout about those positive things.
So if we can tell the public, there's a lot of climate anxiety,
certainly with young people, perhaps with the older generation,
but we should be sharing these statistics with people
and saying, actually, we are going in the right direction,
because there's a lot of doom and gloom about climate, I think we find,
and we just need to get the positive side.
And then people feel like, actually, we are making a difference,
we can continue to make this change.
So I think that's a good thing.
One little thing I would like you to add to the report
is that in your community engagement,
we engaged with the Youth Forum twice about climate,
I was disappointed not to see that on there.
I see the young people themselves asked to discuss climate.
There is a lot of anxiety amongst young people about climate.
We had a really good session last year about the green grants
and I know a number of schools applied.
We did it here.
I also did it at a lower level in town council
and Councillor Scotland came along with the Hyde Youth Forum,
which is primary school children,
and I know some of them applied for grants.
So I think showing that positivity.
We also then, this year we've had a session on solar farms
because the young people asked to,
because they're concerned about it.
They don't understand it, they want to know more.
And again, I think it's really important to show
our youth forum that we are taking them seriously,
we are listening to them,
and they should be featuring in these reports too.
So I'm sorry to just add one little thing there.
Apart from that excellent report,
really pleased that we are going in the right direction,
but I think a lot of the other councillors
have already asked the other questions
that I would have had to say, thank you.
Thank you very much, very good point there.
Councillor Martin and then Councillor Davidson.
Thank you very much.
Echo everything everyone else said,
really interesting report, really detailed report.
It's also clear to your point that we're doing
within our scope of influence,
we are doing loads of great stuff
and so is the wider community around us
and that comes through in the data.
I had a couple questions, and a deeper question,
which I'm slightly embarrassed about actually,
but the first one was just around whether when,
so the grant schemes are awesome,
and I've seen them take effect locally
in places like Ivy Church on the marsh.
I'm interested to know whether there's a way
in which we can kind of report out
almost like a direct impact from those.
So quite often we're funding new solar panels
or batteries or whatever.
And I wonder whether that gives us a headline
that we can speak to about direct action
that we're taking locally in terms of carbon
we've taken out of the system and all that kind of stuff.
I had something funny in my brain.
If I don't know where data's coming from,
I start to question it and I just get lost.
And you just said yourself that a lot of the assumptions
that go into some of these metrics are fairly crude
in terms of how they're put together.
The point that was burning me up on the inside
when I was reading reports, I wasn't sure,
when I was reading a graph or some numbers,
which of these bits of data are actual readings
that are monitored and what data are estimates
that's based on usage or some other kind of factor.
Because I found myself looking at a graph going,
oh, what's happening in 2023?
And then I was thinking, well,
they're shaped around a set of estimates
at the end of the day, so how, to what extent can you,
I mean, you can maybe follow an overall trend
over a series of years, but maybe not read
anything too specific into some of the numbers.
So it would be great, from my own understanding,
if you could maybe just help us understand
where this data comes from.
It doesn't take anything away from
all the great stuff we're doing.
I'm sure directionally, looking at things
in a structured way, and certainly if we look at
our activity and our supply chain,
I can see how you can look at that in a structured way
and take some fairly rudimentary views around us
sort of pointing ourselves in the right direction.
But for some of the higher level bigger picture things,
It would help me sleep tonight if you could
give me a bit of background where the data comes from.
Thank you.
So to the first point, the grant schemes,
so I've set up a monitoring system
and we go back to the grant recipients
every three or four months with a questionnaire
to find out how they're getting on
and whether we can offer more support,
but just to see progress in terms of their setup.
So it's very easy for me to report that back,
and I'm already sharing it with our comms team
so they can put out various updates
and where projects are,
and if there's an event coming up,
or a launch, or something like that,
we can do it through that mechanism.
There's also, yeah, committees like this
where we can update on projects,
but I also plan to put a number of case studies together,
particularly if there's parish councils
or things like different community groups
who have got a project and we can use it to teach others
or get people to come and see the solar panels on the roof
or something like that to share that information.
