Supression of Information by TDC?

The Agenda (see below) for the first meeting of the newly formed "General Purposes Committee", that Cllr Moores is already claiming to be chairing ( I just hope all his colleagues turn up to vote for him!) has just been published on the TDC website.
Only one item on the agenda "2009/10 pay negotiations proposals". What could this be that needs to be discussed in secret? Could it be the miserly 3% pay rise being offered to low paid Council staff, or could it be the increases that senior staff hope to gain from their recent "regrading" as Directors?

Either way, as shadow spokesperson for finance, you might think I would be allowed to know, even if the general public cant,what is being proposed.

If you are made chairman of this committee, Cllr Moores, this is not a very good way to begin its life.

General Purposes Committee Wednesday, 8th April, 2009 6.00 pm
Attendance Details
Agenda Frontsheet PDF 54 KB View agenda as HTML
Agenda reports pack PDF 224 KB
Add meeting to your calendar
Venue: Chairman's Room, Cecil Street, Margate, Kent
Contact: Eileen Richford
Items
No. Item
1.
Apologies for Absence
2.
Declarations of Interest
To receive any declarations of interest. Members are advised to consider the extract from the Standard Board Code of Conduct for Members, which forms part of the Declaration of Interest Form at the back of this Agenda. If a Member declares an interest, they should complete that Form and hand it to the Officer clerking the meeting.
3.
Election of Chairman
4.
Election of Vice-Chairman
5.
Exclusion of Public and Press PDF 69 KB
View item 5. as HTML 16 KB
6.
2009/10 Pay Negotiations Proposals
View the reasons why item 6. is restricted

Declaration of Interest form - back of agenda PDF 94 KB
View item undefined as HTML 14 KB

Crunch Time for Pleasurama?

Many Eastcliff residents will have watched with interest and some trepidation the progress or otherwise of the Royal Sands development on the old Pleasurama site that dominates Ramsgate's Eastern Seafront.

Planning permission (F/TH/03/1200) was granted on the 28th January 2005 for a mixed use scheme comprising a 60 bedroom hotel, 107 residential apartments, 7 retail units, a health and fitness centre and the construction of a childrens play area. Variations in the approved plans were later approved as set out in leters from the Council dated 30th Sept 2005 and 12th September 2006.

The development works in addition included the erection of a clifftop stairway and highway works.

Subsequently, Council officers approved various changes to the plans under delegated authority, summarised in plans dated 28 Jan 2009.

As the landowner, Thanet Council signed (end of 2006) a development agreement with SFP Ventures (UK Limited) relating to the development and sale of land.

The detail of the development agreement state:

1. On exchange of the development agreement, the developer will pay a deposit of £55,000.

2. Following exchange of the development agreement, within 3 months, the developer will enter into a highways agreement with Kent County Council as specified in the planning permission. The works refer to a new roundabout and bus lay-by in Marine Esplanade.

3. The Site Lease Completion Date is the date 10 working days after the date of completion of the Highways Agreement.

4. On the Site Lease Completion Date:

a. The developer is to pay £550,000 to the Council which will include the deposit of £55,000.

b. The Site Leases of the hotel suite, the mixed use site and the residential premises will be granted to the Developer.

c. The developer will enter into an option agreement in favour of the Council, whereby the Council will be granted an option to aquire the Developers interest in the hotel site and the cliff stairway lease.

d. The Developer will provide a £5.6m performance bond in favour of the Council. Last time I asked, the account had been opened, but nothing paid in.

5. SFP Ventures (UK) limited is not entited to assign the Development Agreement.

To the casual observer, progress on site has been painfully slow.

The Council, with some contribution from the developer has in the last month competed the works on the cliff face costing around £1m.

The highways works are completed, in the main, with some tidying up required. These will have to be signed off by KCC highways.

So the time for SFP to pay over the £550,000 to the Council and provide the £5.6m performance bond, must be due any time now.

So decision time for the shadowy figures behind SFP Ventures Ltd?

Complaint to Standards Committee

There have been various comments concerning my absence from the Thanet blogging scene. I thank those that have emailed their concern.
Those of you that guessed that I had been reported to the TDC Standards Committee over something that appeared on this blog, guessed correctly.
I don't know what the outcome will be, both I and the complainant, Cllr Mrs Tomlinson have given our "evidence" to an independent investigator and we await his report.
I have not been blogging since, as I felt I needed to reflect upon the situation.
I know that other Labour Councillors have also been reported recently, some of them many times. These "investigations" are an expensive business, and I have no wish to provoke further aggravation unnecessarily.
You will see that I have decided to continue blogging as I feel that as an elected member, I should be prepared to call things as I see them. It is for others to agree or disagree as they see fit.