An apology for absence was received from Cllr Conrad Broadley, Cllr Leslie Hills and Cllr Elizabeth Mulheran. Cllr Aaron Elliott, Cllr Frank Wardle and Cllr Gurbax Singh appeared as their respective substitutes.

The Minutes of the meeting held 11 July 2019 were signed by the Chair.

Cllr Jordan Meade declared an ‘other interest’ in Item 6. Scrutiny Reviews – Draft Terms of Reference in that he is a member of the Maritime Volunteer Service (operating at Gravesend Sailing Club).

Cllr Alan Ridgers declared an ‘other interest’ in Item 6. Scrutiny Reviews – Draft Terms of Reference in that he is a member of the Gravesend Sea Cadets Management Committee.

The Committee Services Officer (Scrutiny) presented Members of the Committee with the terms of reference for the two Scrutiny reviews selected by the Committee:

·         Review of Street Cleanliness, littering, and Fly-tipping throughout the Borough.

·         Review of Gravesham Borough Council's Maritime Strategy.

Members of the Committee were invited to consider, comment, amend (if necessary) and agree the Terms of Reference for the two reviews as attached at Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 to the report.

The Committee commended the Committee Services Officer (Scrutiny) for his good work on the two scrutiny reviews and for pulling together the draft terms of reference.

Following a request from the Committee at the last meeting; the Director (Planning and Development) presented the Committee with the GBC’s Management Team’s assessment on the deliverability of the original six proposed topic reviews:

-          Review of Access to Health Services in Gravesham.

Management Team view:

Management Team is aware that Gravesham residents have raised this topic as a matter of concern. Management Team is also aware that there will be a significant number of GP retirements in coming years and the ability to attract new GP’s into the area is also a concern.

-          Review of Planning Conservation Guidance.

-          Review of Open Spaces/ village greens and GBC’s guidance / policies in this area.

Management Team view:

Management Team felt that both of these areas would be covered during the review of the Local Plan and to have a review being conducted in two different places was not an appropriate way forward.

-          Review of GBC’s Maritime Strategy.

Management Team view:

Management Team knows the river is one of the town’s most important assets and this view is held by both the Council and Gravesham residents.

There have been significant changes to the local geography in proximity to the river and now is a good time to explore this area and seek to increase river access and usage.

-          Review of the Town Centre / Asset based regeneration of the High Street.

Management Team view:

Planning applications have either come forward or are expected to come forward that are aimed at significant regeneration of the town centre and the appropriate place for those to be considered is at the Regulatory Board (Planning) as part of the planning process.

-          Review of Fly-tipping / Littering in the Borough.

Management Team view:

Management Team is conscious that this is a high profile area of activity. There are several pieces of work involving corporate working groups that are- ongoing and Management Team feel that this review would tie in nicely with existing projects.

Management Team concluded that the following three topics were considered deliverable, due to the reasons stated above:

-          Review of Access to Health Services in Gravesham

-          Review of GBC’s Maritime Strategy

-          Review of Fly-tipping / Littering in the Borough

The Committee thanked the Director (Planning and Development) for attending the Committee and providing Management Team’s view on the Scrutiny Review topics. The Committee requested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 121.