So we're doing it through outcomes,
but also through the Sustainable Future Forum as well.
They're coming back to share how the project's gone,
what they've learned from it.
So hopefully we'll just have continuous feedback
and inspire others to do it as well.
Perhaps also worth saying that in addition we're working with Kent County Council and
the other districts on the Switch Together Scheme which we've run over a number of years
now and that is to encourage take -up of solar panels and battery storage.
And that is reported about every year I think at the end of the scheme, how much take -up
there has been and how many installations there have been and how much carbon has been
saved.
So, yeah.
In terms of the wider points about national figures, I think probably the data around
energy use is fairly accurate because the government knows what energy has been generated
and where it's been consumed.
and probably what is less precise is the data around transport.
And I think that is estimated by, for example, on motorways and major trunk roads, there
are cameras which monitor use for accidents or whatever it might be.
And I think from those data, they have a fairly good idea of how much traffic is moving around.
And I think the data also factors in, you know, sales of diesel or petrol.
So they know, you know, know how many cars are registered
and they know what fuel is being burned in those cars.
But perhaps where the data is less robust is, you know, exactly where people are
driving from and where they're driving to.
Although the the use of the of the main roads will be
will be fairly accurately recorded, I'm sure.
Thank you. Councillor Davison, please. Thanks, Chair. Yeah, again, really good to see all
the work that's taking place. And there's loads of really good stuff in the report.
I don't know if it's just me, but I couldn't get the links working in the report. Maybe
it is just me, but be useful just to double cheque that we can actually access the linked
documents. I was going to suggest about case studies as well, because I think they're a
good way to bring things to life, aren't they?
And I suppose the kind of area that I was thinking
there isn't so much about is just how residents can,
what members of our community can do,
thinking about where their own homes or other ways
that they can take part, and maybe that would be
a good subject for a future Sustainable Forum event,
just to make it really kind of resident focused.
and again case studies might be good in that regard. Shout out to the Folkestone
Documentary Festival they had a really good film last year called Power Station
which was all about the street trying to get solar power for their
street and you know it wasn't straightforward but kind of linking up
on things like that which sort of bring things to life a bit and capture
people's imagination might be a really good way to try and engage people. They
ended up growing loads of sunflowers that they put on their street to kind of brighten
it up. And I thought maybe on the website where there's the page that says how can you
get involved or what you can do as a resident, maybe we could look at ways of kind of brightening
that up and making that more engaging with maybe pictures or things to kind of draw people's
attention. And then I just wanted to ask about, we didn't talk about appendix one and the
purpose of that for graphic, because a graphic is a good way to engage people. But I wasn't
quite sure what that was going to be used for. And it doesn't have any links or QR code
or anything to further information. So maybe there's more that could be done with that
again to encourage people. And then you mentioned the Be Kind initiative. And I just wanted
to double cheque whether that is still a really live active initiative, because some of the
signs in places are looking a bit sorrowful, like bent and maybe just not, it's not quite
clear to me if you were walking past whether you think that was an active initiative or
not. And again, maybe there's a way that we can, through those signs, give people more
information about what's happening with a QR code or something like that. Thanks.
Yeah, thank you. Yeah. And I'm sure James can speak a bit more about Sustainable Futures
forum looking at residents, but we did plan to have an event earlier this year where a
guest speaker was going to give... It was arranged through Kent County Council, a guest
speaker was going to give advice about retrofitting for local residents, but unfortunately he
was ill and we had to cancel the event, but we can look at rescheduling that. But James,
I don't know if you've anything to say about the forum.
Yeah, no, we've looked at how we can roll out more advice about retrofitting.
At the moment, we've got sections of the website that have information, and there's the new
warmer homes grants, so we've got that information coming up on the website as well, so we can
give residents feedback that way.
In terms of the Sustainable Future Forum, we've – where it's community -led, so we've
asked if they would be interested in topics like that, and it hasn't been voted as one
of the more interested by the community using it.
