Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Tuesday 28 July 2026, 6:00pm

Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Tuesday, 28th July 2026 at 6:00pm

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Councillor Tony Hills
Councillor Tony Hills
Mr Jake Hamilton
Councillor Tony Hills
Mr Jake Hamilton
Councillor Tony Hills
Mr Jake Hamilton
Councillor Tony Hills

2 Declarations of Interest

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Declarations of Interest

3 Minutes

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Minutes , 26/05/2026 Overview and Scrutiny Committee

4 Minutes of the Finance and Performance Sub-Committee

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Minutes , 30/06/2026 Finance and Performance Scrutiny Sub-Committee

Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Alan Martin
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Paul Thomas
Councillor Tony Hills

5 Local Government Reorganisation Preparedness

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Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Jim Martin
Councillor Tony Hills
FHDC Officer
Ms Andrina Smith
FHDC Officer
Cllr Jim Martin
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Anita Jones
Councillor Tony Hills
FHDC Officer
Dr Susan Priest
Cllr Anita Jones
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Rich Holgate
Councillor Tony Hills
FHDC Officer
Ms Andrina Smith
Cllr Rich Holgate
FHDC Officer
Cllr Rich Holgate
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Paul Thomas
FHDC Officer
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Paul Thomas
Cllr Alan Martin
FHDC Officer
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Bridget Chapman
Councillor Tony Hills
Ms Andrina Smith
Dr Susan Priest
Cllr Jim Martin
Councillor Tony Hills
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Rich Holgate
Councillor Tony Hills
Dr Susan Priest
Councillor Tony Hills
FHDC Officer
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Alan Martin
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Paul Thomas
Dr Susan Priest
Cllr Paul Thomas
Councillor Tony Hills
Councillor Tony Hills
Councillor Tony Hills
Mr Fred Miller

6 Improving Street Lighting

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OSC Report - Improving Street Lighting

Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Alan Martin
Councillor Tony Hills
Mr Fred Miller
Councillor Tony Hills
Mr Ewan Green
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Paul Thomas
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Paul Thomas
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Bridget Chapman
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Bridget Chapman
Councillor Tony Hills
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Paul Thomas
Councillor Tony Hills
Mr Ewan Green
Councillor Tony Hills
Councillor Tony Hills

7 Cabinet Member updates

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Cllr Mike Blakemore
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Polly Blakemore
Councillor Tony Hills
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Paul Thomas

8 Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme Tracker (Information only item)

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7 Cabinet Member updates

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Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Polly Blakemore
Cllr Paul Thomas
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Bridget Chapman
Cllr Polly Blakemore
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Anita Jones
Cllr Polly Blakemore
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Alan Martin
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Polly Blakemore
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Rich Holgate
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Polly Blakemore
Cllr Mike Blakemore
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Rich Holgate
Cllr Mike Blakemore
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Paul Thomas
Cllr Mike Blakemore
Cllr Alan Martin
Cllr Mike Blakemore
Mr Ewan Green
Councillor Tony Hills
Cllr Anita Jones
Councillor Tony Hills
Councillor Tony Hills

8 Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme Tracker (Information only item)

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Cllr Paul Thomas
Councillor Tony Hills
Councillor Tony Hills
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Disclaimer: This transcript was automatically generated, so it may contain errors. Please view the webcast to confirm whether the content is accurate.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:00:05

Good evening and welcome to the meeting of the Oviur and Scrooge 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's important that the microphones

are used so viewers can, on the way,

cast 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 though we all have strong opinions,

on matters under consideration,

it's important to treat members, officers,

and public speakers with respect.

Right, going on from that,

if anyone's leaving the room, good.

Declaration of Interest, does anybody have one to give?

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:03

Interested?

Apologies.

Mr Jake Hamilton - 0:01:06

What do you say?

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:07

Apologies.

Mr Jake Hamilton - 0:01:10

Oh sorry, quite right, sorry, apologies.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:13

Yeah, anybody, apologies?

Thank you, Chair.

Mr Jake Hamilton - 0:01:16

We have one apology from Councillor Davidson.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:19

Okay, thank you very much for that.

Right, going on from that,

as I manage to get around, all the way around.

1 Apologies for Absence

Minutes.

2 Declarations of Interest

3 Minutes

Consider and approve the minutes of the meeting

on the Tuesday, the 26th of May.

Does anybody have any questions on those?

If not, I'll ask for a reposer.

Thank you, Alan.

And who will want to second?

Thank you, Nisa.

Right, and is that acceptable to you all?

We'll show by both, raise your hands.

Yep.

I think it's virtually unanimous.

Thank you.

4 Minutes of the Finance and Performance Sub-Committee

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:56

Consider the minutes of the Finance and Performance Scrutiny subcommittee.

Now I'd like Alan Martin to present those as he's the chair of that committee.

And then we can see if you want to pass those by a show of hands.

Thank you.

Thank you Tony.

Cllr Alan Martin - 0:02:16

So those who weren't in the committee, this was quite an important one.

So we have these meetings every quarter and we get updates on finance matters, so our

general revenue account, our capital programme, housing programme and also an update on KPIs.

We get those updates every quarter, so this is the one where we get an opportunity to

look at the whole year, so we see the totals for 25 -26.

Very briefly on KPIs, I think it's fair to say the Council's had a very good year, so

lots of greens there.

We had some discussion around,

some concerns around the food premise compliance operation.

There seemed to be some staff issues there.

Members highlighted that there were some delays

around the delivery of affordable homes,

so only 41 out of the 80 houses had been brought forward,

although that's a timing matter really,

and they're all being completed this year,

just on the other side of the end of the financial year,

or the council year I should say.

We had our usual conversations around fly tipping,

and there's some new KPIs coming up this year

tracking the total number of fly tipping

that takes place in our area.

And we also had a discussion around the inclusion

of garden waste in our recycling target.

And the point being that it sort of fogs the issue

that we really want to track, which is how well are we recycling,

but within sticking a load of garden waste in on top

and arguably making the numbers look better than they actually are.

So there's some tweaks for the KPIs for next year,

but otherwise I'd say the Council had a good year.

Briefly on the numbers,

probably the biggest thing we discussed on the general revenue out -turn was,

I think it was Councillor Thomas who raised this,

It's just quite a large surplus that comes from the parking charges, which in many respects

a good thing and that helps us financially.

But throughout the year, we've had a number of debates around the extent to which we should

increase parking charges.

And also we've had conversations around whether or not we should extend free parking.

And Councillor Thomas made the, I think, valid point that we should be mindful of that surplus

when we're having those conversations.

On the capital programme, everything was in good order.

I think we just asked for future reports

to be a bit clearer in terms of providing commentary

around the larger projects like

Otterball Park and Hyde Swimming Pool.

And the main headline in the housing programme

was some significant reprofiling,

but that reprofiling relates to that delivery

delivery of affordable homes which happened this year and therefore those

those numbers were re -profiled. So those are the main highlights and I'll be very

happy to just... what do you want me to do, propose them? I think we just proposed but I think

the minutes were very good and very detailed and I'm hoping the committee has had a

chance to read them. But we don't want to debate them, that's what your committee

does. So we will just propose and accept. So I'll propose.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:05:37

Are we happy to accept those?

Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:05:40

Yes, agreed.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:05:41

Thank you.

5 Local Government Reorganisation Preparedness

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:05:46

Right, going on to what I would consider the main event of the day, number five on my agenda,

the local government reorganisation.

And which one would that kick off?

Is that you, Tim, or Adriana?

Oh, sorry, Jim.

Cllr Jim Martin - 0:06:00

I didn't see you there.

That's all right.

I'm wearing my pink shirt this afternoon.

Thank you very much, Chair.

Yes, delighted to introduce this item,

local government reorganisation preparedness.

While the government, MH, CLG,

and all of the baby civil servants have been, you know,

very, very engaged in trying to find a way forward for us.

We've actually been getting on with the work and you'll get a taste of some of that work

this evening, but believe me, there's a tonne of stuff that underpins this.

I'm delighted this evening to introduce Tim Wollmer, who has come along from KCC to run

us through some of this.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Tim for a number of years.

He used to look after me on the Kent Leaders meeting and also the Agenda Setting Committee.

Tim comes to this with not only my recommendation but the recommendations and support of all

of the Kent leaders.

So, I don't want to build you up too much, Tim,

but we're very, very confident that we've got

the right person doing a very, very, very tough job.

Do you want me just to talk about the first slide?

Yeah, so this is, obviously we've,

from a Kent and Medway point of view,

we have to take a joint approach.

It's a funny thing because we've got this very strong collective.

Everybody remarks on how united Kent is as a county,

as opposed to a lot of other counties that are at war with each other over this.

But of course, what we're all planning is this separation,

which is a kind of oxymoron thing.

We're sort of planning our own demise in many ways.

But there's an awful lot going on.

The district leaders anyway, and Tim will I'm sure be able to build on this,

that the district leaders are pretty confident

that we can manage the integration

of the stuff that we know and we do.

So waste, housing, planning,

that's what we do and we do it well.

And we're confident that we'll be able to integrate that

fairly successfully.

A huge, huge task.

Andrena has 13 work streams that have to be integrated.

The thing that we're all worried about is the disaggregation of the Kent County Council

services because they will all be new to us.

We know our stuff on waste, we know our stuff on housing, we know our stuff on planning,

but in terms of children's social care, adult social care, it's going to be a steep learning

curve for us.

I am just really here to say that the work is well underway.

I assure all of the members here that we are preparing, I won't say frantically, but we

are actively and purposefully preparing for this and we will certainly deliver.

With the help of Tim and his other KCC Councillors, I am sure this disaggregation will all happen

as efficiently as it can.

And I'm looking forward to hearing what Tim will say

this evening, so thank you, Chair.

Thank you for that, and you're not alone.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:10:16

I'm enjoying looking forward to it as well.

So over to you, Tim.

No pressure at all, crikey.

Well, first of all, just to say a huge thank you

FHDC Officer - 0:10:26

for the invite.

It's really good to be here.

It's always nice to come down to Folkestone Hive.

I'm an East Kent boy originally.

I now live probably as far as I possibly can away

while still being in Kent, I'm now in Dartford,

so it's always nice to come down and see the sea,

but genuinely really good to be here,

and thank you very much to the leader

and the chair for the warm welcome as well.

So, yeah, so I'm Tim Ulmer, I'm the LGR programme director

for Kent and Medway, and I have been since May.

I think it's probably worth saying that although

my role is hosted by KCC, it's very much working

on behalf of all 14 local authorities equally.

And that will go the same for my team

and the resource that I've been together

over the next few months to lead this process

up until investing day in April 28.

So very much a neutral resource on behalf of everyone.

I think it's also worth saying that,

and I think the leader alluded to it,

the collaboration that we've had to date in Kent and Medway

has been second to none.

and that's despite the leaders group being the most cross -party I've ever seen and worked for,

and that's despite there being some very different views and some very different perspectives.

But I think we've worked together incredibly well as a group of leaders, chief executives and senior

officers, focusing on what's really important around LGR, which is getting those services

right in 2028 for our residents actually. It doesn't mean we've agreed on everything,

and that I think where there have been disagreements,

we've found ways forward and the disagreement

has been agreeable, if that makes sense.

And I think the leader of Folkestone Hive,

the chief exec and the senior officers,

including those here today,

have been a really big part of that.

So I'm gonna go through a number of slides,

myself and Andrina, so I'm gonna talk

from a county -wide perspective,

and I think then Andrina will talk

from a folks and hive perspective.

Some background context which I'll try and get through

relatively quickly and ultimately we want to leave

enough time for questions and answers as well

if that's okay.

So very quickly just to kind of remind everyone

where we began with all this.

So back in December 24 which feels like a lifetime ago

but it was actually about 18 months ago

when the then new government published

the English devolution white paper,

and as part of that encouraged areas

to apply for a devolution priority programme.

Kent and Medway were strongly encouraged to do so.

Ultimately, disappointingly, I think all 14

counties were disappointed that we weren't selected

to be on that priority programme.

However, a letter that very same day encouraged

all of those other areas that weren't on the DPP

to put forward proposals for LGR,

essentially creating new councils in two -tier areas.

Why?

So I'm not the government spokesman here,

but they would say that the long -term vision

is for simpler council structures,

and they were keen to replace two -tier areas

with single unitaries, and their justification for that

is to both deliver some efficiencies,

but also clearer lines of accountability

and simpler services for residents,

particularly in areas like housing and social care,

for example, waste collection and waste disposal

that currently sit in different organisations.

So in their view, they would say they think

delivers better outcomes for their residents.

