MBC Business Rates Retention/FSF Projects 2018/19 (@ 30 June 2019)

Ref.

Project

Budget

Spend

Forecast

Variance

£000’s

£000’s

£000’s

£000’s

1

Housing First and Rough Sleepers

80

10

80

0

2

Regeneration Opportunity Areas

80

55

80

0

3

Property Asset Review

55

43

55

0

4

Members’ Community Grant

60

46

46

14

5

Predictive Analytics and Preventing Homelessness

80

80

80

0

6

Housing Delivery Partnership

40

20

40

0

7

Go Green, Go Wild

90

20

90

0

8

Maidstone Business Capital of Kent – marketing strategy

35

35

35

0

9

Staplehurst Village Centre Masterplan

15

0

15

0

10

Maidstone Housing Design Guide

40

16

40

0

11

Electric Vehicle Charging Points

20

0

20

0

12

Bus Station Improvement – feasibility study

10

10

10

0

13

Data analytics for Inclusive Growth

35

4

30

5

Totals

640

339

621

19

MBC Business Rates Retention/FSF Additional Projects 2019/20

(approved 26th June 2019)

Ref.

Project

Approved Budget

£’s

1

Arterial Route Improvements (A20)

74,000

2

CCTV Live Monitoring (Waste Collection)

30,000

3

Go Green Go Wild (Community Fund)

20,000

4

Lower High Street Master Plan

80,000

5

Archbishop’s Palace Options Appraisal

60,000

6

Phoenix Park Regeneration

75,000

7

Invicta Park Planning Guidance

15,000

8

Inclusion Through Enterprise

67,500

9

Cycle Parking Infrastructure

60,000

10

Floodlighting for Jubilee Field, Staplehurst

36,000

11

Domestic Abuse Awareness

6,200

12

Climate Change Commission

40,000

13

Urban Trees

50,000

14

St Philips Community Centre (added 26/06/19)

17,000

15

Conservation Area Plans (added 26/06/19)

24,000

16

‘A Sense of Place’ (added 26/06/19)

22,000

Total

676,700

1

Housing First and Rough Sleepers

An operational working group and a partnership has been established with Golding Homes, Porchlight and (the newly joined) MHS.

Six individuals have so far been placed in Housing First properties with Golding Homes, with a further three in MHS properties.

To date, there have been no major issues or incidents.

2

Regeneration Opportunity Areas

Draft planning briefs been drawn up for the five opportunity area sites identified as having potential for regeneration.  These briefs have informed the Council’s own submissions to the Local Plan Review call for sites.  The briefs are due to be considered by the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee at its meeting in September 2019.

There remains £25,000 of funding available to take this project forward.

3

Property Asset Review

The information provided by the review has already been used to inform discussions and decisions on the future of some assets. It will now be used to prepare an Asset Management Strategy to guide the management of the Council’s asset portfolio.  It will also be used to support the development of a new Property Management system.

4

Members’ Community Grant

2018/19 initiative concluded. Underspend (£14,000) utilised to fund additional FSF projects.

2019/20 allocation (£60,000) funded from base budget.

5

Predictive Analytics and Preventing Homelessness

Project now entering operational phase, with the toolkit having been built with data available at the time.

Some issues remain with receiving data from KCC’s Troubled Families programme.  Despite this setback, the project was due to go live on 15th July 2019 and begin to be used by the Housing Options Team.

A new post has been created with funds from the Flexible Homelessness Grant and the post-holder will spearhead the new way of working.  Once the learning has been collated and evaluated from this role, the predictive model will be rolled out across the service to help prevent future homelessness.

6

Housing Delivery Partnership

The proposal to fund a Housing Delivery Partnership was approved by Policy & Resources Committee at its meeting on 12 February 2019.  It was recognised that provision of affordable housing would be improved with the introduction of Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Guidance.  Accordingly, £20,000 has been spent from this budget allocation on developing draft guidance, which is now due to go to the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee in September 2019.

There remains £20,000 of funding available to take this project forward.

7

Go Green, Go Wild

A wide range of activity has already taken place across the borough at sites including Mangravet Recreation Ground, Senacre Wood and Weavering Heath in partnership with a number of community groups.

The proactive work of the Community Partnership Officer is set to continue in 2019/20, in particular making links between groups and understanding the potential for developing partnerships with regional partners in the voluntary and third sector.

Notably, opportunities with Kent Reptile and Amphibian Group, Kent Wildlife Trust, Wild About Gardens & Medway Valley Countryside Partnership are being promoted.

8

Maidstone Business Capital of Kent – marketing strategy

A range of initiatives have been delivered to date including a Presentation and Exhibition at Business Vision, live Press Releases re the Innovation Centre, Maidstone East Railway improvements and Aylesford Business Park (with regional coverage of all three), a Marketing Campaign Plan for MIPIM Expo.

A series of initiatives are scheduled for later in 2019, including the production of an Inward Investment video by September, presentations and exhibitions to be delivered at Construction Expo and MIPIM (both October) and hosting a Business Forum (November).

