Agenda and minutes

Prayer was offered by Rev Louise Corke.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Bannister, Bessant, Boothby, Chastney and Richards.

On the motion of Councillor Nichols, seconded by Councillor Taylor, it was

RESOLVED – the minutes of the meetings held on 17 April and 15 May 2012 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

Additional item – To agree representation on charitable body

This item is considered urgent due to the expiry of the term of office of all three representatives in June 2012.

Hinckley Grammar School (three representatives for a term of three years): The current representatives, Mrs M Lynch, Mrs A Wright and Mrs R Wright have all indicated that they wish to be considered for re-appointment to the positions.

It was reported that there was one item of business which had been deemed urgent due to need to appoint to the charitable body of Hinckley Grammar School. It was agreed that the item would be taken at this juncture.

Councillor Lynch declared a personal interest in this item as his wife had been nominated for re-appointment.

On the motion of Councillor Bray, seconded by Councillor Nichols it was

RESOLVED – Mrs M Lynch, Mrs A Wright and Mrs R Wright be re-appointed to Hinckley Grammar School for a term of three years.

No interests were declared at this stage.

The Mayor briefly outlined the events he had attended over the Jubilee weekend and thanked the Deputy Mayor for attending some events too.

Councillor Mullaney presented a petition from residents against a telecom mast. It was agreed that this would be passed onto the Development Control team as part of the consultation on the particular application concerned and did not fall under the Petitions Scheme.

Mr Mayor, Fellow Councillors, Officers, members of the public and the media

As this is your first full Council meeting in the chair, I will be more than usually brief we do have a significant item on tonight’s agenda, with an exciting potential for the future regarding our Housing strategy and operations, and we will need to concentrate on that, even though it has been the subject of detailed and constructive discussion at both the Executive and the Scrutiny Commission. I am aware also that the item on Standards, brought here at short notice because of a ridiculously late announcement by the Government, has had similar detailed discussion both at a Working Group and more informally afterwards.

Can I first draw attention to the many Diamond Jubilee events held across the Borough in recent weeks, with the full support of the Council, not least by our concentration on enabling events, rather than imposing unnecessary bureaucracy. Despite the sudden changes in weather, it does seem that our communities have enjoyed themselves in celebrating the sixty year reign of our Queen. That should be a source of pride and pleasure to us all and we should hope the she may continue on the throne for some years longer yet.

The Executive is also ‘doing our bit’ to maintain the economic vibrancy of Hinckley town centre by agreeing to free car parking in the Church Walk car park between noon and 5.30pm on every Tuesday in June, July and August; with a review in August to see how helpful this has been. It has been introduced following discussions with the Town Centre Partnership. Whilst there will be a small loss in income to the Council, I believe that it is an investment very well-made, if it can encourage people to shop here on the less busy days of the week and will answer criticism that the Council is putting income before town centre survival, building on the fact that the basic charge has been frozen throughout the five years of the Liberal Democrat Administration.

In addition, I have written to four traders, who have indicated that they may close their premises in the town in the near future, to remind them of the many benefits of remaining in Hinckley; benefits not available in other similar locations. I have invited them to meet with me to discuss how the Council might retain their operations in the town. I hope that they will be able to respond positively to this offer.

Finally, Mr Mayor, I recently received a letter from the new County Council Cabinet Lead for Waste matters, following the recent reshuffle. He suggested that there would be benefits in the operations of the seven District Waste Collection services being amalgamated and offered the services of County Council officers to explore this further. Whilst there may be some merit in his proposals for some of the Districts in Leicestershire (who, I am sure, have very capable officers within their own ranks!), I had to  ...  view the full agenda text for item 66.

The Leader of Council thanked officers, parishes and communities for the Jubilee events that had been held, and he reported on the unveiling of a plaque in Argents Mead from the Queen. He also provided an update on free parking initiatives in Hinckley and a letter from Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet portfolio holder for Waste inviting amalgamation of waste collection authorities in the County. In response to the latter it was felt that the amalgamation would not benefit Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council due to our already high performance.

Councillor Lay presented the minutes of Scrutiny Commission meetings held on 13 March and 19 & 26 April for information.

Members were presented with a report on contract & delivery arrangements for the Regional Growth Fund of £19,474,000. Members welcomed the report and the opportunities outlined, however, some concern was expressed about potential time delays and difficulties in drawing down funding in light of the Government having abolished organisations which supported economic growth.

Councillor Gould entered the meeting at this point.

On the motion of Councillor Bray, seconded by Councillor Bill, it was

RESOLVED –

(i)         The Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader be granted delegated authority to sign off the final contract arrangements for the RGF offer;

(ii)        The establishment of a budget of £19,474,000 for the RGF project to be spent over the next two years be approved.

