News

KCC REPORT TO SWINGFIELD ANNUAL MEETING 25 APRIL 2006

I am very sorry to miss the Swingfield Annual Meeting which took precedence in my diary for the evening of the 25th April.  Unfortunately a family emergency has arisen and I cannot be with you. 

I start my report to you with a thank you for electing me.  Turnout in the Elham Valley Division was 75.6% which is exceptionally high and my share of vote was 60%.  This gave me a vote of nearly 6,000 and a majority of nearly 4,000.  As you can imagine, this sort of thing gets you noticed at County Hall and it means that people listen to what I had to say o­n your behalf.

Elham Valley is a special place which is still largely rural in its character and much of it lies in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  In an increasingly urbanised world there is a real need to speak up for rural areas and to strike the right balance between economic growth and protecting the countryside.  I have been very encouraged by the policies and projects that KCC have in place to help rural regeneration and Kent’s farmers such as Produced in Kent, Farmers Markets and the biofuel trials.

The state of our roads and the speed of the traffic o­n them was a big concern to the electorate and I was therefore very pleased to be appointed to the Highways Advisory Board and the Strategic Planning Policy Overview Committee which dealt with transport matters.  In October I was appointed Lead Member for Education supporting the Cabinet Member for Education.  This brought with it appointments to the Schools Organisation Advisory Board, Kent Schools Organisation Committee, SACRE (overviewing Religious Education) and the Walking Bus project.

I have now visited about 30 of Kent’s 615 schools including both Hawkinge schools and Selsted as well as three of the new children’s centres which deal with 0 to 4 year old children and their parents.  I have planted trees and cut ribbons and sat in o­n classes and taken part in all sorts of school activities.  I have been impressed with the work that is being done in the schools by teachers, pupils and governors.

The big drop in the number of children means that there are around 14,000 empty desks in primary schools across the County.  As schools are funded per pupil this is a major problem for them and the more vacancies they have the less they have to spend o­n children’s education.  Kent County Council is therefore reviewing all areas to merge and close schools so that the number of empty places is reduced.  Schools are merged, closed and opened all the time and this is part of the normal work of the Schools Organisation Advisory Board but the scale of the surplus places is such that we have doubled the number of meetings for the next 6 months and will be looking at two to three areas every meeting.  By merging or closing a few schools in each area the remaining schools will o­nce more be viable.

The Shepway area will also be reviewed but does not have quite such a problem as other areas because the Ghurkha soldiers are being allowed to have their families with them and this is expected to bring around 400 children into Shepway’s schools. 

Shepway has also done very well in securing two of the five new Academies planned for Kent with o­ne in Folkestone sponsored by Roger de Hahn and o­ne o­n the Romney Marsh sponsored by Microsoft.  And the George Spurgeon Primary School in Folkestone is to benefit from £3.5 million capital and over £½ million in extra revenue when it is closed at the end of this year to re-open as a ‘Fresh Start’.

I have spoken at County Hall about the problems caused to our area by Operation Stack, I have secured funding for a pilot study o­n removing sign clutter from our roads and I have assisted individuals with various problems concerning Highways, Schools and Social Services.

Council tax has risen sharply in the last few years.  Kent County Council has argued that Kent’s share of grant from central government is too low particularly compared with the level of grant paid to councils in the Midlands and the North.  This year the increase in grant for schools was a generous 6.9% but for all other services just 0.3%.  We already know that next year’s settlement from central government will be even lower.  We at KCC will continue to do our best to put the case for fairer funding for Kent and to look to deliver services more efficiently.

Despite the financial pressures, Kent County Council is rated 4 stars (the top mark) and ‘improving strongly’ by the Audit Commission.  o­nly three county councils in the country were awarded 4 stars and of these KCC had the lowest B and D council tax for 2005/06.

It is a great privilege to be the County representative for Elham Valley and I look forward to working with your parish council in the year ahead.

Susan Carey
Member for Elham Valley, Kent County Council