Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest at the meeting.

To receive the minutes of the meeting of the council held on 28 September 2022 and to authorise the Chairman of the Council to sign them as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 September 2022 were submitted, approved and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman advised that he had attended a dozen events, it was a busy time with the lead up to Christmas and there were many charities needing support. He stated that a list of the events he had attended would be appended to the minutes.

A petition asking for the development at Princes Parade to be abandoned has been received and has a total of 311 signatures. As per the petitions scheme, set out in part 4 of the constitution, petitions which receive more than 250 signatures can be presented to a meeting of Full Council.

A petition asking for the development at Princes Parade to be abandoned has been received and has a total of 311 signatures. As per the petitions scheme, set out in part 4 of the constitution, petitions which receive more than 250 signatures can be presented to a meeting of Full Council.

Proposed by Councillor Whybrow,

Seconded by Councillor J Martin; and

RESOLVED:

1.         That report A/22/20 be received and noted.

2.      That option (b) be agreed (that the petition be referred to Cabinet, for consideration alongside the options report, and that the stopping of the project be included as an option for consideration).

In accordance with the council procedure rule 17.5, five members present demanded a recorded vote.

FOR: Councillors Mrs Berry, Brook, Miss Carey, Collier, Davison, Field, Fuller, Gane, Goddard, Godfrey, Hills, Mrs Hollingsbee, Keen, Keutenius, J Martin, P Martin, McConville, Meade, Meyers, Monk, Mullard, Rolfe, Shoob, Treloar, Wade, Whybrow and Wing (27).  

AGAINST: None (0).

ABSTENTIONS: Councillor Peall (1).

(Voting figures: 27 for, 0 against, 1 abstention).

1.   From Mrs M Lawes to Councillor Monk, Leader of the Council

        Has Folkestone & Hythe District Council’s approach and policy, as laid out as per Part 4.5. Petitions, of the council’s constitution, been update this year or is it about to be updated?

2.     From Ms A Jones to Councillor Monk, Leader of the Council

        Now that Princes Parade work has paused and BAM have left, I would like to ask what the council are planning to do about the exposed landfill waste next to the first bridge, as it is clearly a public health and safety issue.?

The questions asked, including supplementary questions (if any), and the answers given are set out in Schedule 1, appended to these minutes.

(Questions can be found on www.folkestone-hythe.gov.uk from noon 2 days before the meeting, on Modern.gov, under the agenda for this meeting).

Up to 45 minutes is allowed for questions from councillors.

The questions asked, including supplementary questions (if any), and the answers given are set out in Schedule 2, appended to these minutes.

The Leader of the Council made the following announcements:

“Good evening to all.

Tonight I am only going to talk about 2 things:-

The first is about our Custom Service Excellence Certification.  Earlier in the year the assessor from the Centre for Assessment visited the District to carry out a comprehensive assessment and I am pleased to say that we have once again been awarded the Certificate of Customer Service Excellence, which runs until September 2025.

But, not only did we receive the main Certificate, but we were also successful in being awarded Compliance Plus in 16 categories.

This is a tremendous achievement and reflects the custom first approach for this council and our engagement with our partners.  My congratulations go to all of our staff and in particular to Karen Everett and her team, who so ably presented our case.

The second thing I would like to mention is one of the things that impressed the assessor,  was the ‘My Account’ system.  This gives our residents 24 hour access to the council and now  67% of households across the district are signed up for a My Account which is magnificent.

Well done all”.

The Leader of the Opposition responded to the announcements and stated that it was amazing to receive such awards, and his congratulated the hard working officers of the council, who often worked under challenging circumstances. He then stated it was important not to rest on our laurels, and the council should always strive to do better. With regard to MyAccount, he stated that it was great that early bugs had been resolved, and on the doorstep people stated the service was better service, but he added that it was important not to shift the balance to doing things online, a good service was still needed for residents to phone the council, calls to be answered in a timely manner and those residents receive the same service and speedy outcomes as offered through the MyAccount service.

The Leader then advised that the council had still managed, 9 years on, to get 16 compliant pluses from the assessors mean the team were not resting on their laurels and were continuing to look forward and improve service to customers. He added that access to information was still the founding principle that would always be a fall-back position for those without digital access.

