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Cabinet
Wednesday, 22nd July 2026 at 5:00pm

 

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Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Jim Martin
  2. Cllr Jim Martin
  3. Mr Jake Hamilton
  4. Cllr Jim Martin
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Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Jim Martin
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Rebecca Shoob
  2. Cllr Jim Martin
  3. Cllr Gary Fuller
  4. Cllr Jim Martin
  5. Cllr Gary Fuller
  6. Cllr Jim Martin
  7. Folkestone & Hythe Officer
  8. Cllr Jim Martin
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Connor McConville
  2. Cllr Jim Martin
  3. Cllr Mike Blakemore
  4. Cllr Jim Martin
  5. Cllr Tim Prater
  6. Cllr Stephen Scoffham
  7. Cllr Jim Martin
  8. Cllr Rebecca Shoob
  9. Cllr Jim Martin
  10. Mr Ewan Green
  11. Cllr Jim Martin
  12. Cllr Connor McConville
  13. Cllr Jim Martin
  14. Cllr Mike Blakemore
  15. Cllr Jim Martin
  16. Cllr Tim Prater
  17. Cllr Jim Martin
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  1. Cllr Connor McConville
  2. Cllr Jim Martin
  3. Cllr Gary Fuller
  4. Mr Andy Blaszkowicz
  5. Cllr Jim Martin
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Tim Prater
  2. Cllr Jim Martin
  3. Cllr Jim Martin
  4. Cllr Tim Prater
  5. Cllr Gary Fuller
  6. Cllr Jeremy Speakman
  7. Cllr Jim Martin
  8. Gavin Edwards
  9. Cllr Jeremy Speakman
  10. Gavin Edwards
  11. Cllr Jeremy Speakman
  12. Mr Jonathan Hicks
  13. Cllr Jim Martin
  14. Cllr Stephen Scoffham
  15. Cllr Jim Martin
  16. Cllr Stephen Scoffham
  17. Cllr Jim Martin
  18. Cllr Mike Blakemore
  19. Cllr Jim Martin
  20. Gavin Edwards
  21. Cllr Jim Martin
  22. Cllr Polly Blakemore
  23. Cllr Jim Martin
Share this agenda point
  1. Cllr Rebecca Shoob
  2. Cllr Jim Martin
  3. Cllr Gary Fuller
  4. Cllr Jim Martin
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  1. Cllr Tim Prater
  2. Cllr Jim Martin
  3. Cllr Tim Prater
  4. Cllr Jim Martin
  5. Cllr Jeremy Speakman
  6. Jonathan Smith
  7. Cllr Jeremy Speakman
  8. Jonathan Smith
  9. Cllr Jeremy Speakman
  10. Jonathan Smith
  11. Cllr Jim Martin

Cllr Jim Martin - 0:00:00
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:00:03
And welcome to the meeting of the Cabinet.
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.
Would anyone with a mobile phone
please switch it to silent mode,
as they can be distracting.
I would 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 welcome, everyone.
If we can start with item one, apologies for absence.
Jake.

1 Apologies for Absence

Thank you, leader.
Mr Jake Hamilton - 0:00:52
We have one apology from Councillor Butcher.
Okay.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:00:55
Councillor Butcher, thank you very much.

2 Declarations of Interest

Item two, any declarations of interest to make?
Anyone got any declarations?
No, okay, jolly good, thank you very much.

3 Minutes

Item three is the minutes to consider and approve
as a correct record the minutes of the meeting
held on the 24th of June.
Councillor Pate, you're proposing?
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:01:22
I'm very happy, oh, thank you, Councillor Blakemore.
for seconding. All those in favour, please indicate. Thank you very much, everyone.

4 Housing Competence & Conduct Policy and Housing Staff Code of Conduct

I'll just sign those. Thank you. So moving on then to the first substantive item, item
for housing competence and conduct policy and the housing staff code of conduct, pages
is 13 to 34 in your pack.
And I think that that is a Councillor Shrew
who is going to lead us through it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cllr Rebecca Shoob - 0:02:08
So this report before us
is the code of conduct
and the competency policy for staff.
So you may be aware the regulator of social housing
currently has four standards that the council
as a social landlord has to comply with.
And as of October, there'll be an additional standard
around competence and conduct.
And this policy and code of conduct will ensure
that we can comply with this new standard
and crucially demonstrate to our tenants
that we are committed to delivering service
with properly trained, professional, skilled,
and knowledgeable staff.
I think it's worth noting that the regulator
has introduced this standard as a direct result
of evidence that was heard by the Grenfell Tower inquiry.
We see a lot of policies come before this committee
and while they're all, every one of them
is clearly important and necessary,
I think sometimes they can come at such a rate
that we maybe don't have time to reflect
on the human storeys that are really at the heart of things
and why these policies really are so essential.
And I also want to say that we are really lucky here
at this council to have an extremely professional,
dedicated housing team.
And I know that they are already living up to
and beyond the competencies and behaviours
that are required by the policy and the code of conduct.
But I think it's just important to remember
that our decisions as councillors,
the actions of conduct of staff,
they all have really significant consequences,
both good and when it goes wrong,
very bad, can be very bad for people.
And that's why, as I say, the policy
and the code that's come before us is absolutely essential.
So I'd very much like to move the recommendations. Thank you.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:04:20
Thank you very much, Councillor Shoop. I'm very, very happy to second and open forward
discussion. Councillor Fuller.
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:04:35
Thank you, Chair. Excellent report. Excellent policies. I did have just a question about
the survey responses. It mentions that only two people responded, but it also adds the
caveat that the survey was emailed to people that had agreed that they would receive or
that they would be willing to carry out complete surveys. It just would have been useful to
know how large that database is so that we can get an idea of the percentage of people
that actually responded. Because if the database is three people, that's a really good response
rate. If the database is 300 people, not so much. Other than that, Exxon report.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:05:14
Thank you very much. Are you looking for an answer for that, Councillor?
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:05:20
I suspect, as it is just off the cuff, I am happy to receive it.
You are not looking for it this evening?
Yes, it does not have to be this evening.
It's not what you expect to be an answer.
Oh, right, okay. Oh, sorry, Mike.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:05:33
I'm terribly sorry.
Would you like to answer that?
Folkestone & Hythe Officer - 0:05:38
Thank you, Councillor Fuller. Yes, it is about 350 people on the database.
So it's a very low response.
I think the reason for that primarily is it's not a very exciting topic
that tenants don't particularly feel affects them.
If it was something to do with day -to -day frontline service delivery around repairs
or something like that, it would have got a much, much higher response.
but things like this, but just slightly drier perhaps to the average tenant.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:06:05
Thank you very much. Any other questions or queries on this one? No? Okay. So,
Councillor Shrew proposed. I seconded. All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much, I think that's unanimous.

