Agenda

To confirm the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 25 July 2024 and the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 5 September 2024.

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

The Mayor will make his announcements.

Following the Mayor’s announcements, there will be a presentation recognising the outgoing Mayor’s Cadet and the incoming Mayor’s Cadet will be revealed.

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

No questions have been received at the time of publication. All confirmed questions will be circulated after the deadline.

Deadline for questions – Thursday 12 September, 12pm

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

Seven questions have been received at the time of publication. All confirmed questions will be circulated after the deadline.

Deadline for questions – Thursday 12 September

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.

The following motion was received from Councillor Higgins (Seconded by Councillor Allnatt).

80th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden

From the 17^th to 25^th of September 1944, Operation Market Garden took place in the German-occupied Netherlands. Today we mark the 80th Anniversary but also pay tribute to those involved in the operation, many of whom were based in the Borough.

The 10th Battalion was centred on the villages of Somerby, Thorpe Satchville, Burrough on the Hill and Twyford. The 11th Battalion was billeted in and around Melton Mowbray, as was the 156th Battalion, with their HQ at Staveley Lodge, now the Pera business park, with its four companies spread between Newport Lodge, Scalford Hall, and The Spinney.

Market Garden's objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the Lower Rhine River, creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany, it was to hopefully shorten the war and liberate Europe. This was to be achieved by two sub-operations: seizing nine bridges with combined US and British airborne force ("Market") followed by British land forces swiftly following over the bridges ("Garden").

The airborne soldiers, numbering more than 41,000, were dropped at sites where they could capture key bridges and hold the terrain until the land forces arrived. The land forces consisted of ten armoured and motorised brigades with a similar number of soldiers.

Today the village of Somerby host an annual parade commemorating those who fought so bravely 80 years ago. Near the village of Burrough on the Hill is a magnificent memorial to the Parachute Regiment and recently the USAAF 315th Troop Carrier Group.

I would like the Council to join me to:

1)    Pay tribute and thank those who made the great sacrifice who fought in Arnhem and the wider Operation Market Garden;

2)    Thank historians, local and national, along with individuals and communities who not only detail the history of the Battle of Arnhem but equally importantly how the Melton Borough community remember those stationed here.

3)    Acknowledges the great work the Friends of the Tenth and the Parachute Regimental Association do, and will continue to do, within the Melton Borough and Arnhem.

4)    Thank the village of Somerby for hosting their annual remembrance event.

5)    That the Mayor and all councillors write collectively to the Mayor of Arnhem and Kingdom of the Netherlands Ambassador to the United Kingdom to express our continued and unwavering friendship between the people of the Borough of Melton and Arnhem in remembering the sacrifice by those 80 years ago in the cause of freedom.

To receive a report on the Local Plan Regulation 19 Consultation.

Pursuant to the Council’s Constitution (Chapter 3, Part 1, Procedure Rule 16), the Mayor has allowed the consideration of the Councillor leave of absence report as an urgent item.