Proposed by Councillor Monk,

Seconded by Councillor Mrs Hollingsbee; and

RESOLVED:

That the Announcements of the Leader be noted.

(The recommendation was agreed by affirmation of the meeting).

The Labour Group has raised the following matter:

Council Notes:

·       A property that is available to rent for short periods and listed for at least 140 days per year shall be listed as a business.

·       These properties do not pay council tax as they are registered as a business.

·       There are currently 184 Self Catering Holiday Lets on the Business Rates Register.

·       Many of these businesses claim 100% business rates relief.

·       From April there will be the added caveat that these businesses will also have to evidence that the property has been let for at least 70 days to remain on the business rates register.

·       Under the Environmental Protection Act (1990), all businesses (including those operating from home), have a legal responsibility to safely contain and dispose of any waste produced as a result of their business. This legal responsibility includes holiday let properties.

Council Believes:

·       Many of these properties are residential dwellings with council waste bins.

·       Waste collection is occurring from the council provider rather than commercial waste carriers.

Council Resolves:

·       To contact every self-catering holiday let business as shown on the register, informing them of their duty to dispose of their commercial waste by legal means and show evidence of this to the council.

·       To consider the establishment of an in-house commercial waste collection operation to achieve the following:

-          Increase council revenue

-          Offer small businesses a cost effective and legal waste collection service

-          To ensure council tax is not paying for commercial waste collection.

-          To promote commercial recycling and food waste recycling.

Debates on opposition business shall be limited to 30 minutes.  If the time limit is reached or the debate concludes earlier, the leader of the group raising the item shall have a right of reply.

The Council shall:

a)         Note the issue raised and take no further action;

b)         Refer the issue to the cabinet or relevant overview and scrutiny committee, as the case may be for their observations before deciding whether to make a decision on the issue;

c)         Agree to examine the matter as part of a future scrutiny programme;

d)         Adopt the issue raised by opposition business provided that the decision so made is within the policy framework and budget.

Councillor McConville, on behalf of the Labour Group, set out the opposition business which requested that Air BnB properties be treated as commercial properties in respect of waste disposal.

Proposed by Councillor McConville,

Seconded by Councillor Keutenius; and

RESOLVED:

That Option B (Refer the issue to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for their observations before deciding whether to make a decision on the issue) be applied for the business set out below:

·       To contact every self-catering holiday let business as shown on the register, informing them of their duty to dispose of their commercial waste by legal means and show evidence of this to the council.

·       To consider the establishment of an in-house commercial waste collection operation to achieve the following:

-          Increase council revenue

-          Offer small businesses a cost effective and legal waste collection service

-          To ensure council tax is not paying for commercial waste collection.

-          To promote commercial recycling and food waste recycling.

(Voting figures: 26 for, 0 against, 2 abstentions).

The following motions have been placed on the agenda in the order received; up to 60 minutes shall be allowed for debates on motions on notice:

(1)  From the Liberal Democrat Group

This Council calls for Scrutiny of the ways the District Council can assist Town and Parish Councils in the area with legally moving on illegal encampments on their land [including lands leased from the district council] as quickly as possible, and to at least the same level that they are able to deal with incursions on their own land?

(2) From the Green Group

Council notes the decision on 1 November 2022 by the Leader to pause all spending on the Princes Parade project to allow officers to revaluate the project.

Council notes report C/22/56 and the potentially serious impacts on the council's finances of stopping the project and the likely even worse impacts of continuing with the project.

Council notes the vote of the council meeting of 26 June 2019 to withdraw the planning application.

Council believes that in order to avoid a similar situation arising again, there should be an investigation into how expenditure on the project was allowed to reach £4-£5m from the £2.56m that had been spent by January 2022 despite the fact that the capital receipts had not been secured. This investigation should include a detailed timeline including when problems were first identified in order to establish if there was an earlier point at which the project should have been paused, plus the extent to which the details and risks of the project were adequately communicated to councillors.

Council therefore proposes that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee should consider this issue.