But, yeah, we'll need to look at a way to try and talk about that topic.
One of the green grant recipients for a micro grant is running an event in June called Wild
About Sandgate at the Saga building, the Lond there.
And part of their event will be a panel of people who have got heat pumps and solar panels
at home discussing how it is and the efficiencies or issues about getting those. And so that's
open to the public. And so that's not us, but we're supporting it as much as we can,
obviously, through the grant and promoting it as much as possible. But it's an area that
we need to improve on.
And in terms of the appendix, this was just a sort of a kind of one -page plan on a page
sort of summary of what's in the district -wide carbon plan, really.
So that was the...
It's for us.
Yeah, it is for us.
And also for handing out at events or in other places, really.
So, yeah, that was the intention of that.
Thank you. Councillor Thomas.
Yeah, thank you, Chair.
Actually, Councillor Davidson prompted me.
There was one other point on here that's probably worth raising
in terms of community engagement.
One of the things the Walnut Council did a couple years ago
was they actually bought two infrared cameras
and they learned the amount of people
to go and have a look at their homes in the winter
to see how good or how bad they looked.
And again, it's a bit of a quick and ready way of doing it,
but it had real impact.
And through CALC, a couple of other councils
came along and had a look at that.
I just wonder if that's something
that maybe we could be thinking about
having a scheme like that where you don't really, I mean it's helpful if you
tie it with something else that's going on, but again I think it's something
where we can get local people involved in it. You know, we might lose a camera or
two, but at least it might be worth, you know, trying that and giving people an
opportunity of seeing, you know, how good or how poor the houses are and even
simple things. Through Walmer, for example, you know, it's things like
closing your curtains at night and the impact that had.
You know, it's just simple things that people could do.
But then what it also prompted was some of the more gross things
that people saw with their properties
that they could then get some professional help on,
having been pushed along that road a little bit.
I just wondered if that's something else that we might be able to...
It's a practical thing to do
and something which would engage the communities as well.
Thank you, Chih -Chi.
I was just going to say that I do know the Hive environmental community group were actually
doing that on a voluntary basis, going to people's property and seeing where heat was
being pumped, you were heating the outside rather than the home.
So that is being taken.
it might be that we can do more to publicise that service.
Do you want to add something, Councillor Scotland?
If you could, where I could, is this the right point in the proceedings for me to say a few words,
or are there some more questions to come?
A few more questions, because there'll be another...
I'll get the right to come, if you would, Chair.
Any more questions?
Okay, that's fine.
So we just need to finish with this item
and then it will be your turn.
Okay, so we are going to vote on recommendations
receiving note report OS2515.
Can I have a proposer please?
Councillor Hills and seconder Councillor Davidson.
And can we vote please?
Thank you very much.
Okay, so now we are on item six, cabinet member update.

6 Cabinet Member updates

So in accordance with the constitution,
Councillor Jim Martin, leader of the council
and Cabinet Member for Otterpaw Park and Planning Policy,
and Councillor Stephen Scoffin,
Cabinet Member for Climate, Environment and Biodiversity,
have submitted their Cabinet Member updates for consideration
and are present to respond to any questions from the committee
or in Councillor Scoffin's...
He wants to speak before we start asking questions,
so please go ahead.
I was really responding to the very helpful questions and comments
from the committee just now,
and I really welcome them and thank you so much.
And thank you also for putting the questions in the first place,
which focused attention on specific aspects
of this very broad portfolio.
It really is a very sprawling portfolio to manage, an exciting one.
I'm ever so grateful to have that opportunity.
One of the things which Adrian mentioned
right at the very beginning was the extent to which
we have an opportunity to take a leadership role.
And that is perhaps what we can do best.
We have 0 .4 % of our carbon emissions coming from our own state
and setting an example by our own behaviour is important,
but that leaves 99 .6 % of the emissions coming from other sources
and that is a huge challenge.
