RAG Rating

Target not achieved

Target missed (within 10%)

Target met

No target to measure performance against

Data Only

Direction

Performance has improved

Performance has not changed / been sustained

Performance has declined

No previous performance to judge against

RAG Rating

Green

Amber

Red

N/A

Total

KPIs

6

5

4

12

27

Strategic Actions

14

0

0

14

Direction

Up

Across

Down

N/A

Total

KPIs

9

11

7

27

The indicator measures percentage of household waste that has been sent by the Authority for reuse, recycling, composting or anaerobic digestion. This is a key measure of local authorities’ progress in moving management of household waste up the hierarchy, consistent with the Government’s national strategy for waste management. The Government expects local authorities to maximise the percentage of waste reused, recycled and composted.

2015/16

Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

49.14%*

53.00%

-3.86%

Target will be slightly missed

Performance Comment: *Data does not include tonnage figures for March, as this is data is not available from KCC until the end of April. Early indications are that the annual target will be marginally missed. Nationally there has been a slowing down in recycling rates and the revised Waste and Recycling Strategy will set a new target for this indicator.

The Resident Survey 2015 shows that satisfaction with refuse and recycling collections remains high at 82%, unchanged from 2013. Leeds ward has the highest level of satisfaction at 92% and Park Wood has the lowest at 67%.

Community Safety Strategy

The Community Safety Plan and Strategic Assessment is refreshed annually. The 2015/16 action plan was agreed in May 2015 and sub-groups have worked to deliver the plan’s priorities. In relation to Domestic Abuse the Council has helped facilitate the Sanctuary Scheme and assisted 49 victims to stay in their properties, provided support for male offenders wishing to rehabilitate and aided in providing a domestic abuse One Stop Shop in the Borough. Under the priority of road safety, pedestrian awareness and walking buses have been promoted and a road safety awareness DVD was created for schools. The Council has also part funded a theatre company to deliver ‘WASTED – drug & alcohol education’ to 29 primary schools in the Borough, this highlighted to year 6 pupils the dangers of substance misuse and have also launched a needle bin in Brenchley Gardens, reducing needle finds by 50%. A multi-agency group to coordinate prevent activity and monitor the impact of prevent work has been established and training for internal and external staff on terrorism and extremism.

The action plan has been reviewed and refreshed for 2016/17 the priorities are violent crime (Domestic abuse/night time economy), substance misuse, road safety, reducing reoffending and community resilience. This encompasses the Kent Police control strategy, which seeks to tackle child sexual exploitation, organised crime, human trafficking, extremism and home-grown terrorism. There has been a significant reduction in the reporting of anti-social behaviour over the past five years, which has led to this being removed as a priority and integrated as a business as usual function.

Environmental Quality Survey

A full Environmental Quality Survey has been carried out this year by an independent organisation, Keep Britain Tidy, which means a more detailed and accurate result is obtained. The results are significantly better than the national and South East performance. The previous methodology involved a very small sample size and therefore did not reflect the full picture of the Borough's environmental performance. The targets are due to be reviewed in 2016/17 to reflect the detailed methodology.

This indicator reports the percentage change in the number of all recorded crime in the borough to provide an indication of the crime trends in the borough and help assess the impact of the work the Council undertakes in relation to Community Safety. Note: Improving performance for this indictor is demonstrated by a negative figure.

2015/16

Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

-1.0%

Performance Comment: Although there was a 5% increase in all recorded crime during quarter 4 overall there has been a 1% decline in crime for 2015/16 compared to 2014/15. In terms of specific crime areas there was a 23% increase in violent crime, 28% of all violent crime occurred in High Street ward followed by during 2015/16. Other notable changes include a 31% decrease in burglary (dwelling) and an 8% decline is antisocial behaviour.

This indicator will provide the Council with local satisfaction with street cleanliness, which will help us, identify and address the sorts of issues affecting how residents feel about their local area.

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

58%

55%

+3%

Target has been met

Performance Comment: There has been a 5% increase in satisfaction with street cleanliness compared to 2013. Leeds ward had the highest increase in satisfaction going up by 20% and now has the highest satisfaction rate out of the borough's wards with 80%. Staplehurst has the lowest satisfaction levels out of the wards at 42%, this is an increase of 3% on the 2013 result. Resident Survey Workshops have been held with members and unit managers to identify reasons and opportunities to improve performance. An action plan is being prepared for June's Policy & Resources Committee meeting.

