Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Faulkner, Orson, Posnett, Pritchett and Wood.

To confirm the minutes of the Council meeting held on 28 July 2022 and the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 14 September 2022.

The minutes of the Council meeting held on 28 July 2022 and the minutes of the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 14 September 2022 were both confirmed as a true record.

Members to declare any interest as appropriate in respect of items to be considered at this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

·       Announcements.

·       Outgoing Cadet.

·       Incoming Cadet for the Municipal Year 2022/23.

The Mayor advised that he had met so many unsung heroes during his time as Mayor that were helping people and doing voluntary work around the town and Borough. He informed Members that he had attended the following events since the last Council meeting held in July :

·       Unveiling of the golden bench by local Melton resident Iman Barlow for becoming ‘World Thai Boxing Champion & World Games Gold Medallist 2022’

·       Tilton Brownie Camp

·       Melton in Bloom presentations for hidden gems of cafes with outdoor seating

·       Let’s get moving Melton Day in the Play Close

·       Ukrainian Independence Day at St Mary’s Church

·       DATR for the unveiling of a Leicestershire Green Plaque award

·       An event at the Council to hear the views of young people

·       Wreath laying on the death of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II

·       Visits associated with enabling residents to sign the Book of Condolence

·       Proclamation of King Charles III

·       National Sheep Association Ram Sale at the Cattle Market

·       Battle of Britain Parade and Church Service

·       Official Civic Service for Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II at Leicester Cathedral

·       Update tour on youth activities in the town

·       Presentation at Langar Airfield for the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the loss of 16 United States pilots

·       Presentations by Melton in Bloom to Long Field School

·       151/156 Parachute Battalion Reunion

·       Furniture Project update on how they help people furnish their homes on a budget

·       1279 Squadron Cadets event

·       Meeting with RAFA at their HQ on Asfordby Road

·       Joined the Rotary Club in the planting of crocuses on the bank near Parkside to raise awareness for polio

·       Various Civic Services around the county and neighbouring areas

·       It was announced that Melton Young Farmers Tug of War team of girls came 6^th in the world and the juniors came 6^th in the world

·       The Deputy Mayor had also attended a Civic Service and a ball on behalf of the Mayor

Formal appointment of the Mayor’s Cadet

The Mayor introduced the role of Mayor’s Cadet and advised that the role provided a close and visible association between the Mayoralty and the 1279 Air Cadet Squadron and it was an honour for those cadets nominated to take up this position.

The Mayor invited the outgoing Mayor’s Cadet, Cadet Corporal Daniel Bartram, to make a presentation on his year in office. The Mayor presented a certificate and thanked Cadet Corporal Bartram for his service to the Mayoralty.

The Mayor announced the new Mayor’s Cadet for the ensuing year, Cadet Corporal Wilf Burrows, and presented the brassard that denoted the role when wearing with his uniform.

In the Leader’s absence, the Deputy Leader made the following speech :

‘Members, whilst I recognise, we held an extraordinary meeting in honour of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II in September, given this is the first Leaders Notifications since her passing, I wanted to once again acknowledge her incredible contribution to our country and Commonwealth, and place on record our allegiance and best wishes to King Charles III.

For the same reason, I also want to again formally acknowledge the tragic and untimely passing of our dear friend and colleague, Mel Steadman, and also place on record my sincere appreciation for her passion, contribution and commitment to her community and this council. As well as for the humour and bravery she continued to show at all times. We continue to offer our thoughts and prayers to her friends and family.

Over recent years, you will have heard us talk a lot about the pace of our housing improvements and following the commitment and investment we made in 2019, and a lot of hard work since, we have seen the benefit of those decisions, and that determination, come to fruition in recent months.

I must continue to pay tribute to our committed staff team and portfolio holder and wanted to share a few notable highlights. In the last month, I know that a number of you were able to attend a demonstration of our new housing management IT system, which you may recall was something the council invested in through the Housing Improvement Plan. A number of housing management policies have been approved by the Cabinet with more to follow, and our housing asset management plan has been considered by the scrutiny committee ahead of consideration by full council later this year. We continue to build a clear, robust and evidence-based approach to managing and investing in our homes.