Council received a report which provided information on opportunities and initiatives for improving services and supporting the provision of new and improved affordable housing in the Borough of Hinckley & Bosworth. During discussion, the following points were raised:

·         The need to avoid building new large ‘council estates’ and Members’ preference towards pepper potting affordable homes throughout estates;

·         Concern regarding the high number of empty residential properties in Earl Shilton;

·         The risk of council house waiting lists lengthening in light of the Government’s renewed Right to Buy scheme;

·         The potential for rent arrears to increase due to a reduction in benefits and the way that these were to be paid.

In response to some of these points it was suggested that the Government be lobbied regarding Right to Buy, that work was being undertaken to identify those who may struggle to make payments due to a reduction in benefit payments, and that a private sector leasing scheme would be developed, funded through the Empty Homes Grant, to enable empty properties to be brought back into use. Members were reminded that there was currently a high level of satisfaction with the Council’s housing service.

RESOLVED –

(i)         the Council Housing Investment Strategy and Business Plan be approved;

(ii)        the information contained within the report be endorsed;

(iii)       the Council’s approach to the negotiations on affordable rent products with developers be approved;

(iv)       the principles of the Council’s affordable housing delivery plan be supported;

(v)        the achievement of the private sector housing team in securing an Empty Property Grant of £522,120 from the Homes and Communities Agency be welcomed and a supplementary expenditure and income budget for this amount be agreed;

(vi)       the work undertaken by the Housing Options team to prevent homelessness be acknowledged, along with the award of a grant for £50,015 for the prevention of homelessness due to mortgage arrears and a supplementary expenditure and income budget for this amount be agreed.

In presenting a report on the savings of the Leicestershire Partnership Revenues & Benefits 2011/12, it was stated that the savings had been as anticipated and explained that due to having to reduce time taken to process applications and meet the agreed Improvement Plan, the recommendation was that the savings be retained by the partnership.

On the motion of Councillor Lynch, seconded by Councillor Bray, it was

RESOLVED – The retention of £70,898 within the Partnership as this Council’s contribution to the Partnership Reserves in 2012/13 be approved.

A report, which had been prepared at short notice due to the Commencement Order for Chapter 7 of the Localism Act being laid on 8 June 2012 and the new regime being due to commence on 1 July 2012, was presented to Council. Members were reminded that the new regime was originally discussed at Council on 17 April and a cross party working group had been set up to consider the issues including drafting a code of conduct. It was further noted that the meeting on 17 April had agreed that the interviewing of Independent Persons should be undertaken by an officer panel but that the final decision on who to appoint be made by Council.

During presentation of the report a further recommendation was made that the selection of Members of the new Committee be delegated to the relevant group leader in consultation with the Monitoring Officer. It was also recommended that no Parish Council representative be appointed to the Committee as many Borough Councillors were also Parish Councillors so parishes would be represented in that way. It was also recommended that the Committee be named the “Ethical Governance and Personnel Committee”.

It was noted that a further meeting of the working group was planned for the same week and that it was recommended that they would put more detail into the process for dealing with complaints, agree accompanying guidance and the Register of Interest form.

Many Members acknowledged the amount of work undertaken by the Monitoring Officer, Executive Member and working group and thanked them for this. It was, however, felt that paragraph 1(d) of the Code of Conduct should have additional words added and it was moved by Councillor Lay and seconded by Councillor Batty that 1(d) be amended to read “Not disclose or use confidential information for any other purpose other than that provided by the law unless it is in the public interest”. Upon being put to the vote, the amendment was CARRIED. It was therefore

RESOLVED –

(i)         the Code of Conduct be adopted with the inclusion of the above mentioned additional words in 1(d);

(ii)        the appointment of a Committee to deal with the administration of complaints about Councillors be delegated to group leaders in consultation with the Monitoring Officer;

(iii)       the Committee be named the “Ethical Governance and Personnel Committee”;

(iv)       the co-option of Parish Council representatives on the Committee be not supported;

(v)        Nine Independent Persons be appointed in line with the recommendations;

(vi)       the Regulations regarding Pecuniary Interests be noted;

(vii)      Agreement of the process for dealing with the administration of complaints and the contents of the Register of Interests be delegated to the cross party working group in conjunction with the Monitoring Officer.

Received from Councillor Gould:

"In view of the Economic Regeneration currently going ahead in the Borough, and the need to achieve modal shift not least to mitigate against Climate Change, this Council calls on the Department for Transport when refranchising rail services stopping at Hinckley for 2014 to reinstate the 2 trains per hour service level that was previously enjoyed throughout the day."

Motion from Councillor Gould, seconded by Councillor Bill

“In view of the Economic Regeneration currently going ahead in the Borough, and the need to achieve modal shift not least to mitigate against climate change, this Council calls on the Department for Transport when refranchising rail services stopping at Hinckley for 2014 to reinstate the 2 trains per hour service level that was previously enjoyed throughout the day”.

RESOLVED – the motion be supported.