Health Inequalities Action Plan Update

A fundamental review of the Health Inequalities Action Plan is being undertaken in order to fully understand progress and impact to date; and to enable a refresh of the action plan for those areas that are either completed or no longer relevant. To assist with the process of continuous improvement a half day workshop is being arranged to review activity across the Council. It is expected that this will help embed the key aims of the Council's approach to tackling health inequality and wellbeing. During 2015/16 work continued on delivering the current action plan commissioning and delivering programmes that support health including:

Back to Netball is a Council funded and supported initiative in Park Wood which has been well received. During the first 10 weeks, 37 ladies attended. The vast majority of these ladies have never played netball before and 18 have signed up to form netball teams and are looking to join the league in the summer season.

Young People’s Health at the Switch Youth Café offer a Health Hub during opening hours for young people to access. In 2015/16, a total number of 989 interventions took place, equating to an average of 19 per week. Young people can access a mixture of services including contraception, chlamydia testing, ccards, emergency contraception and smoking cessation.  

34 businesses within the Maidstone Borough have committed to improving the health of their employees by signing up to the Kent Healthy Business Awards. Workplace Health Officer is in post and can provide 1:1 support for businesses, help design healthy living programmes which employees can join and work with their HR Teams to ensure policies reflect the practice they are trying to achieve.

The Council has also worked with Brighter Futures to deliver a Fall Prevention Services and Choices to deliver a three day facilitator training course for children’s centre staff to help spot the signs of domestic abuse and are now equipped to identify those at risk and have the knowledge available to support those individuals.

Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) are used to provide home adaptations for disabled people, generally to improve access - access into and around the home and access to, or provision of, basic amenities such as bathing and WC. They are an important part of the work we do to supporting people who want to remain independent or stay in their own home.

2015/16

Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

28.85 days

35.00 days

-6.15 days

Target has been met

Performance Comment: During quarter 4 2015/16, 16 applications were processed.  For 2015/16 demand for DFGs is lower than in 2014/15 with 93 applications received compared to 129 for 2014/15. The average time taken to process DFGs is 28.85 days and the annual target has been exceeded.

The performance over the past 12 months is reflective of an increased staffing level in the team that has created more resilience. In addition, compared with last year there has been a 59% increase in the number of enquiries referred to the team for disabled adaptations. Looking ahead, we are exploring the opportunity for the team to develop closer working links with KCC staff to help deliver an improved service to our residents.

Number of households prevented from becoming homeless through the intervention of housing advice

The provision of comprehensive advice plays an important part in delivering the Council’s strategy for preventing homelessness in Maidstone. This measure provides an indication of the effectiveness of housing advice given by the Council in preventing homelessness or the threat of homelessness.  The annual target is split to give a quarterly target of 87.

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

194

350

156

Target has not been achieved

Performance Comment: The team was reduced to two Housing Advisors for most of this quarter. In addition, one of the Housing Assistants was on sick leave for almost two of the three months. 158 homelessness decisions were made in this quarter. In context, this is only one less than the complete team made in Quarter 3, showing the effort that the remaining team members have put into providing a good service to customers despite the low resource. However, in order to maintain this level of service on the statutory decision-making, there was not sufficient time to carry out a significant amount of preventions work.

Adverts are currently out to fill the vacant posts.

Work is being undertaken with the Revenues and Benefits team, who have provided a list of households who will be impacted by the welfare reform reduction in benefits. These people will be proactively contacted to determine whether the reduction in income is likely to impact their housing, and where appropriate preventative action will be taken. This is the first in a number of measures that are planned for next year in an effort to be more proactive about preventing homelessness.

Subjective measures of health and wellbeing are important indicators of the general health of the population. These are used to assess progress on improvements in health and wellbeing. The metric is self-reported, since the local population is best placed to assess whether their health and wellbeing are improving.