5 Sports, Leisure and Community land at the Martello Lakes Development, Hythe

Moving on to item five, sports leisure and community land at the Martello Lakes development
in Hyde.
That's pages 35 to 44 in your pack.
And I think it's Councillor McConville who is going to lead us through this.
Thank you, Chair.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:06:40
So very exciting report this is, Martello.
It's been a word that's been banded around the council
for some years now, and it's really good to see
that we're actually moving forward.
So, obviously, for a bit of background,
with regards to the development,
the section 106 agreement allows
Fokse and the Hydrogen Council
to purchase the land for one pound.
So this decision here tonight is sort of to do that,
to get the ball rolling.
But if we intend to do this, to purchase the land,
then we need to give notice that we will submit a reserve matters application with regards
to the land, so what we intend to do with it.
And we need to give notice by the 29th of October this year that that's what we intend
to do and then we will have 12 months to put that application together and submit it.
So by the end of October 2027.
So hopefully Cabinet will support that way forward.
Obviously, the decision tonight doesn't determine what will be placed on the land.
There will be feasibility studies and public consultation which will be undertaken.
So prior to the planning submission being completed.
And we will also meet again as Cabinet to agree that submission
which will essentially show you what the site will look like moving forward.
The report outlines a large piece of work already undertaken
with regards to leisure provision within the district,
and section 5 of the report outlines a potential likely mix of facilities
that could be incorporated into the Martello Lakes site.
This space has the potential to add much needed leisure facilities to the district,
and I hope Cabinet supports this project to move forward
and I move the recommendations.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:08:41
Thank you very much Councillor McConville. I'm very very happy about the
report. I completely agree with you. I've heard this word Martello
likes for so many years. It's great just to see something happening and I think
Councillor Breakmore are you...
I'm happy to second. I was also going to speak if that's alright.
Okay, John.
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:09:06
Yeah, so I just wanted to also welcome this proposal
along with the improvements to Hive Pool,
which we're also talking about this evening.
It represents a significant opportunity
to improve facilities for physical activity
for the local community, and it will enable us
to provide the most appropriate facilities
to take full advantage of the land
that Martina Lake's provided under section 106.
And I think as we've also shown
through the Community Grant Programme this year
with 75 ,000 going into physical activity on the marsh
and elsewhere in the district.
It demonstrates that this council is committed
to improving health and wellbeing,
people's physical and mental health,
and the social cohesion that goes with that.
So I'm very pleased to support.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:09:53
Absolutely, I couldn't agree more.
Councillor Proater.
Thank you.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:09:57
Yeah, I also just wanted to say,
I absolutely support this new provision
of facilities in Marcello Lakes,
as Jim amongst a few others in the chamber will remember,
my first substantive speech back in this chamber in 2019
said we should buy the Martello Lake site for one pound,
and this report actually unlocks the way for us doing so
seven years later.
I think it's important that we say that something
has changed from there to here,
because we thought at that stage that was a good site
for a replacement for Hyde pool, and now we don't.
And that's because things have changed
in the intervening seven years.
We can now, I hope, in the course of the next few months,
for less than the cost of building a new pool,
refurbish Hyde Pool, and hope that we'll agree
to progress that.
And when you do that, that massively changes the maths,
and it massively changes the need of facilities in the area.
Because without Hyde Pool, a new swimming pool
at Martello Lakes would have clear demand,
and would be rational.
And with Hyde Pool, it isn't either of those things.
But swimming's not the only support,
and there is clear demand which the leisure strategy
has shown for other sports facilities
to serve both Hive and Romney Marsh,
and Martello Lakes can be used to provide them.
So when the facts have changed,
as they have over seven years, we've changed our mind.
I think that's the only rational thing to do.
But I'm delighted to see that it's being brought forward
as a leisure site.
I'm delighted to hear that seven years
of asking the same questions has eventually yielded
the answer that we sought,
and I'm very happy to see us progress on this.
I'm very happy to support the recommendations.
Can I ask for a scuffle?
Just coming in on a detail, and I don't like being pedantic,
Cllr Stephen Scoffham - 0:11:34
but I'm going to be.
I don't normally do that.
Page 42, where we look at 9 .4 climate change implications,
line two says that there's an excellent comment in 9 .4
about carbon action plan and district -wide carbon strategy
and so on.
but line two it should be site with a C -I -T -E rather than S -I -T -E.
And it did puzzle me when I read it the first time.
I thought, what is this site?
And while I'm dealing with this, if I can skip forward to page 54,
we've got exactly the same problem on page 54,
which is also in paragraph 9 .4.
So it's a very minor thing, but it just shows that I've read it carefully.
So that's the point.
I'm sure the officers will amend accordingly.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:12:25
Councillor Schaffman, thank you very much for spotting that.
Councillor Shroob.
Thank you.
Cllr Rebecca Shoob - 0:12:33
I just wondered if there's any detail at this point about what the consultation with public
and stakeholders might look like.
Would someone like to venture?
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:12:47
Thank you, Councillor Shroob.
Mr Ewan Green - 0:12:51
No detail at this point, but I think what we are very mindful of is building on the
back of previous consultation, what we've done in the Levelling Up Fund and in the corporate
plan.
So it will certainly be all -encompassing.
We will be using as many new techniques as we can and importantly engaging with the youth
forum as well.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:13:09
