Welcome to this July meeting of Council. You will see that tonight’s agenda includes my motion on local government reorganisation and a range of key business items including reports on care experience and supporting those with protected characteristics, plans for acquiring new homes to assist with our housing and homelessness crisis, a community governance review linked to the establishment of a town council for Hinckley, our annual overview & scrutiny report which summarises its key work and achievements over the last year and finally appointments to various charities and of independent persons.
I have the following key updates:
Supporting our communities
At our last meeting of the Executive, we had a packed agenda with reports that charted the positive outcomes from a range of programmes that we have in place to support our communities:
Council housing securing decent homes:
I am delighted to report that by the end of the financial year 2024/25 the housing repairs service actioned 100% decent homes compliance, with all council homes meeting quality standards and the service securing out of target jobs (that built up during the COVID-19 pandemic) by 97% since 2022.
This is a great credit to our skilled housing repairs workforce who have shown such commitment to their work and our tenants.
Tenant involvement:
Following the introduction of the Regulator of Social Housing Tenant Satisfaction margins, I am pleased to report we secured 80.1% satisfaction in 2024/25.
Cost of living support:
We acknowledged the extensive work undertaken by our welfare support team in supporting residents of the borough affected by the cost of living crisis. Members will recall the council took the proactive step of declaring a cost of living emergency in 2022. We heard that the service has supported over 3,500 residents since that time, with 1,617 residents supported in 2024/25 who were experiencing financial hardship.
Domestic abuse outreach service:
We were updated on the current trends, demand and work undertaken by this service. During 2024/25 the service received 167 referrals and conducted 578 support sessions with survivors and collaborated with partner agencies on 81 complex cases. The council hosted a major domestic abuse event in 2024, bringing together over 60 partners and launched the council’s White Ribbon campaign to raise awareness of this issue and the local support available.
Safeguarding support:
The Executive acknowledged and endorsed the work of all the council’s designated safeguarding officers from across the organisation, with the support they provide to ensure action is taken to safeguard children and adults in the borough. Over the period between April 2024 and March 2025 the authority received a total of 503 people referred.
Civil penalty policy for private sector housing offences:
The Executive agreed to introduce a ‘justice for tenants’ policy to enable the council the issue civil financial penalties of up to £40,000 to landlords to address failings in maintaining and complying with improvement notices to address safety issues in private rented properties.
Hinckley town centre vision:
A new town centre vision document was endorsed by the Executive, setting out commitments to creating and maintaining an attractive town centre, delivering a range of attractions and events, providing a range of facilities and allowing for easy town centre access and movement.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to officers from across the council in delivering the initiatives and services which have performed so well in supporting our communities and place. It is also great that the council and its officers have recently been recognised and rewarded for much of its work on these agendas.
Council recognised for tackling fuel poverty
The borough council’s commitment to tackling fuel poverty has achieved national recognition. Three council projects have been highly commended by the Association of Safety and Compliance Professionals (ASCP). The commendation, for best initiative to combat fuel poverty, recognises an organisation that has implemented successful initiatives to support residents and reduce fuel poverty. The three projects were warm welcome, housing & respiratory illness projects and warmer homes.
Daisy Shields awarded commendation for Young Planner of the Year
Congratulations to Daisy Shields who was awarded a commendation for Young Planner of the Year at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) East Midlands Awards for Excellence 2025.
Lawn Tennis Association awards
This year has seen awards for Hinckley Town and Desford Lawn Tennis clubs, including individual awards for John McGowan for his long service to tennis locally, especially his volunteering and running disability sessions, and Matthew Chilvers who won the “Tennis Opened Up” award for his work on engaging people with autism into the sport. Matthew has been selected as one of the first special Olympic national sports advisors for tennis and as a member of the LTA national Disability Advisor Board.
Armed Forces Veterans
I am delighted that the council arranged a trip for our wonderful armed forces veterans to the National Bomber Command HQ in Lincolnshire in June. 31 veterans, many in their 90s, had a fabulous day. The veterans meet up on the second Wednesday of each month at the Green Rooms, Hinckley from 10am to 12 noon. All veterans are most welcome to join these sessions.