I think it's absolutely wonderful that we've had, for example,
sustainable futures forum,
it had 154 attendees in its last two meetings,
and I don't understand how all the social media
manages to attract so much attention,
but 20 ,000 views in the last six months
on Facebook and Instagram alone on this particular topic.
So it really does illustrate the amount of enthusiasm there is,
the amount of interest there is in the local community.
And I think we are finding through the Sustainable Futures Forum
and the Green Grant Scheme and all the other things which we're doing,
including the Youth Forum, especially the Youth Forum perhaps,
the ways in which we can build on that and help to harness it.
And it is really a question as long as the piece of string.
There are lots and lots of wonderful things we can do.
We have to be realistic about what we can do and do it to its maximum effect.
Just a couple of other things.
Councillor Hill, you flagged up, as we always do,
the extent of the climate emergency
and the extent of all the other interrelated environmental factors,
biodiversity loss being one of the other absolutely key factors.
My view, and perhaps all of us in this room,
recognise how serious these problems are
and they're going to get much more serious, I'm afraid.
It isn't a good news storey.
We cannot have a good news storey around this.
But the good news storey is that we are doing something
about it and responding in the way that we can.
And I think that takes me back to the corporate plan,
our district, our world, which makes that point very clearly
that we can do something locally to contribute
to a global agenda, which is the sustainable development goals
set by the United Nations, agreed by every nation
in the world and it is a plan for the future.
It is the only global plan that we have for a global crisis.
We can do our bit and if we go back to that little infogram
that Councillor Davidson was drawing attention to,
I think we can say on that very clearly that we are very reducing our...
If we're going to get to net zero by 2041,
we need to reduce our emissions by 10 % a year
to be doing our fair share for this district.
we are actually reducing it by 3%.
So the challenge is enormous.
But the figures are there, we are doing the very best we can
and yes, we can do better.
So thank you all very much for those contributions.
I just wanted to sort of sum up, as it were,
some of the things I was hearing in that very useful debate.
Thank you.
Any questions?
Councillor Hill.
Thank you, Chair.
I think you are doing a great job.
You really are quite good at what you do.
You really care.
That is great.
But the problem is not climate change per se,
it is changing weather.
It is how we actually make our communities more resilient going forward.
We cannot stop what is going to happen.
We can prepare for it.
We can educate.
not to be concerned or frightened, because we can't change the world, but what we can do is make our people more resilient, particularly from school kids upwards.
I mean, today, the sea temperature in Rybe Bay is 9 .7 degrees.
When I was a youngster, it would be about 5.
And that heating of the oceans, and it's not even around the globe,
We've got a problem in that part of the Atlantic and Channel,
which is hotter than other parts, like heating up faster.
So it's really a challenge on how these things are going to happen,
how they're going to affect our industry, people, and everything.
But it's not straightforward.
But as I say, my accent must be making people less nervous about it,
more adaptable and more resilient, because we can't stop it happening.
But we're doing our bit, yes we are,
we're getting down to net zero, which is great,
but it's not the holy grail to me.
The holy grail to me is making sure
that Romley Marsh is still afloat in the next century.
Councillor Thomas.
Yeah, thank you, thank you very much, Chair.
Again, thank you for your report, Stephen,
and thank you for yours as well, Jim.
We're just coming back to the Green Grant scheme.
are not directly connected to it,
but it was something we raised last week
when we were talking about the customer access strategy
that we discussed as a council last week,
and that's still with digital connectivity.
One of the things in the report is the fact
that Ronlingharden Digital Railway,
on its New Ronley Station, Dunginess Station,
that put solar panels and batteries,
one of the problems it had with Dunginess
was the fact that there were portions of the day
where they couldn't connect to their system
because a trainload of people will get off,
they'd all get on their phones,
and their Wi -Fi system will go boom.
And so their solar panel system wasn't talking
to the rest of the world.
So again, I just fly the flag given this opportunity
of saying we have to think about digital connectivity,
we have to think about how are we getting the information
out to people so they can respond
in the way that we want them to.
And that's a very real example.
and we had the same comment again from Liz
at the Romley Marsh Community Hub
about something very, very similar there.
