Social Value Ideas for Sevenoaks District Council

External audit plan and regaining assurance work

Grant Thornton confirmed the external audit plan, phase zero work and regaining assurance strategy for 2025/26, with additional information requested from management and weekly progress updates. Altho…

“Speaker 11: Absolutely. So thanks, Chairman. Evening, everyone. My name is Paris Williams. I'm a director at Grant Thornton. I've been doing the exter…”

Revenue forecast adverse by £130k

The July monitoring report forecast an adverse variance of £130,000 for 2026/27, mainly from building control contractor costs, lost Sunday market rents, and reduced Bradbourne car park income. These …

“Um so this report shows the financial monitoring incorporating financial information to the end of July to give a forecast position as at the 31st of …”

Transition budget for reorganisation period

The portfolio holder explained that the council will move to a two-year transition budget for 2027/28 in line with the remaining years of the government settlement, while keeping a 10-year plan in the…

“And so, the first report for the 2728 budget process will be presented at the next FIAT meeting in November before going on to cabinet. And this will …”

External audit reassurance timetable remains constrained

Grant Thornton explained that Sevenoaks is still in a disclaimer environment and that regaining assurance over assets and liabilities may be possible by 2027/28, while reserves are unlikely to be full…

“Speaker 15: Based on that, seven oaks fall within category d, which has put the decent device guidance is now known as category c, and the category c …”

New premises licence granted

The subcommittee approved Tesco Express's new premises licence for alcohol sales and late night refreshment at 136 High Street, Sevenoaks, relying on the Licensing Act 2003, guidance and the council's…

“Having had regard to the representations made by the applicant, the interested party, and the local planning authority as a responsible authority, The…”

Licence variation with conditions

The committee decided to grant the licence variation in principle, but only with added conditions to mitigate noise and manage the external area. The decision also narrowed live and recorded music so …

“Right. Uh, I think this is uh now over to you. So, I don't know if if one of you is going to speak for most of you or how >> I think we'll probably go…”

Alcohol and nuisance controls

The application and discussion focused on mitigating licensing risks around alcohol sales, late night refreshment, litter, nuisance, underage sales and proxy sales. Tesco set out controls including Th…

“Steps the applicant intends to take to promote the four licensing objectives form part of their application and these can be found on page 22 of my re…”

7 Oaks Local Plan published for consultation

Cabinet agreed to publish the Regulation 19 proposed submission version of the 7 Oaks Local Plan for an eight-week consultation from 2026-07-23 to 2026-09-17, with submission targeted for year-end and…

“Good evening members and as always a very warm welcome to all this all of those joining us in the gallery. I'm sorry I can't thank you. Um as I have s…”

Grey belt housing policy applied

Officers and members discussed the Edenbridge outline housing proposal in the context of the new grey belt rules, the emerging local plan, and the need for a five-year housing land supply. The committ…

“um the the the main national policy tells us to look at the MPPF um and any material considerations but in terms of our emerging local plan we can't g…”

Local Plan Reg 19 Strategy

The council is preparing to publish the Sevenoaks Local Plan at regulation 19 in summer 2026, with submission by Christmas and examination in 2027. The plan sets the housing strategy, site allocations…

“The good news is we're on on track um hoping to move to REGG 19 publication this summer um that is set out um at paragraph two of your report on page …”