The Minutes of the Extraordinary and Annual Council meeting held on 12 May 2020 were signed by the Mayor.

Kevin Burbidge, Director (Planning and Development) and Melanie Norris, Director (Communities) declared an interest in agenda item 8 - The Charter Regeneration Project due to their role as Directors of the Rosherville Property Development Company and Rosherville Limited Board respectively. Kevin Burbidge and Melanie Norris left the meeting during consideration of this item.

No questions had been received.

To receive and adopt the proceedings, reports and recommendations of the following committees, except those items reserved under Council procedure Rule 5.2 (6) and to ratify and confirm the orders made by them.

Motions that proceedings, reports and recommendations of Committees, except those

reserved under Council Procedure 5.2(6) as referred to below be received and adopted and

where applicable the Orders made by them be ratified and confirmed were duly proposed,

seconded and resolved in each case.

·         Minutes of the Finance and Audit Committee held on Tuesday, 10 March 2020;

·         Minutes of the Cabinet held on Monday, 23 March 2020;

·         Minutes of the Cabinet held on Monday, 1 June 2020;

·         Minutes of the Overview Scrutiny Committee held on Thursday, 11 June 2020; and

·         Minutes of the Planning Committee held on Wednesday, 17 June 2020.

In relation to the minutes of the Overview Scrutiny Committee held on Thursday 11 June 2020, the Chair of the Committee, Cllr Jordan Meade, requested that the motion contained within minute 6 (Investment Opportunity - Long Term Leasehold Arrangement) be amended to include the following text in bold:-

‘Therefore, the Chair moved a motion that the delegated decision by the Leader of the Council not be forwarded to Full Council for consideration at this time in order to permit further due diligence. The motion was seconded by Cllr Alan Ridgers’.

It was agreed that the minute be amended.

To receive and adopt the proceedings, reports and recommendations of committees contained in the list of items reserved under Council Procedure Rule 5.2(6) and to ratify the orders made by them. They will be dealt with in the following order:-

Cabinet

Finance & Audit Committee

Overview Scrutiny Committee

Planning Committee

There were no reserved minutes.

The Council received a report which sought approval for the progression of the proposals outlined within the report in relation to an investment opportunity on the Greenwich Peninsular.

The Council was advised that officers had completed initial due diligence in order to ensure that the proposals put forward were not only in the best interests of the borough, but also of the Council as a whole particularly in light of COVID-19. The Council had been, and will continue to be, supported by a number of experts and professional advisors.

Given the current pandemic situation and the uncertainty this had caused around the immediate and longer term outlook of the national economy, it was not considered commercially sensible to seek a firm decision to proceed with the project at this time and therefore delegated authority was sought to proceed with the scheme subject to the conditions set out within Section 10 of the report being met.

It was moved by Cllr John Burden and seconded by Cllr Lee Croxton that Full Council:-

1.    support the proposals for the Council to enter into the transaction set out at a headline level at paragraph 2.3 of the report, subject to the conditions outlined in Section 10;

2.    delegate authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader, the Director (Corporate Services) (in the role of S151 officer) and the Deputy Monitoring Officer to take all necessary practical, financial and legal actions required to determine viability of the transaction and take a final decision to proceed, including entering into the relevant formal legal agreements required; and

3.    agree that the Treasury Management Strategy Statement be appropriately updated, including the extension of the existing Operational Borrowing Limit and Authorised Borrowing Limits as required to ensure there is sufficient capacity to support this investment.

The motion was put to the meeting.

Following a debate, five Members demanded that a recorded vote be taken in accordance with paragraph 20.4 of Annex 2.1 of the Council Procedure Rules:-

The motion was declared to be carried by 11 votes to 8.

The Council received a report which provided an overview of the progress with The Charter project and sought approval to consider the request received from the Rosherville Limited Board to the Council, as Shareholder, to make available the necessary funding for the project and to delegate authority to continue the necessary practical, financial and legal actions required to determine viability of the project and take a final decision to proceed.

