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.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor R Blunt welcomed Councillor E Allman to the Conservative Group adding that Councillor Allman had already developed a reputation as a hard working individual and he would be a great addition to the Group.

The Leader shared details of the work which had been undertaken to date to help support local people and local businesses in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. He thanked local people for all their efforts adhering to the rules, particularly given the recent national and local pictures which were seeing a rise in the infection rates. He went on to advise Council of the recovery work which was ongoing making reference to the Economic Recovery Plan which will set out how the district will thrive over the next two years and beyond. It was reported that over £20m in grant funding had been provided to 1644 local businesses and work will continue to help support these by encouraging people to shop locally and support their local businesses.

In terms of the Council’s staff, the Leader reported that from the 587 staff, 249 were working in the community and of the 388 located in the offices, 96% of these were working from home and all key services were being continued which was a testament to how the recovery plans were working.

The Leader advised Council that the Council had been awarded a silver star by the Ministry of Defence in respect of the Employer Recognition Scheme in its support and alignment of values in relation to Defence and the Armed Forces Community.

Council was advised by the Leader that in July, a ground breaking ceremony was held to recognise the start of the works on the new Whitwick and Coalville Leisure Centre with a completion date anticipated as being July 2022. There were more than 40 local companies working on the project and over 60% of the construction materials were being sourced locally.

A number of questions were raised by Members in response to Councillor Blunt’s announcements. These related to loss of income to the Council, the political stance of a councillor joining a Group after being elected, the potential to overtax staff who are working additional hours and the cost implications to the Housing Revenue Account from the climate change commitments.

Councillor Blunt advised Council that the questions should be directed more appropriately at the relevant portfolio holder through the scrutiny process. He acknowledged that councillors changing their political stance was not uncommon and was down to individual choice, and recognised that care needed to be taken to ensure the wellbeing of staff and that this was being constantly monitored by the Head of Paid Service.

Councillor Bayliss shared with Council the details relating to the recent completion of the next phase of the council house new build programme, with another 8 new homes being completed and let to tenants in the Greenhill area of Coalville.  The new development known as Woodbrook Court provides 3 three bedroom and 4 two bedroom houses together with a one bedroom bungalow and all have been let to applicants from the Council’s waiting list. It was noted that new build council housing formed just one part of the Council’s approach to increasing the supply of new affordable Council housing within the District, which has seen the completion of 56 new homes over the last three and a half years, with plans for 34 more already well advanced.  The Council was also taking advantage of other opportunities, including the acquisition of Section 106 planning agreement properties and purchasing homes in the open market in areas of high housing need, using funding retained through the

Governments 1 for 1 replacement funding scheme, with 48 new properties already acquired.

The amounts to a total of 104 additional affordable rented homes for tenants in need, and the future pipeline of schemes now details an additional 48 new homes on the way.

Councillor Bayliss concluded by advising Council that he will be presenting a report to Cabinet in October regarding the progress on the acquisition of additional properties, and a subsequent report to give further details on the new build and acquisitions programmes going forward.