So, kind of abridging the process,

there was a lot that happened between then

and November last year, but essentially

it was working towards local authorities in Kent and Medway and across the country being

asked to put together proposals for what they think the future of local government should

look like. So in Kent and Medway, I think we were the only place in the country that

worked with a single programme, a single strategic partner, a single narrative and a single evidence

base to put together a number of proposals for how the different councils felt local

the government should look like post reorganisation.

Ultimately, there were five options that went forward,

as I'm sure you'll know.

One for one unitary, one for three,

two for four unitaries, and one for five.

We weren't asked to set out how we thought

devolution would look as part of that process,

but we were reminded that all of those,

anything that was submitted should enable

devolution in the future.

Going to February 26th, so those submissions were made

by the end of November 25.

We were then told to expect a decision by summer recess

2026, which of course we got a couple of weeks ago

ultimately, but in February 26th, government also asked us

to consider submitting an expression of interest

for devolution again, which I think 13 councils

at the time did.

At that time Kent County Council felt that they couldn't

at that point because their option of a single

Kent and Midway unitary they felt would do the same role

as a kind of devolver administration,

so they didn't sign at that point.

But I understand since have, now we know that 1A

has not been successful are now supporting

a devolution process in Kent and Midway as well.

So that takes us to February 2026.

So over those few months between those submissions

being made by the leaders and the decision

being announced by the minister,

we were asked by MHCLG, the responsible government

department, to make progress on a number

of preparatory activities.

Really important, those preparatory activities

were agnostic to the ultimate decision.

So essentially, whatever the ministerial decision was,

whether that was one, three, four, five unitaries,

the work that we were asked to do

would be necessary regardless.

So it was things like looking at asset registers,

looking at all of our various HR terms and conditions,

our contracts and things like that.

Things that would enable us to hit the ground running

once we got the ministerial decision.

There are 11 priority activity groups

which we'll come onto in a second,

each chaired by a chief executive and a deputy

on behalf of all of Kent and Medway,

including the Chief Executive of Folsom Hive.

And meanwhile, I was charged with starting

to prepare activity for what a post -decision programme

would look like, understanding that once we got

the decision in July, we would need to hit the ground

running in terms of standing up at an LGR programme

to then facilitate that movement going forward.

We also needed to start to understand some of the legal

implications of the structural changes order,

which as I'm sure you'll know is the kind of key bit

of legislation that formally puts LGR

into the statute books, if you like,

that makes it a statutory undertaking.

And then if I just go on to the next slide very quickly.

So this sets out, I won't go through all of these,

but you'll have these slides in your pack afterwards.

This sets out the 11 priority activity groups

that were part of that early enhanced discovery phase work

that I just talked about.

So essentially you'll see there are things

like assets and audit and pensions and legal and contracts and things like that. So as

I said, activity that's absolutely agnostic to the decision that we were all to be waiting

for from the Minister. So I think getting to that point, I think Andrena will then talk

about the work that's been done internally within Folsom High.

Ms Andrina Smith - 0:18:31

Thank you, Tim. So looking a bit more internally rather than just the full Kent -wide picture,

We wanted to make sure you're aware of what's happening,

not just internally with officers,

but also what we're trying to do with members

to make sure you're as across the programme as you can be.

So very early on in June last year,

the leader set up the member working group.

It's cross -party representation.

There's an opportunity where officers

from the programme board, which we'll come onto in a second,

can provide updates on progress towards LGR,

and that covers both Kent and also the more local FHDC.

You can see there the membership,

you can see there it is quite cross -party.

We've also now got a cabinet member for assets and LGR,

which is Connor, and he's been doing that role

for a good few months now.

The leader's also out and about,

going off to town and parish council meetings

and various other external meetings as well

to get that LGR storey out there and raise the understanding.

I guess many of you probably remember Lawrence Conway,

came down in January to speak to everybody

with his kind of lived experience

of being a chief exec up in Cumbria

as they went through their LGR journey a few years ago.

And that wasn't just for members,

we did that for officers as well.

He spent the whole day with us

and then stayed for a little bit,

actually the second morning to do some team meetings

and covered the whole kind of cycle

from different people's perspectives

as to how to get through to the other side and see how that LGR programme could run.

And in the same way as we're doing here, we've also been doing various member briefings.

There was one before Council last week, a quick piece to go through the outcomes, and

we've been doing various other briefings.

That will continue every chance where we've got something that needs briefing to everybody,

we'll make sure we're out and showing people what's going on.

You should all hopefully remember a couple of weeks ago we sent a newsletter out with some updates around our GR as well that would have hit all your inboxes.

The potential for doing that is regular intervals is what we're committing to at the minute.

We're not going to say quite how often because it depends on the speed of the information coming out.

But what we will do is make sure we circulate information when it's relevant to members to make sure all of you get that information at the same time.

In terms of what we've done internally for programme board, we've set up, this was back

in about September last year, we set up the internal programme board. And you can see there

the makeup of it as it sits now. It wasn't quite like that when it first set up. We started

off with CLT and then Michelle Faro, myself, and Jane Walker as the comms lead, Michelle

as the policy lead.

And then gradually over the last few months,

we've gone through the process where I've been appointed

as the programme director as a secondment.

Zoe, who's also here this evening,

has been seconded in as the programme manager.

And we'll be working internally,

supporting the work of the council

and also making sure we're very tightly linked

with the work that Tim's doing

over at the Kent and Medway board.

One of the things we really wanted to be clear about

when we set up the programme director and manager roles,

was about how we ensure consistency of information

when it goes across into the central programme.

And to give you an example of that,

over the last few weeks, we've all been asked

to do executive service summaries.

So as a council here, we had about 44

different service area teams.

Everyone was being asked to do the same.

There was a set template of the information

that was gonna go across, and it focused on things like

the headline budget figures, how the service is delivered,

whether it's in -house, what partnerships there are,

what interdependencies, what's the staffing numbers like,

vocancies, and whilst we could have let every other manager

go into the online form and submit it,

what we wanted to make sure was that this was consistent

and as accurate as we could be,

so there was no double counting,

we were absolutely clear about what was happening.

So we're setting up some of the work we're doing now,

we're getting a solid base for the work in the future,

making sure that that work is very, very clear and accurate.

Whilst we were doing that, we also worked early on,

a bit like the priority groups that Tim was just mentioning,

but we set up our own internal workstreams very early

to make sure we could look at getting,

in effect, our house in order,

ready for when the decision hit

and we'd be in the best place possible for moving forwards.

So we set up these 11 work streams, and primarily the ones on the right hand side are much more

external facing, and that was much more of a light touch approach, just making sure that

they were all aware of what policies they had, when are they due for the next review,

are there any kind of clashes around transition time into the new unitary with when things

need to be renewed, contracts particularly important.

So we made sure people were aware of that, where are the subject experts, where are the

that we can tap into very quickly

if we need to find some information.

So that was the primary on the right hand side.

The left hand side is a bit closer

to the types of work streams you have seen

in the priority groups, and that's much more

of the corporate enabling side of the business.

And that was a bit more of a deeper dive

to understand what IT contracts do we have?

Have we got a complete software asset register?

Where are the contracts?

Are they all in place and registered

across the whole council, HR in terms of structure charts, job descriptions, signed contracts

on file, and things like the comms and engagement side, working very closely to make sure the

comms are aligned with the work going on across the county so that there's a very consistent

approach as we move forward.

As part of preparing for the work that carries on, we started an internal risk register.

This is a very early snapshot of it.

It's going to be reviewed every couple of months,

if not more, by the internal programme board.

And at the moment, we've just put everything as tolerable,

because it's very, very early days in terms of our approach to this.

But you can see down the side there some elements,

such as capacity to deliver this work,

and not just the capacity to do the LGR work,

but also to continue business as usual,

making sure we know if there's any kind of duplication of tasks

across work streams because that's just going to put pressure on the capacity.

Engagement, are we making sure we're getting the full engagement from staff and officers

when we need it, those sort of areas.

So that again will be kept very much under deep review as we go forward.

I think as we all know, 16th of July we had the outcome, so I think Tim is going to carry

on from here.

Thank you.

And thank you, Andrea.

FHDC Officer - 0:25:35

Hopefully it's not a spoiler for anyone.

There's nothing worse than me watching a film

and you hear the outcome,

but I'm sure everyone will have heard the outcome for this

on the 16th of July.

So of course, 4B was the Minister's chosen outcome

in terms of LGR for Kensin Medway.

So I think that was the option that was supported

by Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Swen, Thanet, I believe,

from Emory.

and I think although that means that it wasn't the first choice of nine local authorities,

of course, Kent and Medway, no choice had unanimous backing, there was always going

to be those that supported the successful outcome and those that didn't.

I think it's fair to say reception has been pretty positive so far across all the organisations.

So whilst it wasn't everyone's favourite, I don't think it was anyone's least favourite,

if that makes sense.

And I think so far at least,

the consensus is that it's an option

that can be implemented.

So it's been received in a really constructive way.

We have just made reference to the

Kent Council Leaders website,

which will now evolve over the next few months.

But essentially that is a neutral,

partnership -facing website that we'll use

to keep up to date with consistent information

across Kent and Medway as we now embark

across the LGR journey.

You'll also find the 4B,

well now the successful model business case,

which is always worth delving into,

particularly if you're having trouble sleeping

late at night, so I can recommend that as well.

If I move on to the next slide,

and apologies, it's very crowded,

and this is something for you to take away

and have a look at in your own time as well.

We just wanted to set out the timelines

that we're working on at the moment as a programme level.

So clearly as I talked about it before,

LGR really started back in December 24,

and it will carry on way beyond April 28

in terms of that place shaping,

that organisation shaping.

But in terms of the lifeline of the programme as it were,

this kind of sets out the key milestones and stages,

and I just thought it would be worth talking

you through a few bits.

So obviously the red line is where we are now.

I understand, I think it's 613 days to vesting day,

I think, we've got a timeline on our SharePoint,

which is keeping me honest, and I'm sure it's going down

quicker than one day every day, but that's another matter.

But in short, obviously the Minister decision, July 26th,

is exactly where the red line is now.

So we're coming towards the end of the enhanced

discovery phase that I talked about.

We're moving into the foundational programme stage,

which is where we're building the programme,

which I'll come on to in a bit more detail in a minute.

Very importantly, from a political oversight perspective,

at a county -wide level, that has been primarily

through the Kent Council Leaders Group at this stage,

albeit that's not a decision -making body.

So leaders have been meeting there,

but then taking everything back to individual councils,

like your leader has to Fokston and Hive.

When we get to the SCO, the structural change order

being laid and enacted, which I'll come into a bit more detail in a second, that will move

on to joint committees and ultimately the political oversight will be through shadow

authorities post elections in May.

I think also very quickly just to talk about the governance perspective, we have a local

authority chief execs board which has become the LGR programme board and that oversees a

a lot of that programme oversight, which is really important.

Up until now, that has been through those initial

priority activity groups I spoke about

that will morph into formal programme workstreams

over the summer this year.

The final thing I want to come onto is that bottom line,

because it's really important, and it's something

we've touched on briefly, but not enough.

And that's business as usual.

What's really important from our residents' perspective

is that services continue to run as normal,

that whether it's highways, parks, libraries,

social care, housing, those services continue now

through the LGR process and once we get

to the new authorities as well,

and that is a key focus of everything that we're doing.

I'll move on to the next slide.

So our current focus is on that preparation

and mobilisation, so we have all agreed,

and I have to say that all the leaders

and chief executives have agreed

to a single programme structure across Kent and Medway,

And that's really important from a consistency perspective,

but also an efficiency perspective as well.

It would take a lot of effort, a duplicated effort,

to do everything four times.

That doesn't mean that there isn't very, very important work

to do at a unitary level.

The programme that we're building will have enough flexibility

to be able to flex from programme level to unitary level work.

So in addition to me building a dedicated and neutral team,

We're also in the process of recruiting a strategic business partner to help us with some of that additional expertise that we're going to require.

And that's really important because leaders and chief executives are committed to a hybrid resource in Kento -Medway.

So in some areas they've decided to kind of put all of the LGR activity into an external partner.

I think there's consensus here that it's really important that Kento -Medway staff and members have

involvement and shaping of that LGR work.

Equally, as I talked about with BAU,

it's really important that we protect

business as usual services,

and if we just did it entirely in -house,

that would be really difficult in terms of keeping

our existing services running as well.

So we're trying to build a hybrid programme

that has some dedicated internal resource,

some external expertise where it's required,

but making sure that our staff and our members

have absolute ownership and co -design of what we're doing.

Because ultimately it will be the staff and the members

that will have responsibility for those services

in the long run.

In terms of that kind of team that I talked about,

we're recruiting from across all 14 local authorities,

which is really important.

And we're in the process of establishing that governance

and testing it now to make sure it's fit for purpose

before we roll it out.

Two other things I'll just mention very quickly.

