Madam Mayor, fellow Councillors, Officers, Members of the public and media
Can I start by congratulating Sigma Components, based on Dodwells Road Estate in Hinckley, for winning a £25 million contract to supply engine parts to Roll Royce; securing business and jobs for the area for the next ten years. This is yet another example of the resilient vibrancy of the local economy, which this Council is doing a great deal to support, not least in our efforts to secure government funding for development, which is now bearing fruit in the start of the series of work on the A5.
Can I congratulate also the Multi-Agency Public Protection Team 'Endeavour', led by Sharon Stacey, on the success in securing a national 'Silver' Award from IESE on 4 March. This has been an innovative venture, initiated by this Council, involving the Police, County Council and the Fire and Rescue Service. It is an important mark of recognition for what we are achieving, to have secured this award.
Further success has been achieved by the Council’s securing a top rating (Four Star) in 'Better Connected' and have been named one of the top twenty council websites in the country. I am very pleased to be able to announce this, as such 'back office' work, which greatly helps customer access, is rarely given the prominence it deserves. Congratulations to Anne Jones and her colleagues.
We have secured two awards and I am confident we will receive more in the next few months in recognition of our excellent work at Hinckley and Bosworth.
I am pleased to confirm that the Executive at its meeting last week signed up to the Leicester and Leicester Strategic Economic Plan (SEP). This will provide the framework for future investment in economic initiatives across the County and City over the next 5 years. Significantly we have achieved early success in that a £9.5 m bid for a new National Training and Skills Academy for the Automatic sector at Mira and a proposal for a new Life Sciences park, which will be a European Centre of Excellence, which has been awarded £6.7m have been included in the SEP programme for delivery in 2015/16. Both projects include partnerships with Universities, North Warwickshire and Hinckley College and this Council. This will put the Borough in the national spotlight for innovation supporting the Government’s STEM agenda. (STEM: science, technology, engineering and maths).
I can advise Members also that the demolition work at both Argents Mead and Middlefield Lane are well on track to be completed on time and within budget by early May 2014. As Members have been made aware in responses to earlier questions, the planning and development of the Leisure Centre on Argents Mead is well advanced and will produce a state of the art facility, with even more green space than the original plan. Enquiries about the site are being received and full marketing will commence immediately on completion of the demolition.
I am very pleased to announce that the necessary agreements have been signed to enable the Crescent development to become a reality. Everything is now in place to ensure that work will finally begin on site in the next few weeks. Can I thank Bill Cullen and Sanjiv Kohli and their colleagues for their persistence and hard work in getting us finally to this point. This is yet another (and very important) example of Hinckley and Bosworth not giving in to unjustified criticism and having the courage to see things through for the benefit of the community!
Finally, Council will receive for consideration on 20 May, as part of the Annual meeting of the Council, the Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2014-17. I am confident that this will provide further evidence of how this Administration, working constructively'; with officers, has laid the foundations for a sound financial future for the citizens of this Borough, despite continued reductions in government funding. This Borough should be proud of what is being achieved!
Madam Mayor, I commend this Statement to Council.
Minutes:
In presenting his position statement, the Leader of the Council referred to recent awards won and the agreements for the bus station development being signed. In response to a question from the leader of the opposition, Councillor Bray stated that the names of the businesses who had agreed to let units in the development were commercially sensitive.