Council understands that the priority of the officers needs to be reevaluating the project and securing the council's financial position but that it is vital to now capture the lessons learned from Princes Parade, particularly given the severe financial implications for the council and taxpayers of decisions that were made.

Council proposes that OSC invites the three councillors for the Hythe ward to take part.

(1)  Councillor Gane introduced his motion which requested that Overview and Scrutiny consider various issues related to illegal encampments.

Proposed by Councillor Gane,

Seconded by Councillor Fuller; and

RESOLVED:

That the Overview and Scrutiny be asked to consider ways in which the district council can assist town and parish councils in the area with legally moving on illegal encampments on their land (including land leased from the district council) as quickly as possible, and to at least the same level that they are able to deal with incursions on their own land.

(The recommendation was agreed by affirmation of the meeting). 

(2)  Councillor Whybrow introduced her motion which proposed that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be asked to consider capturing the lessons learned during the Princes Parade project.

Proposed by Councillor Whybrow,

Seconded by Councillor Wade; and

          RESOLVED:

That Overview and Scrutiny be asked to consider capturing the lessons learned from Princes Parade, particularly given the severe financial implications for the council and taxpayers of decisions that were made, and that the three ward members for Hythe be invited to take part.

In accordance with the council procedure rule 17.5, five members present demanded a recorded vote.

FOR: Councillors Mrs Berry, Brook, Davison, Field, Fuller, Gane, Keen, Keutenius, J Martin, McConville, Meade, Meyers, Mullard, Shoob, Treloar, Wade, Whybrow and Wing (18). 

AGAINST: Councillors Miss Carey, Collier, Goddard, Godfrey, Hills, Mrs Hollingsbee, P Martin and Monk. (8).

ABSTENTIONS: Councillors Peall and Rolfe (1).

(Voting figures: 18 for, 8 against, 2 abstentions).

This report is to record the decision made at Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 8/11/22 to close the footpath south of Sea View Bridge, once works on Princes Parade commence in earnest. (NB: The path is not currently closed). A petition had been presented to the Council calling for the footpath to be kept open after working hours and at weekends. After hearing a factual presentation concerning the rationale leading to the closure decision the Committee felt that the closure must be implemented when works commenced.

The report recorded the recommendations made at Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 8 November 2022 to close the footpath south of Sea View Bridge, once works on Princes Parade commence in earnest. (NB: The path is not currently closed). A petition had been presented to the Council calling for the footpath to be kept open after working hours and at weekends. After hearing a factual presentation concerning the rationale leading to the closure decision the Committee felt that the closure must be implemented when works commenced.

Proposed by Councillor Keutenius,

Seconded by Councillor Mrs Hollingsbee; and

RESOLVED:

1.         That report A/22/21 be received and noted.

2.         That the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel be noted and the foothpath south of Seaview Bridge be closed once works are commenced on site at Princes Parade.

3.         That residents are to be given timely notification when work commences on the site, leading to the closure of the footpath

(The recommendations were agreed by affirmation of the meeting).

The Medium Term Financial Strategy (‘MTFS’) is the Council’s key financial planning document.  It puts the financial perspective on the Council’s Corporate Plan priorities, expressing the aims and objectives of the various plans and strategies in financial terms over the four year period ending 31^st March 2027.  It covers both revenue and revenue implications for capital spend for the General Fund.  Also included are the Council’s reserves policies.  The MTFS is a key element of sound corporate governance and financial management.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy (‘MTFS’) is the Council’s key financial planning document.  It puts the financial perspective on the Council’s Corporate Plan priorities, expressing the aims and objectives of the various plans and strategies in financial terms over the four year period ending 31^st March 2027.  It covers both revenue and revenue implications for capital spend for the General Fund.  Also included are the Council’s reserves policies.  The MTFS is a key element of sound corporate governance and financial management.

An addendum had been circulated prior to the meeting setting out amended recommendations.

Proposed by Councillor Monk,

Seconded by Councillor Mrs Hollingsbee; and

RESOLVED:

1.         That report A/22/22 be received and noted.

2.         That the Medium Term Financial Strategy, as appended to the report, be agreed and adopted.

(Voting figures: 21 for, 0 against, 7 abstentions).