Devolution question mark, we're still very enthusiastic

collectively as a group of 14 local authorities

about achieving devolution for Kent and Medway.

And lobbying efforts and engagement with government

and the ministerial team continue.

And obviously it won't have escaped your notice

that the new Prime Minister is essentially,

to some extent, a product of devolution

and speaks very warmly about it.

So we strongly hope that will be on the cards

for us as a region.

We're also obviously not insulated from wider change. So whatever we develop as

new local authorities has to be fit for purpose for the future not just for now.

So you'll probably know that there's changes going on in health, there's

changes potentially to policing, there's announcements from government around

some new policy areas only last week on homelessness. So we need to be, whatever

we're developing needs to be flexible for the future as well as for the now.

I mentioned the structural changes order very quickly. As I said this is the

legislation that sets LGR in stone. I think initially we were expecting a

little bit earlier in the autumn, we're now anticipating it being laid towards

the end of the year and being enacted in kind of late winter early spring next

year. Now ultimately because we're working together so collectively I'm confident that

that shouldn't affect how we work but it's important to understand that the SCO sets

in train a number of formal processes not least the establishment of joint committees.

It is likely as a result that we will need to set some of those up in a voluntary way

first and I think we're having active conversations with senior officers and members about how

we do that.

I'm really happy to go into that in a bit more detail if necessary.

Next one.

Very quickly on awarding arrangements.

So one of the things that we need to respond that will form part of the structural changes

order is awarding arrangements.

Now the ministerial team are clear that when they announce the decision on the 16th of

July, that is based on the submission of 4B and the numbers that is contained within that

submission. Nevertheless, there is potentially the room for some tweaking

and I think we're in the process of working through that. I think what's

really important to emphasise here is the awarding arrangements that we're

responding to as part of the structural changes order are only for this set of

elections, so for the 2027 election. So government are clear that going forward

there will be a LGBCE review of, a complete review going forward so that by

the 2032 elections that will look quite different. So the imperative is on

getting a unit agreed position as quickly as possible to feed into that

legislation and there is some work going on to inform that on behalf of all of

the four new unitary areas on behalf of all 14 local authorities. Very quickly on

the programme team I'm building. I won't go into this detail now, but you're welcome to

have a look at that within your packs later. But I think really important just to understand

the kind of framework that we're putting together. So as I said, very, very importantly, democratic

oversight at the top. At the moment that is from a Kent leaders perspective and an individual

council's perspective that will very quickly morph into voluntary joint committees, joint

committees and ultimately shadow authorities. We have the programme board that is essentially

the chief executives.

As part of that, we have a senior responsible officer

of Amanda Beer is the chief executive of KCC.

A deputy senior responsible officer is Richard Hicks,

the chief executive of Medway.

And we will have place leads for each of the four

unitary areas, which are likely to be from chief executives

of the districts or direct reports to KCC

and Medway chief executives.

But ultimately that programme board brings together the senior officers to hold me to account

as programme director, my team to account and to make sure that we are on track to deliver

safe and legal transition to the new authorities by vesting day.

And ultimately protect those services that our residents rely on.

We'll have that programme office that I've been together and a strategic partner that will

work across the programme.

We will have four unitary delivery groups

that will lead on that unitary level work.

Now initially that will be around things like

constitution and codes of conduct,

but very quickly we'll go on to oversee service level work

as we get closer to vesting day.

Most importantly are the theme boards and work streams,

and that is where most of the activity will happen

between now and vesting day.

That is where your staff will be heavily involved

in terms of shaping what those day one blueprints

will look like for those new services

and making sure they're fit for purpose.

That, in essence, is the programme.

It's very important that it's collaborative

and the co -design rather than being done to.

Finally, because I'm sure you've had enough

of listening to me and talking to slides,

a little bit around those joint committees I mentioned

and initially voluntary joint committees.

So when we establish them, they will initially

obviously have to set themselves up

at a unitary level from things like terms of reference,

electing chairs and vice chairs.

Ultimately, they'll be tasked with looking at

constitutions, as I mentioned, member allowances,

proto -conduct, preparing for elections

in those statutory officer appointments.

But ultimately, post -shadow elections,

they'll be looking very closely and preparing

for that transition to the new services,

is safe and legal to the new authorities on day one.

So a lot of work, I'm aware that's quite complex.

Happy to answer questions, happy also,

genuine offer to always be able to come back

if you'd like to, need to present

progress updates at every point.

But I think finally just to say to Andrea,

now to the Chief Executive or the leader

if there's anything you wanted to add

before we hand back to the Chair, if that's okay.

Cllr Jim Martin - 0:38:26

Sorry, Chair, if I might just finish off.

Excellent, Tim. You can see why I'm so confident. A couple of things just to point out is that

a lot in the programme, well everything is dependent on the structural change orders. Now the structural

change orders are unlikely to come into law until after Christmas. Quite when after Christmas,

we're not entirely sure, but obviously the later, the tighter we are with an election

in May.

So the worst programme that I've seen is that they don't actually become inactive until

March which would leave us, we would go into Purda.

So it's really, really tight.

So the idea is that we form voluntary joint committees ahead of that.

As Tim said, amongst the Kent leaders, even though I don't think as many people as you

listed voted for 4B, I think Ashwood was 4D, we've all kind of decided to get on with it.

There we are, we've got to do something so we're going to get on with it.

I felt the last meeting, it was if the elephant had been removed from the room and we were

kind of back on sort of communicative terms.

Well, of course you were chairing, Tim, so that's obviously why it was such a good meeting.

So I would just draw members' attention to those structural change orders.

If there's a pinch point, that's what it is and their impact on the joint committees and

the voluntary joint committees.

Just finally, to say this is an enormous distraction.

We should be actually talking about waste disposal

or housing or how we improve our planning system

or et cetera, but across Kent there are meetings

going on all the time about local government reorganisation.

So all I can say is I genuinely hope it's going to be worth it because there's an awful

lot of work going into it.

So thank you, Tim.

Excellent.

Thank you, Andrina.

And sorry, questions?

Right.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:41:01

I'd just like to say thank you for that, Jim, but I'm old enough to remember when boroughs

were formed.

Believe me, that was 50 -odd years ago, but the change was just as dramatic then as this

is now.

I'm sure we will get through it.

That was a great presentation.

Thank you, Adriana and Tim.

That was really good.

Obviously, I'm sure there will be burning questions.

Anita, you're first.

Cllr Anita Jones - 0:41:28

OK, so just a question on looking at people wanting to become elected next year,

or potentially wanting...

Will they have an idea of workload, what the role will be, what the time commitment,

what the money will be, because for those people who work and have other jobs, it's

quite relevant as well.

I think it's really important if anybody wants to canvas prospective councillors, we need

to know some of those details.

Thank you.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:41:55

Do you want to answer that?

Yeah, I can take that, and thank you, Councillor Jones.

FHDC Officer - 0:41:58

I think that's a really good question.

Right now, no, but by the time that is a key area of work

in terms of that unitary level work

with the voluntary joint committees.

So going back to what the leader discussed

around the structural change order being delayed,

we have to do that in a voluntary way

rather than in a formal way,

but that work will still be undertaken.

All the leaders are committed to that,

and that will be shaped at a unitary level

to make sure that is right for that area.

and ultimately that will be known before we start canvassing, well before you start canvassing for potential new members.

So hopefully there should be some clarity by that point.

Dr Susan Priest - 0:42:42

I would just say, you know, we're not starting from a blank sheet of paper.

Just to add, I mean we obviously have Medway within the Kent family anyway.

You know, online you can see all the SRAs that are there.

You can see how they're vertically organised.

So, and that's just our local unitary.

Or it will change, and we'll have a bigger footprint,

it'll be a different organisation itself.

So there are examples elsewhere, but absolutely,

that is part of the early work to do.

And I think there'll be an independent remuneration panel

doing some early work as well about all of that.

So when that hits the timeline, I'm not quite sure

for all of your decisions, but the first instance is,

you know, what are the awarding arrangements

in how many members, and it looks as though from the business case, there will be 18 from

this area that form part of the 60, but that detail is just crunching through at the moment.

I hope that's helpful.

Cllr Anita Jones - 0:43:45

Thank you, that's really helpful. I think for people who do have jobs, they need to

see whether it is a possibility or not. Thank you.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:43:50

Thanks, Anita. I come from Paul. Richard?

Thank you.

Cllr Rich Holgate - 0:43:55

Thank you, Chair, and thank you so much.

What an enormous amount of work.

It's quite intimidating, and I don't envy your diary

over the next three years at all.

I have quite a few questions, Chair,

so by all means cut me off

if you want to work around the room.

I'm happy to wait.

There's a train to be caught, Tim.

I'll tell you, I'll do my best,

and Tim, by all means, if there are no answers yet,

feel free to keep me down the road, as it were.

I'm just trying to think of, again,

scrutinising preparedness, I think, I mean, I take a huge amount of confidence in our,

in like, in front of a presentation about our organisation, how we are setting ourselves

out. That's wonderful. So I think what other things that we can control, what are things

that we can't control, and I think for me, what I worry about this process is staff retention,

and so maybe Andrea, maybe a couple of questions probably for you first, in so much of how

How are we doing as much as we possibly can to retain staff?

And you mentioned about subject matter experts.

And are we layering in, forgive my creativity,

but retention bonuses or completion bonuses

based on milestones?

And because one of the things that I would fear not only

is losing valuable members of the team

is also losing domain expertise.

I think that, again, when you look at handover periods,

So that's something that I would be concerned about.

So I'm curious if there's any thought on that.

On the, Tim, on the one of the workstream

enhanced discovery phase priority activity groups,

maybe total coincidence, but I just

noticed all the project officers are

located in different councils to the lead chiefs.

And it just felt odd to me.

I just didn't know whether that was deliberate by design

or just how the chips are falling.

So just curious because it would make sense to me more that proximity would help there.

But again, maybe there's a method of madness.

Risk management and Dreen, you mentioned you meet every couple of months.

That makes me nervous.

Can we meet every month?

I just, I'm a paranoid person by default.

And the shadow elections, again, this may be one for down the road, is I suppose,

how does that communicate to the public?

It sounds very ominous and just that whole piece of work around shadow elections.

maybe there's just not enough knowledge about it, but I don't understand enough and how do we even talk to the public about the

importance of that and actually

motivate them to engage with that themselves and

BAU concerns Jim spoke to that

and

Have we had any guidance from Westminster yet on council reserves?

and it was a question I had and then final two final ones is where the chambers be based perhaps we don't know yet and

and what and how are we supporting town and parish councils

other than Jim's road trip.

Thank you for that, Richard.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:46:46

That nice shopping list you have there.

Do you want to kick off on that, Tim, or anybody else?

Hansi, go first.

If I let Andreea go first in terms of the folks in the high staffing question,

FHDC Officer - 0:46:57

and then I'll come back on the programme ones.

Ms Andrina Smith - 0:47:03

Okay, so if we go back to the retention question that we were talking about first.

So I think one thing to probably note early on is our retention currently is probably

better than it's been for a few years actually.

It's on an upward trend, which possibly goes against what people would actually think would

be happening.

But certainly through staff surveys, through our figures that we report every year, that

certainly not a concern for us at the minute.

So if you understand that this is now real,

we've had the decision, so for staff,

would that be now becoming a bit more of a realistic worry?

Again, after the staff briefing that we had

a couple of weeks ago from Susan,

we did a very quick poll of those people that were there,

and it's showing, again, an upward trend

in terms of optimism and encouragement about the future.

So if everything is signalling the right things,

that doesn't mean to say there are some individuals

that are getting a bit concerned.

In terms of retention bonuses, that sort of thing,

it's always an option.

That's something that sits within Susan's gift

in terms of putting that in place

should we think it's the right thing to do.

What is probably important to say,

as well as part of the priority work

that the HR workstream was looking at across the county,

was putting in place a critical posts analysis.

And it's something that we're not gonna roll out

across the county and compare notes or anything.

It was designed for individual councils to use

at the right time when they feel it's right

and the inference was probably after the decision's

been made, but we can use it at any point.

And that's looking at critical posts,

single points of failure, retirements.

We all know there's an ageing workforce,

So, you know, our people are thinking about retirement now, two years' time.

So we can use that kind of tool to work out if we do believe we're going to have some problems.

So I think at the moment we're okay, but we're putting the tools around it to make sure we can actually identify something should that situation occur.

And there's also kind of conversations across county about whether or not things like retention bonuses are a good idea or not.

Golden handcuffs, I think there's a variation of views at Kent chiefs.

Some are much more in favour than others.

So there's no one size fits all, it's going to be what's right for us.

But we're getting the mechanisms there to identify if we need it.

