Elected Member Annual Report and Review – 2010/11

PLEASE READ THE ACCOMPANYING GUIDANCE NOTES BEFORE COMPLETING THIS FORM

Member Name: Richard Lees

Electoral Division: 01322 382558

Year first elected: 2009

Telephone Number: 01322 382558 e-Mail: richard.lees@.gov.uk

Are you in paid employment in any capacity in addition to your role as a County Councillor (excluding membership of other authorities)? YES NO

If yes, please give details in the box below

A. As a Member of Kent County Council you must give details in the box below of any remuneration received.

£ Basic Allowance 13,000

Special Responsibility Allowance (please give details of the nature of your duties in the next column and the amount received in the third column)

Are you a Member of another local authority or do you serve on any other public authority or Trust for which remuneration is received?

YES NO

B. If yes, you must give details in the box below, including details of any remuneration received £

13,000 Total Payments for A & B above

Section 1: Attending County Council Meetings Please list all meetings including how many meetings you attended of your Local Board Name of Board or Number of Number of Position on Board or Committee and Committee Meetings Meetings nature of responsibility attended each year

County Council 7 7 Member

Cabinet Scrutiny 10 11 Member Committee

Dartford Local 2 3 Member Boards

Planning 9 11 Member Applications Committee

Regulation 2 3 Member Committee

Joint 4 4 Member Transportation Board

Scrutiny Board 5 8 In attendance

Adult Social 1 4 In attendance Services Policy Overview and Scrutiny Selection and Member Services 1 5 In attendance Committee

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Section 2: Liaising with your Electoral Division Please list here any organisations within the community with which you have contact. What are you doing in your division? (Please specify if you are acting as a member of the body or as a KCC representative)

Swanscombe and Town Council (member) Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents’ Association (member) Swanscombe Community Cohesion group (as Local KCC Member) Knockhall Children’s Centre Steering Group (Town Councillor) Swanscombe Children’s Centre Steering Group (Town Councillor) Cygnets Pre-School (trustee) Greenhithe Community Centre (trustee and committee chairman) Craylands Primary School (Parent Governor & Chair of Governors) Swanscombe and Greenhithe PACT (as both Town Councillor & local KCC Member) Swanscombe & Greenhithe Association of Sports & Social Clubs (Town Councillor) Swan Valley Community School (LA Governor – appointed prior to election to KCC)

Section 3: Assisting Constituents Please set out here how you contact your constituents and how you make it easy for them to contact you. If you have made a contribution in advising and assisting constituents, and/or resolving problems in the delivery of KCC services, please explain this:

I am available by telephone (both mobile and landline), by email, by letter or in person at my home address, at Town and Parish Council meetings and I am always happy to talk with residents in the street

My details are available through both Stone Parish Council and Swanscombe and Greenhithe Town Council as well as being published on both Borough Council’s and Kent County Council’s websites.

I attend a monthly ‘Councillor’s Surgery’ in Swanscombe and Greenhithe, arranged with my Town and Borough Council colleagues.

I maintain a Facebook page, which allows residents to contact me directly, and I write a column for the Swanscombe & Greenhithe Residents Association newsletter, which also features my contact details.

My work on behalf of constituents this year has included working with families who have had unfavourable outcomes from the Primary School Admission process; reporting Highways Faults directly, pursuing outstanding items and encouraging residents to use the Highways Fault reporting services.

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Please give exact details of where and how you recommended your £10,000 allocation be spent?

Organisation Purpose Amount

Kent Equality Cohesion Council Dartford Mela Festival £ 200 Greenhithe Community Market Garden Developing Beekeeping £1,000 Swanscombe Tigers FC New Kit £1,000 Swanscombe & Greenhithe WI New PA System £ 553 Invicta Advocacy Network Office Volunteer Project £1,000 Friends of Swanscombe & Greenhithe Events £ 990 Heritage Park Dartford CAB Outreach Service £1,000 The Bridge 4 Young People Dartford is Gifted £1,000 Knockhall Community Primary School Centenary Event £1,000 Dartford St John Ambulance Improving First Aid In Schools £ 500 Swanscombe Downs Bowls Maintenance of Bowls Green & £ 984 Watering System Kent Equality Cohesion Council Dartford Schools Parade £ 250 Walk Tall Beyond Skin £ 523

Total: £10,000

Please give details of spend for your Member’s Highways Grant (£25k)

Purpose Amount

Across whole division – replacement of existing belisha £ 30,160 beacons at 5 zebra crossings with new, internally-lit columns

Southfleet Road, Swancombe and Greenhithe - request to £ 3,500 provide additional funding for Ebbsfleet Clearway Order project works

Hedge Place Road, Stone - request for vegetation to be cut £ 750 back to improve access

Total: £ 34,410

N.B. There is a facility that if this fund is not used in the current financial year this money can be forwarded to the next financial year.

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Section 4: Representing the County Council on outside bodies Please set out here any bodies to which you have been appointed by the Council or which you attend in your role as a County Member, in order to promote joint working and improved service delivery to the public. (List any involvement with Parish Councils and membership of schools governing bodies)

Name of Number of Number of Nature of responsibility Organisation Meetings Meetings held Attended each year

Stone Parish 8 11 Local KCC Member covering the Council Ward

Dartford Youth 1 4 One of the Local KCC Members Advisory Group

Section 5: Learning & Development Please set out in this box specific training courses which you have attended to further develop your role as a Councillor, including the benefits of learning.

Voice of Influence – improved public speaking techniques

Planning Applications Committee Training sessions

Transport Appeals Panel Training

Please set out in this box any attendance at conferences, seminars etc including the benefits of attending

Environment Highways and Waste Area briefings; Area Children’s Services briefings; Adult Social Services Area Briefings; Regulation Committee education visits; Children’s Social Services briefing; Environment, Highways and Waste briefing; Health Reform briefing

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Section 6: Political Activity Please use this space to give a full picture of your Political activities, including attendance at Group meetings and any offices held, and/or responsibilities held within your Group or within your electoral division or Parliamentary constituency.

I attend the monthly meetings of the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents Association committee.

Section 7: Supplementary Information Please feel free to add any information you feel may assist in defining your role as an Elected Member, or indeed any additional information you wish to add:

As a Member of Swanscombe and Greenhithe Town Council, I often give verbal updates to that Council about the work of Kent County Council at it’s meetings.

Age Concern Swanscombe and Greenhithe keep me briefed on their activities and I have a standing, open invitation to their executive committee meetings, which due to other commitments I usually cannot attend.

Ensure that the section below is signed and dated both by you and your Group Leader. Signature of Member: Date: 13th April 2011

Signature of Leader: Date:

THIS FORM MUST BE COMPLETED BY 31 March 2011

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