Agenda and draft minutes

The Leader welcomed everyone and wished them a happy New Year. He took the opportunity to acknowledge a longstanding parish councillor, Bill Budd, who was stepping down after more than 25 years of service at St Mary Hoo. Formal appreciation was expressed on behalf of the Cabinet for his longstanding contribution to the community.

The Leader reported that two Ofsted reports had been published since the previous meeting. The first related to Parklands Care Home, which achieved its third consecutive “Good” rating. Improvements in staff retention and service delivery had been acknowledged. The second report had followed a focused visit concerning arrangements for Children in Care. Councillor Price as Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services thanked all staff involved and the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee for effective scrutiny. Councillor Murray highlighted the vigilance of staff in the monitoring of unregistered homes.

It was confirmed that these matters would be referenced in the forthcoming Leader’s Report to Full Council.

There were none.

The record of the meeting held on 16 December 2025 was agreed by the Cabinet and signed by the Leader as a correct record.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

A period of 20 minutes is set aside for questions received.  

It was noted that this was the last time under the trial period for questions.  A report would be going to full Council later in the month to seek approval to make the changes permanent by amending the Constitution as necessary.

Three public questions and six Member questions had been received and were taken as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

Responses

It was noted that all question responses would be reported for information at the next meeting.

Background:

The report provided the Cabinet with details of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2026 to 2029 announced by the Government on 17 December 2025.

The Provisional Settlement was built on the Fair Funding Review 2.0 and included a reset of the business rates retention system from 2026/27, accompanied by the phased introduction of new Revenue Support Grant allocations over each year of the multi-year settlement and the gradual phasing out of legacy grant funding allocations. Overall, these changes would benefit Medway and the Core Spending Power would increase above the average rate, by 16.2% from 2024/25 to 2026/27 and by 31.9% from 2024/25 to 2028/29.

Although the settlement headlines were positive for Medway, a significant increase in funding had already been assumed as part of the draft budget. The announcements and their impact on Medway’s 2026/27 budget were summarised in the report and amounted to a potential decrease in funding for the Council of £7.920million compared to the assumptions in the Draft Budget presented to the Cabinet on 18 November 2025.

Whilst additional funding was welcomed, it was clear that the Provisional Settlement alone would not be sufficient to meet the pressures on statutory services and close the Council’s projected budget gap for 2026/27, without further support from the Government through the Exceptional Financial Support scheme.

The report also provided details of the impact on other grants.

Reasons:

The provisional levels of funding announced are a fundamental component of the 2026/27 budget, and their announcement is a further stage in the process to prepare a balanced budget for the coming financial year.

Background:

The report sought Cabinet approval to develop proposals to formally designate the Horsted Valley as a Local Nature Reserve. The designated area would include Luton Millennium Green, Daisy Banks, Coney Banks, Barnfield, Bishop’s Hoath Woodland, Snodhurst Bottom, Ridgeway Bank and Horsted Farm (Upper Horsted Valley).

It was anticipated that the necessary documentation would be completed by the end of April 2026 to enable formal consultation with Natural England to be undertaken. Natural England had been made aware of Medway’s aspiration for the Horsted Valley through informal consultation.

Reasons:

Declaring a local nature reserve will protect and conserve a vital greenspace running through the heart of medway, recognising its environmental importance and enabling the development of greater opportunities for residents and visitors to enjoy and engage with its natural heritage and biodiversity.

Background:

The report sought approval to revoke the Pier Road, Gillingham and High Street Rainham Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) to satisfy the requirements of the Environment Act 1995 and the accompanying statutory guidance.

The revocation of the AQMAs due to compliance with the air quality objectives was welcomed as a positive step forward for progressing priorities 3 and 4 of the One Medway Council Plan 2024.

Reasons:

To satisfy the requirements of the environment act 1995 and the accompanying statutory guidance.

Background:

The report sought approval of the Pride in Place Impact Fund delivery programme and requested delegated authority to the Director of Place, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Economic and Social Regeneration and Inward Investment, to deliver the Pride in Place Impact Fund programme.