Summer events
Residents and visitors have had the opportunity of enjoying a wide range of high quality events over the past few weeks. The weather didn’t dampen the high spirits at the Proms in the Park events in the award-winning Hollycroft Park.
The Mallory Mile cycling event saw the largest number of participants ever and the recent 14th Soap Box Derby proved a great success with footfall in the town centre increasing by 50%.
Free summer activity brochure for children, young people and families
An electronic brochure packed full of summer activities and events for young people and families in Hinckley & Bosworth can now be downloaded from the borough council’s website. The in-depth guide to “what’s on this summer” is a free electronic booklet aimed at 0-19 year olds and is packed full of information that is sure to keep them busy during the school holidays. Visit www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/wgd
Highly successful food festival Feast Hinckley returns
Popular food and drink festival Feast Hinckley returns to Argents Mead, Hinckley over the weekend 3 – 4 August, 10am to 5pm with over 45 vendors offering a range of national and international cuisine.
Snap Dragon children’s festival returns to Argents Mead
The popular Snap Dragon festival is back with three fun-filled days for all the family in Hinckley’s Argents Mead.
The festival takes place from Monday, 4 August to Wednesday, 6 August from 11am to 3pm each day and is free to attend. Each day of the festival features a different theme with Monday being “musical mash up”, Tuesday “let’s get moving” (Active Hinckley & Bosworth takeover day) and Wednesday being National Play Day, celebrating spaces for play.
National town centre awards
I am pleased to confirm that Hinckley town centre has reached the final for a prestigious award for its great events offer support by the partnership of the council and Hinckley BID. We are finalists amongst other key towns which include Cheltenham and Wimbledon. The results will be announced at the House of Commons on 16 July.
LGA conference
I attended the LGA conference in Liverpool last week with the Deputy Leader and the Chief Executive, joining leaders and chief executives from across the county. This year’s theme was “empowering people, empowering places” and was particularly relevant as we deal with the challenges of local government reorganisation, managing services to address a range of needs across our community and funding challenges. This event enabled us to see great examples of digital innovation that will transform how we live, work and deliver services. We were able to share best practice in areas of prevention, public service reform and driving sustainable economic growth.
There were a number of key announcements by the government coinciding with the conference, which was attended in person by Angela Raynor, Deputy Prime Minister, including the ten year plan for social and affordable house building, ten year “fit for future” health plan and the industrial strategy.
A stand-out session was the presentation from the Chief Executive of Sefton Council who provided an emotional and heartfelt reflection following the tragic incident in Southport on 29 July 2024 and talked about the work delivered by all the first responders, emergency services, the Southport recovery team and all the community, and how the council helped the communities in recovering from the challenges and the tragedies.
On the last day, the Deputy Prime Minister covered important topics pledging to consolidate economic growth funding pots, simplify the funding mechanism and recognising the different impacts on local service delivery in rural areas and those with areas of deprivation, cutting bureaucracy and announcing a new local government outcomes framework, a new reporting regime that underpins the work of local government.
Local government reorganisation
Councils across Leicestershire have received feedback on their initial submissions that we sent to government by its deadline of 21 March. The seven districts of Leicestershire and Rutland are now advancing work on the detailed proposals that are required to be submitted by 28 November – a deadline government is sticking to, despite being four weeks late getting their feedback to us!
We believe strongly that our communities should have their say in this, hence a major public engagement exercise is currently underway to gain the views of our residents to help shape our final submission.
There has been a lot of noise being made by the city and county councils over city boundary expansion. Let’s hear what the communities have to say who, if the city and county councils have their way, will see major swathes of rural Leicestershire being taken within the city.
Professor Dame Carol Black
I am sure you will all join with me to express our heartfelt thanks to Professor Dame Carol Black, who hails from Barwell, for her lifelong work in the fields of health, medicine and work. It was a real honour to bestow Freedom of the Borough upon her. She will remain a lasting inspiration for young people in our communities who should be encouraged to follow their dreams and reach their full potential.
Grants available to boost conservation areas
Grant funding is now available to enhance the character of conservation areas in Hinckley & Bosworth. The Heritage Building Improvement grant is open to property owners and tenants to undertake repairs and other works that will improve the condition and appearance of their building(s) in such areas.