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

81%

Establish baseline

N/A

N/A

N/A

Establish Baseline

Performance Comment: This question was asked in the 2011 Census and it was agreed that it would be included as part of the Resident Survey 2015 to gain an indication of residents health. The 2015 result shows a 1% decline compared to the 2011 Census. The 25 to 34 year olds have the highest levels of good or very good health with 88% and the over 75's have the lowest with 62%. Out of the wards, Staplehurst had the highest percentage of residents that feel their health is good or very good at 93%.

This information is gathered through the Active People’s Survey, which is the largest survey of sport and active recreation to be undertaken in Europe. The survey also measures; the proportion of the adult population that volunteer in sport on a weekly basis, club membership, involvement in organised sport/competition, receipt of tuition or coaching, and overall satisfaction with levels of sporting provision in the local community.

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

23.9%

17.9%

-6%

Target has not been met

Performance Comment: As part of the Public Health Grant received from KCC Public Health we are delivering Health Improvement Services focused on Healthy Weight. This includes programmes such as Counterweight, the Adult Weight Management Programme, Zeroth Exercise Referral and Match Fit. Clients who have a BMI of 28 or higher are referred onto the programme. We had a target of 320 engaged on the programmes which has been exceeded. The target of the programme is that 80% of participants lose 3% of their body weight in the first 12 weeks.

Children are defined as obese if their body-mass index (BMI) is above the 95th centile of the reference curve for their age and sex according to the UK BMI centile classification. This information is gathered through the National Child measurement programme (NCMP) where PCTs coordinate with schools to weigh and measure all eligible children in Year 6 and Reception. PCTs must record height, weight, sex, date of birth, date of measurement, home postcode and ethnicity as well as school name for each child measured.

2015/16

Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

16.4%

14.8%

-2%

Target has not been met

Performance Comment: As part of the Public Health grant given to us from KCC Public Health we are delivering family weight management programmes which target parents and children. The programme we commission is called Go For It, the target is to engage with 50 families, which has been exceeded. This programme is also delivered in key target schools using National Child Measurement Programme data.

In the past year, we have also delivered a project called Let's Get Fizzical which engages overweight and inactive young people aged 8-14 in sport, building their confidence and enjoyment.

Communications & Engagement Strategy Update

The current communication and engagement strategy and action plan will be updated following the completion of the analysis of the resident survey results. Workshops have been held with Councillors and Managers on key themes including reputation, place, budget and services to identify actions. An action plan will be created working with Councillors prior to coming to Policy and Resources in June 2016. The results of the survey are largely positive and there has been a good performance overall including satisfaction with the local area as a place to live and satisfaction with the way we run things. A new communications structure is now in place resulting in an increase in our communication to residents via Twitter and Facebook.

The Council aims to build communities where individuals are empowered to make a difference both to their own lives and to the area in which they live. A key indicator of community empowerment is the extent to which people feel able to influence decisions affecting their local area.

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

34%

30%

+4%

Target has been met

Performance Comment: There has been a 5% increase in residents agreeing that they can influence decisions affecting their local area compared to 2013. Although agreement increased across all age groups the 18 to 24 years olds group had the greatest increase at 28%. Out of the borough's wards Leeds ward has the highest levels of agreement at 39% and Headcorn has the lowest with 6%.  Resident Survey Workshops have been held with members and unit managers to identify reasons and opportunities to improve performance. An action plan is being prepared for June's Policy & Resources Committee meeting.

This indicator will provide the Council with a baseline of local resident satisfaction with their local area, which when assessed with other information will help us, identify and address the sorts of issues affecting how residents feel about their local area.

2015/16

Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

82%

85%

-3%

Target has been slightly missed

Performance Comment: There has been a 2% decline satisfaction with the local area as a place to live compared to 2013. The over 75's age group is the most satisfied with a rate of 90% and the 55 to 64 year olds are the least satisfied with a rate of 78%. North Downs ward has the highest satisfaction rate at 98% and Shepway North has the lowest at 74%. Resident Survey Workshops have been held with members and unit managers to identify reasons and opportunities to improve performance. An action plan is being prepared for June's Policy & Resources Committee meeting.

The Parish Survey is a new initiative which will be used to assess the engagement and support that parishes receive from Maidstone Borough Council.

2015/16

Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

Performance Comment: The Parish survey will be going out shortly, with results expected in mid-June.

