EAST KENT JOINT WORKING REACHES NEW MILESTONE

Proposals to share services with other councils in East Kent have been approved at an extraordinary meeting of full Council.

The proposals aim to provide more cost effective services across East Kent and make the best possible use of the individual councils' resources and staff expertise. Members at last night's (Thursday 18 February) full Council meeting looked at three different plans in total.
The first proposal to be debated was to share a number of different services with Canterbury and Dover councils, including IT, building control, revenues and benefits and customer services, both face to face and telephone services. Initial proposals suggested that a business case would have to be agreed showing at least a 10% saving across the three councils in the first two years, before any service goes into the project. Members agreed instead that a level should be achieved of at least 10% savings within Thanet, with no reduction in service, if possible. Each council will still have the final decision on which services go forward into this scheme.

The second project discussed was an East Kent Shared Housing Service. This scheme proposes that Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Thanet councils jointly manage council housing in East Kent. It aims to bring improvements for tenants and leaseholders, with savings then being re-invested into the service across the area.

This saw lengthy discussion of how tenants should be consulted over this issue, following a recommendation from the council's Overview and Scrutiny Panel that a ballot should be held of tenants and leaseholders in Thanet. It was finally agreed that the question of whether to hold a ballot or not would not now be looked at again by full Council until the outcome of the consultation with tenants is known.

Cllr. Zita Wiltshire, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: "It's vital that we properly consult with tenants and leaseholders about these proposals and they have the opportunity to voice any views that they have about the plans. I think it's encouraging that we were all able to agree on the importance of a detailed consultation with the tenants, before any further consideration is given to a ballot. I think we can all agree that we need to ensure tenants' and leaseholders' voices are clearly heard and their views are taken into account before any decisions are made."

The final subject discussed was the East Kent Joint Waste Project, which will see Thanet joining with Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Kent County Council to introduce common collection arrangements for waste and recycling in all four districts over the next four years.

Leader of the Council, Cllr. Sandy Ezekiel, said: "Like everyone else, we're in a tough financial position right now, due to the impact of the recession and the pressure on public spending, with the likelihood of serious cuts in our funding over the next few years. That means massive pressure to make savings. At the moment, we're estimating we need to save more than £6 million in the next five years. Doing that, while preserving the level of services that we currently provide is not going to be easy. We need to look at options that maintain our services to local residents at an acceptable level and the best way we can see of doing that is by sharing our services with neighbouring councils."