9

Staplehurst Village Centre Masterplan

Project scope defined with Parish and Ward Members, which focuses on development proposals around the Railway Station and Industrial Estate.

Dialogue continues with Cllr Brice.

A report on landownership of the employment area has been produced.

Employment land in multiple ownership. Landowners to be contacted to identify why site has not come forward for development.

Parallel discussions with Sainsbury’s ongoing but lack in interest in building out their planning permission becoming a source of local frustration that has been picked up in the media (letter to Chairman of Sainsbury’s has been sent expressing the concern).

Until land ownership and development interest has been explored, it is not possible to commission urban design work.

10

Maidstone Housing Design Guide

The Maidstone Design Guide is a collection of documents. The first (“Maidstone Building for Life 12”) was completed and adopted in 2018/19. Work is now set to commence on the other design documents.

11

Electric Vehicle Charging Points

Survey work by UK Power Networks now complete following procurement where PodPoint were identified as the preferred supplier.

Electric Vehicle (EV) unit installations scheduled to commence in July 2019, with all EV units expected to be live by end of August 2019.

12

Bus Station Improvement – feasibility study

RIBA Stage 1 report (Project Brief) prepared for stakeholder sign-off.  Due to move into concept design stage during August and detailed design during Q3 2019.

Topographic, site and drainage surveys completed. Asbestos, M&E and Structural surveys due July 2019. Submit Planning application at end November 2019. Estimated on site June 2020.

13

Data analytics for Inclusive Growth

This project is part of the “Borough that works for Everyone” initiative which has a Project Plan and Project Board in place.

A Data Analytics Officer (DAO) has been appointed and they has so far created a Central Data Repository.  The DAO is now compiling detailed reports and case studies to identify particular themes/problems to be addressed in the borough relating to inclusive growth.

Project Ref.

Description

Value (£’s)

14

St Philips Community Centre

17,000

Background

Part of St Philips Church in Waterloo Street, Maidstone, was divided off in 1967 to provide a Community Centre for local use. The Centre is a valuable facility for the town centre area, providing rooms for hire at a modest cost for a wide range of groups, regardless of faith.  The rooms are used, amongst other things, for dance classes, a drama group, parties and community group meetings.  The Community Centre operates as a separate entity from the Church.

Project Objectives

In order to maintain and enhance the Centre’s service to the local community, the Friends of the Community Centre have identified a requirement for (a) repairs to the west wall of the Centre and (b) provision of disabled toilet facilities.  The total cost is in the region of £50,000.  Approximately £25,000 has been raised to date.  A contribution of £17,000 has been sought from the Council, with the remainder of the funding coming from a range of other sources. 

Project Ref.

Description

Value (£’s)

15

Conservation Area Plans

24,000

Background

Of Maidstone’s 41 conservation areas, 12 have an adopted appraisal and 9 have a management plan.

The most recent work programme was agreed by Members in October 2009 but was effectively put on ice due to reduced officer resources.  Subsequent funding has identified for two specific projects since 2010 – the Boughton Monchelsea Conservation Areas Management Plan and Linton Conservation Area Boundary Review – which were undertaken by a consultant.

Project Objectives

The primary objective of the project is to re-establish the conservation areas works programme, and to undertake appraisals and management plans for those areas not yet covered and any high priority actions arising from the associated action plans, such as boundary revisions.  Priority will be given to conservation areas subject to the highest development pressure and areas included on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register, balanced against those with particular political interest.

The work will be resourced from existing permanent and temporary council officer posts, funding from the Business Rates Retention Pilot, and local voluntary assistance.  It is anticipated that four further conservation area appraisal and management plans may be able to be completed over a two year period, depending on the size of the Conservation areas in question and whether any appraisal work has already been undertaken.

Project Ref.

Description

Value (£’s)

16

‘A Sense of Place’

22,000

Background

Maidstone Borough Council has adopted a number of cross cutting strategic priorities.  These are intended to ensure that pride in our communities, heritage, biodiversity and environmental sustainability are respected.

However, it is arguable that the council does not have a clear concept of what Maidstone is, and this hinders this committee and the wider council in working on strategies and interventions to engender pride and respect for heritage and the built and green environment.

This quandary is not unique to Maidstone.  It's likely that within the Borough there are multiple sense of places, between rural and urban, but between west and east of Maidstone town.

For the communities across Maidstone Council identifying a sense of place will help people to celebrate their communities and shared heritage and will enable the Council to work services in conjunction with this shared approach.

Project Objectives

This funding would be used to commission work on developing a ‘Sense of Place’.  We would seek to identify partners with a successful track record who have worked with communities to identify a sense of place, working with councils, community groups and local businesses to involve the whole community.

It is likely that in Maidstone there are a number of ‘places’ including Maidstone Town and the rural areas.  This approach would help establish an identity for the borough, Maidstone Town and other communities within the borough.