In terms of risk, we said what you said about the two months,

I think again it's early days, I think we'll be keeping it reviewed very regularly

between myself and Zoe, and it naturally becomes a question and a topic

because we're going through different items

at programme board when we meet fortnightly anyway,

at which point we can then go away and update the register.

If there was something really burning,

we would obviously bring it back much quicker

to make sure there's an awareness.

So it's not literally we're just gonna pick it up

once every two months and cheque it.

It's just a regularity that it'll go into the board

just for overview.

Was that all the HR stuff?

Thanks so much.

It's great that we're working from a position of strength

in terms of retention piece, I'm sure it's great.

Cllr Rich Holgate - 0:50:18

I suppose it really encouraged him by what you said around when you're recruiting your team,

you're going to recruit from the 14 councils because some of these activities are, you know,

not career defining, but they're fantastic from a career opportunity.

So that was really encouraging that you would look within the 14, as it were,

for the expertise, that was really encouraging.

Thank you, Councillor Holgate.

FHDC Officer - 0:50:42

And just to build on that very quickly, so the recruitment so far,

the quality of the applications from all 14 councils has been really, really good.

And it just goes to show you, it's a really good reminder of the talent that we have in all of our councils across Kent and Medway.

So a really good process.

I think more broadly at a Kent and Medway level, as Andrina spoke to, I think there are concerns around retention in this process.

I think one of the mitigations, I guess,

is that pretty much all of our neighbouring local authorities,

be that county or unitary or district,

whether that's Essex, Surrey, Sussex,

everyone's going through LGI at the same time,

apart from London.

I think there's greater concern around

some people with large expertise

taking the opportunity to retire

and trying to risk assess the scale of that risk

at the moment as well from an HR perspective.

But I think absolutely we're working really closely

together to make sure that any actions we take

are coordinated rather than kind of setting ourselves

up against each other, which I think is really important.

If I rattle through your other questions as well,

because I'm conscious of time, great questions.

And as always with great questions,

challenging in terms of some of the answers,

but I'll kind of give you an update

of where we are on all of those.

Firstly, in terms of the point you made around

lead officers being from different organisations to the chairs of the enhanced discovery phase,

absolutely intentional. And the reason why, I take your point in terms of that might feel

a little bit kind of discoordinated, but at the same time it was really important that

we emphasise the neutrality of each of those kind of areas of work across Kent and Medway.

And if we had a chief executive and a lead officer from the same council, it might feel

a little bit insular or kind of bespoke

to a single organisation.

We're trying to spread it as universally

and as neutrally as we could.

And I think it's worked quite well so far.

So that's something that was intentional.

In terms of the shadow elections

and how that's communicated to the public,

that's an area of focus at the moment.

So I'm really happy to say we have a work stream

that brings together communications leads

from across our 14 councils.

There's some great learning from areas that have been through this process before us,

whether that's Surrey this year, whether that is places like Cumbria, North Yorkshire.

You know, terms like shadow elections mean nothing to a lot of people. Why should they?

We need to be really clear about the fact that these are elections for your new councils

and how we socialise that and raise awareness that that will be a key focus

and something which I'm sure we brought back to various committees at Focusing Hive as well.

From a towns and parishes perspective, working really closely with Kent Association of Local

Councils to make sure as a sector they're brought in.

And then at a district and borough level and a Medway level, I know there's a lot of work

going on locally.

Also just to pay tribute to Folkestone Hive.

So whenever I speak to CALC, I always hear really strong feedback around how well Folkestone

Hive Council liaises with its towns and parishes.

So I think it seems to be working well here.

So hopefully that's something to build on.

In terms of council buildings,

I'm afraid just too early at this stage.

That's something we're gonna have to come back to in time.

And in terms of financial guidance from government,

so we have some high level LGR guidance that already exists,

that other areas have been through before us.

You know, as a summary, in general,

the new councils will inherit the financial positions

of those councils that make up those new authorities.

Obviously, the health of the sector is not great nationally,

but I think whilst reserves are not as healthy

as they once were, there are areas of the country

in much more severe situations than we are in Kent and Medway.

So I know, again, so all of the 151s,

so the directors of finance meet regularly,

and there's active thinking about making sure

that we've set up the councils to be

as financially sustainable as possible,

liaising with government departments.

That's something that we'll get more detail on

over the next few months.

I think that was everything.

I thought that was it.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate the time and the detail.

Thank you for that, Tim.

Paul.

Cllr Rich Holgate - 0:55:14

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:55:14

Yeah, thank you, Chair.

Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:55:16

A couple of things.

Many of the things I've written down

have already been covered.

Can you tell us a little bit more about

where we are with the foundation's strategic authority

and what that is going to mean to us. That would be very helpful. In the letter that we

received from Stephen Reed, it talks about 63 million pounds in capacity

funding. So what does that mean? It means nothing to me. O Vienna. And there's also

funding identified in there associated with transition support and

but specifically, which is good to see, focusing on children's services,

adult social care and public health, which is great, you know,

because as we said, you know, that scares everybody, I think, doesn't it?

So again, it's a question of, you know, how is that likely to be utilised

to make sure that we don't, nobody drops the ball in those very specific

and important areas? Thank you.

FHDC Officer - 0:56:24

Sure, thank you very much Councillor Thomas. So if I take your first question first. So

obviously I talked a little bit earlier around how we weren't selected for the devolution

priority programme, which has left us in a little bit of limbo around devolution. So

that said, we regularly talk to civil servants and to ministers and it's clear that they

still ultimately have an ambition for devolution in Kent and Medway. But what and when that

looks like we're still a little bit unclear and we're looking for confirmation as soon

as possible. So I think given that we were awaiting the LGI decision, it was clear we

weren't going to get guidance before the LGI decision because ultimately what the evolution

looks like would depend on that decision. But I think we're obviously in recess now,

but I would hope early in the autumn we'd get some clarity from government on that.

Of course, they're obviously transitioning to a new ministerial team as well.

But in terms of what that means, so clearly that would give us a Kent and Medway level presence

to host some of those key powers and evolved responsibilities that we see in other areas like

Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Manchester, for example, West Midlands.

and so particularly for us I think things like transport, spatial planning might be areas that we'd look for some input.

I think our concern, speaking frankly, is that what we don't want to do is not get that clarity,

disaggregate everything that is at a KENTA, MEDWAY level, only then to have to aggregate it again later.

I'm optimistic that won't be the case, I'm optimistic we'll get some clarity early in the autumn,

but that's something I think leaders are all lobbying collectively on as well.

I think there's talk of potentially a leader's letter going into Kent and

Medway and...

...so a draught has been approved today and I'm sure that will be shared. In terms of the

capacity funding, so you're quite right, the government have announced 63 million

nationally for capacity funding for LGR. Now clearly the cost of LGR

nationally is going to be significantly more than £63 million, but that is some dedicated

funding to local areas to enable that work to begin. Basically, they are allocating it

£900 ,000 per unitary area is what we're expecting. So, for Kent and Medway, now that we know

we've got four unitaries, if my mentor of Ethnatic is right, that will be £3 .6 million,

And we're also expecting an additional, as again,

Councillor Thomas, you set out, an additional 150 ,000

per unitary for kind of adult social care

and children's social care as well.

So essentially just over a million pound

per unitary area, so approximately four million pound

in total.

So in Kent and Medway, there has been agreement

to pull that funding together to support that

county -wide programme that we talked about, rather than divvying that up into smaller

amounts and duplicating. So we haven't received that funding yet, but it is anticipated that

will be pulled within a central pot towards the programme once we get it. But I think it's

also worth saying that it's likely that that won't be sufficient to cover the entire programme

up until vesting day in 2020.

Thank you.

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:59:56

Do you want to come back, Paul?

Just one thing.

I mean, that's my naivety showing now.

I thought the 63 million pounds was for us.

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:00:02

So we're doing okay there, aren't we?

So clearly that's not...

No.

That's very much to clarify.

I think if you read that letter cold, that might well be where you come at this.

But thank you for the explanation.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay.

Alan, you're next.

Yeah, thank you, Tony.

Cllr Alan Martin - 1:00:19

I think I've got two.

First of all, just to underscore,

but not repeat everything Councillor Jones said

around getting clarity for people who want to stand.

I think it's so important.

The only thing I'd add, just for the avoidance of doubt,

is for me at least, understanding whether it's more likely

to be the KCC model of daytime meetings, et cetera,

versus the district model.

So it's not just workload, allowances, and whatever.

It's the whole structure of how things operate.

And there's that magical year where we're running

a shadow administration as well as business as usual.

And it just may be a clarity around the extent

to which that will be properly joined up

because successful members will be in both worlds

and that could be an absolute nightmare of a year.

So maybe you could speak to that.

And then a point that we've discussed in this room a lot,

but it feels like the right time to raise it again,

and particularly with you being here, Tim.

Just around parish and town councils.

So I'm not the only one in the room who's quite nervous

around a lot of kind of local

activity being left to parish and town councils

as we sort of draw up the drawbridge a little bit.

And there are fewer councillors to spread around.

And I know there's the concept of a regional committee.

In my mind, a regional committee doesn't resolve all of the challenges that I would see in

us being more reliant on parish and town councils.

I'm less concerned about the parish councils because, and I sit on one, we sort of understand

our place in the community as a parish council.

It's the town councils that worry me because they've got bigger budgets.

They don't have any more power than a parish council, but they throw their weight around

a little bit more.

And from my perspective, there just isn't the right level of governance and transparency

around how those councils operate.

And if they're going to get more power, take on assets, whatever, it really concerns me.

And there are some good town councils in this district, and I can think of at least one,

which really worries me, actually, in the new world.

I know that doesn't necessarily formally fit into all these processes and procedures,

but if I was in your position, I would be recommending at the very least a conversation

with CALC who don't like to get involved in this kind of thing, but I honestly would like to see

a review of governance, maybe some kind of audit of procedures and so on across the town councils

to make sure that they are actually in a fit state

to take on their new responsibilities.

So it would be great if you could speak to that.

And then finally, I think I picked up from,

it's either Jim or Susan, in a debrief last week,

that so we're forming these committees

to sort of shape how things will work in the new world.

But I think I heard the fact that the new council

isn't necessarily bound to take on the output from those committees, which might just be

a fact of life we have to deal with.

But I know myself, relatively newly elected, when you're, when you are newly elected, you

don't really understand how councils work.

So hopefully there will be some members who have done it before.

But we've seen from recent elections that sometimes you get a crop of people in who

to create some chaos and we are laying the foundations

for the next 50 years, so maybe you can speak to that as well.

FHDC Officer - 1:04:13

Thank you, Councillor Martin.

Yeah, easy challenges to be resolved, no doubt.

Yeah, if I take them in order, I think on the first one,

I think really valid points in terms of the daytime

versus evening meetings and going back to Councillor Jones'

point earlier, not something we have an answer on

at the moment and clearly that will be for each new council to determine as part of their

constitution, but clearly something that you're going to need clarity on and we'll certainly

take that back. In terms of that magic year, absolutely right, so we will have, well for

11 months, so a magic 11 months actually, we will have shadow authority members and

legacy authority members in existence together. We're not the first to go through this process,

with by far the most complex area to go through this process, but we're not the first. So

there's a lot of learning from elsewhere, but I think you're absolutely right. A lot

will rely on the willingness of those members to work together. Some of those members might

be the same people, some of them might not, but regardless, you know, making sure that

we have a collaborative environment from which to be able to work together. Now, government

will have, so MHCLG, the responsible department, will have a number of assurance measures in place

to ensure that we are making good progress and we are on track for vesting day. So if something is

categorically going wrong, they could potentially have the ability to intervene, but I would

sincerely hope that wouldn't be required and we'll do everything we can to try and foster that

working relationship. Then linked to that, your last point around you're entirely right. So

ultimately we cannot, so the legacy authorities cannot make any decisions

that will bind the new unitaries into kind of service design in the future.

So it's very much the existing authorities to make recommendations for

the new shadow authorities to then approve. Again that is a process that

other areas have been through before us and it has worked. I don't suspect, I suspect there

will be kind of bumps in the road and we will have as many mitigations that we

can have in place as possible, but ultimately it's something that existing

members take very seriously. I know existing leaders do and I'm sure the new

members will as well. And then just around the towns and parishes, I won't

comment on calibre, but absolutely in terms of capacity and capability I think

it's a really fair reflection that there are some town councils

that are significantly large, lots of permanent members of staff, experts in

and there are others that are very, very small.

And equally, clearly we can't treat all of those

exactly the same and decisions will need to be made locally

around what is ultimately devolved down.

A lot of those decisions will be

for the new shadow authorities as well.

So what we're doing doesn't necessarily necessitate

transfer of functions or assets to towns and parishes

and there'll be strict rules around that,

but clearly anything that is devolved to towns and parishes

will need to be governed appropriately.

and I know I'm working closely with CALC,

I know they're taking that role seriously

and speaking to places, to their equivalents

in other areas that have been through this process before.