Festivals & Events Strategy Update

The Festivals and Events Policy was first drafted in 2014 but further research was required to cement some of the details. This work was undertaken in 2015 and a revised policy was agreed in March.  The revised policy now includes definitions on type, frequency and size of event/festival.  The revisions will ensure that we can hold festivals and events in Council venues and ensure that they follow the same process to enable the Council to limit the negative impacts and complaints. It will also enable generation of income from festivals and events and a sustainable use of the Council’s venues.

Destination Management Plan Update

The Destination Management Plan was agreed in July 2015 and is being progressed by four sub-groups overseen by a board. During 2015/16 the River Group formed a Friends of Maidstone River Park group and proposed signage from bridge gyratory scheme linking the cycle path and the river. A New River Park website was also launched.  The Events Group are having an audit of venue facilities and suppliers and an Event Planning Calendar has been tested and is live. The Town Group set up a Farmers Market in Jubilee Square and started an audit of shopfronts at the North end of Week Street. The Countryside Group are undergoing a product and marketing audit of tourism in the rural area including a survey to all parishes, tourism businesses and other organisations such as Produced in Kent and Explore Kent and Brown Sign audit and rationalisation.

Other work undertaken in 2015/16 includes a Shared Story toolkit that is available online. A stakeholder event was held in December to launch the toolkit. We have also created an image library and an online event planner. In addition, new historic interpretation panels have been designed and installed in the town centre.

The Council recognises that access to leisure services plays an important role making somewhere a good place to live. This indicator measures customer satisfaction with the Leisure Centre.

2015/16

Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

79.75%

82.00%

-2.25%

Target has been slightly missed

Performance Comment: The leisure centre collects user satisfaction data through interactive tablets placed at key points within the centre. There were 316 survey responses for 2015/16, exceeding their requirement of 300 responses. The average satisfaction rating for the year is 79.75%, and the target has been slightly missed. In 2014 a satisfaction rating of 81.78% was achieved.

There were a few comments from unsatisfied customers. These included - public Wi-Fi not working, that the pool was cold, diving boards not being open, fitness classes being fully booked and the polar adventure being very busy during half term holidays. The Leisure Centre did report an issue with their boilers during March, which may have contributed to one of the comments. Similarly, the diving boards were shut due to staff illness. These are isolated incidents and the Leisure Centre regret that sometimes they are due to situations beyond their control

Customer Satisfaction with the Hazlitt Theatre

The Council recognises that access to leisure services plays an important role making somewhere a good place to live. This indicator measures customer satisfaction with the Hazlitt.

2015/16

Performance

2015/16 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

90.7%

Performance Comment: 43 surveys were completed for 2015/16, compared to 235 at this point last year. Satisfaction for 2015/16 was 90.7%, compared to 94.47% satisfaction rate for the previous year.  The low response was addressed with the Hazlitt Theatre. They are taking steps to send surveys out via email to all customers after they have attended a performance as well as a proactive approach in addressing customers "in-house".  The drop in satisfaction relates to a few customers who were not happy with the humour level used during the pantomime into the New Year period.

Income generated from commercial leisure and culture activities

The Council has a Commercialisation Strategy, which is looking into the opportunities for the Council to make better use of our assets to provide increased leisure opportunities for the borough’s residents and visitors. This indicator is to assess the performance and progress of the Commercialisation Strategy in monetary terms.

Current Performance

2015/16 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

£209,034.85

£200,000

+£9034.85

N/A

Target has been met

Performance Comment: Requested

This indicator will provide the Council with a baseline of local resident satisfaction, which when assessed with other information will help us, identify and address the issues affecting how residents feel about Parks and Open Spaces.

Current Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

78%

82%

-4%

Target has been slightly missed

Performance Comment: Satisfaction with Maidstone's parks and open spaces has declined by 1% (rounded figure) compared to 2013. The 75 and over age group have the highest levels of satisfaction at 86% and the 45 to 54 and the 55 to 64 ages groups have the lowest levels of satisfaction at 74%. The two wards that had the greatest satisfaction levels with parks and open spaces in 2013 have had the greatest declines: Downswood and Sutton Valence were ranked first out of the wards in 2013 with 93% satisfaction. For 2015, Downswood experienced a 15% decline and is now ranked 14th and Sutton Valence experienced a 31% decline and is now ranked 25th. Loose ward has the highest satisfaction rate for 2015 with 93%. Resident Survey Workshops have been held with members and unit managers to identify reasons and opportunities to improve performance. An action plan is being prepared for June's Policy & Resources Committee meeting.