One of our proudest moments though, and perhaps the greatest signal of the transformation over the last 3 years, has been the conclusion of the most recent landlord health and safety audit, which is due to be considered in more detail at the next Audit and Standards Committee. The original audit in 2019, which offered limited assurance, was a key trigger for the changes brought forward in the Housing Improvement Plan. The recent audit provides substantial assurance for the controls we now have and demonstrates the complete transformation of the service and the grip the team now have on this most important issue. There is no room for complacency of course but we should all be proud of what we have achieved and be confident in the measures we have both taken and will continue to take in our housing service. 

On community safety, I would like to thank our Scrutiny Committee members who arranged for the Police and Crime Commissioner, Rupert Matthews, to come to Melton to discuss Crime and Disorder issues within our Borough. The session was both positive and productive and followed the PCC’s visit to a number  ...  view the full minutes text for item CO33

In accordance with the Constitution, Members of the Council may answer questions from the public of which notice has been given.

No questions were received by the deadline.

There were no questions received.

(Councillor Child left the meeting at 7.15 pm.)

In accordance with the Constitution, a Member may ask the Leader, the Chair of the Council or a Committee Chair, a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Borough.

Two questions have been received.

There were two questions received however one question was withdrawn on the day of the meeting.

Before reading his question Councillor Lumley paid tribute to late Councillor Mel Steadman and referred to her being a hard-working Councillor. 

Councillor Lumley asked the following question :

‘Can the Member strongly consider free or reduced MBC-operated car parking charges in the Melton town area after 3pm Monday-Saturday, to help town centre businesses, assuming existing very low revenue after this time is confirmed?

This would greatly help due to the inefficiency of our current car parking payment machines (where there is complimentary individual central government money to upgrade Council-maintained car parking payment machines) where feedback is that people are put off by not having the correct change denomination and no change is given, to generally to uplift a quieter time of day throughout the town centre, and with a key time of day of where parents and guardians pick up their children from nursery and school, which could then entice them into the Town Centre.’

The Portfolio Holder for Growth and Prosperity, Councillor Bindloss, responded as follows :

‘I appreciate and thank the member for his question and I agree as I’m sure we all do that supporting town centre businesses particularly at this difficult time is important for the vitality and prosperity of our town. We are indeed listening to the businesses not just in the town but across the Borough and we welcome your feedback on the issues faced by those attempting to utilise the car parks to visit and shop in the town area.

As we all know we have gone from one national crisis to another with people now feeling a financial squeeze and indeed a genuine hardship through the cost of living crisis, with so many now identifying this it is now also becoming a cost of business crisis.

We are keen to support town centre businesses where possible and to that end we have allocated significant funding to support the wider town centre and ultimately attract more people into it through the recently submitted UKSPF fund and I can say we are always keen to do more and look at more options.

The question of car parking is rightly something that should be considered as part of the budgeting process for the authority and to this end I have requested that officers look into this further so as to advise members on the financial impact of this and to consider other scenarios to try and balance our commitment to the town centre alongside our need to remain fiscally responsible and maintain the financial sustainability of the Council.

With regard to the car parking machines themselves we plan to undertake a car parking needs assessment to ensure we future proof accessibility to the town and provide enough space for future users and visitors taking into consideration  the expected growth within the area over the next 10-15 years.

As part of this we are looking at not only the costs  ...  view the full minutes text for item CO35

In accordance with the Constitution, motions on notice must be signed by at least two Members and be about matters for which the Council has a responsibility or which affect the Melton Borough.

No motions were received by the deadline.

There were no motions on notice received.

The Monitoring Officer is to present the review of political balance and allocation of seats to political groups.

The Monitoring Officer presented a report on the review of political balance and allocation of seats to political groups following recent changes which altered the political balance between the groups. She advised that nominations had been received from the Groups for Councillor Carter to take up the Opposition seat on the Scrutiny Committee and Councillor Posnett to take up the Conservative seat on the Licensing Committee. She also reported there was an error in the recommendations at 2.2, which should refer to paragraph 5.3 and not paragraph 5.2.

Some members expressed concerns about committee appointments and advised that they would vote against the motion. 

RESOLVED

Council :

(1)  Approves the political balance calculation set out at paragraph 5.1;

(2)  Approves the allocation of committee seats to political groups as set out in paragraph 5.3 and notes the membership of each committee as set out in Appendix A.

(16 for, 4 against, 1 abstention)

Before closing the meeting, the Mayor announced that the next Council Meeting would be held on Tuesday 20 December and not on Thursday 15 December as previously notified. This was to allow for the finalisation of the documentation for the strategic partnership.