So I'm sure we'll be able to work together

to make sure that is put in place.

But to summarise, a lot of really important risks,

some mitigations we already have in place,

some answers we know and some at the moment we just don't,

we're gonna have to work through it collectively.

Thank you for that.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:07:47

Thank you, Chair.

Cllr Bridget Chapman - 1:07:56

So, staff morale and turnover is something I was going to ask about, and it's great to

know that we're in a good place at the moment, but I'd like to know we're kind of, I'm sure

we're constantly reviewing that, because it's an unsettling time, I'm sure, for staff.

So yeah, that's something I think it'd be good

to keep revisiting.

I was wondering how many staff are working on LGR now

and what effect that has on our ability to live with services

and presumably some areas have had to be deprioritized.

So which areas are those?

Can we get a kind of overview of that?

And finally, in terms of assets,

has a final list of assets been agreed?

And are there any disputed assets

that we should know about?

Thanks.

That's very good.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:08:59

Adrienne, did you wanna plug that one?

Yeah, thank you.

Ms Andrina Smith - 1:09:02

I'm not doing the assets bit, but.

In terms of stuff I'm around, absolutely. And I think the best thing I can say to that

is that we're constantly doing small pulse surveys. Every opportunity, whether it's the

annual staff survey, whether it's after staff briefings, every time you get, we're asking.

If Susan goes out to team meetings, she's asking how staff are feeling. So we're absolutely

trying to keep as on top of that as we can.

And we're always encouraging staff to talk about

any worries they've got.

I've put the offer out now a couple of times

that I'm happy to go into any team meeting

and go and talk to the teams just very informally

about what's happening.

It's where they can raise some concerns

that maybe they don't want to raise in a staff briefing.

So those are options there.

We've also got some mechanisms where they can put

in questions to either anonymously or three times

to actually get some responses to that.

In terms of how many staff on LGR,

for us it's me and Zoe at the minute.

Zoe's transitioning in, so she'll be on board

full -time from September.

I've been doing this 80 % of the time,

probably for about a month or so now as well.

And in terms of how many others are gonna work,

we're also gonna have to tap into expertise

across the whole council.

We know that there are some teams that can be hit

probably quicker than others.

So in terms of capacity and the work that we're gonna

have to produce, so we've already recruited two extra

staff into HR for example, because we know the work

is gonna come in very, very quickly.

So that's already been discussed and approved.

One starts next week, and the other's a couple months

behind that.

I think that will keep under regular review,

because that's one of the things we are very, very conscious

of in terms of that resource.

So at the moment, nothing's been deprioritized.

It's about finding ways to deliver that in the best way.

If there are things within the corporate plan and so on,

that is obviously what people are still focusing on

and still delivering against.

And as the work takes off, one of the sponsors, Tim,

has got the workstream set.

We know how many people are going to be putting into that.

Then we'll just keep taking stock and revisiting it.

and there's budget there, she says, hopefully,

to help get other people in as and when we need.

But at the minute, it's almost a bit of an unknown beast

until we get into the details of actually delivering.

And I'm gonna pass on the assets.

So I'll come on to assets in a minute,

Dr Susan Priest - 1:11:42

but just the other point you might be interested in

in terms of HR, now that the geography has been agreed

or been decided, where we have vacancies,

we've been making a point of going to our merger partners, if that's the right phrase.

So to KCC Swell and to Ashford to say that we've got a vacancy here,

you know, is that of interest to you? Have you got capacity for us to start thinking

differently about how we deliver services as a sort of front runner? And that's landed really

well. So I've got some ongoing conversations about a post with neighbours on that.

And also we have agreed, Alan's agreed,

a secondi from KCC to cover our digital ICT manager vacancy

very sadly because of illness at the moment.

And I spoke to him today, he started yesterday.

So I was delighted because it's a KCC digital IT manager

that actually lives in the patch and wants to come over

to get some district experience.

So there's things that we are doing from an HR point of view

absolutely bridge it that will, you know,

one, it's really good for the individual

and individuals within the team,

but it's also really important for symbolism

because we are a Kent family,

and first and foremost, we will look after our Kent staff,

wherever they are, whoever their employer is,

because they'll all be covered by,

partner for you, will be covered by 2P.

And so we've all, aren't we, Tim,

as chiefs, all really, really strong on that.

And of course, Amanda as SRO,

her professional background is HR,

So she's really well placed.

And I'm delighted that I've got Andrina positioned well

to support us and our staff.

So hopefully that just gives you some sort of flavour.

So we may find that we have closer working

with some of our teams so that we don't lose sight

of business as usual, but it's not all waiting

for vesting day before it starts.

We'll just have to feel our way on that.

In terms of assets, really interesting

because I led one of the priority action groups,

or whatever they're called, what were they called?

Oh yeah, is that right?

And on assets, and it worked really well having,

to your point, Rich, on having someone drawn from elsewhere

as my support coordinator, because it meant that we,

again, it was a symbolism around we're all inclusive,

it's not just me and Zoe or Andrina

that's going to do this work,

it was a real intentional effort,

and it worked really well to work with Charlotte

for that phase.

That was a really interesting piece of work

that we've now sort of done a closure report

for that phase of work.

And it was a case of what assets do we have

across the county, what's in nature at high level.

It wasn't the detail because at that stage

we didn't know what the footprints were.

So it was more of a case of what have we got

between us all.

And very interestingly, we've got some out of county assets

and we've got, obviously, we've got out of district assets

as well, you may know we've got property

in Ashford and Dover.

So that is writ large, there are other councils

that have that, but we also have some out of county assets

that the county council have through decisions made

many, many years ago, and also assets overseas.

There's two assets overseas.

So again, through the next phase of work,

and that work stream, whoever leads that bit

for the next bit of work,

has got some really interesting things to do about.

So, some of those will be novated across to the new owner,

but of course, some of those assets are used

to deliver services from right across the county.

And we need to get into some really interesting conversations

about, okay, so what does that look like

and what does that mean?

And what are the legal requirements around all that

from an ongoing service user perspective

to support our communities.

So there are always legal disputes with assets.

So we've done a bit of assessment

about current legal disputes.

That's gonna be dynamic through the next 18 months

because some of them hopefully will have concluded.

New ones may well arise, I expect.

So we're just gonna keep that under review

and working through with them and those.

So in addition to the colleagues

that Andrina said are involved,

of course we've got Alan involved in the 151 network.

We've got Andrena at HR, we've got Ewan over on the MO.

We've been keeping Andy be away from some of these things

for a little while until we get the work streams

because obviously he's got a huge amount of operational work

that we needed to keep delivering for our corporate plan for you all.

But through this next phase, he will be plugged in, absolutely.

So I hope that gives you a bit more of a flavour.

Reassurance, reassurance, whatnot.

Do you want to jump in, Ian?

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:16:35

Cllr Jim Martin - 1:16:35

Yeah, just to add to your last point,

We've got sort of three priorities and these are the order of those priorities.

First and foremost is business as usual.

No one's bin gets missed because of local government reorganisation.

Second is safe and legal for obvious reasons and then the third is local government reorganisation.

So while we are all focused on local government reorganisation, our priority as always is

business as usual.

then safe and legal and then local.

If I have to ring Tim up and say,

sorry, Tim, we never managed to meet that milestone

or whatever, it will be because of our other two priorities.

And I'd guess, I don't know, but I'd guess that most,

most councils will be taking a similar approach.

It's something we all have to do, but we're,

we're not gonna take our eye off the ball.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:17:35

Richard, do you want to come back?

It's a very good comment, and mine is on time, but I just want to underpin Councillor Martin's

Cllr Rich Holgate - 1:17:41

points around this town and parish council point, because I do want to labour it deliberately,

because there's obviously a clarity of authority required, I think, but there's also just such

an opportunity around town and parish councils going into this programme, and how it's very

unbalanced and we talked about, and I think such is the opportunity, and the risk of it

falling over, to be frank. If we don't give it the proper funding and the proper support

and the proper clarity it needs, I would really strongly recommend it to its own work stream.

And I was trying to look at the map of where it could potentially fit in, like legislation

and legal is probably the most obvious one, but perhaps there already is, so apologies,

but if not, I just really want to recommend that if there's opportunity. Thanks.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:18:28

Thank you very much.

Very quickly, that's not in the gift of the programme.

Dr Susan Priest - 1:18:34

It's not for us to change legislation about town and parish councils.

It was really interesting Rich, because when the white paper first came out,

there was a line in there where we thought, oh, rewiring the relationship, I think it was called.

Yep, rewiring the relationship.

And we were like, oh great, absolutely, to your point, totally, absolutely.

And then it died to death, didn't it? And we couldn't get anything out of it.

So actually, it's now, my sense of it, Tim,

and you speak as you find,

but is that that is not the interests of ministers

and civil servants.

They're bothered about the statutory

and the discretionary services that we provide

to our level.

Beyond that, town and parishes,

it's in the gift of those that are in the town and parishes.

And of course, we are blessed

because we are highly perished here,

but there are some parts of Kent that aren't.

So it's not a common, as you said earlier,

it's a real variation of capacity, skills,

money, investment, et cetera, appetite even.

Okay, thanks for that, Susan.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:19:38

FHDC Officer - 1:19:38

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:19:39

Right, Alan, another bite at the cherry.

Yeah, thank you.

I didn't quite get a chance to come back to Tim

Cllr Alan Martin - 1:19:47

on parish and town councils.

Just a very brief point.

So accepting what Susan just said around the fact that we don't have the power to sort of rewire parish and town councils,

but I think we should take the opportunity to look at parish and councils as they are and to make sure they're operating as they should.

And from my experience, there's a vacuum of authority around who looks after parish and town councils.

It slips down a crack between the monitoring officer and CALC.

and as far as I'm concerned,

CALC play a purely advisory role,

and even when you raise things with them,

they have no interest in doing anything other

than liaising with and engaging with the clerk

and the chair or the mayor.

Now, if you've got a poor performing council

that isn't operating correctly,

the best person to go to to ask how things are going

is not the chair or the chairman.

And that's why I raised the fact that

I think there should be an opportunity

to review procedures and to make sure

that the councils are operating democratically.

All right, thanks for that.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:21:05

I think it's all work in progress, isn't it really?

Okay, Paul, did you want to have a final comment?

Yeah, thank you.

I'm gonna carry on with the Parrish and Town Council thing.

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:21:16

Why not?

I think Susan's already said, we are heaven perished,

but I believe Ashford are moving to a town council.

Is that correct or not?

I know Margate are, for example.

Maisto are.

Maisto are, yeah.

Well, it's really interesting.

I was reading some guidance today.

They have got work in hand, governance reviews,

and there was something in there to say that, of course,

it will be a responsibility of the new shadow

to make any agreements on any governance reviews.

So again, it's not gonna be in the gift

Dr Susan Priest - 1:21:43

of the existing predecessor councils

to agree things that will bind or otherwise

the success of bodies.

And my point, so I was just checking with my

monitoring officer behind me because we absolutely

hear you Alan, absolutely hear and understand

and agree with the importance and agree with many

of your points but we don't have the authority to act.

And if we don't have the authority to act,

it's on what basis are we intervening?

And I know it's frustrating, absolutely needs to be plugged

but it's not in our gift to do so.

So we have to support in other ways, really.

Thank you very much, Phil.

Again, I think it is so important,

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:22:23

and I just want to say thank you very much to Michelle Faro and to Jim

for the presentation to the Joint Parish Council Committee last week.

The problem is not enough of the parishes actually engage.

It's the normal six or eight who are there every single time

and who are interested and do disseminate the information.

And the question is, and it's also how do we embarrass

everybody else to be part of that?

Because they recognise the value they'll get through,

particularly through this massive change.

It's just huge.

And again, coming back to the, you know,

what other places have done.

I was in Cumberland the week before last,

and Carlisle is still a charter trustees.

And it adds that extra factor to how they manage the area.

But again, just coming back to Tim's point as well,

in terms of what we have, what we start off with,

isn't necessarily where we end up.

They're just moving from 46 to 55 councillors

with boundary changes that go with it,

because they've realised that they haven't got

the council capacity to deal with all the work

that comes in, and picking up on the point

that Councillor Jones made earlier on about,

how do we make sure we get the right people supported?

So it is the first step in the journey, isn't it?

how this is going to move along.

But I just want to say again,

thank you very much to Michelle particularly

for helping to put that message out there.

That's great, thank you.

Thank you for that.

Any more questions?

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:23:53

Okay, well just to say thank you very much.

The letter that came from the Minister,

I did think it mentioned neighbourhood area committees,

but we'll have to wait and see what they look like.

