Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Khan.

The Chairman 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

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 4.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests

There were none.

Other Interests

There were none.

This report advises the Committee of a notice of a call-in received from six  Members of the Council of Cabinet decisions 23 and 24/2018 to:

           The Committee must consider the Cabinet decision(s) and decide either to take no further action, to refer the decision(s) back to Cabinet for reconsideration or to refer the matter to full Council.

The Committee is also advised that petitions have been received concerning the closure of the Golf Course. The petitioners have asked for the matter to be considered by this Committee under the Council’s Petition Scheme at the same time as the call-in.

Discussion:

The Committee received a report advising that a notice of call-in had been received from six Members of the Council of the following Cabinet decisions:

23/2018          Close Deangate Ridge Golf Course and associated golf facilities on the basis of ongoing substantial loss, which is unsustainable on 31 March 2018.

24/2018          Instruct officers to begin detailed planning for consultation and development of a new sports centre for the Hoo Peninsula.

The Committee was also advised that petitions had been received concerning the closure of the Golf Course and that the petitioners had asked for the matter to be referred to this Committee under the Council’s Petitions Scheme.

The basis of the paper petition was as follows:

‘Medway Council propose to close the Deangate Ridge Golf Club in Hoo. They state that the club is running at a loss – average £200k per annum in the past 5 years. Whilst no one can suggest that the Council should be funding the Club at a loss, they have not demonstrated to local people that a fair attempt at trying to increase revenue has been undertaken. They have not opened up the club for other uses nor has there been any advertising campaigns to increase membership of numbers. They have not run well advertised golf days and competitions, not opened their doors for public events like fun days or considered other business models, such as doubling up as a wedding venue. A cynic would wonder whether the Council has almost let it run into the ground to make the site viable for sale and redevelopment. This petition asks the Medway Cabinet to consider new business models to increase income or to tender the management of the Club to a private provider prior to a decision of closing the club as part of a viability assessment.’

The Committee was further advised that in addition to the petitions, letters dated 4 and 12 February 2018, had been sent to Cabinet. Copies of both letters had been appended to this Committee’s report at Appendix B.

A large number of Freedom of Information requests had also been received and officers’ responses to these had been appended to the Supplementary Agenda at Appendix D.

At the commencement of the meeting, the Chairman outlined the order of the proceedings and reminded the Committee that it was being requested to consider the Cabinet decisions in the light of the request for the call-in and the petitions and to decide either to take no further action, to refer the decisions back to Cabinet for reconsideration, or refer the matter to full Council.

Paragraph 10.4 of the main agenda set out the grounds upon which the call-in could be referred to full Council. 

The Chairman then outlined the order of the proceedings.

The Lead Member for the call-in explained the reasons for the call-in as outlined in paragraph 3.1 of the report.

The Chairman then invited the Director of Regeneration, Culture, Environment and Transformation and Deputy Chief Executive and the Assistant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 817.