So two things, not directly connected
with Green Grant Scheme, but we did,
through the Rural Development Grant,
give funding for EAV to actually put masks up
on Romley Marsh to improve that connectivity.
So again, but he's also, and they're being powered
buy solar panels and batteries, which is great news, you know. So again, I think if we could
make sure that when we're looking at this, we don't lose sight of the fact that there's a big
part of our area which has such poor connectivity, that it could benefit from stuff we're doing for
the Green Grant scheme. That would be much appreciated for the future. Thank you very much,
Chair.
Do anyone want to come back on that?
No? Okay.
Councillor Wink.
Thank you, Chair, and thank you for the reports. Very good.
Councillor Scofford, you mentioned here about freight to rail, which is obviously very important,
not just for carbon reduction, but also making traffic flow on one country's most important
So I wonder, is this about the Department of Transport,
with respect to the announcement shortly,
have you got any update on that at all or anything?
Well, great news.
Last Thursday, I think as some of you all picked up,
the Department of Transport did actually issue
the announcement that the siding and barking,
which can become a multimodal transport hub,
the problem being at the moment that heavy goods trains
cannot run up to London from Folkestone because the track isn't good enough basically and the
stations are too narrow and all sorts of things. HS1 is built to the specifications needed. The
depot in Barking is available as it were. It was owned by Legal & General and it needed to be brought
it back into action in order to bring HS1 into this network. And a deal has been struck.
And the issue there is that it needed an accounting procedure, which I don't understand the details
of, but something like 76 million needed to appear in the balance sheet. And that brought
the Treasury in. And the good news is that the leader and all the other leaders in Kent
wrote to the Minister of Concerned, Lord Hendy,
and we also assembled the...
Had a meeting here, a high -level meeting with our two MPs,
with the Director of Freight Futures for Network Rail
and the Strategic Manager for the South Area
at exactly the right time.
And the commercial case was overwhelming,
the political will needed to be galvanised
and by, I think I can say, helping behind the scenes
to oil the wheels and to make Lord Henry well aware
that there was massive public support for this,
it's been approved.
So the great thing there is that this is one of our
transport, as you've heard, is one of our big emitters.
Half of our transport fumes, probably about that,
I think, correct me if I'm wrong, James,
comes from heavy goods vehicles,
7 ,000 coming through the district each year.
They're not all going to go onto the rail as immediately,
but bit by bit, as the commercial case builds up,
I'm very, very delighted to think that we can get that going
and that Network Rail will get that going.
And I gather there are rather charmingly called unaccompanied containers.
Unaccompanied containers are coming across in bigger numbers.
In other words, there's no lorry.
They're put on the train and they arrive unaccompanied, as it were,
without a lorry with them, they can stay on the railway system.
Isn't that great? So, thank you for that question.
And excellent news, and it's wonderful that we're going to have
that amazing infrastructure that we're very lucky to have in Folkestone,
and nobody else has, actually in use and helping the rest of the country.
So, we are basically even centring ourselves even better in Folkestone now.
And well done for all those people who were involved in making this happen,
locally and nationally as well.
Are there any other questions?
Yes, Councillor Martin.
I don't have too much for you, Jim.
Obviously, it seems like only last week
we heard from you at the full council meeting.
I guess since the full council meeting last Thursday,
we had an excellent session, I thought,
on the solar farms within overview and scrutiny.
I thought it was a really interesting debate,
lots of perspectives.
I think we're all pointing in the same direction
and all keen to make sure that the council takes action.
I'd just be interested in your thoughts, Jim,
reflecting on the session we had last week.
It strikes me that we're lining ourselves up
to do all of the right things,
but we're leaning into a process
that's gonna be run nationally
that seems to be somewhat biassed against us.
And I feel that nationally there's a foregone conclusion
around what the right answer should be
to the extent that if we stick to following the process,
the inevitable will happen irrespective
of how persuasive our arguments are.