Any other questions or comments on the report?
Councillor McConville proposed.
Councillor Blakemore seconded.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Fantastic, that's unanimous, terrific.
Thank you very much.
So moving on to item eight,
which as both Councillors McConville and Prater
suggested was linked to item five.
The Hive Pool Refurbishment Options,
that's pages 45 to 58.
and I think it's Councillor McAlbally who's going to take us through this one.
Thank you.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:13:51
So, obviously the two are slightly linked in that they both sort of form part of the wider district leisure strategy that we're looking at.
Hive pool, an ageing asset in need of refurbishment,
but both in terms of having an improved facility for residents,
but also in terms of lowering energy costs, improving sustainability,
and working towards the Council's ambition to get its estate down to net zero.
3 .5 in the report shows the current cost,
that running the pool is currently to the Council.
So by proceeding with both options, three and four,
both options look to move to an electric model
to massively lower energy costs.
So that will help both financially
and environmentally moving forward.
OSCE had a very good discussion
around this topic the other month.
and I thank them for their views.
They were very excited at the prospect of option four,
so I think the report has the right balance
of including that and taking that forward.
Personally, once all the work is done,
I'd be quite interested to see how the feasibility
does compare between the two options.
I think it's the right choice to move forward with both options.
After the frenzy of OSC, I probably wasn't minded that way,
but I've come round to it, so I hope Cabinet would support that as well.
And obviously once that work is done, then we'll get to meet again
and see the way forward for the pool.
And I move the recommendations.
Thank you very much. Councillor Blakemore.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:16:03
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:16:07
Happy to second again. And also obviously very supportive of this proposal as well.
It comes hot on the heels. I was trying to think of a swimming analogy, but hot on the
heels will have to do, in the wake of possibly, of our 2 .4 million grand for reopening. Folks
in Swimming Pool, which I'm told will definitely happen this year, and that will be really
good because then we'll have swimming restored in Folkestone and secured for the longer term
in high than would be the case if we struggled as we were. And as the paper notes, this will
be followed by, and we've noted tonight, sports and leisure strategy, looking more broadly
at what's required, but it's important that we proceed as quickly as possible with this
proposal. I'm also grateful to members of OSC for their enthusiastic support for exploring
these more ambitious design options,
either of which will represent a big improvement
on what's there at the moment.
So yeah, very pleased to support.
Thank you very much.
Councillor Proitor.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:17:05
Thank you.
I think there's something around
trying to, not trying to fly before we can crawl,
but we'll go back.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:17:13
I'm also really, really delighted to support this.
I look forward to seeing the costings
come forward for the two options,
and then see what the running cost implications
are of those and the revenue cost going forward and see if by spending more money we can get
something which is more financially sustainable in the long term. I don't know yet because
we haven't seen those costings. It's genuinely an open decision, I think, at this stage,
so we're looking forward to seeing those.
I think you'd expect, I went to Section 6 .0 on the finance where it said that the consultant
will carry out stakeholder consultation, including consultation with swimming clubs and the local
and planning authority by which that means us.
But I think in terms of the clubs, that's really critical.
And it needs to be all clubs as well,
because we've got clubs in there which have a variety
of different needs and uses.
So it's not just HiveAqua, but of course,
it's the Hive Artistic Swimming Club as well.
Because they've got specific needs,
and I know that there has been some discussion already
about pool depths and the pool profile
to make sure that both can be supported.
You can't do what used to be called
an old money synchronised swimming
in a pool that's too shallow, it doesn't work.
So I really hope that the final options of the feedback,
and the final options include the feedback from those.
I'm sure that the pool profile and the pool depth
will support those clubs, whichever option is then supported,
but it'd be great to have their views on that,
great to have their views on any other changes
that could be made or built within those proposals,
which would mean that those clubs
are well supported going forward as well.
There aren't many pools for the reasons of depth and things that have that.
HIVE has some unique clubs there, has some unique swimming talent there.
Sorry, not quite unique, but there's a very limited number of other places in the country
with that facility.
I really hope, I'm sure we're not going to lose that, but actually the new pool will
support them and their members and allow them to thrive and grow in the future as well in
a way that a shallower pool just could not allow them to do so.
So, although I get the balance, I'm really looking forward to seeing the report and the options
and being able to judge which of those gives us the best long -term sustainable future.
Any other contributions?
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:19:26
Just a couple of things from me.
I agree wholeheartedly about the input of the clubs.
Hugely important.
They are articulate and they know what they're talking about.
So, I completely agree on that.
I also want to highlight the input of overview and scrutiny here.
I think that overview and scrutiny really gave us something to think about and really,
really doing their job got us to look again at things.
So I think as, obviously, I support the works, et cetera.
I think it will be very interesting to look at that sort of cost benefit analysis of the
two options and then discuss again and make a decision.
So very, very, very happy to see this moving forward.
So we have a proposer in Councillor McConville.
We have a seconder in Councillor Mike Blakemore.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much, everyone.
Moving on to item seven,

