Last month's Full Council meeting saw Labour
take the reins at Cecil Square. 6 weeks on and we are back to approve (or not) the Budget along with a few other important issues. Kick off 7pm on Thursday.
First up is a presentation from Stuart
Bain, the Chief Exec of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, on
the proposed transporting of patients with life-threatening emergencies from
Thanet to Ashford. Hopefully the Councillors will have some questions prepped
and we will see some more fleshing out of what’s behind the move, other than
the obvious...
Next up is the Leader’s Report which
usually throws up a row of some sort. I doubt this will be much different. Heck, it’ll probably be worse now the Conservatives have more Councillors than Labour..
Continuing the theme of rowing, the Budget
comes up. As you will all have seen theres been a battle over the events budget
and floral grants, which eventually saw Cllr Driver leaving the Labour Group.
So this really matters and its really important the right decision is made. The
relevant bits of the reports are the following:
“New Homes Bonus – The
Council will receive £536k of New Homes
Bonus in 2012/13 and each of the
following five years. It will also receive
additional sums for any further new
homes built. It is proposed that some of
this funding is used to cover the
events budget (£165k) and floral grants
(£20k). However, it is expected that
future allocations of Formula Grant
may be top-sliced to fund the reward
of the New Homes Bonus and it is
therefore possible that this funding
may be needed in future years to offset
this reduction. If there is
insufficient New Homes Bonus funding to meet the
cost of events and floral grants in
future years, then these budgets will be
removed.” (page 16)
“There is no surety
around future allocations of the New Homes Bonus as the
Formula Grant may be top-sliced in
future years to fund the New Homes Bonus
scheme – the impact on Thanet of any
top-slicing is unclear at this stage. There
is therefore some concern over using
this funding to support the budget over the
medium term. There must be a clear
understanding that if the funding is not
available, then the events and floral grants budgets will
be removed.” (page 31)
So we know this pot of money isn’t going to
be around for long. Even Cllr Rick Everitt conceded that this funding may not
be around for long. Add the very real possibility of going into
recession again (some argue this has already happened) and I would suspect that
what we are to receive this year is about all we will receive.
While Labour has tried to play the
Conservative position as OTT austerity, Neil Hornus straightforwardly
argued at Overview on this that it was about being prudent with the money the
Council has and I agree with him. Its not about depriving Thanet of the ability to
attract people. Cllr Martin Wise made the point that the New Homes Bonus was
considered by them a “safety net”. The Conservatives on the other hand are arguing that Labour at the first time of asking is throwing money around and putting at risk financial stability. Seeing how the economic news gets gloomier
by the day, the decisions having to be made now are ones that normally would be
rejected out of hand. I’d rather we hung onto the money for this financial year
until there is more certainty about the economic picture and in particular the
funding the Council can rely on. There are tough decisions to be made and
sacrifices are being considered, but isn’t that what we elect them to do?
In the report it is noted that for the
first two months of this coming financial year, the current car parking fees
will remain. Proposals are expected before Full Council on the 19th
April with changes taking effect from 1st June.
Once that one’s put to bed, Hartsdown Park,
with the Cabinet’s recommendations. There’s been a lot of talk about this one
too. Going into the meeting the expectation was of a compromise, which did indeed appear. During the Cabinet meeting it was said that the Conservatives were
against granting leases, but I rather doubt that’s the case. Certainly there’s
been nothing in the public to back that up. What will happen? I would imagine
it’ll pass though of course the Independent Group will decide this one. The
recommendations were the following:
“1.
Area A - Recommended the extension of the current lease from 10 to 24 years;
2. Area B - Recommended refusal of granting a lease for an
extended area for a football pitch as this is too intrusive in Hartsdown Park;
3. Area C - Recommended the removal of this area from the
proposal or at most grant a small extension to the current car park in line
with the plan that has been circulated. This would require the developers to
seek an alteration to the current planning condition on parking provision;
4. Area D - Recommended agreement to the development of a
lease within the current football ground area for the construction of a hotel
in line with the approved planning application, but to negotiate the reduction
in the lease period required to the absolute minimum necessary. The developers
will need to provide specific financial information that demonstrates the need
for the required lease period for which they have asked;
5. Area E - Recommended the extension of the lease for the
current five-a-side pitches and car park from 15 to 24 years, to coincide in
timing with the main ground lease.”
Im sure the public gallery will be full so best get in early.
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