And I sort of said something similar last week,
but I'd be interested in your perspective
on what else the council can be doing,
whether it's in its communications,
whether it's us speaking more proactively and clearly as a council around our concerns
and our desires to look after our residents.
And indeed, as we said last week, many of us are residents in the area and the wider
area anyway.
But just keen to get your perspective about what else we can do on top of what we know
we need to do as part of the formal processes
that we're gonna be engaging within.
Thank you very much.
Got it?
Do you want to come over to the side?
No, I think it's brilliant.
It's going, it's on, yeah.
Thank you very much.
Just before I answer the question,
just to pick up a couple of points.
In answer to Rich's question,
height pool is complicated,
and there are several options,
but a significant reduction,
whatever set of options,
there will be a significant reduction in the carbon footprint.
If we can do all of them,
it will be a huge reduction from here.
Disposal of this building is still in the plan,
so we will dramatically reduce our carbon footprint
just as we cease to exist.
So that'll be interesting.
I couldn't agree more about all the nice things
that have been said about the Green Grants
and also the rural initiative.
The reason why I'm so wedded to this
is that it is generally councillor driven.
These are local initiatives.
These are generally micro projects
We have had a couple of largest projects,
but overwhelmingly they are micro projects
and most of them have been encouraged
by Councillor interaction.
So I can only thank everybody
and generally keep promoting it.
In terms of the solar farm,
the first thing to say is,
I was saying to Councillor Davidson as we came in,
what an unbelievably good meeting
of the overview and scrutiny committee.
Everyone contributed, everybody made
really, really good points.
You could tell it was challenging.
Our head of planning was really into it,
really got the idea that people had read all of the papers,
were really, really there to engage.
And I think that was excellent.
But the best outcome was the fact that the campaign group
now realise that we're not the enemy.
You know, and I think that was really was a, you know,
that we were standing with the community
on this community issue.
And, you know, I've had emails of thanks
from people thanking us for that wide -ranging,
detailed discussion, examination of all of the issues,
and an agreement with a lot of what was said.
So I see a huge benefit there.
I won't disagree with you, Alan.
This is a government initiative
that will be decided by the government.
And we are fighting the fight.
So that's really my perspective.
We've got a job to do,
and even if it doesn't work out exactly the way we want it,
I'm determined that the community will feel
that their council represented them and told their storey,
which I think is what the overview
and scrutiny committee did.
And I think I committed to the overview
and scrutiny committee at the time,
yeah, anything else that is needed to pursue that argument,
you won't have any problems in getting resourced reports,
whatever you want.
But, you know, my inclination is that I would agree with your premise, but I will do everything
to try and fight that kind of self -fulfilling prophecy to come true.
Councillor Davidson.
Yeah, thanks. It's been a pain really being a pedestrian in Folkestone over the past period
of time with the Brighter Future project. And there've been various problems with it
from a kind of pedestrian point of view. I think everyone will be very pleased when the
project kind of comes to an end. But I'm just wondering, obviously it focuses on particular
central parts of the town. But what thinking might be going on about other
areas in the town where there are similar problems and where really
there's a prioritisation of cars over pedestrians for example, dangerous
junctions to cross if you've a push chair or you know if you've a mobility
issue and areas where there's you know far cars going around corners fast
which is called Problems for Residents in various ways,
calls from different areas of the community
to kind of extend out some of the benefits
of that central area.
So all of that project obviously came about
because there was some central funding
that we bid for very successfully
and a huge amount of work had gone in
to make all of that project happen.
But it would be great if we were doing
some kind of forward thinking about what happens next
in that respect.
And I appreciate we're about,
We're in a local government reorganisation process,
but still think it's important to have that thinking.
So I just wondered if there had been any, thanks.
Thank you very much, Councillor Davidson,
for that excellent question.
And the simple answer is yes.
Now, just to list, you know,
we don't have any central funding, as it were.
We also have, shall we say, some challenges
in trying to convince Kent County Council
that they should invest more, particularly in signage.