7 Ship Street Development - update

which is the Ship Street development and update,
pages 59 to 78.
And are you gonna take us through this one again,
Councillor McConville, thank you.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:20:58
Yep, sounds all neat tonight.
Yeah, I mean, yeah.
Councillor Prater said he's been talking
about Martello Lakes for seven years.
I think one of the very first conversations I had
with Susan involved Ship Street, which is in my ward.
You know, this, you couldn't, I couldn't describe
in this meeting how complex this site is.
And the massive undertaking, this council's already done
in trying to bring it forward for development.
Now this is a site that no one was going to touch.
You know, it was absolutely the right decision of the council back when they did it to purchase
the site.
And I just wanted to thank officers for all the years and years of work that's gone into
this.
So some highlights, applying for and receiving the two and a half million Brownfield land
release fund, all the public consultation events at the Quarter House, all the work
that's happened so far with regards to planning submissions.
And you know, there's so much more.
This is just a huge, huge piece of work.
Hopefully, we're very close to being in a position
where we can dispose of the site
to finally bring forward much needed affordable housing in East Folkestone.
However, there's still a bit of work to do.
We need a little bit more resource to do it.
Recommendations 3, 4 and 5 ask Cabinet to agree to a further 132K of funding for the project
and also to recommend this to full Council for approval.
We may be eligible for some funding from Homes England,
25 ,000, recommendation six, ask Cabinet to support that.
Why wouldn't we?
And I'd also like to bring Cabinet's attention to sections 2 .5 and 2 .6
in the report with regards to the bit on biodiversity net gain.
This is something officers have been following for some time
and obviously we'll continue to follow the discussions that happen
and report back when we have, I guess, a firmer idea
of how things are going to move with that
and the implications of that moving forward.
Section three of the report outlines the funding,
both all of that previously spent on the project
and also the new requirement and where it needs to go.
The project, as it has always been, is not without risk,
but the benefit with regards to housing delivery,
for me at least, far outweighs it.
So I would hope Cabinet would support the recommendations,
move the recommendations.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:23:34
Thank you very much, Councillor McConville.
I'm very happy to second the proposal.
And like you, Ship Street really does need to move on.
I am aware of a great deal of work that's gone into this,
but I know that it's only a fraction of the total work
that's gone into this.
Hopefully with the agreement of Cabinet,
if we can move it forward and develop this
for affordable housing in the town,
I think it will be a huge achievement.
And officers need to be congratulated.
But I'll save my congratulations for when it happens.
but we are well down the road,
and I'm very, very happy to back this further ask
for some additional money to get us over the line.
So very happy to open it for other discussions.
Oh, Councillor Fuller.
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:24:45
I've fallen asleep, Claire.
Sorry.
I just actually had a very quick question
that haven't come to mind before actually on the B &G credits are they the only option
when you can't deliver net gain on a site or are there other options like planting a
million trees or something like that.
Mr Andy Blaszkowicz - 0:25:07
You have two options essentially one is to purchase credits and the other one is for
to provide offsite provision.
It's not the only option,
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:25:19
but the second option is almost as difficult
as buying credit, so you know, it's difficult, yeah.
Any other questions or queries?
So we have a proposer in Councillor McConville.
I was very happy to second.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much, everyone. We now move into the Councillor Prater show. We start