But thank you guys, very good.

Anything else, no?

Okay, I'll let you out the room.

Thank you for reminding me.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:24:17

We have to accept this, to receive a note report,

and I hope any points made will be reported in our minutes

and taken on board by our leadership.

Okay with that?

Good.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:24:51

Okay, point six on our agenda, improving street lighting.

Fred, do you always want to hear?

Mr Fred Miller - 1:24:59

Yes, good evening, Chair, good evening, members.

Members will have seen the report which arises

from a proposal submitted by a member of the public

during the call for scrutiny topics.

The proposal asks for Follston High District Council

to urge Kent County Council to address concerns

regarding inadequate street lighting in some areas

where pavements can be difficult to navigate after dark.

The concern is that poor lighting may affect visibility,

personal safety and confidence when travelling on foot during the evenings.

Particular reference has been made to older residents and those with visual

impairments for whom low lighting levels can present additional challenges.

The proposal suggests that improving street lighting through either

additional columns or brighter lighting could help residents feel safer, improve

accessibility and support greater independence, particularly during the

Dhaka winter months. These concerns were subsequently raised with Kent County

6 Improving Street Lighting

Council as the highway authority responsible for the provision and

maintenance of street lighting. In response KCC advised that a county -wide

LED upgrade programme commenced in 2016 replacing all the sodium lighting with

more efficient LED units.

As part of that programme, every road in Keynes

was subject to a lighting design assessment

to ensure compliance with national standards

and guidance issued by the Institute

of Lighting Professionals.

KCC has also highlighted a number of benefits

arising from the LED programme.

These include reduced energy consumption,

improved fault monitoring to essential management system,

and more directional lighting,

which reduces light spill into residential properties

and helps minimise impacts on dark skies

and local wildlife.

KCC does not consider increasing the wattage

of existing lighting to be an appropriate solution,

as this could reduce lighting uniformity

and increase light intrusion into neighbouring properties.

In addition, the authority receives a large number

of requests for additional lighting and advices that current budgets are allocated to maintaining

existing infrastructure rather than expanding the network.

KCC also notes that any expansion would need to be considered alongside its net zero commitments

and wider environmental objectives.

Having considered the response, officers are satisfied that KCC has provided a reasonable

and proportionate explanation based on national guidance,

technical assessments, budgetary constraints,

and environmental considerations.

Furthermore, Focusing on High District Council

does not have a dedicated budget or responsibility

for the provision of additional street lighting,

and is therefore not in the position to supplement

or override KCC's approach.

Accordingly, the recommendation before this committee

is simply to receive and note the report

and to note the response provided by Kent County Council.

Thank you, Chair.

Happy to take questions.

Yes, thank you, Fred.

Right, first up, I think it was Adam.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:28:28

Sorry, sorry, Paul.

Cllr Alan Martin - 1:28:36

So I completely agree with the findings of the report,

actually, it seems to me that KCC are taking

completely right approach as far as I can tell.

I had two thoughts.

One is whether whenever there are specific areas

of concern raised by our residents or from us,

whether that's maybe something that we can channel

into the joint transportation board meetings.

I mean obviously we can highlight them on the side,

but that's another way that we could visibly pick up

specific concerns that people have.

obviously post LGR, it will be all one council

dealing with it anyway.

And then I just wondered, so this item came from a request

from a member of public and I wonder whether we ever

spoke to them to inquire whether there was a particular

concern that actually motivated them to make the request.

And maybe that's a specific request

that we could follow up on.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:29:41

Mr Fred Miller - 1:29:44

We don't get to see the request at all. It comes from the committee services. I'm not

sure whether, because the last time we asked there was another topic and the details were

not available so we didn't get to know who did put forward the request.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:30:03

Right. I think the disciple.

Sorry, just picking up on that point and Councillor Martin, it's a good point.

Mr Ewan Green - 1:30:09

I don't think we do as a matter of course at the start, but we do feed back to the member

of the public following the meeting.

So as part of that, I'll make sure to raise the point if there's a specific issue they

want to raise back to us and be happy to take it forward on that basis.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:30:25

Thank you very much, Chair.

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:30:30

I don't agree with the output of the findings from Kent County Council.

So in section 2 .3 of the report, it says every road in Kent underwent a lighting design assessment

and states the British standards to which it was carried out, which is great.

Can we have that data broken down by ward, do you think, for our wards?

The other thing is, and this is what I don't understand, is in the Kent Highways service street lighting strategy,

this document here, there's two appendices to it.

One which talks about the investment development categories

in built up areas and the other one talks about

non built up areas.

So it actually tells you whether the roads and that

meet this prestige, major or other allocation

in terms of footwear hierarchy.

So it must be difficult, it must be, I'd say,

almost impossible for members of the public

to understand how does that fit in with their particular area,

and particularly in rural areas.

So again, I think it'd be really useful to see the data

that the KCC officers must have looked at to put this report together to say,

this is why it's okay.

That's my first point.

The second one, if you look at term 2 .8, it says, finally,

KCC noted they must consider their net zero action plan and their commitment to

achieving net zero carbon emissions for their estate by 2030. Well, KCC rescinded

their net zero action plan in November last year and replaced it with 25 slash

zero zero zero nine one energy efficiency plan presented by by Councillor

In that action plan, in that energy efficiency plan, it's so thin, it's almost transparent, by the way.

It does say that they will collaborate with districts and boroughs on place -based projects.

So unless we know where the shortfalls are, we can get that from residents, arguably.

then when we know that, we must be able to put something

forward to say, actually, for a place -based perspective

to meet the energy efficiency plan,

this is what we believe would fit that criteria.

So therefore, we can look at improving lighting

in a particular area.

The other thing is that energy efficiency plan

doesn't mention safety of residents on roads and highways.

And here's the other thing,

it doesn't consider either.

The KCC Vision Zero says that by 2030,

we'll have zero fatalities and serious incidents

on our roads and lighting underpins that

quite significantly.

So in one perspective, we're saying we need to improve

the lighting because we actually want to stop

injuring people on the roads, which is fantastic.

I mean, I've been to a couple of presentations

by KCC of the years and I know,

and Councillor Hill supported us in a number of issues

when he was our county councillor.

So again, it just seems to me

they're pushing this net zero action plan forward.

And in fact, they're not even quoting from the right thing.

So this is what I'd like to see as a recommendation

from us about how we can address this.

So I'm just gonna suggest that we write

to all six KCC councillors to ask them

if they consider the lighting in the area to be adequate.

And if they don't tell us when it isn't adequate,

this is based on input they'll have from residents.

We can then look at what we can do

to address this other piece,

which is collaborate with districts

and boroughs on place -based projects to say,

actually, in this area here,

we could do with improving the lighting there.

So, and that fits in exactly with the energy efficiency plan.

So my recommendation would be,

let's get a letter out to the six,

including the one in this room,

KCC councillors to say that you consider

the lighting in your area to be adequate.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, everyone.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:34:50

Yeah, I tend to have a bit of sympathy with your approach,

but let's put that to officers and see how that develops,

because it's not a straightforward thing.

The most fundamental thing at KCC, they have no money.

So it's a slight problem.

I know from a bit of experience, it's a 10 ,000 person organisation.

It takes a long while to get from point A to the front line.

And it takes time.

I think as Susan alluded to, they own KCC, for example, own property outside this country.

But also, they own a giant solar farm in Somerset at Bow House too, which I happened to open.

So it's a long while ago, but it's still there, and they can't always keep these things together.

But officers would have heard your points, and I think we'll see what happens next.

But I do support what you're thrust on what you're saying.

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:35:48

John F Kennedy said, anyone can make a difference and everyone should try.

So let's give it a go, and let's see if we can actually get sign on from our KCC councillors

on either supporting or refuting

what our residents are claiming.

Thank you, Chair.

Okay, thank you for that.

Bridget.

Thank you, Chair.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:36:07

Cllr Bridget Chapman - 1:36:08

I think the response from KCC is wholly inadequate.

This issue of lighting is something

that comes up again and again,

especially during the darker months

with more vulnerable residents.

I know as somebody that doesn't drive,

if I'm trying to get home from the train station at night

in the darker months, the lighting is so inadequate

I have to have my phone torch on all the way.

I've got really, really rubbish ankles.

I cannot afford to trip up.

And if I was somebody more vulnerable,

I would take it as a message that I wasn't supposed

to go out of the house.

I think that's the message that residents are receiving.

we cannot expect people to make their way home

from the train station needing a torch.

It's ridiculous.

And another issue is that actually reporting faults

with lighting is almost impossible.

Councillor Davidson along with Councillor Speakman and I

have been trying to get one street light fixed

on Castle Hill Avenue outside this building.

Because ever since we were elected,

ever since I was elected,

It's taken, it's just happened.

The last council meeting we had on Wednesday,

it's finally fixed.

It has taken us years.

When you go on to the KCC site to report a fault,

it's almost impossible to get a pin in the map

because there are so many faults that have been reported

that it gets lost in the forest of faults.

So, you know, we need to go back to KCC.

I mean, I totally support what Councillor Thomas is saying,

and I think that absolutely is something

that we need to get buy -in for.

I think we're not doing our jobs for residents if we don't,

that we don't push KCC councillors for that.

It'd be nice if one of the KCC councillors in question

turned up to a meeting occasionally,

that would be really nice

so that he could actually hear some of these points.

But one of the things that could be asked

for really, really is an easy win

is making it easy for residents to report false.

Council Davidson and Council Speaker and I know our way around the system a little

bit and it has taken us years to get one street light fixed. How is an ordinary resident supposed

to report a fault and get it fixed if we can't manage it, if it's taken us years to manage

it? I think that response from KCC is wholly inadequate and we have to push back.

Okay, thank you for that, Bridgette.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:38:41

I think you've got very strong points there.

I'm sure Fred's listening to that.

And, well...

This isn't aimed at you, Fred.

You're brilliant.

Cllr Bridget Chapman - 1:38:50

It's completely not aimed at you.

I'm just furious with them. Sorry.

We agree about Fred. That's good.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:38:57

So, okay, let's...

Right, so we're going to receive the note report.

Yes, it stands. But, but...

We've added a few more caveats there.

The proposal from Kent County Council, we don't accept it as such, and we'll leave it in the

friends capable hands to see how far he can carry it forward. Okay with that?

Yeah.

You say no.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:39:22

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:39:28

I did share. I want to get our KCC councillors involved in this because it's such an important piece of work.

and I just wonder what their response would be if they had actually read this report and said this is, you know,

particularly say section 2 .8 where they're quoting something that doesn't even exist in Kent County Council.

So for me, I want our KCC councillors to be involved even if we say we reject this report for these reasons

and we copy them into it, however we do it,

but I do want our KCC councillors involved

in any future discussions.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:40:04

I thought we agreed that, Ms. Entepointe's raised.

Okay, now when it will happen as such,

we need to get you in, thank you.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, members,

a very interesting debate.

Mr Ewan Green - 1:40:15

I think we get a sense of where we're coming from here,

and so there's something about seeking

a bit more clarification on the detail

and depends the assumptions in the report

before you tonight, which we can do,

and then about contacting KCC members from the district,

asking for their perspective on this report

and their views on street lighting in their areas.

Very happy to do that.

I would suggest, though, that any follow -ups on that

should come from members direct to KCC themselves

or to the relevant portfolio holders

and to perhaps the Joint Transportation Board initially,

because in terms of space on this agenda,

there isn't a significant amount of space

on the OSU work plan moving forward.

So if we can kick this off through that route,

see what comes back, and then we'll keep members informed.

Thank you.

That's excellent.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:41:09

Are we all happy then to proceed on this,

to receive a note report and leave you other things to get?

Okay, so we've probably got to go.

Okay, great.

Committee member update.

7 Cabinet Member updates

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:41:25

So this is a really exciting item, of course, always is.

Who wants to go first?

Polly should go first, I think.

Very long report, Polly.

I have read it.

Cllr Mike Blakemore - 1:41:36

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:41:37

Well, you have the report in front of you.

As I noted at the top of the report,

Cllr Polly Blakemore - 1:41:46

I did my last report at the end of last year's season,

if you like, the bonus topic.

So I had a huge one then, and I thought this time,

well, I'm not going to have much to say.

And then I wrote five pages and realised that quite a lot

had actually gone on in the last six months.

So you have it there before you,

so I'm happy to take any questions.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:42:06

Yes, Paul, I saw your hand shoot up there.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:42:11

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Councillor Greatmore.

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:42:16

Again, I think just in terms of what you've covered,

8 Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme Tracker (Information only item)

I mean CPZs, we're never gonna satisfy people now.

We're always gonna have, you know,

they're happy, they're not well.

7 Cabinet Member updates

You know, we do review them and it's really good

that they are reviewed regularly.