This indicator will provide the Council with a baseline of local resident satisfaction with the Town Centre, which when assessed with other information will help us, identify and address the issues affecting how residents feel about their local area.

Current Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

61%

Establish Baseline

N/A

N/A

N/A

Baseline Established

Performance Comment: This is the first time we have asked residents about their satisfaction with the town Centre. The results show that age is a big factor with the youngest age group being the most satisfied at 88%. There is a 29% gap between the ward with the highest satisfaction levels, Bridge has the highest at 73% and Marden has the lowest 44%.

This indicator assesses the total number of vacant retail units that are in the town centre. Good performance is indicated by a lower figure.

Current Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

13%

Performance Comment: Town Centre Management collects the data for vacant retail units. They are about to undertake an assessment of vacant retail units, and the data is expected in May.

This indicator is used to measure the usage of Pay & Display car parks in Maidstone. This helps with assessing performance against budget targets for this income. This figure provides a snapshot of car park occupancy.

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

67%

60%

+7%

Target has been achieved

Performance Comment: Performance for 2015/16 has continued the trend of improving year on year. Usage of parking spaces was 7.67% higher compared to last year. This figure can be explained by a reduction in parking spaces following the closure of King Street car park. The income per space has increased by £129. Satisfaction with parking services is also high with a 91% satisfaction rate for the year.

This indicator compares the on-board bus transactions (these are the cash sales to passengers boarding buses) on Park and Ride with the data for the same period of the previous year therefore, assessing fluctuations in the service usage. A calculation is made to take into account ten trip passes and other concessions.

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

337,478

378,000

-40,522

Target has not been met

Performance Comment: The target represents three park and ride sites, however the Sittingbourne Road site closed in February reducing the number of on-board transactions recorded which accounts for the drop in performance .

This indicator measures the total number of people who are registered on KentJourneyShare.com

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

4534

Performance Comment: There has been a 6.5% increase in number of people registered on Kent Journey share. Although there has been a positive increase, this is not considered the most appropriate measure for transport in the borough, and alternative measures are recommended at Appendix B.

This indicator records the change for usage on bus services from Maidstone Depot against the previous financial year. A lower figure represents a drop in usage of bus services.  

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

-5.87%

Performance Comment: The reduction in usage for 2015/16 is the biggest drop in usage since the data was collected in 2011/12.

JSA claimant count records the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA). People claiming JSA must declare that they are out of work, capable of, available for and actively seeking work during the week in which the claim is made. This indicator is expressed as a proportion of the resident population of the area aged 16 to 64 years old and is provided by the office of National Statistics. A lower figure indicates good performance.

Current Value

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

1.2%*

1.3%

-0.1%

Target has been met

Performance Comment: *This data does not include the March claimant figures. It is expected to be available by 5^th May.

There were 150 additional residents claiming JSA at the end of February compared with December (quarter 3). When compared to February last year there has been 10% drop in JSA claimants. When compared to other Kent districts Maidstone is fourth with Dartford and Canterbury. Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells have the lowest percentage of claimants at 0.7% and Thanet has the highest at 3.3%.

Non-participation in education, employment or training between the ages of 16 and 18 is a major predictor of later unemployment, low income, depression, involvement in crime and poor mental health. The figures are based on the monthly submission made to Department for Education via National Client Caseload Information System for Kent County Council. Academic age is the age of the young person on 31st August (i.e. prior to the start of the academic year).

Current Value

2015/16 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Expected Outcome

4.93%*

Performance Comment: *March data has not yet been released it is expected to be available mid-May.

The figure shown for quarter four is the performance to date from February out-turn. The percentage of NEETs has reduced since 2015 and is lower than the quarter 3 figure. The status of 7% of 16 to 18 year olds is unknown.

When compared to the other kent districts Maidstone is ranked 7th for NEETS and 6th for unknowns.

The Business Terrace is a new venture by the Council, to provide office space and facilities to smaller and start-up business with the addition of business support functions. Through local, regional and national partners and other users, The Business Terrace provides formal and informal peer-to-peer business support and advice underpinned by onsite bespoke mentoring, events, seminars and workshops.