8 Quarter 4/Annual Corporate and Housing Performance report 2025/26

with item 8, a quarter for annual corporate and housing performance report, pages 79 to
128 in your pack. Councillor Prater.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:26:05
I'll take the speaking hat from Conor. Thank you for that. I'm going to try and work at
speed through some of these reports,
but they are all important, and we know that
because we've seen them over the course
of the last two or three years, each of them.
So these reports specifically take us to the end of March,
and they're the quarter four, and therefore full year
reports on our performances of council
and landlord service through to there.
And also we're looking at the draught KPIs for next year,
for 26 -27, which have also been discussed already
with scrutiny and revised accordingly,
having taken their feedback.
of the back.
Of course, I'm going to do the broad outline of this
and as ever, any questions on the detail
should absolutely be directed to Gavin and Jonathan
who love this stuff and are going to be absolutely ready
with the detailed answers to both of those things.
And when you read these reports, and I know we all have,
I've sat in enough different places in this chamber
to know that the pages that people flick to first
will vary depending on where you're sitting.
Some people are looking for the targets
that you've hit first and some people are looking
at the targets that you miss.
Actually, both points are valid,
because that's the point of this reporting.
It's about where we're doing well,
and we're hitting demanding targets that we set ourselves.
We should acknowledge and celebrate that,
and this report draws out many of those examples, as ever,
and it's really important that we do that
and we can see that.
And equally, there are targets that we missed.
And the report doesn't just record them,
but it discusses them, it outlines the reasons for them,
and it highlights the actions that are being taken on them
and it gives us the route to improve
as this report has always done,
as this report has developed over a period of time.
Because it's only through that cycle of assessment
and evaluation and action that you get the improvement
that as a long -term student of these reports,
we have actually got, we have got a really good
feedback process that is delivering those results.
And it's timely because this annual report
obviously breaks out now the report
from the results of our landlord service as well,
because it's efficient and it aligns
with the landlord service reporting requirements.
I think looking at that part of the report,
it's hugely to the credit of the housing team and Rebecca,
and I'm even gonna name cheque David Godfrey
as the previous cabinet member for housing
about how far we've come in that service
since we took it back from East Kent Housing,
and how far, just the sheer difference in the numbers
between where we were five or six years ago
in terms of the state stock and the issues
that we had with that and where we are now.
We're looking at it as one of the metrics on there
and where we didn't hit the target by one property
out of 2 ,808 of not having a gas certificate
on a particular day, but even that certificate
was booked for April, within the following month.
We're light years away from where we have been.
But we're still watching and we're still acknowledging
and if that number was any higher than that,
somebody would have broken out in hives by now.
So obviously, we're still waiting for the publication
of the external regulator of social
housing's inspection judgement, Brown -Amell service,
but they would have seen these results.
It will be part of their assessment
to be looking at these numbers.
I know that although these are good results, we retain that ongoing commitment to improve
and to continue to learn and to continue to get better.
And that's part of an excellent landlord service.
And I hope they acknowledge that when they see one.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:29:45
Sorry, yeah, Councillor Parra, I was lost in the detail of the report there.
No, exactly.
Surely good.
And you -
I absolutely move the recommendations.
Recommendations, yeah.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:29:55
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:29:55
Yeah, no, well, yes.
I'm very, very happy to second the report.
And you're quite right.
I immediately went to the housing metrics.
But my first one that I will have to highlight
is 4 ,000 more visitors to Hyde Pool.
That's, yeah.
But, you know, I mean, you know, God bless it.
Do you know what I mean?
It's in my world.
How it's managed to cope.
The staff at Hive Paul are just like magicians.
You know, I've been there when they've been
kicking the boiler and trying to get
the condenser to work again.
And I just don't know how they keep that building going.
But they do, you know, so my grateful thanks to them.
And we will talk more, in fact we're gonna talk
a great deal about our performance on housing
because I am thrilled with it.
We've got a kind of smattering of metrics here.
But, you know, and I was just looking at the fire risk assessment and Legionella water
risk assessments, both of the things that I am familiar with.
And you know, you'll always get signs coming off.
In any report, that will never be 100%.
Just wear and tear.
You will always have things to do under those headings.
So I'm thrilled with this report.
I think it's a really, really good kind of end of term report, if you like.
And so I'm very, very happy to second and open it for discussion.
Councillor Fuller.
Thank you, Chair.
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:31:52
I couldn't let it slip by without mentioning that all of the information government's KPOAs have been exceeded, as it were,
and we had no ICO reportable breaches.
That is a testament to the incredible work of Jonathan and the team.
But also there are various other positives, which supported twice as many businesses as
we intended to.
Our household support under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is much higher than the target
of 60.
We have built more council houses than we intended to.
We have brought more empty homes into use than we intended to.
So even though we set robust targets,
we are regularly exceeding them.
And also you mentioned about the fire risk assessment
and the Legionella.
Those new KPIs are coming out of recommendations
from the regulator for social housing.
And I mean, we only had an inspection recently,
yet we're already getting those in place,
which is, it shows that we're taking this very seriously
and we're reacting quickly.
I'm also pleased to see that things that we discussed in customer support about looking
more into more detail around how we handle phone calls basically, so customer satisfaction,
call volumes, answer rates, that kind of thing are being added in as well.
It's an excellent report, I think it's an excellent picture of what we're doing and
I'd like to thank the officer team for all the hard work they've put into it.
I'm a Councillor Sweetman and then Councillor Scott Paul.
Just, I'm brilliant.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:33:33
A lot of very interesting data.
Just a couple of certain anomalies I think I just wanted to raise.
One was on, I think it's page 96, complaints.
The total number of complaints for 24 -25 was 180.
25 -26 was 255, which is kind of like getting off a nearly 50 % increase.
I don't know if there's any kind of thoughts as to how that might have arisen.
I think we have an answer for you.
Oh, okay.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:34:03
Thank you, leader, and again, thank you, Councillor Speakman, for your question there.
Gavin Edwards - 0:34:09
With regards to looking at that trend, at the moment, obviously I can't give you a definitive
answer as to the weather increase.
We are, I am actually doing a piece of work at the moment on that, as part of what we
call our Annual Complaints and Servicemen improvement report, and that detail will be
brought back to Cabinet on the 2nd of September.
So you'll have that as a full report with the details set out there that will allow you to hopefully answer some more of your questions.
But that work is in progress at the moment and we'll finalise it.
Any kind of initial thoughts around that at all?
I wouldn't want to obviously speak about it. I would like to wait for the paper so you can consider the screen -see properly a bit.
Thank you.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:34:41
Thank you.
Oh, sorry.
Sorry.
Gavin Edwards - 0:34:45
Yeah.
Continue. Go on. Yes, absolutely.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:34:50
