Use the below search options at the bottom of the page to find information regarding recent decisions that have been taken by the council’s decision making bodies.
Alternatively you can visit the officer decisions page for information on officer delegated decisions that have been taken by council officers.
Urgency Decision taken by The Chief Executive
due to the cancellation of the March Cabinet meeting.
Each year we review the Ashford Living Wage and Ashford Apprentice
Wage allowances and make recommendations to cabinet for approval,
which is then adopted in April.
This year the report was due to be considered by Cabinet in March
however this meeting was cancelled due to the Coronavirus
crisis.
Decision Maker: Chief Executive
Decision published: 01/05/2020
Effective from: 01/04/2020
Decision:
The Chief Executive exercised her powers and
took an urgency decision to implement the recommended rise, (from
£9 per hour to £9.18 per hour) because the allowances
are paid to our lowest paid staff who were likely to be financially
impacted by the crisis.
Lead officer: Tracey Kerly
Government announced a number of measures to
support Businesses and the vulnerable in society as part of the
national COVID 19 response.
These reliefs need to be granted under a local scheme as the
regulations do not permit this to be done as part of the national
scheme.
There is a delegation approved as part of the budget report that
allows the CFO to set up local schemes to match governments
intentions, and it is under that delegation that this has been
done.
Decision Maker: Deputy Chief Executive
Decision published: 28/04/2020
Effective from: 23/03/2020
Decision:
1.Award Covid-19 Business rates reliefs and
deferrals in accordance with the governments guidance.
2.Award additional COVID-19 relief (£150) to all recipients
of Council Tax Relief as per the Governments Guidance
3.Vary the bands of the Council Tax Relief scheme to reflect the
changes to universal credit and LHA
4.Award grants (£25,000 or £10,000) to businesses as
per Governments Guidance.
Lead officer: Ben Lockwood
As part of the provision of the new Ashford
College Campus on Elwick Road, the Council undertook to grant
£3 million to West Kent and Ashford College. As advised by
finance and legal in granting this public funding, it was deemed
prudent to offer this funding as a secured loan in the first
instance (£2 million for Phase 1 and £1 million for
Phase 1a), in order to ensure the physical delivery of this
project.
Cabinet and Full Council approved these loans, and the terms of
their conversion to grant, in July 2016. Cabinet also noted the
Chief Executive’s use of delegated authority in September
2018 to convert the £2million loan for Phase 1 into a grant
following the completion of this phase of the development. The
College have an existing £1million loan from the Council for
Phase 1a, which could be converted to a grant on completion of the
Phase 1a buildings.
The report to Cabinet in February 2020 updated Cabinet on the steps
being taken by the Council to support a resolution to the West Kent
and Ashford College Education Administration, and requested that
Cabinet delegate authority to the Chief Executive in consultation
with others to resolve discussions with the Education
Administrators over the £1 million loan, to seek to create a
good college provision within the area moving forward.
Decision Maker: Chief Executive
Decision published: 27/04/2020
Effective from: 31/03/2020
Decision:
The Council was able to negotiate covenants
and overage agreements on the two East Kent College properties at
Wotton Road and Elwick Road, and the Chief Executive used the
delegated authority agreed at Cabinet, following consultation with
the Leader and senior members and officers, to agree the legal
documents.
The Council entered into an Overage Deed with East Kent College on
the College's Cumming House, Wotton Road site, and Phase 1a Elwick
Road site to the overall value of £1.2 million.
The Council signed the Deed of release for the original loan and
the DS1 to release the charges on the Elwick Road site.
This resulted in the ability for East Kent College to take over the
running of Ashford College from the 1st April 2020.
Lead officer: Tracey Kerly