00:00It's the final council cabinet meeting of the year here in Medway
00:04and one designed to tackle concerns around shared housing in the five towns.
00:11At the moment, houses of multiple occupancy or HMOs
00:16only require planning permission when six or more people live there.
00:21But the Article 4 direction put in place at the meeting
00:25will mean in certain parts of Chatham or Gillingham
00:29smaller HMOs will also have to undergo more rigorous planning checks.
00:36I think we'll be happier to a certain extent.
00:39As I say, it's about control.
00:40There's a lot of unhappy communities out there
00:42where these HMOs have become very prevalent and this is our job.
00:46We haven't really got a massive problem about it at the moment
00:48but it's growing, it's developing.
00:50This is how we start that from now.
00:52It wasn't just housing on the agenda.
00:55After visit and locate Kent collapsed in September
00:59Medway Council and Kent County Council were in a race against time
01:05to save the agencies which helped drive tourism and business development in the county.
01:13So we've made sure that we've held on to the staff that we've needed
01:16to make sure that those really vital services that locating Kent and visiting Kent
01:20were doing that we can now do in the house.
01:22So it's a good news story for us.
01:24Took a little bit of time to get there.
01:26I'm not going to go into the details of that.
01:28The main thing is that we've worked together at Medway to work with KCC
01:32and we've finally got the result that we need.
01:34These crucial decisions might have been taken just in time for Christmas
01:39but with a balanced budget due in the new year,
01:43the council's work is far from over.
01:46Olly Leder in Medway.
01:48Olly Leder in Medway.
01:50Olly Leder in Medway.
01:52Olly Leder in Medway.
01:53Olly Leder in Medway.
01:54Olly Leder in Medway.
01:55Olly Leder in Medway.
01:56Olly Leder in Medway.
01:57Olly Leder in Medway.
01:58Olly Leder in Medway.
01:59Olly Leder in Medway.
02:00Olly Leder in Medway.
02:01Olly Leder in Medway.
02:02Olly Leder in Medway.
02:03Olly Leder in Medway.
02:04Olly Leder in Medway.
02:05Olly Leder in Medway.
02:06Olly Leder in Medway.
02:07Olly Leder in Medway.
02:08Olly Leder in Medway.
02:09Olly Leder in Medway.
02:10Olly Leder in Medway.
02:11Olly Leder in Medway.
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