So thank you very much for that.

Just in terms of the public transport side,

I fully support the one pound fares that are being proposed

for the 102, the 103 and the 10 services, which is great.

But as you identify in your report,

or rural bus services are still inadequate

to get people to hospitals.

And I want to put a big shout out here

for the Romney Marsh community.

I have to thank goodness for the marsh being,

because I don't know where residents on Romney Marsh

would be without that fantastic service.

I really don't.

Highway improvement plans.

I want to say thank you very much to Tony Hills

for his work over the years in support of New Romney.

It came to every single meeting that we had with that.

and they do deliver significant improvements,

even ones recognised by stagecoach

about how free New Romney is, the high street to travel,

it's no longer a pinch point for this service,

I think it's fantastic.

So thank you very much for your report.

As I say, the key thing really for me is on public transport

but thank you very much, Paul.

Okay, do you want to come back at all?

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:43:38

Just briefly to say that River Oil bus services,

Cllr Polly Blakemore - 1:43:42

is yes, it is very much on the list.

It's brought up every time at both,

well, the Shipwreck Bus users, as you know,

are a very active and vocal group,

and there's quite a lot of disappointment at the moment

that we're not getting a lot of engagement

from either the County Council or from Stagecoach,

where our hands are somewhat tied.

There's not much we ourselves can do,

but I do jump up and down and make a lot of noise about it,

and we'll continue to do so.

And I think there was also talk about the links

to the hospital as well, which is something

that we continue to buckle away on.

If I may, thank you very much for that.

And I'm glad you've raised the King County Council again,

because again, I think it's absolutely atrocious

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:44:28

that the Joint Transportation Board was cancelled

because of the lack of attendance by King County Councillors.

I mean, in a to my mind, again, I think it's the kind of thing

we need to bring to the attention of the leader of Kent County Council to say that all of

that work, that that all was going to go through, the emergent issues that were going to be

raised, significant issues for the marsh were all kicked into touch. Because yeah, we did

have two Councillors who gave apologies, which is fine, you know, and then you can work around

that, can't you? But for three Councillors not to attend and not to give apologies is

absolutely unbelievable. But again, in one instance, as we know, it happens frequently.

Thank you, Chair.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:45:13

Thank you for that, Paul, but I can't blame Polly for that. It's not fair on her. But

it is a concern, but that's all you can do. We can't force them at gunpoint as much as

I'd like to. Bridget.

Cllr Bridget Chapman - 1:45:28

Can I ask a favour? I don't know if it's even possible, but one of the things that drives

What drives me mad about the bus service is like,

I know that there's all sorts of problems,

but I could work around it if that tracking thing

actually worked.

Like, if you know that that bus is like,

gonna be 10 minutes or 20 minutes late,

you think, well like, I'll go to that other bus stop,

or I've forgotten something, I'll just nip home,

or I can go and get a cup of coffee from the cafe.

What is going on with that?

Can they not, it would just like,

be such a small thing that would make such a big difference?

I wish I could tell you the answer to that

because it's one of the issues that

Cllr Polly Blakemore - 1:46:13

comes up again and again and again.

We keep being told it's been fixed.

It continues to be an issue and I know with all the works

in town we've had recently and with Tumtine Street

now being closed and all the various works going on around.

I have no idea and I've been asking the question

for three years and I'm not the only one.

So yeah, again, I wish I could give you hope,

but I've lost it myself.

I don't know if I mentioned that particular thought.

Thanks, Councillor Bailão.

It's just something that comes up again and again

and I just thought I'd ask, thank you.

I appreciate it, it's very frustrating.

Thank you for that.

Right, on my list, it's a long list now.

Anisa.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:46:50

So just a few things.

Great that we've got the busses for a pound, brilliant.

Cllr Anita Jones - 1:46:56

and I was in France for a couple of weeks

and they gave all tourists in the valley

free train transport.

It was amazing, but it meant that we didn't want

to get in the car at all.

So the more we can encourage that, the better.

And it would solve the problems of that.

People are always moaning about parking and CPZs.

They could just get a bus or a train.

So I don't know how we can push that more in future.

I don't know how much influence we have

over the cost of the school bus passes.

I am disgusted about the price of those.

They are over 600 pounds now.

I think my son will be taking the train this year,

but that's equally expensive to be honest,

because he's going to a different school.

But for a while I had two young people,

and I had to buy those bus busses every year,

because there's no other way to get to school.

I hear of people, families, choosing to drive

their children to school because they think

it's going to be cheaper, and then hence we get

the gridlock around schools and that's obviously not good for anybody.

So I think we should be trying to influence that even more if possible.

There doesn't seem to be any consideration for those families

who don't live on the doorstep of schools.

Following on from that, obviously every September,

there seems to be chaos on the school busses.

I don't know how they get it wrong every September,

but I don't know what we can do to again address that situation before that first day of term

when you see those poor year sevens not being able to get on a bus and not knowing how to

get home.

It's dreadful and the parents have talked out over £600 for that bus pass.

So it's really, really terrible for children.

So I don't know if that's something we can discuss in transport boards.

And then lastly, obviously we've had some issues in height with the number 18 bus which

goes to Canterbury.

It doesn't happen many times a day, but at the moment Sandling Road is shut for the whole summer,

which is obviously not helpful, so you can't take the bus to the station very easily.

I think there's long diversions to get to Canterbury and I'm

under the impression that it's not even going to be sorted by the beginning of term.

So those children in Hyde who go to school in Canterbury, and there are quite a few,

I'm not sure how that's going to impact their school day or their travel. So I think as a council

we should be certainly challenging some of those decisions.

Some of those decisions seem to come through

without letting us know.

We were just suddenly told that the road was shut.

So I don't know if you can answer any of that,

but there's a lot of things to think about.

Yeah, it seems the questions I'm getting this evening

are about the one area of my portfolio

where I'm sort of like everybody else

Cllr Polly Blakemore - 1:49:42

in this sort of lobbying position

and I do spend a lot of time putting a lot of effort

into it, but yeah, I don't have any direct power, obviously.

But I agree with you that the one pound bus fare

is a good thing, although personally I was disappointed

it went to Stagecoach rather than COSC's.

But it's a shame it's been a little bit stymied,

shall we say, by the various closures we've got in town.

But yeah, it's a good thing, and the comms team

and pushing it as well.

The school bus passes, you probably read,

in fact I'm sure you did,

that a lot of the revenue funding

that we get from the government

was already earmarked to support existing

essential but non -commercial services

as well as to prevent the cost of school busses

from escalating it further.

So they are already heavily subsidised

So the KCC does do its bit as far as it can

to keep the price down, but I appreciate that from,

I dread to think what the cost would be

if it wasn't subsidised.

I could probably get that figure for you, actually.

I might do so, because I'd be interested myself.

But yes, it's something that is up there on that list

or something that they need to keep working on.

So yes, I could, it's disappointing,

especially when you've got more than one child,

that you're still paying 600 and something pounds.

School busses in September, when I've queried this before,

the answer always comes back that stagecoach

don't seem to know who they're going to get

on which bus in September and what the numbers

are going to be like, who's getting what child,

the amount of children commuting from where to where.

So when we've queried this the last two or three years,

it's always been that by the third week it settles down,

but there's always a bit of chaos to start off with,

and they don't seem to have access to that information.

I'm just telling it as it is.

And yes, I think that was about it.

Yes, the number 18, I hear you,

is another case of a closure, isn't it?

It's handling both being closed at the moment.

But ask me about something, I can do something about.

I'm sorry about that, probably answered the questions.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:52:03

Next is Alan.

Thank you, Tony.

Cllr Alan Martin - 1:52:10

Just to echo what everyone said about the Joint Transportation Board meeting, I found

it particularly ironic that two of the KCC members who didn't give their apologies and

who didn't attend had actually complained to me

two weeks previously about a set of double yellow lines

that we put into Coast Drive,

which is a topic that we had discussed

at two previous joint transportation meetings

that neither of them attended.

And unfortunately for them, their party leader

signed the petition from residents

that specifically requested precisely what we implemented,

which I think just gives you an example of the situation

we're dealing with.

One of the things I was planning to raise,

and we've discussed this a number of times, Polly,

highways improvement plans.

So I've got two points.

One is the old point we talk about

around how we motivate Parish or Town Councils

who aren't prepared to pick up highways improvements plans.

And in LID, I've been successful navigating KCC,

and actually getting some changes put through,

but that's not always possible.

But I have a lot of residents in Lid

and now the primary school who are asking

for some changes to be made on safety grounds

and a review of speed limits and so on.

And I feel somewhat handicapped

that we require the input from a parish and town council.

And so I'd be interested to explore the extent

to which if a parish or town council doesn't step up to the plate, whether there's an opportunity

for us, maybe a combination of district and KCC councillors to pick that up. I appreciate

that's not something that you can really speak to, but I'd quite like to raise it and explore

that at the transportation meeting, assuming we have one. And then again, I raised this

with you just before the meeting, and I know you don't have an answer, but just to raise

now and maybe we can follow up on, but through my parish council, I saw an email from KCC

suggesting that engagement with parish and town councils around things like highways

improvement plans have been paused due to a lack of resource. I think there was a bit

of a stockpile of activity and they needed to catch up with all of that. So certainly

we've seen that in Ivy Church, but I'm not sure everyone else has. And that was actually

I was going to raise at the previous JTB that got postponed.

But if we've got a channel that we can ask that question

through that would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Do you want to respond and talk, Polly?

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:55:02

Yes, I think Hari's improvement plans is something

Cllr Polly Blakemore - 1:55:08

I have been working to try and get it on the JTB agenda.

I'm successfully so far, but I will keep trying.

It's an area that I feel a little bit cut out from

because the whole point of the plans is for district,

sorry, is for parish and town councils

to have that relationship with the county council

and it bypasses the district council.

So yes, I found myself asking for the information

quite a lot and trying to cajole from the sidelines,

but I haven't even seen this letter

that you were talking to me about

because in theory it doesn't involve district councils.

So that's pointing, but I would also say that

in terms of the primary school, there are school travel plans

and I will forward you the information about the officer

at KCC who deals with those, because she is very proactive

and it is something that they might be able to plug into.

There was another point you raised as well, wasn't there?

Have I answered all your questions?

Yeah, okay.

But we can continue this conversation outside of here

if you'd like to.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:56:27

Yeah, one final question possibly from Richard.

Just a quick one, I suppose,

Cllr Rich Holgate - 1:56:32

is just reading your report reminds me

of the remarkable collection of components

that you have to deal with,

of which are complex and arguably thankless at times.

I just want to thank you mainly as well for the hard work you do across the portfolio.

It's definitely a challenging one.

One nice little nugget that I did see and I thought was really great news was the, I

don't know what we officially called it, remind myself, Residence Discount Parking Permit.

We've long considered that to be something we should talk about more and promote and

kind of distribute, so it's great to see that has had a facelift as it were and seeing the

uptake in numbers too.

So yeah, I think in amongst those challenging topics,

it's good to see that great news.

So thanks for that.

Okay, thank you.

You wanna come back to the point?

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:57:19

Yeah, just as a thank you for picking up.

Thank you for picking up.

Cllr Polly Blakemore - 1:57:23

But it also gives me an opportunity to say

that there was this relaunch in beginning of June, I believe,

and it's worth noting that over the last couple of months,

the take -up of those has been 50 % up

on the same period last year.

So it feels like that message is finally getting out there,

which is really good.

But do you, again, keep spreading the news far and wide

because it's a bargain.

You did a great job, don't worry.

Mike, you've been made very patiently.

Thanks, Sarah.

Cllr Mike Blakemore - 1:57:58

We are at risk this evening of just illustrating

what Polly and I always say is that she has all the thorny,

insolvable issues in her portfolio.

and I have the nice fluffy stuff around the community.

But it's really important stuff within my portfolio

and it does talk so much to in our corporate plan.

We set ourselves the task of improving people's health

while being sensitive to community.

And so much of this is really important.

Improving people's health,

we have some very, very poor health indicators

in this district, despite our wonderful location

and the access we have to the sea

and the countryside and fresh air.

We have very high levels of obesity.

We have very low levels of physical activity.

So much of this report talks to what we are doing and what we are able to do and what

we should be doing to try and address those issues.

Also, it talks a bit about LGR, which we spent a few minutes on this evening.

And what we want to try and do is strengthen the volunteer community sector ahead of LGR,

because one thing's for sure is that distance between those community organisations and

their local authority is going to grow larger.

I'm not sure exactly how that will play out exactly, but we want to do as much as we can to support that sector in the meantime.

I can probably stop there. Some of this is very familiar to you because I've been here twice this year talking about community grants,

which you scrutinised back in April, I think. And then we've been back talking about investment in sports facilities with Highpool and Martello Lakes.

and we've also given a grant to the Sports Centre.

