Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Executive

The Chief Executive presented the report.

As a result of Member discussion on the Council Delivery Plan review, the following comments were made:

Support was given to the proposed Ward Member profiles as part of the performance management, Members felt this would be a valuable source of information.

Support was also given to the proposed Annual ‘State of North West Leicestershire’ exercise to provide Members with a summary of contextual information such as skills, employment and health.

Officers were asked to ensure that the customer friendly short version of the Delivery Plan concentrate on the important facts. 

The targets for tackling obesity were acknowledged but it was felt that it could be expanded further, particularly health and fitness.  The Chief Executive explained that the Council was working closely with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to develop a health place plan which would identify what could be done collectively to improve the health of people in the District.  She confirmed that a workshop was being organised across all partners to develop this plan and Members would be briefed on this in more detail in due course.

Concerns were raised that there was not a carbon reduction target within the proposed plan and, as it was clear from the statistics in the earlier item on the agenda that the Council was behind on its aims, it was felt that there was a need for a target of this nature.  The Head of Community Services explained that as planning was in the early stages, it was important to carry out the necessary research and feasibility studies to acquire baseline figures before targets could be put in place.  He assured Members that although he was taking a cautious approach, the next 6 to 12 months would see movement going forward.

In relation to the target to increase tourism, it was commented that this was minimal, and it was possible to achieve more.  The Chief Executive explained that the tourism sector was one of the hardest hit in the pandemic and considerable work had been undertaken to assess the impact.  It was felt that the 2 percent target was an aspirational one when considering the current position of the sector.  Members were also reminded that the baseline figures used would be pre-pandemic.

In response to a question regarding the time period for the proposed plan, the Chief Executive confirmed that it was a two-year plan that would go as far as early 2023, this would allow for a further review following the District Elections in May 2023.

The Chairman thanked Members for their contributions and confirmed that comments made would be presented to Cabinet when it considers the report.