Sorry, the other question was again page 100, which was around the, if I can find it.
Here we are. Yeah.
Regulatory and community services.
Fixed penalty notices issued under public space protection orders.
Now the context, why I was quite curious about this, is that public space protection orders
have been quite a feature of various beach management strategies in other coastal areas
where they've been having sort of difficulties like we're starting to experience during the summer.
But I noticed that we haven't issued any in 2024 -25 or in 2025 -26.
I just wondered if anyone had any comments on that one.
Unfortunately, we have experts in the room. Jonathan.
Mr Jonathan Hicks - 0:35:50
Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Councillor Spigman. I did speak to our officer on this
case. You'll see in the report that it's zero for all of last year and the year before.
So just for clarity, that particular indicator is fairly narrow and relates only to the FPNs
by the community safety team under the ASB PSPO.
So under that, there are seven particular measures
that that one captures.
So I think most of the work of the PSPO is preventative.
So in fact, if someone is in breach of that,
they'll be asked to take action,
and if people abide by it, then you don't have to
issue the fixed penalty notice.
So the fact that we haven't had to issue any for those things is actually a good measure.
It's indicated that the PSPO is working in effect.
But littering in Beech is enforced through statutory powers apparently and not through the PSPO.
But Andrew said he'll confirm that with you.
Okay, very good. Councillor Scott.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:36:54
Cllr Stephen Scoffham - 0:36:59
One of the areas which I take a particular interest in is household waste and recycling
and the target of 50%.
It depresses me a little bit.
We don't make any progress on it.
It is stubborn.
I thought when I came three years ago that if we can crack this we can really do something
and it is not proving easy.
I just wanted to say that the figures perhaps mask what's going on to some extent.
One of the negative things, and we've looked at this in overview and scrutiny,
is that the waste, the packaging, packaging which we can recycle is getting lighter.
The manufacturers are reducing the amount of material they put into it.
So we don't, it's a very basic measure that we've got, which is tonnage.
If the packaging gets lighter, our recycling rate looks worse than it actually is.
So we have to run to stay still as it was.
Although it is a regular figure of this year, it was sort of between 45 and 48%.
That is actually an achievement because it could have been a lot worse as it were.
How do we get to 50 %?
It is jolly difficult.
Most of us in the room at one time or another will either have taken part in litter picks
or looked out of the window as we've been moving around the district and think,
my God, there's so much litter on the verge and tossed out of our windows.
It's ubiquitous.
So what we're looking at is behaviour change, and that is much, much harder to achieve.
And I just hope that I'll be able to come back in a year's time or six months' time
and say, look, the figures are looking better and we're getting into the green light area.
That's my ambition, but I'm certain it's all our ambition, but I just wanted to flag that up.
It's not an easy one.
The Waste Collection Service does an incredible job.
The 30 missed bins out of 100 ,000, I mean, that is minuscule.
And the amount of waste, you know, the almost, the figure I can't remember,
which my colleagues came up with,
but the waste that we collect is more or less the same weight as a cross -channel ferry each year.
and from thousands of houses, absolutely extraordinary achievement.
So it's a good news storey in a sense, but I'm very sorry to see it flashing up red.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:39:24
Obviously, this is just a statistic that concerns us all.
And the last time I confronted this, I looked it up
and out of 371 councils in the country,
we are 101st in terms of our percentage of recycling.
So we're in the top third.
In order to move forward dramatically,
we would have to do some fairly dramatic things.
For example, moving to three weekly connexions
or collections, there's a package of things
that we could do, but it's only really sort of 10 councils
that have done that in the country.
So it's a big step.
In terms of what we do, we perform very well.
But I'm sure this is gonna be a discussion
that we have another time about how we move
that recycling figure forward substantially.
If I could just add to that.
Cllr Stephen Scoffham - 0:40:36
We can just remind ourselves that the raise the rate food,
which we were one of the very few authorities in Kent
to take it up, has been very successful,
14 % increase in food waste recycling,
which not happened not only last year,
but has been maintained this year.
So there's lurking behind these figures,
there are some good news storeys,
but as the leader says, we've got some challenges ahead.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:41:03
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:41:06
Absolutely, yes.
Councillor Bla
So a substantial miss on that one,
so glad to see that the team are addressing that.
On the question of what time do we set up,
so as I think, if I remember rightly,
I raised the question about fly tipping,
it's on page 112, and how it was difficult
if we didn't know how many instances
of fly tipping there were to see whether
the average number of days to remove that fly tipping,
what achievement that was or wasn't.
So it's really useful to have that context
and rather alarming to see 1 ,352 instances.
But I wonder whether we need to lose that measure for how,
for our average number of days taken to deal with it,
because it seems to me it's still useful to have that.
It's just having that additional context
of how many cases there were in the first place.
And then my other thought was just on number of households
in the district receiving support through the UKSPF.
So I think we are, because we've replaced UKSPF money,
haven't we? We are still supporting households, so I also just wonder whether, perhaps that's
not the right measure anymore, but whether we should be in some way measuring the support
that we're providing to families with cost of living, because that's obviously an important
part of our work. That was all. Thank you.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:42:43
Thank you. Who would like to venture an answer on any of that? Anyone keen to? Jonathan,
are you... Oh, Gavin, you're going to get the ball rolling.
Thank you, Leader, and again, thank you, Councillor Speakeman, for those comments.
Gavin Edwards - 0:42:57
Very happy to take those comments and suggestions away.
We'll look at those with officers on those very minor amendments there.
Councillor Blaemore.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:43:07
Thank you.
Cllr Polly Blakemore - 0:43:14
I just wanted to pick up on a KPI in my portfolio area, which is the food premises inspections.
and I expect it will be noticed that the performance is down in that area.
And it was just a reassurance that there have been various issues there
and that the improvements are ongoing.
There's been an issue with long -term sick absence,
which I believe will shortly be hopefully resolved,
as well as a vacancy.
And there are limited contractor options in that area.
And I think the team have learned from experience
that it's having the wrong contractor is worse than having no contractor.
So there are limited and there aren't many contractors available in the area either.
So it has been a bit of an ongoing issue
and this is all against the background of ever increasing regulatory demands.
So the inspections are being monitored prioritised rather by risk level.
There have been three unsuccessful recruitment plans.
But I believe there is a reassessment going on now to see if it's possible to recruit
as a trainee role and build them up internally.
And recruitment is currently underway, so it's all heading in the right direction.
Well good news.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:44:32
Thank you very much.
Are there any more questions or queries?
I would just like to add a final comment.
In the report itself, the bringing together
of all of that data is just flipping brilliant.
Yeah, it's really, really good.
It gives us so much information.
So congratulations to everyone
who contributed to that document.
So we have a proposer in Councillor Prater.
I was very happy to second.
and all those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much, that's unanimous.