Medway Council had been allocated £1.5 million capital grant funding from the Pride in Place Impact Fund. The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government had set out three main priorities for the fund which included improvements to community spaces, public spaces, and high streets and town centres. Funding had to be fully committed by 31 March 2027, which allowed 14 months for delivery from January.

Reasons:

Approval of the Pride in Place Impact Fund programme will enable delivery, benefitting Medway’s residents, communities and businesses, in line with the Council’s overarching regeneration priorities.

Any uncommitted spend by March 2027 will need to be returned to MHCLG, and the council would lose the PIPIF opportunity to invest in improvements to our high streets, town centres, community and public spaces.

Background:

The report advised the Cabinet of the statutory requirement for Directors of Public Health to produce an annual public health report, which was a professional statement about the health of the local community. This 2025 report explored the role that sleep played in health and wellbeing and the impact that it had on a range of factors that influenced health: both direct impacts such as making it harder to engage in healthy behaviours; to indirect impacts through employment and productivity. It provided initial findings of work to understand sleep in Medway and the potential impact in health inequalities. It also outlined some ways to improve sleep and reduce the adverse effects of poor sleep and set out how simple measures could be added to existing public health interventions to address the problem.

The report had been previously considered at the Health and Wellbeing Board on 20 November 2025 and by the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 4 December 2025. The Cabinet welcomed their comments, which were set out at sections 8 and 9 of the report.

Reasons:

Directors of Public Health have a duty to publish an annual report on a topic relating to the health of the population in their area.

Background:

The report advised the Cabinet that Officers had been formulating the 2026-27 funding arrangements for schools and academies and recommended changes to Medway’s local mainstream schools and academies funding formula. It was noted that the Schools Forum would meet on 14 January 2026 to discuss, consider and make final recommendations on the 2026-27 Final Funding Formula. The Cabinet was being asked to approve the methodology set out within the report to balance the funding formula budget to the funding received from government for 2026-27.

This report also sought delegated authority to enable the Final Funding Formula to be submitted to the Department for Education to avoid the need for the Cabinet to consider the Final Funding Formula at its meeting on 10 February 2026 which would avoid further delay in submission to the Department for Education.

Reasons:

The local authority is required to implement the funding formula changes for 2026-27 in accordance with the regulations and to inform the department of education.

Background:

The report sought Cabinet approval to award the procurement of the Corporate Facilities Management (FM) Contracts. The new Corporate FM Contracts were scheduled to begin on 1 April 2026, bringing the current FM agreement with Medway Norse to an end. The Gateway 3 reports for each of the 10 new FM contracts had been approved by the Procurement Board on 18 December 2025 and the detail of each contract was contained in Appendices A to J attached to the cover report. Each Appendix also had an exempt appendix providing further information in respect of the financial analysis for each contract.

Diversity Impact Assessments had also been undertaken for each contract and were attached to each Appendix to the report.

Reasons:

The Corporate FM Contracts are a suite of 10 specialist contracts, all to commence on 1 April 2026, and are for a maximum of 7 years on a 3+2+2 basis. The initial contract will commence on 1 April 2026 and end on 31 March 2029, with extensions available via approval to 31 March 2031 and a final possible extension period to 31 March 2033.

The approach allows establishing the new contracts through the new FM service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Background:

The report informed the Cabinet of the outcome of the consultation with English Heritage in respect of Upnor Castle which had been agreed by Cabinet on 11 March 2025, and made recommendations about the future of Temple Manor, Rochester Castle, and Upnor Castle.

An Exempt Appendix to the report provided further information in respect of financial information in respect of the three heritage properties.

A Diversity Impact Assessment had been undertaken and was attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

The report had been published separately to the main agenda in Cabinet Supplementary Agenda No.1. The Cabinet agreed to accept this report as an urgent item because it was necessary to seek approval to the proposals at the earliest opportunity to ensure that the timelines set out in section 5 of the report, could be met.

Reasons:

To reduce running costs, to generate a capital receipt, to bring Temple Manor into more intensive use and to hand back Upnor Castle to English Heritage, which is better placed to manage this property.