In my first position statement as Leader of this Council I will start with an administrative matter, by advising members of the duties that I have undertaken for which I have claimed back travel and other costs. In recent weeks I have attended meetings in Leicester, Warwick, Coventry, and Birmingham, mostly to discuss the evolving Combined Authority proposals. I also attended the LGA conference in Harrogate, and a meeting of the DCN in London, and met with the CEO of MIRA. As well as travel (both car and train) and parking costs for these trips the Council also directly paid for my attendance at the LGA conference, and my accommodation whilst in Harrogate.
I would like to put on record my appreciation for the work of officers during the post election period. New and returning Councillors have all attended many training sessions, which we have found both useful and enjoyable, and I would like to acknowledge the hard work of the many staff who have contributed to those sessions.
As we are a new administration members will know that officers have been devoting a great deal of time to briefing myself and fellow members of the executive committee on their various departments activities and current plans, as well as taking time to consider our proposals for the future. I would like to thank all those officers who have been involved for their patience and openness.
The executive Member for Finance has just answered a question about one of our manifesto commitments, and I'm pleased to answer any such questions in the future, but to save time I will include updates in this statement about our progress against those promises.
We promised To Protect and Enhance the Nature and Character of our Communities. We know that people enjoy the diversity that is available across the Borough - our mix of villages with strong rural communities, and easy access to the countryside through to our main towns with larger and more varied places for work, shopping and leisure activities. It is the very nature and character of our communities that people value the most, and our job as Councillors can be no more important than to protect that on behalf of the people who we represent. We have been elected to do that and we are getting on with it.
For example, the deputy leader recently chaired a meeting of the Parish Forum, and has since met with David Tredinnick MP to discuss the possible impact on Rural Exception Sites if these are not excluded from new legislation to extend the right to buy.
We promised to fix the current planning issues. My initial discussions with officers about planning matters have been very positive, and in particular identifying what we as a Council must do to ensure we control where houses are built. Members will be aware of recent progress being made to strengthen this councils case against speculative applications, via the Allocations document and the Examination in September, and we intend to go further by ensuring that we maximise our ability to direct new housing to brown field sites. One big step towards that is for this Council to take more responsibility for housebuilding, and in the coming months members will have evidence of that taking place. On tonights agenda we also see the Market Bosworth neighbourhood plan taking its next steps along its path to being made.
Once any development is underway our planning committee should monitor compliance, and in future will be provided with regular updates on enforcement actions, and will also receive progress updates on major developments. Members will in future be better informed as these projects are delivered, and be better able to deal with any concerns from local residents.
We promised to put an end to the continued unwanted expansion into the green fields surrounding our towns and villages, we can achieve this more quickly with the co-operation of developers. I therefore hope to have the opportunity before the end of the year to meet with local developers, to discuss ways in which they may deliver their current commitments more quickly, and to discuss how they might better support our plans for the future.
Based on recent growth, the population of Hinckley and Bosworth could increase by 25000 over the next 30 years, and we need a plan for where those people will live, but it is as important to identify where we do not want those people to live, and work with developers to protect those areas. Many of our communities have been under pressure in recent years because it is easy to build on the edge of existing settlements, but easy is not always best, and we should be more creative and considerate with our housing solutions, and deliver the services that local people know are required.
We promised to protect and improve key services. We plan to protect the universal services for the collection of refuse, recyclable materials and garden waste. We do have a challenge in this area because of falling values of recycling materials and tailing off of land fill diversion credits. Last year this Council discussed the possibility of introducing a separate charge for the green waste collection service, but in the end opted to use its reserves. This is unsustainable and we have to find more certain ways of funding these services if they are to continue. We are therefore working with officers to determine how our recycling, green waste and refuse collection services can be sustained in their current form.
We promised to ensure that all residents of Hinckley and Bosworth get fair value for money from their council tax. We know that our rural communities require additional services and this Council has a good record of supporting them to gain access to funding in some areas, but we intend to go further. We will be bringing forward plans to provide a greater level of direct investment to deliver some of these services.
But we are also as determined as the last Conservative Administration, which laid out the regeneration Masterplan, to complete the regeneration of Hinckley, and that requires us to do more after The Crescent and new leisure centre. We will start with the existing leisure centre site, and bring forward our proposals with the intention that work should be able to commence on that site as soon as the new leisure centre is in use. Other areas of the town will also have detailed plans produced so that people can see what regeneration stage 2 could deliver, whilst we will also work on short term and more easily delivered initiatives.
In addition to any existing work plan, the recent general election result, and more recent budget, have introduced several challenges on the horizon, particularly with changes to council house rents, introduction of the living wage, implementing changes to 'right to buy', and possible introduction of combined authorities and devolution. This last measure is one that could deliver greater responsibility to this Council, with a greater programme of work, and more opportunities for self funding. Members have within tonight’s programme an update on two such proposals that this council is a part of, and we'll have an opportunity to discuss these later.
Minutes:
In his position statement, the Leader of the Council referred to expenses he had claimed in the course of his recent duties as Leader, his appreciation for the work of officers in supporting the new Council and positive discussions held on planning matters and combined authorities.