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

a)    There is no scheduled test of the fire alarm during this meeting. If the alarm does sound, please leave the building quickly without collecting any of your possessions, using the doors signed as fire escapes.

b)    Assemble outside where directed. Await instructions before re-entering the building.

c)     Anyone who requires assistance in evacuating the building, should make themselves known during this agenda item.

The Chair read out the emergency evacuation procedure.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2026 (Minute Nos. 686 – 697) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 3 February 2026 (Minute Nos 686 – 697) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

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.

Councillor Lee-Anne Moore declared a non-pecuniary interested as she had a child affected by the school placement issues on the Isle of Sheppey.

The Chair introduced Robert Veale, the Assistant Director for Education at Kent County Council (KCC) who had been invited to give an update about education provision on the Isle of Sheppey. The Chair said that she and Councillor Dolley Wooster had been leading on bringing this item to the Sheppey Councillors & Residents Forum.

Mr Veale introduced himself and explained that there were 4 Assistant Directors for Education in Kent and he covered the Borough of Swale and part of his role focused around people based planning. He said that he was not able to answer specific questions about individual children during the meeting, but would stay to the end of the meeting and would be able to take details of queries back to the appropriate officers at KCC.

He said that after the Oasis Academy had been placed into special measures, the decision was taken that the Isle of Sheppey needed two smaller schools. As KCC were not able to open new schools, two academies came forward and established the Leigh Academy, Minster, and East Kent College Secondary. As a result there were now two successful secondary schools on the Isle of Sheppey.

At that time, the planned admission numbers was 390 pupils, however, both Chief Executives of the individual academy trusts felt that to deliver higher quality education on the Isle of Sheppey, they would reduce that figure to 330. Since then KCC had been in negotiation with both academies to permanently expand the Leigh Academy by 60 pupils and East Kent College Secondary by 30 pupils. This process would take a long time and would not be achieved until September 2028. Pupil place pressure in September 2027 would mean that 5 extra forms would be needed. KCC were following up with individual schools to see how the extra places could be found. KCC could ask schools to expand but schools do not have to agree. If necessary the Department for Education (DfE) would be asked to intercede.

The following comments were raised:

·       As KCC dealt with births deaths marriages, why were places not anticipated?;

·       funding had been ring-fenced for a new primary school following the Queenborough and Rushenden redevelopment. As the new school was not needed, could that funding be reallocated to the secondary schools?;

·       there was a huge amount of SEND (special education needs and disabilities) families on the island and at some point they have all felt lonely and isolated. Why were growing numbers of children falling out of the process when EHCPs (education, health and care plan) allow places of education to say they cannot meet the needs of these children all leading to children being not supported for their education for sometimes years at a time? This would not be acceptable for a mainstream child so why are KCC creating a two tier system where the most vulnerable are hardest hit?;

·       could mobile classrooms be used to accommodate the extra forms?;

·       some children had not attended school since the end of last year despite  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

Garry Ratcliffe, the Chair of East Sheppey Pride in Place Neighbourhood Board introduced himself and said that he hoped to get to know residents as the project continued. He talked about his background and his links to the Isle of Sheppey as well as his vision for the project. He said he felt privileged to have been selected as Chair of the Board. Mr Ratcliffe hoped that by working in partnership with other organisations, it would be possible to raise funds to extend the project beyond 10 years.

A plan needed to be in place by November 2026 and an Expression of Interest had gone out for people to join the Board. The Board needed to be appointed by the end of July, the criteria set by Government was that there should be a minimum of 8 people but he hoped to have between 10 and 12. He introduced Daniel Mays who was also on the Board. He said it would not be a political Board and every voice would be listened to.

Rapid work would then need to take place to develop and submit a plan. He and fellow Board members would be knocking on doors to get ideas and opinions. The areas covered by the project included Leysdown, Warden, Eastchurch and a couple of roads in Minster.

Mr Ratcliffe concluded by saying that he was happy for people to contact him direct by email garryrat@me.com

The update report was noted.

A question was asked about the Minster Medical Practice consultation on their proposal not to move their GP services permanently back to the Healthy Living Centre and if this was a breach of contract. The Chief Executive responded that SBC were seeking legal advice about what the next steps should be.

An item raised under this item on car parking in Queenborough, Isle of Sheppey, was discussed under the following item, car parking on the Isle of Sheppey.

Simon Fowle said that the new parking charges introduced by SBC on the Isle of Sheppey were affecting businesses and community activities in Queenborough. He said that a petition had been signed by 4,000 people opposing the new charges and this number represented a significant number of businesses and residents. He said people were now avoiding visiting the Queenborough area due to the charges. He asked how SBC councillors proposed to put this right, how the council would support business that had made losses, how they would support affected community activities, and what evidence would be required to show that this policy was causing harm. The 4,000 signatures on the petition represented a clear message asking the council to listen and review the impact of the charges and to work with businesses and residents to find a solution that supported both the council’s needs and that of affected businesses and residents. Mr Fowle requested that the councillors at the Sheppey Councillors & Residents Forum write to the relevant service committee to ask for the charges to be revoked and show their support for the local community.

Councillor Mike Whiting said he fully supported Mr Fowle’s request and said that he had met with businesses in the Halfway area who had raised similar concerns. In particular, staff working at businesses were impacted by the charges and people were now parking on streets and blocking driveways. Commuters in Queenborough were not able to use the SBC car park as there was a time limit so they were having to park on the street. Councillor Tom Nundy would be proposing a Motion at the next Full Council meeting calling for an urgent review of the new parking charges on the Isle of Sheppey. Potentially if businesses were being discouraged from opening in the affected areas, this could affect business rate income. Councillor Whiting had requested revenue figures for car parks across the Isle of Sheppey before the Full Council meeting.

Councillor Nundy said that taking the Motion to Full Council could not result in charges being reversed straight away as it had to go back to the Environmental Services and Climate Change Committee first, but he would not stop fighting to get the charges reversed.

A request was made to find out what revenue had been generated from Isle of Sheppey car parks and how many fines had been issued. The Chief Executive said that she would request information on income received from car parking fees and fines.

Councillor Ashley Shiel proposed that the Chair of Sheppey Councillors & Residents Forum write a letter in support of the Motion going to Full Council on 23 June 2026 calling for an urgent review of the new parking charges on the Isle of Sheppey due to how businesses, residents and road safety were being negatively impacted by the new car parking charges. Councillor Mike Whiting seconded the proposal and on being put to a member and public vote was agreed.

Resolved:

1)    That information on income  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

The update report was noted.

The update report was noted.

The Minutes of the Swale Bus Forum meeting on 21 April 2026 were noted.

The Sheppey Councillors & Residents Forum representative, Councillor Dolley Wooster, advised that the Swale Bus Forum’s remit had been amended and would now be discussing Section 106 developer contributions. She also said that the Bus Forum were considering how to tackle bus shelter issues on the Isle of Sheppey.

A question was asked about if the Swale Joint Transportation Board was going to be discontinued. The Chief Executive said that the Board had been reviewed and it was felt that it should continue at this time.

Councillor Wooster was asked to feed the following issues back to the Bus Forum:

·       More buses were needed across the Isle of Sheppey so that community services could be supported; and

·       bus timetables in some bus shelters were out-of-date, could these be updated?

The you said, we did (including matters arising) report was noted.

Members requested that Southern Water be invited to a future meeting.

Sheerness Town Councillor Chris Reed reminded SBC councillors that the Neptune Steps, Sheerness, issue still needed to be resolved.

No issues were raised.