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

64.45%

Set baseline

N/A

N/A

N/A

Baseline Set

Performance Comment: The Business Terrace opened in September and has received a lot of interest from local businesses with demand being higher than available space. 80% of all space is currently occupied in the Business Terrace. All 11 offices are currently occupied, and 7 of the 12 desks are occupied. The occupancy rate for the year, excluding Quarter 1, is 64.45%.  

The original outputs and occupancy levels were based on a March 2015 opening – which would have given us six months to “bed in”. Despite this we have borough wide publicity campaigns; delivering a service and product that is needed. We have been able to achieve nearly triple the occupancy which was originally projected. We responded by opening a further five offices.

During the last three months we have hosted the Kent Messenger’ Kent Business Top 30 under 30 winners: The Terrace is home to three of the top 30 including the UK’s no. 1 teenage entrepreneur to watch.The terrace received a further boost by being visited by Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills.

This indicator measures the change in available jobs in the borough. A positive figure indicates job growth while a negative figure indicates job losses.

Current Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

-1.3%

Performance Comment: Although there has been a further decline in the total number of employee jobs in the borough this decline is less than was expected. The Economic Development Strategy aims to reverse this trend, which is a particular concern to Maidstone as there is there is a lot of public sector employment in the borough and we know this to be a shrinking sector. Several new businesses have expressed interest in employment locations in the borough and it is expected that we start to see employee jobs to grow again in 2018/19.  

Following the Regulation 18 consultation on the Local Plan which happened in 2014, further reports were considered in Summer of 2015 to consider the comments and changes arising from the consultation. Subsequently a 4 week partial regulation 18 consultation was undertaken in October for 4 weeks. The revised Local Development Scheme was approved by the Strategic Planning, Sustainability &Transport Committee on 10 November 2015. On 25 January 2016 Full Council agreed the Publication of the Local Plan for consultation under Regulation 19, which took place between 5 February and 18 March 2016, and thereafter to submit the plan to the Secretary of State. The Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transport Committee has delegated authority to agree a schedule of proposed changes that may result from the consultation responses and this will be considered at the meeting of 18 April.

Housing Strategy Update

During 2015/16 the Housing Strategy was reviewed, re-drafted and consulted on. As part of the consultation, two events were held with key stakeholders that included senior representatives from the house building industry, housing associations, Kent County Council and from the voluntary sector. The feedback from these events was very positive and was used to help shape the strategy. The final version was adopted by the Council in March 2016 and the Strategy has now moved into the delivery stage. The new Strategy expresses the strategic direction to tackling homelessness that was outlined in the Homelessness Strategy 2014/19. It incorporate actions to reduce the cost and reliance on external temporary accommodation through preventing homelessness occurring in the first place, links with the Housing Register to enable the best use of subsidised housing, promote access to the private rented sector, and the provision of our own temporary accommodation.

Housing supply has simply not kept pace with demand. Many families are locked out of the housing market by unaffordable prices and unobtainable mortgages.  Affordable dwellings include social-rented housing and intermediate housing. These can be new build or acquisitions; the figure does not taken into account any losses.  

2015/16 Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

139

150

-11

Target has been slightly missed

Performance Comment: The year end figure for affordable completions is 139, which is slightly less than the 150 year end target. There were four schemes with 87 units forecast for completion this year which will now be completed early next year due to delays experienced on site. Performance is within 10% of the annual target, and saw a good level of affordable home delivery in quarters one and three.

Some Registered Providers and developers halted progress on sites whilst they reviewed the implications of the Government’s announcement to cut social housing rents by 1% per year for the next four years. In addition, the Homes and Communities Agency has recently announced that Affordable Rent will not be grant funded beyond March 2018. These announcements will continue to have a significant impact on affordable housing delivery going forward into next year.

This indicator is used to encourage a greater supply of new homes, and address the long term housing affordability issue.

2015/16   Performance

2015/16 Annual Target

Value Vs Target

Direction

Status

Outcome

500

Performance Comment: The figure for net additional homes is currently being gathered aas part of the Annual Monitoring Report. It is expected that the data for 2015/16 will be available to deliver verbally to the Policy & Resources Committee.