9 Housing Revenue Account Revenue and Capital Provisional Outturn 2025/26

Moving on to item nine, housing revenue account revenue
and capital provisional out -term 2526.
That's pages 129 to 144 in your pack,
and Councillor Prater will lead us through it.
I'm terribly sorry.
Sorry, I thought we were in a team show.
Cllr Rebecca Shoob - 0:45:36
Sorry, I'm really, really sorry.
Councillor Shab, sorry about that.
Please do press on.
Thank you.
So you'll see we've got underspends
in both revenue and capital.
The recommendations are that we approve these carry forwards.
The decrease in expenditure is largely due
to reduced finance costs and other sort of knock -on effects
of the capital programmes having slipped,
they will, those new homes will happen
later than originally scheduled,
but we will see those new homes across the district
later this year and next year.
As I say, they account, that slippage accounts
for a large amount of the carry -forward.
I just want to note that we can be assured
that despite the underspends as detailed
in the previous item, the routine maintenance,
the delivery of the landlord service has gone on
without being affected by any of the underspends.
So I would like to move the recommendations, thank you.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:46:59
Thank you very much Councillor Shrub. I'm very happy to second. I think any
complex volume programme like this will always see some kind of slippage.
What I'm very very pleased about is that what the underspend indicates is
I think prudent budgeting such that it's better than an
So, I'm very confident in our ability as a council to deliver on all of these targets.
And I'm very, very happy to second and open it for a Councillor for that.
Thank you, Chair.
Cllr Gary Fuller - 0:47:42
I just wanted to briefly say how great it is to see a programme that delivers above
its target but within its budget, specifically the decarbonisation programme, which upgraded
more homes than intended and again, within budget. So excellent work by the team, fantastic.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:47:58
Point well made. Thank you very much. Any other points to raise or observations to make?
No, jolly good. Okay. So Councillor Shroob proposed. I seconded. All those in favour,
please indicate. Thank you very much, everyone. So hopefully, we're now back to Councillor

