Agenda and minutes

There were none. 

The record of the meeting held on 30 March 2021 was agreed by the Cabinet and signed by the Leader as a correct record.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

Councillor Howard Doe declared an OSI in agenda item 7 (Council Plan Performance Monitoring and Risk Register Review Quarter 4 and End of Year 2020/21) because he was the Chairman of both Medway Development Company and Kyndi Ltd. Councillor Doe relied on a dispensation granted by the Councillor Conduct Committee to enable him to take part in discussion and voting on both items.

Councillor Adrian Gulvin declared an OSI in agenda item 7 (Council Plan Performance Monitoring and Risk Register Review Quarter 4 and End of Year 2020/21) because he was a Director of Medway Development Company. Councillor Gulvin relied on a dispensation granted by the Councillor Conduct Committee to enable him to take part in discussion and voting the item.

Councillor Rupert Turpin declared an OSI in agenda item 7 (Council Plan Performance Monitoring and Risk Register Review Quarter 4 and End of Year 2020/21) because he was a Director of Kyndi Ltd and Medway Norse. Councillor Turpin relied on a dispensation granted by the Councillor Conduct Committee to enable him to take part in discussion and voting on the item.

Other interests

There were none.

Background:

This report provided the Cabinet with the findings of a recent investigation undertaken by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) that related to both Housing and Children’s Services.  The LGSCO required Cabinet to consider its report (attached at Appendix A to the report) which identified fault that had caused injustice and set out a range of recommendations for the Council.

This report confirmed that the Council had complied with all of the recommendations set out in the LGSCO’s report, including further training.

Reasons:

The Cabinet is required to consider the report at the direction of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Background:

This report suggested an extension to the current delegation for the disposal of land at Innovation Park Medway (decision 59/2019 refers) to include the possibility of a joint venture as market changes had since suggested this may be a more viable route for some parcels of the site. 

This suggestion built upon the Delivery and Investment Plan which formed the basis for investment to ensure the site came forward as a high quality, innovative development in the high-value technology, engineering, manufacturing and knowledge-intensive sectors.

Prior to determining the best route for disposal, market testing was recommended to be undertaken, in order to understand the appetite for a joint venture on one or more clusters of the site, to facilitate a critical mass and high quality development.

Reasons:

To facilitate the disposal and development of the land at Innovation Park Medway to achieve best value.

Background:

This report sought delegated authority for officers, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Resources, to complete the variation or surrender/re-grant of the existing Head Lease of Gillingham Business Park, to generate a capital receipt and/or increased revenue. 

The recommendation would release a capital receipt and/or additional revenue income for the Council and would mean that the Head Tenant and its sub tenants would have security of tenure for longer, and would therefore be more likely to invest in the business park, including investment that makes the business park more sustainable.

Reasons:

To facilitate the continued development of Gillingham Business Park by the head lessees and realise a capital receipt and/or additional revenue income.

Background:

This report provided details of how the Council had performed during quarter 4 in 2020/21 against the Council’s three priorities and the actions being taken to improve performance.

There were 48 Council Plan measures for 2020/21, of which it was possible to report on 37 as one was data only and 10 were not available for the reporting quarter. In summary, 26 out of 37 measures had met or exceeded target, 2 were slightly below target and 9 were significantly below target.

The report explained that risk owners had reviewed and updated their risks, which had subsequently been reviewed and agreed by the Strategic Risk Management Group on 3 April 2021, with there being one change to current residual risk scores which related to risk SR26 (Non-delivery of Children’s Services Improvement) which was being changed from  AII (likelihood very high, impact major) to CII (likelihood significant, impact major) to reflect the improvements in Children’s Services and the confirmation that the Council would continue to run its own Children’s Services. The report explained that there was one addition to the strategic risk register as agreed during the quarter 3 risk review, risk SR50 (Delivering £170m Housing infrastructure fund programme) which had been added.

The report noted that the report would be considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committees during June and July 2021.

Reasons:

Regular monitoring of performance and risks by management and Members is best practice and ensures achievement of corporate objectives.