Agreed

Councillors have approved a new draft planning enforcement strategy and service charter outlining how breaches of planning permission are handled.

Swale Borough Council sought approval of the new draft strategy and charter at last month’s cabinet meeting on Wednesday 22nd September. The strategy sets out how the council protects the borough’s built and natural environment from unauthorised developments. It includes identifying priority issues for the service and explains what action can be taken.

Band D households in Swale will be asked to pay  £3.54 per week for Swale Borough Council services in the coming financial year.

The proposals for Swale’s share of the council tax were agreed at a full council meeting on Wednesday (24th February) evening.

The rise will see band D households paying £184.32 a year for Swale Borough Council services, a rise of £4.95.

Plans for the £46m regeneration of Sittingbourne have taken a step forward today with the announcement that building work on the new seven screen cinema should begin in the spring of 2016.

It is hoped that the first films will be screened in the summer of 2017, which would also includes the completion of a 308 space multi-storey car park and new traffic management flows - generating more than 700 jobs in the Sittingbourne area.