10 General Fund Revenue 2025/26 Provisional Outturn

The item 10, general fund revenue 2526, provisional out term, pages 145 to 164.
Councillor Proater.
Thank you, leader.
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:48:35
This report, as you would have read, summarises the 2526 provisional out term position prior
to external audit for the general fund revenue out term.
And as ever, while I do this introduction, you should keep your eyes on Jonathan to see
if he winces at any stage, at which point ask him
why he winced.
I'm hoping he doesn't, but we'll see.
Clearly the highlights in this report,
the recommendations for me include that we budgeted
last year to break even, and we're reporting
a 90 ,000 pound surplus.
We are carrying forward, I'll say this number slowly,
5 .468 million pounds to specific carry forward
earmarked reserves.
And they were doing so to allow us to close financial gaps
that we could see in future financial years,
which also allows us to increase teams
to improve our service,
fix some things that we didn't know were coming,
like mermaids beach, et cetera,
which we will come back to in a later report,
and Appendix D lists in great detail
where those carry -forwards are
and where those specific
specific earmarked reserves are going to be.
And also the third thing onto,
third thing in here, there's 2 .4 notes,
is that it fully writes off the remaining balance
on Prince's Parade.
Actually 2 .4 notes that it writes off the remaining balance
on Price's Parade actually,
but I'm assuming it's Prince's Parade
and we didn't have something else going on there.
That is now finished and that is over.
That chapter of our life is over.
I said Jonathan will be much more excited to deal with any questions of detail in this
budget, but really appendices C and D give that detail, I think, in almost all instances,
and that is therefore very transparently. I need to say that the work by Alan and Jonathan,
the whole team that's brought us to this point, where we have what I think we can now describe
as a robust financial position.
It's been a while to get there.
Modern financial systems, a focused team,
with fully up -to -date and audited accounts throughout,
is just extraordinary.
So thank you to Jonathan, and thank you to the team
that has got us there.
This is, as far as I'm concerned, by some distance,
the best financial out -to -turn report
that I've been able to present in our time here,
and I am c*** -a -hoop leader to move the report
and its recommendations.
Thank you very much, Councillor Prozzer.
I too am cuckahoot, believe me.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:51:16
And rather than droning on, I would also like to reiterate the Council's thanks to Jonathan and to Alan
and the team for all of the hard work that has gone into...
You know, this is literally the end bit, isn't it?
This report represents such a lot of work,
you know, hours and hours of spreadsheets and balancing.
So, you know, thank you, Jonathan.
Thank you, Alan, in your absence.
And I'm very, very happy to second the report.
Do you want to come back in for it?
I'm just going to say if only it was the end bit,
because it has mentioned it's yet to go through
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:52:01
external audit and the full joy of that has yet to be completed. I think they've been
through the doors and started the process, but it would be a stretch to say that's completed
yet. But I think we're hopefully on target that that will be done by end of November
this year is the plan to do so. So that will be ending that process sooner than ever before.
But yeah, we're a long way down the track, but I don't think we've quite hit the line
the buffers on this one yet.
So I think we'll suspend disbelief until November
and it clearing that, but we're certainly to this point,
this looks really good.
Well, that's great.
I'm not anticipating any problems,
we'll do that way.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:52:45
So you've proposed that I have seconded,
so I'm very happy to open it for questions or career.
Councillor speaking.
Yeah, I suppose a question probably for Jonathan.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:52:59
Just on 2 .3 refers to the particular,
there's something called the extended producer
responsibility, which is like the packaging levy.
I struggled to unpick this a bit, Jonathan.
I don't know whether you could just walk us through a bit,
because I know we got some money up front
and then we got a bit more, which,
and I think some of that, or a lot of that's gone
into reserves, but not all of it.
So yeah, I mean, there's a bit actually of the,
I think the bit that we got, the extra bit,
the 436, which is not all of that's gone into reserve, is that how it is?
Yes.
Anyway, if you could just kind of walk us through where we are with that, that would
be great.
Thank you.
Are you able to paint us a picture, Jonathan?
Thank you.
Thank you, leader.
Thank you, Councillor Speakman.
Jonathan Smith - 0:53:47
So in terms of the EPR, or the Consumer Responsibility Grant, so the original budget for 25 -26 contained
and 942k of guaranteed element of funding as notified by MHCLG and PAC -UK in late 2024.
So, however, I mean, after the budget was set, the council was informed that there would
be additional income that would be forthcoming, hence the 436k that's mentioned in the report,
which was highlighted through the quarterly monitoring reports throughout the year.
Waste operations, including those to which the EPR funding is ring fenced as a conditional
grant actually exceed the cost of the EPR grant income that we receive. So the EPR grant
money itself that was received was used to pay in full towards the relevant elements
of the waste contract for which we are entitled to apply the grant. But in view of the unbudgeted
additional grant money and grant income, we were able to cover more of them the waste
operations that were part of the general fund budget, which obviously freed up some of the
the sourcing that we were going to take from the general fund.
And so we therefore obviously took the opportunity to set aside some of that budget
from the general fund as a carry -forward, and that's what you'll note in Appendix D,
the 306K in Appendix D for waste operations.
That's some of the budget that was freed up as a result.
So there's 130, there's 130 variants, isn't there, between what was extra and what was put forward.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:55:12
So that 130 went back in the budget to infill the base.
It's effectively gone against the relevant parts of the waste contract.
Jonathan Smith - 0:55:19
So as I mentioned, the overall costs of running the waste service,
including the recycling element that obviously grant money is applicable towards,
it far exceeds the grant income.
So we've applied the grant income full,
but we've obviously taken forward based on what the service has sort of discussed,
how much the service needs, so some carry forward has been set aside.
Cllr Jeremy Speakman - 0:55:46
the fact that we've carried it forward, we've got 306 carried forward presumably, which is earmarked for recycling projects next year,
will that have an effect on any other grant income? Will they measure, will they kind of counter that against what extra we might get,
or do you think it will have an effect, or we don't know, presumably?
Jonathan Smith - 0:56:05
The EPR grant itself is an annual element to it, so there'll be a new EPR grant that comes in this year,
and that will obviously then be allocated.
We'll deal with that as part of the budget setting
that's gonna go forward.
Dolly good.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:56:16
Any other particular questions or queries?
No, Dolly good.
So, Councillor Prater proposed.
I was very happy to second.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much.
And onto item 11,
General Fund Capital Programme Provisional Outturn 25 to 26,

11 General Fund Capital programme provisional outturn 2025/26

pages 165 to 180 in your pack.
And Councillor Prater will kick us off on this one.
Thank you.
Again, I'm not gonna read people through this,
Cllr Tim Prater - 0:56:46
and it's the capital twin of the last report,
and as with the last report,
it's provisional outturn prior to external audit
of the current financial position.
But it shows what the expenditure was last year,
and the variances against the planned budget for the year.
Now as ever with capital programmes,
there are a large number of carry forwards
because whenever something is happening,
almost always there is work in progress
but not finished yet as programmes very rarely finish
very neatly on the 31st of March
with all work done, completed, and all invoices paid
and squirrelled away at that moment.
So the report details the bigger buts of those
in section two and the appendices themselves
give those a carry forwards, et cetera,
projects that it's still working on in the glorious detail.
As with the written recommendations discussed
in the last one, the last report,
so the revenue report, rolled 200 ,000 pounds
of revenue underspend from last year
into this year's budget to be able to spend as capital
on the Mermaid Beach retaining wall.
So this report takes that money
and adds it to this year's capital budget,
so that those repairs can be made in this financial year.
Indeed, with a following wind,
possibly less than a Storm Greti level of following wind,
we might even see them done in this calendar year,
but no promises on that.
So there's lots of good detail in there,
lots of work done within that capital programme.
As ever, slippage from one year to another,
but that's not because work is not happening,
it's just because timetables do not necessarily
hit financial years very well.
And I'm very happy to move the recommendations
on this report as well.
Thank you, Councillor Prater.
I am very happy to second,
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:58:43
and I am very happy to recommend to full council
that the Mermaid Beach Capital Works budget
of 200 KB added to the medium term capital programme.
And I'm very happy to open it up for questions and queries.
Cllr Jim Martin - 0:59:08
Anyone got a, no?
Okay, jolly good.
So, Councillor Prater proposed.
I was very happy to second.
All those in favour, please indicate.
Thank you very much, that's unanimous.
That is the end of the cabinets business for this evening.