Agenda item

Members are reminded that under paragraph 11.1 of part 4 of the Constitution, questions can be asked of the Leader and Cabinet Members without notice about any matter contained in any address.  Questions shall be limited to five minutes in total for each announcement.

Councillor N J Rushton shared some of the key messages from the 2018/19 provisional outturn report which had recently been considered by Cabinet.  He announced that financial performance had continued to improve across the Council and reserves remained healthy due to growth in income from business rates and the new homes bonus.  He reported that £1.4 million had been transferred into the self-sufficiency reserve taking the total to £4.2 million, meaning there was now a healthy reserve which would enable the Council to respond to future financial risks in a rational and reasoned way.  He felt it was prudent to have this reserve given the uncertainty going forwards.

Councillor N J Rushton highlighted the remaining surpluses and reserves which had been allocated, including £200,000 for a new Local Centres Frontage Improvement Scheme in Castle Donington, Kegworth, Ibstock and Measham, £20,000 to fund an options appraisal for Moira Furnace, £20,000 to support the administration of EMEG Access to Work scheme, £30,000 to commission a Carbon Footprint report, £30,000 to undertake a food waste recycling pilot and £30,000 to fund health and safety improvements. 

Councillor N J Rushton reported that £4.6 million of the Housing Revenue Account surplus had been transferred to the Loan Redemption Reserve which now had the full £13 million of funds in place to repay the maturity loans due for redemption in 2022, ahead of the target date in 2020.

Councillor S Sheahan made reference to the supplements from business rates.  With respect to Moira he suggested that consideration be given to expanding the number of workshops on site.

Councillor N Smith supported the comments on the need to expand Moira Furnace.

Councillor N J Rushton announced that officers had been successful in securing £7,500 of funding from Barnardo’s, which would be used to deliver a physical activity based school holiday programme in Coalville for children who were most in need.  The programme was being delivered in partnership with Everyone Active.

Councillor B Harrison-Rushton welcomed the additional funding in Kegworth, which was needed in such a fast growing area.  He also welcomed the announcement regarding the funding from Barnado’s, especially considering a recent report from the Education Policy Institute which showed that the fitness of students in low income families fell 18 times faster during the summer holidays. 

Councillor R D Bayliss said farewell to Glyn Jones and thanked him on behalf of the tenants.  He stated that he had a transformative agenda and had been a great servant to this Council.  He commented on their positive working relationship and the progress that had been made during his tenure. 

Councillor R D Bayliss announced the completion of the second phase of the building programme of new council houses, with 24 new council homes built and let on the site of the old Police Station on Ashby Road, Coalville.  Phase three of the programme will see the development of the former Cocked Hat public house in Greenhill, a site which has been derelict for 15 years and which the Council purchased last year.  He reported that planning permission had been granted for 8 new council homes, and construction would commence in August.  The viability of sites in Measham and Whitwick were also being assessed. 

Councillor R D Bayliss stated that the Council had added to the supply of affordable rented housing by acquiring 45 new homes from developers as part of planning agreements over the previous 2 years.  A further 2 homes had been acquired in Ashby de la Zouch and were due to be handed over in the next month.  This meant that the Council had added 95 new homes to its council housing stock over the last 2 years. 

Councillor R D Bayliss announced that the Council had signed a Section 106 agreement with East Midlands Gomes at the Holywell Spring Farm site enabling a land transfer which would see the first publicly funded extra care scheme in North West Leicestershire.  The Council would be contributing over £1 million to enable this scheme to go ahead which would see 65 apartments built in a state-of-the-art scheme for older people. 

Councillor M B Wyatt welcomed the announcement in respect of the development of Cropston Drive.  He asked whether the new council homes were going to be carbon neutral.

Councillor D Everitt welcomed the progress made regarding new council houses.  He hoped that the Council would be in a position to provide more than it sold.

In response to Councillor M B Wyatt, Councillor R D Bayliss advised that the new council homes would be built in accordance with the latest regulations; however the exact specification had not been drawn up yet.

In response to Councillor D Everitt, Councillor R D Bayliss advised that over the past 2 years, the Council had acquired 95 homes and sold 85.

In response to a question from Councillor A Bridgen, Councillor R D Bayliss advised that there were currently around 650 people on the housing waiting list and there were around 330 new council tenancies issued each year.