A lot of the examples that you raise would be helped
with better signage to direct pedestrians
or at least inform pedestrians of where and what
and what to do, et cetera.
We're just over halfway through and I agree with you that we will all see the benefit
at the end of it.
The park is well underway.
I was being briefed today about why the canopy needs to come down around the bus station
building, because of the granite sets that are going in.
So there is day -to -day planning around the detail that you refer to.
We won't have a central pot to dip into.
We are hopeful that we will get further cooperation from Kent County Council, but that is not
necessarily going to be there.
However, the officers would all be very disappointed
if we finished with the feeling that it was unfinished.
So there are street lighting add -ons, shall we say,
signage add -ons, drop curb add -ons,
all of these things that are regularly discussed
discussed as kind of when we get to it,
we'll try and conjure up some funding
or some finance to do those sorts of things.
So all I can promise you is that they're all positively
discussed on a regular basis,
and where there's a will, there's a way.
And we would hope to leave the job finished.
But there is no budget for these at the moment, but we are determined to get it done.
Thank you, Steve.
Thank you, Steve and Jim.
I have two just niche small questions for you both.
Jim, your reports are fantastic.
continue to impress me, your ability to multitask
is crazy, quite frankly.
And you talk about how power drives the FHTC.
I was curious, do you have any regrets to date?
Just curious for maybe a reflective thought.
No comment, Elaine.
And Stephen, just one for you again,
perhaps a little pedantic, but in the very first line,
you suggested your portfolio is ill -defined and I was curious what you thought of the bad thing
and if there's something to do about that. So just yeah, thanks.
Well I'll answer that, picking up the last thing first.
No I don't think it is a weakness, but the problem, if it is a problem, is that what we're talking about
involves multiple connexions and so you cannot solve or, solving would be impossible anyway,
When you try and act on some of the different problems that are occurring in the environment and on the social sphere,
they are all interrelated.
So whether it's a matter of poverty, inclusion, social discrimination, social justice, pollution,
all those things which we know are...
Well actually the way to express this is they're all actually encapsulated in the 17 sustainable
development goals. Each of those goals starting with no hunger and ending with partnership
and so on are touch on and actually more than touch on, they delve into into great depth
aspect of what people have been increasingly calling the mega crisis. And so my portfolio
is directed towards that huge agenda which actually covers everything this Council does in one way or another.
And that's the strength of using the SDGs as a formula for actually uniting all the things which we're doing
and giving them a framework and some sort of coherence.
So, yeah, it's an ill -defined portfolio in the sense that which bit do you concentrate on?
And you cannot concentrate on one to the exclusion of any other.
And so there is that sense sometimes, I think, I'm not making any progress whatsoever.
And then when you inevitably in this particular context,
the rules and procedures and processes of local government
come into play and things which I thought might be done
quite quickly actually end up taking very long time.
So if you ask me about the threats and so on,
if I can move faster, that would be great.
But I also know that particularly in my portfolio,
carrying people with you, I think it's the same
with all of us, but particularly in the environment
portfolio, carrying people with you is fundamental.
So that's a slow process.
Yeah, thank you very much for your question.
You should have regrets, I've had a few.
But yeah.
Yeah.
My, you know,
My first big regret was not being able to get stagecoach to do more. We got some stuff
but then they disengaged completely. He doesn't talk to me anymore. I will carry this to my
I wish we could do more about Southern Walter.
You know, I just wish, because, you know,
I see that on a daily basis.
So, we were talking about it in formal cabinet.
What more can we do?
What different approach can we take?
How can we do it?
In terms of my role as leader,
and the officers will be able to comment more on this.
I'm not suggesting you comment now,
but you'll know more about this than that.
But it seems to me that a lot of the power
that we as an elected body representing local people
should have has been hollowed out.
We should have more power.
I should have more power over southern water
dumping sewage in the sea.
I should have more power over stagecoach
refusing to put rural services in place.
So that's not me, that's not,
but I, and I just hope that the new unitary
will be able to combine more of those powers
because while we have great power over certain things,
kind of the really important stuff,
We're advisory.
