The Canterbury City Council Cabinet met on 6 October 2025, and agreed to open a public consultation on the draft Cultural Strategy 2026-2036 and to establish a Cabinet Advisory Committee to provide support and challenge to service improvement initiatives and assurance of the service's work to meet the Regulator of Social Housing Consumer Standards. The Cabinet also noted reports on the Canterbury Community Safety Partnership Annual Review, the Annual Corporate Plan Performance Report, the Contract Services Annual Performance Report, and the Revenue and Capital Outturn reports for 2024/25.

Regulator of Social Housing Inspection Report and Consumer Standards

The Cabinet agreed to establish a Cabinet Advisory Committee to act as a critical friend, offering both scrutiny and challenge, and to provide assurance of the council's work to meet the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) Consumer Standards¹. The committee will include a politically balanced ratio of councillors, the Portfolio Holder for Housing, and tenant representatives. The RSH has established new consumer standards to ensure social housing providers deliver safe, quality homes and services to tenants, effective from 1 April 2024, introduced by the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. The report noted that the council expects the final inspection outcome to be issued by the RSH on 15 October 2025.

Permission to Consult on Cultural Strategy

The Cabinet agreed to open a public consultation on the draft Cultural Strategy 2026-2036. The strategy outlines three key themes: working together, creating a sense of belonging, and valuing the social and economic benefits of cultural engagement. It builds on the council's Corporate Plan, Returning Pride to Our District, and aims to improve public participation in cultural activities and sets out strategic aims to help the council, organisations, businesses and residents use culture to:

• better understand the current cultural offer and assets in the district
• support longer-term investment in culture
• increase cultural participation
• join up opportunities for culture delivery across the district

The strategy sets out eight ambitions:

• Engage children and young people
• People, places, and destinations
• Grow the creative economy
• Improve health and well-being
• Enable participation and promote inclusion
• Promote environmentally aware practice
• Build an evidence base to attract Investment
• Lead by example as a cultural council

The consultation will run for 12 weeks, from 13 October to 5 January 2026. Councillor Charlotte Cornell, Cabinet Member for Council Services, Culture and Heritage, said the strategy represents a vision for the future of culture in Canterbury.

Annual Corporate Plan Performance Report

The Cabinet noted the , which detailed the council's performance against its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the period April 2024 to 31 March 2025. The report also provided a progress report in relation to the aims and principles of the Corporate Plan and proposed new KPIs. Councillor Alan Baldock, Leader of Canterbury City Council, said the report demonstrates the council's determination to bring pride back to the district.

The report outlined achievements such as:

• the purchase of 67 new council homes
• a 10.7% increase in the number of people using the Park and Ride service
• a 9% increase in household waste recycling
• the removal of 3,563 graffiti images and tags

The report also identified challenges, particularly in the Housing service, and outlined the service improvement action plan.

Contract Services Annual Performance Report

The Cabinet noted the Contract Services Annual Performance Report, which outlined the services provided by the Contracts team and the contractors they manage. The report noted successes such as the smooth transfer of public toilet cleaning and maintenance to Canenco, the transfer of the housing building cleaning contract to Town & Country, and the purchase of new vehicles for Canenco.

The report also detailed development and improvements being worked on in 2025/26, including planning for weekly communal food collections, working with the Levelling Up Fund team, purchasing additional vehicles for Canenco, reprocuring software, and reviewing the structure and resources within the Contracts team.

Revenue Outturn 2024/25

The Cabinet noted the Revenue Outturn Report for 2024/25, which summarised the provisional outturn for the General Fund Revenue Account and Housing Revenue Account. The report noted that the council's financial management arrangements provide for regular reports to be provided to councillors. The provisional outturn for the General Fund was an underspend of £18,000 after government support funding. The actual use of reserves to balance the budget for 2024/25 was as per the budget allocated. The final outturn for the Housing Revenue Account showed an overall surplus of £7,870,000 against a budgeted surplus position of £113,000.

Capital Outturn 2024/25

The Cabinet noted the Capital Outturn Report for 2024/25, which detailed the position against General Fund and Housing capital spending for 2024/25 and advised on schemes that have slipped or overspent. The total requested carry forward for the General Fund is £9.704m net. The final net position for General Fund is an overspend of £140,000. There are no requested carry forwards for the HRA in 2024/25. The final net position for the 2024/25 capital programme is a £2.799m underspend.

Canterbury Community Safety Partnership Annual Review

The Cabinet noted the Canterbury Community Safety Partnership (CCSP) Annual Review. The Canterbury Community Safety Partnership (CCSP) is made up of statutory agencies brought together under a shared responsibility, placed upon them by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The report highlighted achievements for 2024/25 and the priorities and actions planned for 2025/26.

Priorities and actions for 2025/26 include:

• Disrupt Serious and Organised Crime, including county lines & child sexual exploitation
• Safeguard and have a vulnerable person focus, including Prevent Duty and Hate Crime, Drugs & Alcohol Strategy and Domestic Abuse
• Young People, including higher and further education, referral and intervention for prevention, Local Children's Partnership Group (LCPG) Plan
• Safety in the nighttime economy, including Violence Against Women and Girls, and the Serious Violence Duty
• Disrupt Anti-Social Behaviour, including environmental offences

Local Plan Consultation

At a previous meeting on 8 September 2025, the Cabinet agreed to conduct a consultation under Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 on the Draft Canterbury District Local Plan – Focused Consultation . Councillor Lee Castle declared an OSI (Other Significant Interest) as he lived next to a site included in the Draft Canterbury District Local Plan and left the meeting for the item.