Agenda and draft minutes

An apology for absence was received from Head of Place, Swale Borough Council, Joanne Johnson.

To approve the record of the meeting held on 11 December 2025.

The record of the meeting held on 11 December 2025 was agreed and signed by the Chairperson as correct.

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct. Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 3.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

The Chairperson will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report.  

There were none.

The Committee is asked to note the proposed dates for 2026/27 municipal year which will be administered by Swale Borough Council:

18 June, 17 September, 10 December, 11 March 2027

Discussion:

The Democratic Services Officer highlighted the Joint Committee dates for 2026/27 were scheduled to take place on 18 June, 17 September, 10 December and 11 March, administered by Swale Borough Council.

Decision:

The Committee noted the proposed dates for the 2026/27 municipal year.

This report summarises the content of agenda item 7, which, in the opinion of the proper officer, contains exempt information within one of the categories in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. It is a matter for the Committee to determine whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of documents. 

Decision:

The Committee excluded the press and public during consideration of the following reports because consideration of this matter in public would disclose information falling within one or more of the descriptions of exempt information contained in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as specified below, and, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The report updates the Joint Committee on the current forecast for the 2025/2026 financial year and gives details about the progress of the objectives of the Business Plan 2025/2026.

Discussion:

The Director, South Thames Gateway Building Control Partnership introduced the report. She highlighted the positive performance by the Partnership with key performance indicators met during the period.

She explained that enforcement activity had increased; the Partnership provided a proportionate response which prioritised issues of safety given the current level of resources. However, all owners who had undertaken unauthorised works had been contacted, and all cases would be revisited as resources allowed.

There were two challenges to the continued strong performance, applications remained at similar levels to last year, 46% below pre-pandemic levels. Recruitment and retention remained the other significant challenge for the partnership. The Partnership currently had five vacancies including one management position, staff turnover stood at 38%, more than twice the national average as per a 2022-23 building control workforce strategy undertaken by the LGA. The principle reason for the level of turnover was salaries at all levels of experience. The salary the partnership was able to offer remained below the market value in the private sector.

More positively there had been an increase in the value of applications received so there had been a rise in income generated by the Partnership. Regularisation had also assisted in reducing the financial pressures and consequently income had exceeded targets achieving 124% of the annual forecast and the Partnership remained on track to achieve a surplus.

The Director requested the Joint Committee consider options to respond to the challenge of salaries differentials, such as a skills shortage payments to recognise the difficulty of recruitment and retention recruitment faced by the partnership.

The Director stated that the Partnership faced additional resourcing issues responding to out of hours calls which placed a strain of on capacity. Officers had been repeatedly called out to non-emergency calls and this was both a strain on resources and a safety risk for officers. She asked the Joint Committee to approve the partnership to prioritise out of hours call outs where there was an identified risk to safety and the partnership had been contacted directly by the emergency services to provide assistance.

The following issues were discussed:

Recruitment and Retention – the Joint Committee discussed potential responses to ongoing recruitment and retention issues. The Joint Committee recognised the difficulties caused by the higher salaries which could be achieved in the private sector and the potential need to employ expensive temporary staff if it could ensure it had the workforce required to complete its duties.

The Joint Committee discussed ways which the Partnership could meet the salary gap. In response to a question whether the benefit package could be improved, the Partnership Director stated that whilst the benefits available as part of the reward package was strong, there was a significant gap in expected salary between the public and private sector, and this was the principle cause of recruitment and retention issues. It was discussed whether the Partnership was subject to the requirements set out in Medway Council’s Medpay scheme. The Chief Housing Officer, Medway Council undertook to discuss  ...  view the full minutes text for item 779.