Minutes:
The Leader congratulated the Mayor on continuing in the role and stated
‘Earlier this year we
approved our new Corporate Strategy and set a balanced budget to support it.
Not long afterwards, the world changed and we faced and continue to face one of
the greatest challenges for a generation. Following a comprehensive review,
tonight we will approve our refreshed Strategy and I look forward to setting
out our key priorities later in the agenda.
When Covid hit we, alongside our community and volunteers,
responded magnificently. Over the summer we have worked with our partners to
support the reopening of the town centre and hospitality sector. It is now
exactly six months to the day when the Prime Minister ordered a national
Lockdown and we now face another significant period as Covid
cases rise across the country and restrictions on society are being re-imposed.
As we confront what are likely to be challenging months over the winter, Melton
Borough Council will continue to lead the local recovery. We will support our
communities and businesses, whilst promoting vital public health messages and
asking everyone to play their role in defeating the virus.
Covid has impacted on many things over the last
few months. We have been working closely with event organisers to see what
might be possible. Whilst understandable, It was disappointing that our famous
Food Festival had to be cancelled and we continue to work with Matthew on
establishing how we might create a sustainable events programme next year. We continue
to work with the RBL on Remembrance Day and hope to mark the occasion
appropriately, albeit in a more modest way and without the usual parade.
Similarly, any Christmas festivities will inevitably be significantly reduced
this year.
On other matters, we
continue to explore whether there is a way in which the southern section of the
road can be delivered. As you will recall we delivered a credible and robust
Masterplan for the southern neighbourhood and have now undertaken a viability
appraisal for it. We have made it very clear to the County Council that we are
prepared to be flexible and to do what it takes to ensure infrastructure costs
are covered by any approved developments. We will continue to seek to persuade
the County Council to accept the Housing Infrastructure Funding and make the
necessary investment and will continue to reiterate our offer to work together
in a collaborative way for the benefit of our communities.
In relation to the
anticipated Devolution White paper, we understand the timescales for this are
slipping and that the messages around any potential need for re-organisation to
support it are changing. Of course we must wait for the final document to be
published, but I was struck by the recent news from Surrey which confirmed that
the Secretary of State did not support their proposals for a single unitary
council and was essentially recommending they should proceed no further. The
District Council Network has made some strong arguments on this point recently,
advocating that local councils need to focus on recovery and delivery and not
get bogged down over arguments relating to structures. This is something I know
our MPs feel extremely strongly about too, something which they have conveyed
to government directly. It will be interesting to watch how the County Council
respond to this given the lack of support for the proposals they set out at
their Cabinet last week. As I mentioned before, Melton Borough Council’s focus
needs to be on leading the local recovery and continuing to deliver for our
residents at this time of national crisis.’