Agenda and decisions

The Cabinet agreed that the request to fund a feasibility study into the football club's proposals for Temple Marsh be declined.
The Cabinet agreed that in view of the uncertainty over the support of the landowners, and over the feasibility and viability of the proposals, Gillingham Football Club be given until 30 June 2004 to demonstrate to the Council's satisfaction that the problems in paragraph 3.9 and 3.10 of the report can be resolved. If Gillingham Football Club fails to do this, the Council would then be justified in proceeding with the regeneration of Temple Marsh in conjunction with the other landowners.

The Cabinet approved the Treasury Management Strategy.
The Cabinet recommended to special Council on 19 February 2004 that the prudential limits (as listed in section 11.8 to 11.16 of the report) be approved.

The Cabinet agreed that the land in Shanklin Close is declared surplus.
The Cabinet agreed to enter into an option agreement to release the restrictive covenants to allow residential use and upon receipt of full planning permission the covenants be released and the land in Shanklin Close sold for a consideration set out in the exempt appendix, plus legal and surveyor's fees.

32/2004 The Cabinet approved the Capital budget proposals, as set out in Table 1, for referral to Council.
33/2004 The Cabinet recommended to Council, at this stage, that the budget summarised at Table 5, amounting to £272.052m, should be adopted and that this be financed by a 15.0% increase in Council Tax, unless prior to the Council meeting, further acceptable savings can be identified or the recent correspondence with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister succeeds in prompting a different view.
34/2004 The Cabinet approved the summary business plans, taking on board the comments of Overview and Scrutiny.
35/2004 The Cabinet approved the fees and charges set out in the booklet 'Medway Council - Fees and Charges' circulated separately as a minimum and applied as part of the budget proposals.
36/2004 The Cabinet requested that the Director of Finance and Corporate Services calculate the formal requirements under Sections 32 and 33 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for resolution by special Council on 19 February 2004.
37/2004 The Cabinet agreed that a deputation, involving older people, is sent to Downing Street concerning Medway's budget position with representatives of the press being invited to attend.

The Cabinet recommended the following to special Council on 19 February 2004 for approval:a) The proposed Revenue and Capital Budgets for 2004/2005, inclusive of an average rent increase of £2.34 per week (based upon 50 collection weeks).b) That there be no increase in service charges in 2004/2005.c) That the garage rent charges be increased by 2.8%.
The Cabinet approved the performance measures and targets including those for management and maintenance costs per property.

The Cabinet approved the proposals for the enhancement of the development control service, based on option A as set out at paragraph 4.1 of the report and noted that the Director of Development and Environment would be undertaking the staffing changes under delegated powers.

The Cabinet agreed that the Director of Finance and Corporate Services be authorised to commence negotiations with KCC to novate the debt (option 4).
The Cabinet agreed that a further report is submitted to Members, explaining the full financial benefits before the decision to novate is made.

The Cabinet agreed to award the contracts, as set out in appendix 1 to the report, to the following tenderers:
a) Hoo St Werburgh Primary School - R J Barwick
b) All Saints CE Primary School - B W May
c) Chatham Grammar School for Girls - King & Johnson
d) Medway Community College - King & Johnson
e) Silverbank Pupil Referral Unit - B W May.

53/2004 The Cabinet approved the tenders, as set out in the attached record of decisions.
54/2004 The Cabinet rejected the tenders listed at 11.2 of the report for the reasons stated.
55/2004 The Cabinet granted delegated powers to the Director of Health and Community Services in accordance with paragraph 7.1.1 of the report.

The Cabinet considered and endorsed the management action summarised in the report to ensure that expenditure was contained within approved budgets.

The Cabinet noted the current position regarding the development proposals for the sites.
The Cabinet re-affirmed its request at the Cabinet meeting on 9 July 2002 (decision numbers 163/2002 and 164/2002) that officers continue to investigate the need for additional car parking provision in the area and report back their findings to a future meeting.
The Cabinet authorised the Director of Finance and Corporate Services, in consultation with the Director of Health and Community Services, to use his delegated powers to dispose of 21-27 High Street, 30-32 High Street and Britton Street Car Park, Gillingham on the best terms reasonably obtainable.

The Cabinet agreed to unfreeze the following posts, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report and on the papers circulated separately, to enable directors to commence the recruitment process:
Finance and Corporate Services
a) Personnel Manager
b) Personnel Officer
Education and Leisure
c) Inclusions Manager
d) Pupil and Student Services Manager
e) ICT Manager
Development and Environment
f) Operational Community Safety Manager
g) Community Safety Partnership Officer.

The Cabinet agreed that a modification to the current local plan policy for Rochester Airfield be pursued as part of the preparation of the new Local Development Framework which will commence on enactment of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill anticipated in July 2004, so that the existing two runway configuration on the site can be retained and hi tech businesses can be encouraged to locate in modern accommodation on neighbouring land.

The Cabinet awarded the tender for the consultancy partnership to Mott MacDonald.