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Agenda item

Question and Answer Session for Members of the Public

Minutes:

Question to the Chairman of the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee from Mr Peter Coulling

 

During preparation of the adopted Local Plan, the then Council Leader reported that 21 constraints had been examined with a view to arriving at a lower target than the assessed housing need and that none were found to “bite”.  Which constraints do you expect to be effective in reducing the currently assessed needs figure and by how much?

 

The Chairman of the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee responded to the question.

 

Mr Coulling asked the following supplementary question of the Chairman of the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee:

 

If at the end of reviewing all of the 335 or whatever number of sites it is and you have applied constraints and knocked out a lot so that you get below the assessed housing needs figure, will you advise Maidstone Borough Council to stand up and defend a lower number than the assessed housing need?

 

The Chairman of the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee responded to the question.

 

Councillor Cox, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, responded to the question.

 

Question to the Chairman of the Planning Committee from Mr Peter Titchener

 

Do you accept that failure completely to mitigate adverse impact on air quality is a valid reason to refuse a planning application?

 

The Chairman of the Planning Committee responded to the question.

 

Councillor Perry, the Leader of the Conservative Group, and Councillor McKay, the Leader of the Labour Group, responded to the question.

 

Mr Titchener asked the following supplementary question of the Chairman of the Planning Committee:

 

Are you satisfied that you have the means to fully assess the impact on air quality before the housing developments are built?

 

Councillor English, the Chairman of the Planning Committee, responded to the question.

 

Councillor D Burton, on behalf of the Leader of the Conservative Group, responded to the question.

 

Question to the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee from Ms Cheryl Taylor-Maggio

 

Ms Cheryl Taylor-Maggio had given notice of her wish to ask a question of the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee but was not present at the meeting.  The Mayor indicated that a written response would be provided for Ms Taylor-Maggio.

 

Question to the Chairman of the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee from Mr Gary Thomas

 

According to the local press, 334 sites were offered as a result of the Call for Sites, with capacity for about 60,000 dwellings.  That is way above any target you will aim for.  Residents affected by those candidate sites who are wishing to move are blighted, as the sustainability analysis for all of the sites will not be complete for several months.  I think this is particularly true of rural sites.  Is it not possible and reasonable to declare almost immediately or as soon as possible those larger sites in particular that clearly fail any reasonable test of sustainability?

 

The Chairman of the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee responded to the question.

 

Councillor Powell, the Leader of the Independent Maidstone Group, and Councillor Perry, the Leader of the Conservative Group, responded to the question.

 

Question to the Chairman of the Economic Regeneration and Leisure Committee from Mr John Hughes

 

We understand that consideration of employment comes within the remit of your Committee.  How will you ensure that employment decisions will be fully aligned with housing and infrastructure decisions, particularly transport, in relation to the Local Plan Review strategy and impact on the Borough’s residents?

 

The Chairman of the Economic Regeneration and Leisure Committee responded to the question.

 

Councillor Mrs Blackmore, on behalf of the Leader of the Conservative Group, Councillor Cox, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, and Councillor McKay, the Leader of the Labour Group, responded to the question.

 

Mr Hughes asked the following supplementary question of the Chairman of the Economic Regeneration and Leisure Committee:

 

In many residents’ view, the current situation in Maidstone is not sustainable for the long term so doesn’t that mean we need a long term sustainable plan for Maidstone for 20 or 25 years and doesn’t that require the integration of employment, housing, community services and transport and the Borough Council to have a mechanism for the Committees to communicate with each other in order to achieve that?  I am concerned that when I look at the remits of the Committees, I find that more than one Committee has employment in this case in its remit.  All I am talking about is the Committees communicating with each other.

 

The Chairman of the Economic Regeneration and Leisure Committee responded to the question.

 

CouncillorMrs Gooch, the Leader of the Independent Group, and Councillor Perry, the Leader of the Conservative Group, responded to the question.

 

Question to the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee from Mr Steve Heeley

 

At the 22May 2019 Policy and Resources Committee, the Chairman chose to place item 10 titled ‘Call for Sites’ in to Part 2 of the meeting, i.e. away from public scrutiny.  This was based on advice from Officers that non-disclosure agreements had been signed with some landowners impacted by sites in the report.  It is believed that at this meeting this Committee took the decision to proceed with land east of Lenham as the preferred site for a potential new ‘Garden Town’ of 5,000 new homes on a site covering roughly 900 acres of predominantly greenfield land.

 

To reach this decision, we believe Members of the Policy and Resources Committee were provided with a supplementary background report updating them on Officer investigations as part of a Borough-wide analysis of possible locations for a new garden town.  This analyTOMsis apparently considered the various opportunities and constraints of each site to include environmental, landscape, infrastructure, heritage and topography considerations.

 

Could the Chairman confirm when this report was circulated to Members of the Policy and Resources Committee for sufficient time to read and reflect on in advance of taking the decision on 22 May and also why this report cannot be made publicly available for scrutiny and transparency?

 

The Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee responded to the question.

 

Councillor Perry, the Leader of the Conservative Group, Councillor McKay, the Leader of the Labour Group, and Councillor Powell, the Leader of the Independent Maidstone Group, responded to the question.

 

Mr Heeley asked the following supplementary question of the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee:

 

I think really this is an issue of trust and trust from your residents in the work that you do here in this Council.  Looking at your Council’s Communications and Engagement Strategy you say that you ensure that there’s a clear opportunity for residents and partners to have an influence on decision making.  Do you believe as Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee that the commercial interests of the Council and the developers that you are working with, if you are, outweigh the public interest in making that information available?  The point is that residents need to be able to hold everybody in this Chamber as elected Members to account.

 

The Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee responded to the question.

 

Question to the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee from Mr Richard Proctor

 

On 18 September 2019 the Policy and Resources Committee considered a paper titled ‘Council Led Garden Community’ which proposed Lenham Heath as the Council’s preferred location for further investigative work to build a new ‘Garden Town’ of 5,000 new homes on a site covering roughly 900 acres of predominantly greenfield land.  The Committee resolved to issue a media statement immediately after the meeting to make this location public.

 

Can the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee comment on why he thought releasing this information to the media was the best course of action without first informing the residents of Lenham Heath who have subsequently become blighted, and why this Council has not directly communicated to affected residents either in writing or convened a public meeting in the proceeding 92 days since taking this decision?

 

The Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee responded to the question.

 

Councillor McKay, the Leader of the Labour Group, and Councillor Powell, the Leader of the Independent Maidstone Group, responded to the question.

 

Mr Proctor asked the following supplementary question of the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee:

 

A number of residents in Lenham Heath are worried and upset following numerous approaches by agents purporting to act on behalf of this Council frightening them into considering the sale of their land with the threat of compulsory purchase.  Is this a moral, ethical and acceptable approach from a local authority?

 

The Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee responded to the question.

 

Councillor Harper, on behalf of the Leader of the Labour Group, responded to the question.

 

Note: 

 

1.  The Council agreed that Council Procedure Rule 13.1, which specifies that the question and answer session for members of the public will be limited to one hour, be suspended for this meeting only to enable all of the questions and supplementary questions to be dealt with.

 

2.  To listen to the answers to these questions, please follow this link:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Onm9Zg9wzc

 

3.  Councillor Garland joined the meeting after the question and answer session for members of the public (7.50 p.m.).  Councillor Garland said that he had no disclosures of interest or lobbying.