Visitors and members of the public who are unfamiliar with the building and procedures are advised that:

(a)      The fire alarm is a continuous loud ringing. In the event that a fire drill is planned during the meeting, the Chair will advise of this.

(b)      Exit routes from the chamber are located on each side of the room, one directly to a fire escape, the other to the stairs opposite the lifts.

(c)      In the event of the alarm sounding, leave the building via the nearest safe exit and gather at the assembly point on the far side of the car park. Do not leave the assembly point or re-enter the building until advised to do so. Do not use the lifts.

(d)      Anyone unable to use the stairs should make themselves known during this agenda item.

The Chair outlined the emergency evacuation procedure.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their families or friends.

The Chair will ask Members if they have any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) or disclosable non-pecuniary interests (DNPIs) to declare in respect of items on the agenda. Members with a DPI in an item must leave the room for that item and may not participate in the debate or vote. 

Aside from disclosable interests, where a fair-minded and informed observer would think there was a real possibility that a Member might be biased or predetermined on an item, the Member should declare this and leave the room while that item is considered.

Members who are in any doubt about interests, bias or predetermination should contact the monitoring officer for advice prior to the meeting.

During consideration of the item, the Chair declared a disclosable non-pecuniary interest as she was a Director of Swale Rainbow Homes.

There will be a presentation from Homes England:

Queenborough and Rushenden Regeneration, update presentation.

At this point, the Chair suggested that Section 106 agreements be added to the Forward Decisions Plan, particularly in terms of them delivering services and infrastructure in a timely fashion; and to also include projects that needed to be completed and how matters could be moved forward.

The Strategic Programmes and Assets Manager introduced the report which provided an update in relation to proposed development at the Queenborough and Rushenden Regeneration area.  He highlighted Appendix I to the report which set out a summary timeline for the development.  There had been numerous ‘shifts’ along the way, including the reduction in delivery of housing from 2,000 to 1,180.  He referred to the Grant Determination Agreement (GDA) and the preference that the agreement be brought to an end, for the reasons set out in the report.

The Chair welcomed Neil Miller, Head of Development, Homes England to the meeting.  The Head of Development highlighted the following points:

·         Acknowledged the length of time the development was taking;

·         Homes England was now focusing on delivery;

·         a library of historic information on the site was being collated for interested parties;

·         Homes England was working on engaging with a potential developer partner;

·         it was hoped that by the Summer of 2026, there would be clear strategy, with a partner secured to work-up detailed planning applications; and

·         the main focus was finding the quickest route for delivery.

The Chair invited Members to make comments and ask questions and these included:

·         Considered this site was ‘levelling-up’ before levelling-up was ‘invented’;

·         a crucial aspect of the site had been the affordable housing which was key in a deprived area;

·         welcomed the work that Homes England had done in involving the community and feared this could be lost, once a developer had been found; and

·         clarification sought on how involved Homes England would be going forward.

The Head of Development responded:

·         He had been involved with the scheme for many years through changing governments and priorities;

·         he had tried to steer a course and achieve the original objectives and keep the goodwill;

·         the strategy for delivery was similar to other sites;

·         typically, Homes England worked on sites with between 750 – 2000 dwellings, alongside developer partners;

·         ‘placemaking’ was more likely to be incorporated within larger sites;

·         it was hoped that developer partners would be engaged long term, typically on a building lease agreement with a series of obligations to ensure they put in place what Homes England had requested they do;

·         there would also be a public consultation process; and

·         it was in Homes England’s interest to stay involved with the development and have control of the scheme going forward and he assured Members that Homes England’s involvement would continue and they would not step away.

In response to a question, the Head of Development confirmed that the current housing numbers for the site were anticipated to be 500 – 600 houses.

A visiting Member made the following comments:

·         Would like to be encouraged by what we were hearing, but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 784.

The meeting was adjourned from 8.59 pm until 9.08 pm.