“Welcome to this October meeting of Council.
Tonight’s agenda includes a report on the annual achievements of the Council against our corporate plan priorities and objectives. I would like to congratulate our officers from across all council services for their contribution to this.
Also on the agenda is a key report on procurement of the HGV fleet, which is vital to ensure we continue to offer our residents the best and most reliable waste and recycling services, including road sweeping and street cleansing. We will also be considering a submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) on council size as part of the full review of electoral boundaries which is being undertaken by the LGBCE. The council size submission is the first phase of the review which will be followed by a review of ward boundaries.
In addition to these report items we will also be considering a motion on benefit payments, in particular the two-child limit to benefit payments.
I have set out a few other key updates.
Devolution
You may have picked up that last week the government confirmed a range of devolution deals within England. It has signed of mayoral combine authority deals for Greater Lincolnshire and Hull & East Yorkshire, with mayors being elected in May 2025. They will then be given control over transport, housing, skills and investment to shape the future of their areas.
Combined county authority deals were also agreed for Devon and Torbay and Lancashire, with the plan for them to be established in early 2025 and handed the responsibility for adult education. The government at the same time announced it will not proceed with the mayoral deals with Norfolk County Council and Suffolk County Council, but intends to continue discussions over devolution in Norfolk and Suffolk.
In Leicestershire, the district leaders have written to the leaders of Leicestershire County Council, Rutland County Council and the City Mayor seeking the opportunity of joint talks about the opportunities and risks associated with devolution. We feel strongly that any developing devolution deal will need input from district councils, given our remit for planning, housing, economic development and our contribution to other agendas, like community safety and the health and wellbeing of our communities.
We have also written to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for State to express our desire to be constituent members of any combined authority in Leicestershire and the East Midlands and our willingness to explore devolution with our neighbouring county and city authorities. It is important that this matter is addressed in the forthcoming publication of the government’s Devolution Framework Review.
The government has clearly expressed its desire to have every area of the country with some form of devolution deal with the opportunity for new powers. This is linked to its mission for economic growth. It is important, therefore, that we are at the table locally and nationally in these discussions, to help carve out the best deal for our local communities. I will keep members updated on how things progress.
Cineworld
Following the announcement in July by Cineworld that it would be closing six of its UK cinemas including Hinckley and Loughborough, we have been working at pace to secure the future of a cinema in Hinckley. This has involved extensive work by officers and the council’s advisors. This has extended to attracting interest from other national and independent operators as well as ongoing dialogue with Cineworld. Two court hearings have now taken place to deal with Cineworld’s restructuring plans to secure the future of its operation in the UK and to avoid it going into administration. The last court hearing took place on Thursday last week and a judgement was given only yesterday – Monday, 30 September.
I am pleased to report that the council has come to a renewed commercial arrangement with Cineworld that safeguards the future of the cinema in the town.
The Hinckley Cineworld cinema takes pride of place in The Crescent, the multi-million pound town centre mixed retail and leisure redevelopment scheme which opened in December 2015. The cinema is a key facility that the residents of the borough asked to see returned to the town as part of the redevelopment.
This is excellent news for the town, for the taxpayer, for Cineworld employees and for local businesses. Not only does it safeguard the future of this great facility in Hinckley town centre, it also ensures the taxpayer continues to receive a rental income from Cineworld which helps to fund our public services.
High streets up and down the country are facing challenging times, but Hinckley is bucking that trend with retail occupancy rates and footfall above the midlands average along with a great range of independent and national businesses. We want it to stay that way, so we’ve taken necessary action to ensure we do that.
I would like to thank and acknowledge the great work of our officers on this matter in a very short space of time, including Malcolm Evans, Matt Burns, Ashley Wilson and Saminder Kaur, supported by Bill Cullen and our advisors at Trowers & Hamlins.
Rural strategy 2024 to 2028
I’m delighted to confirm the launch of the council’s rural strategy. Supporting community facilities and helping to improve the rural environment are among the eight new priorities Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council has committed to working on delivering for communities living and working in its rural areas.
Other priorities identified in the borough council’s new rural strategy 2024 to 2028 include creating homes, managing the economy, boosting tourism, increasing access to wellbeing service all with the aim of strengthening the welfare and prosperity of the community.
The strategy is aligned with and complements the various other strategies of the borough council, including the free tree scheme for 2024.
Launch of free tree scheme
Together with our sponsors, Hinckley & Rugby Building Society and the National Forest, we are offering 27,000 trees for planting in the borough of Hinckley & Bosworth. Trees and hedging will be available to order for residents, businesses and community groups without charge.
Any trees or hedges which are not ordered or collected by the closing date will be planted on our green spaces across the borough. The closing date will be announced when the scheme goes live on Monday, 7 October 2024.
Cultural strategy 2024 to 2028
We have also launched our new cultural strategy for 2024 to 2028. This strategy aims to enhance and enrich the life of our residents and visitors to the borough via the delivery of a diverse range of high quality wellbeing services through partnership engagement with our communities. There are five key themes that provide the focus for the work we will do with partners:
1. Increase and celebrate the arts and creative offer within the borough
2. Increase economic spend via a thriving events programme
3. Value and promote tourism, our heritage and museums
4. Develop sports opportunities for all
5. Increase physical activity levels and improve health and wellbeing.
There are huge benefits that underpin these themes. Participation in cultural activities is shown to have positive social impacts, such as helping establish social connectedness, a sense of belonging and breaking down social barriers. It can reduce crime and antisocial behaviour, can support people into employment and can contribute to the economic prosperity of our proud borough.
This strategy will also assist in supporting the emerging local plan for Hinckley & Bosworth borough and help the delivery of the council’s corporate plan.
Leisure centre solar panels
In line with our climate change objectives to lower carbon emissions and ensure our own buildings are energy efficient, I’m pleased to announce that more than 700 solar panels will be installed on the roof of Hinckley Leisure Centre in early 2025.
The borough council, which has led the project with leisure centre operators Places Leisure, was granted planning consent in September. Installation works are set to begin early next year, with an estimated completion date of March 2025. The leisure centre will remain open as usual throughout the works.
The installation of the solar panels will see an estimated CO2 reduction of over 52,000 kg in the first year. This feeds into the borough council’s desire to decarbonise the facility and supports the council’s climate and biodiversity strategy.
Supporting Macmillan Cancer charity
I am delighted to report that we raised over £300 at last Friday’s Macmillan ‘world’s biggest coffee morning’. I would like to thank staff and members who supported this event. If you were unable to attend, it’s not too late to donate: https://cm24.macmillan.org.uk/fundraising/CM24024666”
Minutes:
In his position statement, the Leader referred to:
· Devolution deals
· Cineworld Hinckley which would be remaining open following intervention by the council
· The rural strategy
· The launch of the free tree scheme
· The cultural strategy
· The solar panel project for the leisure centre which had been granted planning permission
· The success of the Macmillan coffee morning which raised over £300.
Members expressed thanks to officers from across the authority.