Given the current pandemic situation and the uncertainty this had caused around the immediate and longer term outlook of the national economy, it was not considered commercially sensible to seek a formal decision to proceed with the project at this time and therefore delegated authority was sought to proceed with the project and provide the necessary funding to Rosherville Limited (and any of its subsidiaries) should the conditions set out within Paragraph 4.7 of the report be met.

It was moved by Cllr John Burden and seconded by Cllr Lee Croxton that Full Council:-

1.    support the proposals for delivering The Charter Project, as set out within the report;

2.    delegate authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader, the Director (Corporate Services) (in the role of S151 officer) and the Deputy Monitoring Officer to take all necessary practical, financial and legal actions required to determine viability of the project and take a final decision to proceed, including entering into the relevant formal legal agreements required;

3.    delegate authority to the Director (Communities) in consultation with the Director (Corporate Services) (in the role of S151 officer) and the Deputy Monitoring Officer to settle the terms and price of disposal of the associated land assets to Rosherville Limited for the purpose of bringing forward the proposed scheme contained within the report;

4.    approve the updating of the Treasury Management Strategy Statement, principally the extension of the existing Operational Borrowing Limit and Authorised Borrowing Limits to £295.410m and £310.410m respectively to ensure there is sufficient capacity to support this loan; and

5.    approve the addition of the sum of £82m to the approved capital programme for 2020/21 for the purpose of providing long term funding up to that defined level to Rosherville Limited as a means of delivering long-term economic benefits to the borough for both regeneration and community benefit.

The motion was put to the meeting and declared to be carried unanimously.

Note:   Kevin Burbidge and Melanie Norris left the meeting during consideration of            this item.

It will be moved by Cllr Shane Mochrie-Cox and seconded by Cllr John Burden that:-

Celebrating 40 years of town twinning between Gravesham Borough Council and Neumünster, Germany.

This Council expresses its gratitude for the 40 years of reciprocal and enduring links of friendship between the peoples of the BOROUGH OF GRAVESHAM and the TOWN OF NEUM?NSTER since official twinning was approved by our elected bodies on 17^th October 1980.

This Council:

·         Commends the benefits that twinning has had in nurturing reciprocal links of friendship between the peoples of Neumünster and Gravesham, and ensuring that all citizens  live together in peace and freedom;

·         Values the dialogue, tolerance, openness, respect and the deepening of understanding of each other and of the way of life of our two peoples;

·         Recognises and celebrates the unique contribution that representatives of our citizens and members of our respective Town Twinning Associations have made to sustain and develop close, long lasting relations and friendships;

·         Strongly supports our young people to contribute to our objective through close and friendly association in all types of activity so they can deepen their understanding and respect of each others;

·         Re-affirms its determination and wish to support and grow this partnership and mutual friendship; and

·         Renews its pledge to work together in co-operation with the City of Neumünster in the years to come, to ensure that the benefit of town twinning is secured for future generations.

It was moved by Cllr Shane Mochrie-Cox and seconded by Cllr John Burden that:-

Celebrating 40 years of town twinning between Gravesham Borough Council and Neumünster, Germany.

This Council expresses its gratitude for the 40 years of reciprocal and enduring links of friendship between the peoples of the BOROUGH OF GRAVESHAM and the TOWN OF NEUM?NSTER since official twinning was approved by our elected bodies on 17th October 1980.

This Council:

·         Commends the benefits that twinning has had in nurturing reciprocal links of friendship between the peoples of Neumünster and Gravesham, and ensuring that all citizens live together in peace and freedom;

·         Values the dialogue, tolerance, openness, respect and the deepening of understanding of each other and of the way of life of our two peoples;

·         Recognises and celebrates the unique contribution that representatives of our citizens and members of our respective Town Twinning Associations have made to sustain and develop close, long lasting relations and friendships;

·         Strongly supports our young people to contribute to our objective through close and friendly association in all types of activity so they can deepen their understanding and respect of each others;

·         Re-affirms its determination and wish to support and grow this partnership and mutual friendship; and

·         Renews its pledge to work together in co-operation with the City of Neumünster in the years to come, to ensure that the benefit of town twinning is secured for future generations.

The motion was put to the meeting and declared to be carried unanimously.

No questions had been received.

The Mayor paid tribute to and thanked the community, key workers and volunteers for their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.