I was talking to Councillor Scroggins,
all the work we do on Southern Walter
is not our job.
We've got no power, no influence, and no responsibility.
We could just let them get on with it.
But we can't.
You know, we are the elected body,
And so I see it very much as a very, very important part of the role.
So I just want to just broaden the answer just slightly in terms of switching it over.
You know, what have I learned?
What have I seen?
And you know, as I put in the report, I grew up getting the political message that you
need a majority to make a difference.
But we are a minority coalition
that relies on the support of other parties
to get the business through.
It's talking about Southern Walter.
We engage with Southern Walter,
and my co -counsellors who take a very, very strong argument
to them, Councillor Hills, Councillor Thomas,
Councillor Cooper, we all represent different parties, different groups, but we all combine
with the one objective and that is keeping Southern Walter on the rack.
And I think in a broader sense, that's kind of why this council has worked.
We're so finely balanced.
You know, when I tell other people about our make -up, they say, well, how do you get your
business done?
Well, we do it through consensus.
We do it through putting business to council
that benefits the community.
And that has been a real learning curve for me.
Getting your business done through consensus.
Don't try and bully people or force stuff or,
just go and talk to them ahead of the business
being presented and find out what they think.
I know when it comes to the budget and stuff
and people want a grandstand and a future,
I get all of that, so happy with that.
But the rest of the year, all of our business gets done
because effectively it benefits the community we represent.
And that's really, really been a learning item for me,
not a kind of learning curve.
that just happened.
So, personally, I've benefited from it.
I didn't know anything about leading a council
before I got the gig.
But I am immensely proud of the area,
I'm immensely proud of its people,
but I am immensely proud of the officers, obviously,
but of the group of people that I call my fellow councillors, because I think when we
walk through that door, we all prioritise the communities we represent.
And that's the thing that binds us together, above any political affiliation or personal
views or whatever.
We all come here seeking the best for our communities, and that is hugely valuable.
So I'd like to thank you all.
I will shut up.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I was thinking that would be a nice way to end.
It was.
Councillor Jones has one last thing to say.
I was just going to say, in agreement, I meet a lot of other council chairs and mayors and
they are surprised when they hear that we have a mixed council but actually we get on
and work together so much better than a lot of the other councils in Kent.
So I'm again very proud when I talk to them and I say, well, actually, you know, it's really, we have nice meetings and very constructive meetings.
So again, that's thanks to Jim's leadership.
Thank you.
And but no, thank you to all the members for working together because it is important, obviously, that we're working for the best of the people.
So thank you.
Thank you for both your reports as well.
Thank you.
Okay, it's wonderful to have a loving
and for all of us to be congratulating each other.
That's wonderful.
But I go back to the points on the agenda.
I've been very nice and I've allowed people to deviate.
We've deviated quite far now.
This is wonderful.
It's really, really positive.
And I want to end on this positive note.
Did you want to say something?
Just about Jim, if I could.
OK, go on then.
Now speaking of a conservative, right, we put the community first.
I think all the councillors in this room put the community first, as does Jim.
And the work he does is on the water. Don't give up.
You are making progress. You might not have the physical power, but you have the moral power.
And that's important. It embarrasses them into doing things.
But we got to work more closely at the regional level as well.
We can't solve it by ourselves.
And like you, I've got great hopes that the unitary council, when it comes in,
will have more welly to do things.
But you did a great job, Jim.
Don't be pointing that out, by the way.
I'm getting told off.
But I think all the councils I meet in this council chamber
do put their communities first.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. And it's always nice to finish on a positive note.
And I say congratulations to absolutely everybody in here,
because I know that everybody cares about their communities.
We're here because of our communities.
We were elected by them.
And regardless of whatever colour we fly or whatever land yard we're wearing,
we know who the bosses are and the bosses are the residents, not us.
We are just representatives.
So thank you very much.
I'm going to end this meeting now so we can all go and have what's left of our lovely evening.
Thank you.