So it's also a lengthy report,

and it's very nice to have so much to talk about,

very nice to have actually been able to do so much

in the last year.

Happy to answer any questions or try to.

Yeah, thank you that, Mike.

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:59:42

I think Richard has a question for you.

I do, thank you, Mike.

Cllr Rich Holgate - 1:59:47

And yes, a collection of great news,

and poor failure where you just want to do more and more,

right, endless opportunity, perhaps.

I just question on the town culture award, forgetting all these names of things,

Folkestone's town of Culture Bidge, I believe we were unsuccessful,

and I just was curious, given the amount of resource and focus that went into it,

was it all wasted work and maybe a less pointed way of saying that,

is there anything we can now do with that work that did go into that,

that we can repurpose in any way?

Cllr Mike Blakemore - 2:00:25

The term of consciousness was shared between me and Councillor Butcher, who crossed over

both of our portfolios.

You are absolutely right, we are very keen that that is not wasted.

That was part of the reason why we had the networking event at the ground with the creative

community, which is the biggest of those networking events we have had.

We had 60 organisations there, several members came along.

It was a really enjoyable event.

and the reason why I suggested that theme was precisely for that reason,

is to try and keep those conversations going, keep building those connexions,

and we're very much, very, very keen to do that, it's early days yet.

We have that pot of money, which Ewan stressed last time,

and we'll hold it to him that that 100 ,000 remains in the Community Grants Budget

that we didn't spend on the Town and Culture bid,

so we can do good things with that as well.

Thank you for that. Paul?

Councillor Tony Hills - 2:01:14

Yes, thank you. I have a couple of thank yous.

Cllr Paul Thomas - 2:01:19

So again, it's great to see £50 ,000 of grant spend allocated to physical activity on the marsh.

It's also for health and wellbeing.

And thank you very much for the pre -meeting we had with Joistena to look at how that could be utilised.

It's great. Because it actually helps me as a ward counsellor when I get challenged by my residents.

so, you know, what have the Romans ever done for us?

So we're able to put something to that,

so thank you very much for that.

And the second bit is on the baton of hope.

This is a, you know, a suicide,

awareness of suicide prevention.

It's a fantastic scheme.

I was lucky enough to go to the opening of that

and it was really, really good.

The point I'd like to make there,

and again, just like to say excellent support

from the grounds maintenance team

for the floral carpet bed on the leaves

and for supporting the information panel.

It goes an awful long way for getting the message

out to people because the footfall pass there is incredible

and you think, you know, it's a fantastic opportunity

to raise that weather.

So thank you very much, I say thanks to the grants

making this thing for their work.

Really, really good.

Thank you for that, Paul.

Thank you, Tony.

Cllr Mike Blakemore - 2:02:31

And yeah, so Mike, a really great report

Cllr Alan Martin - 2:02:36

and there's loads of really good stuff going on.

And as you say, you've taken us through that

in quite a bit of detail before.

I had two points.

First of all, on this programme focused on Romley Marsh,

the 50 ,000 budget and so on.

I'd like to get a little bit closer to the detail of that,

and I don't know whether we have another session here

or whether there's an opportunity to get together

with some of the local kind of board members.

But I'm keen to better understand

the decision making around it,

who we're engaging with outside of the council.

I seem to recall that it's,

we're in some way engaged with the NHS

because the NHS have flagged our area

as being I think of poor health and deprived.

In which case I'm wondering whether there are other

and sort of national grants and so on that we can access.

And I've got a long list of,

I mean, I would fully support us doing something

big and sizable in places like New Romney.

And I know there's the land there to do that,

but also supporting some of the smaller parishes.

I was in a parish council meeting with Brenzic last week,

and fantastically, five or six teenagers turned up

and actually gave a little speech requesting access to better sports facilities

and had some suggestions around how that could be made available in Brenzic.

So one, that was incredible that they actually had the gumption to do that.

But the problem for a lot of the smaller parish counsellors is they don't really have the funds

and frankly, they don't really know quite how to approach that type of situation.

So really supportive of that and I'd be really keen

to understand how we can support you and get closer to it.

Why is the microphone still open?

If you could speak to that.

I'd also, so you do give us an update

around Folkestone's swimming pool.

I wonder whether we've got a launch date pencilled in

and maybe you could update us on the extent

to which we've made any payments out the door yet

and where we are in the project from a financial perspective.

So on active lives on the Marsh, as we're calling it.

Cllr Mike Blakemore - 2:04:59

Yeah, so, Councillor Thomas and Joyce and I

were meeting about something else.

We talked about it a bit before this meeting,

but it would be fantastic to have your input

and yours as well, Tony, if you'd like to,

because we very much need that from you

as to how we can work best with organisations

and venues in the Marsh.

and ensure that we're developing something that is what's required and is deliverable.

We are talking about trying to get people involved.

You haven't been involved in physical activity before,

and to give them taster sessions, free sessions, in the hope that this will stick.

But exactly how we do that is a little bit of a blank canvas at the moment.

Joyce is the officer working on it, and she's developing that programme and how it can be delivered.

but we'd love to have your input, absolutely,

so we can catch up about that outside of this meeting.

On the NHS, there is some NHS stuff going on.

It's sort of separate from that, although linked to it.

So there's the Labour Health Pioneer,

I always get the name slightly on, Pioneer Pilot,

where we're the only district in Kent

that's undergoing this kind of change

of breaking down some of the barriers in the NHS

and it will be rolled out across the whole of Kent.

And some of that work is directed at the marsh also,

as is some of the work,

Folsom Health, Folsom High Health Alliance,

where some of that work with, for example,

from the marsh community hub and the marsh B

to improve transport to hospital, things like that.

So there's actually quite a lot of activity

that's going on centred around the marsh

and its particular health needs.

and obviously we're supporting that with the Active Lives programme.

There's also some work going on at Act of Kent and Medway as well,

which they're very supportive of what we're doing as well.

So it's connecting up quite well, I think.

And certainly I would, if anyone says what have the Romans ever done for us,

I would say we're actually doing quite a lot at the moment.

And I'm really looking forward to communicating that

and trying to get that message across.

to be drained from removal of that class. So the damage is quite extensive but nevertheless

Dan assured me that we'll be open this year. Your question about finances, I don't know whether you

and whether you have an answer to that, whether we've made any payment yet from the grant. I don't

know off the top of my head. No I don't believe so but I think we're just in the final throes of

Mr Ewan Green - 2:08:04

the grant agreement which will allow funds to be paid.

Anita.

Councillor Tony Hills - 2:08:12

Just again, thank you for everything you do, it's great.

Cllr Anita Jones - 2:08:17

I love the celebration of volunteers in our community.

I think that's a really special thing.

I'm really pleased we've continued that.

Particularly pleased, obviously, that the youth forum,

we've had two really strong cohorts,

and the next one's looking really positive, actually.

and hearing about young people in

Brexit,

wanting to come to parish councils,

that is something we want to keep

encouraging.

As councillors, we don't necessarily know

what young people want

until we listen to them.

I don't know how we can

get that message out

to more parish councils.

I don't know

if that would be a thought,

an offshoot

of the youth forum

we could look at.

Thank you.

Councillor Tony Hills - 2:08:57

Can we come back at all?

Thanks for that.

That is a great question.

That's a very important point.

It's better to listen in some cases than speak.

I speak too much.

One thing I was going to say, Mike,

I picked up on your, you attended the launch

of the Kent -Marmot Coastal Region.

I was involved in that a few years ago

because it came in the marsh.

We don't have good local mental health services.

We have to go way inland to find some,

but we can go into East Sussex, into Hastings.

It's much closer for the Marsh.

There's a lot of services,

and it affects anybody that lives on a border.

If you're on the other side of the border,

it can be a big help at times.

So just bear in mind, you've got to think outside the box.

Thanks for that, Mike.

Great report, thank you.

The last item on my list,

Councillor Tony Hills - 2:09:49

and you'll be very pleased to hear that,

8 Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme Tracker (Information only item)

nice one, is our overview and scrutiny work programme tracker.

Now this is for information only, but it's something I hope we can develop as time goes

by, because we've got a lot of live issues which I think we can reprieve or at least

get information, but they've come through here once.

We shouldn't have to wait a year until we find out what's happened next.

So it's a case of if we can get a tracker up to date, we can have some stuff there,

which if Ewan allows me, we might even ask a few questions.

But you never know.

I think we could do that.

But I think local government reform is classic.

We have to have regular updates on that.

Because there's points being made by various members,

we need to talk to our parishes.

One, to reassure, and two, they can understand we know what's going on

and working in their best interest.

But does anybody want to raise anything on the tracker?

Well, there's a surprise at all.

Thank you. Again, I think it's an excellent document. It really helps us to understand where we are.

Cllr Paul Thomas - 2:10:59

And again, when we do get residents who have actually raised their shoes, you know, we can say,

this is how we're dealing with it, this is when we're going to deal with it. So, when we're going to deal with it.

So, we did take, I'm sorry about this, Polly, we did take the parking 20 minutes free,

so I just wondered when we might be seeing that coming back to us.

And the other point in there is we've also got the motion on notice from April 26th only,

water testing on the marsh.

So the question is when will that be coming to us?

You know, even if we've got a quarter, say it's in quarter three, I think that would be fine.

It just helps us to answer residents' concerns.

We do have the next Baden -Warr equality meeting on Thursday, which I can't attend actually.

But again, it just makes sure people know we're on top of it.

we said we're gonna do it,

and this is when we're gonna get the output.

Thank you very much.

So I'm made Paul, and I totally agree with it.

Councillor Tony Hills - 2:11:57

But we have to work within our work clothes.

It got a bit on at the moment,

and so it's gonna be difficult to get everything done

at the pace we want it done,

but we've got to try and keep pushing that.

You might not have seen the current range

of water quality reports for Thursday from Defra.

It's been fantastic.

we've had superb reports of very little contamination.

Might be something that we've had no rain for over a month.

Now, I don't want to worry you,

but when it does rain, it's going to hit the fan.

So, let's take it while it's good at the moment,

but it's been an interesting meeting Thursday.

Looking forward to that.

Any other questions?

Councillor Tony Hills - 2:12:45

I'll let you all go then and see you next time.

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Interactive webcast player

Overview and Scrutiny CommitteeTuesday, 28th July 2026 at 6:00pm

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:00:05

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:03

Mr Jake Hamilton - 0:01:06

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:07

Mr Jake Hamilton - 0:01:10

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:13

Mr Jake Hamilton - 0:01:16

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:19

1 Apologies for Absence

2 Declarations of Interest

3 Minutes

4 Minutes of the Finance and Performance Sub-Committee

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:01:56

Cllr Alan Martin - 0:02:16

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:05:37

Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:05:40

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:05:41

5 Local Government Reorganisation Preparedness

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:05:46

Cllr Jim Martin - 0:06:00

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:10:16

FHDC Officer - 0:10:26

Ms Andrina Smith - 0:18:31

FHDC Officer - 0:25:35

Cllr Jim Martin - 0:38:26

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:41:01

Cllr Anita Jones - 0:41:28

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:41:55

FHDC Officer - 0:41:58

Dr Susan Priest - 0:42:42

Cllr Anita Jones - 0:43:45

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:43:50

Cllr Rich Holgate - 0:43:55

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:46:46

FHDC Officer - 0:46:57

Ms Andrina Smith - 0:47:03

Cllr Rich Holgate - 0:50:18

FHDC Officer - 0:50:42

Cllr Rich Holgate - 0:55:14

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:55:14

Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:55:16

FHDC Officer - 0:56:24

Councillor Tony Hills - 0:59:56

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:00:02

Cllr Alan Martin - 1:00:19

FHDC Officer - 1:04:13

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:07:47

Cllr Bridget Chapman - 1:07:56

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:08:59

Ms Andrina Smith - 1:09:02

Dr Susan Priest - 1:11:42

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:16:35

Cllr Jim Martin - 1:16:35

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:17:35

Cllr Rich Holgate - 1:17:41

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:18:28

Dr Susan Priest - 1:18:34

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:19:38

FHDC Officer - 1:19:38

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:19:39

Cllr Alan Martin - 1:19:47

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:21:05

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:21:16

Dr Susan Priest - 1:21:43

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:22:23

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:23:53

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:24:17

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:24:51

Mr Fred Miller - 1:24:59

6 Improving Street Lighting

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:28:28

Cllr Alan Martin - 1:28:36

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:29:41

Mr Fred Miller - 1:29:44

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:30:03

Mr Ewan Green - 1:30:09

Councillor Tony Hills - 1:30:25

Cllr Paul Thomas - 1:30:30

Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Tuesday, 28th July 2026 at 6:00pm