“Welcome to my first Leader’s statement of the New Year. Whilst it seems a little late, I would like to extend my New Year wishes to you all. As you have a full agenda tonight, I will keep this statement relatively brief.
50 year anniversary celebrations
The Council celebrates its 50 year anniversary this year and we plan to mark this with a series of special events. We intend to celebrate with an exhibition at Atkins Gallery, as well as a young person conference and tree planting across the borough.
A highlight will be a one-off dedicated Party in the Park to commemorate the anniversary, which will take place at Hollycroft Park on 25 May. The event will feature music, food and activities for the whole family. We are encouraging residents to check the council website and social media channels for further updates.
We have also reached out to find any businesses that are celebrating their 50th anniversary as well as residents celebrating 50th wedding anniversaries, which we want to recognise, or whether they were born in the borough fifty years ago.
This is an incredible milestone which we want to celebrate with our communities and businesses.
Spring and summer events
As you would expect, officers have been working on developing our events calendar which will start in earnest in April with St Georges Day, with events being programmed throughout the summer. Look out for further information in our forthcoming Borough Bulletin.
Planning performance
The council’s planning team continue to out-perform government targets with over 80% of applications being determined within eight weeks or within agreed timeframes. However, the government measures average performance for minor applications over a two-year rolling period, which is now 62%. This is just short of the 70% target and, as a result, DLUHC has written to the council to request information on performance for minor applications. I am pleased to say that this is up from this time last year at 46% for the two-year average and is due to exceed the 70% target from April this year, a level of improvement that puts us within the top five councils nationally.
As members will know, the council has previously been open about the severe staffing issues in its planning team in late 2020 until September 2022, which came at a time when planning applications were at an all-time high. The council now performs consistently above the government’s performance thresholds for both minor and major applications and has done since October 2022. As well as this, over 80% of all minor applications have been turned around within target times since January 2023, well above the government’s target of 70%.
The council’s Chief Executive has now written to senior DLUHC officials demonstrating our commitment to continuous improvement and to provide evidence of our planning performance above national targets. We are confident from April that, even taking the two year rolling average which DLUHC measure councils on, we will exceed national targets.
I would like to thank our officers for the tremendous work they have undertaken to secure this improved performance.
Leisure centre carbon reduction project funding
I am delighted to confirm and “hot off the press” today, that we have secured £120,000 funding from Sport England towards a solar project to assist in the energy efficiency of Hinckley Leisure Centre. I would like to express my thanks to officers for securing this funding which will support the council’s objectives of reducing our carbon footprint in the borough.
Mitigating impact on communities from construction sites
Last week the council issued a press release highlighting a warning over the potential service of a community protection order on the developers of the Big Pit, Hinckley. This is the result of ongoing issues of mud on the roads surrounding the Ashby Road building site.
This was a site granted permission by a government inspector following the refusal of planning permission over concerns about access to the site and fears the area was prone to flooding.
The council’s enforcement team has issued a community protection warning letter requiring the developer to ensure that wheel washing facilities that they have in place are operated effectively in order to keep the road clear of mud. This warning requires the developer to ensure road sweepers are used regularly and particularly when earth is being moved around the site and it instructs the developer to create a hard surfaced area for contractors’ vehicles and site visitors to further limit transfer of mud to the road.
Should the situation not improve, the council can serve a community protection notice (CPN) and non-compliance with it carries a criminal sanction and can lead to a criminal record. It can also lead to fines, seizure and forfeiture of items, default works and recovering of costs.
We have also informed Leicestershire County Council, as the highway authority, who have their own powers to address these matters on highways.
I have asked officers to explore that all new major development sites that are granted permission have appropriate conditions attached to secure the appropriate level of on and off site vehicle and road cleaning facilities and regimes to mitigate the impacts of construction works on local communities.
My administration is determined to ensure that developers do keep to the important conditions that are imposed and will be taking further tough action on other developers who seek to flout the rules.
Finance settlement
On 24 January the government announced additional funding of £600m towards the final local government finance settlement. We are yet to be advised what this means to us and indeed what the extra cash will be. On initial assessment it is very likely not to be much, given the focus of the majority of this increase will go towards upper tier authorities for social care responsibilities. The full impact of the settlement will be discussed alongside the budget at this week’s scrutiny meeting and at Council in February.
Whilst any extra funding is welcome, it is of course only a sticking plaster over the fundamental problems of local government finance. Despite repeated promises for over a decade, the government has failed to deliver on the fair funding it has promised.
Economic functions and Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) transition
At a meeting of local authority leaders across Leicestershire and Rutland this week, we will be discussing progress over transitional arrangements of LLEP powers and activities along with engagement of districts and businesses in the new governance arrangements. Last year the government confirmed the local enterprise partnerships’ core functions – namely business representation, local economic planning and delivery of government programmes where directed – should, from April 2024, be delivered by local authorities.
Outside of areas that have devolution deals, it is expected that these functions will be exercised by upper tier authorities as appropriate, ensuring effective engagement with districts, businesses and other key stakeholders.
Members will be aware of the economic role we play and the priority we have given this work in our corporate and economic strategies. This council has undertaken significant work with partners in attracting inward investment generating new jobs and skills to the borough for the benefit of our residents. Mira Technology Park and Hinckley Business Park are two key examples of this in recent years. I, along with my district leader colleagues, will be seeking to ensure we have appropriate representation in the new economic arrangements and on the new economic board that will be created to oversee the work and priorities transitioned from the LLEP.
Proposed health facilities, Hinckley
Plans for the new community diagnostic centre in Hinckley will be considered at our February meeting of Planning Committee. This is welcome, if not long overdue, and will provide a marginal increase in services in a new modern building.
Part of the plan involves relocating the physiotherapy service to the Hinckley Hub as part of a new partnership arrangement between the council and NHS locally.
We have been informed that removal of the porta cabin building will be taking place imminently.
We now wait with baited breath to see when the new walk-in centre that local people have been repeatedly promised will come.
Minutes:
In his position statement, the Leader referred to the current emergency in Ratby where residents had no gas supply and thanked officers, partners and the emergency services for their hard work to support residents. He also thanked officers for their work during and after the recent storms.
He also highlighted the forthcoming 50th anniversary celebrations of HBBC, spring and summer events, planning performance, funding from Sport England towards a solar project at Hinckley Leisure Centre, a community protection warning served on the developer of the Big Pit site due to ongoing issues of mud on the roads, the government finance settlement, transitional arrangements for the LLEP and health facilities in Hinckley.