Minutes:
The Leader provided the following announcement:
‘I was delighted that
the Council set its budget last month, balanced for the second year in a row
and it can now get on with continuing to lead the COVID response and recovery,
as well as delivering the priorities set out in its Corporate Strategy.
Yesterday was the
anniversary of the first national lockdown.
As the Council reflect and remember the many lives lost and the many
lives impacted, I want to once again pay my own personal tribute to the
incredible work done by this Council, over the last year, as well as all other
key workers and volunteers who have supported our communities throughout this
period. There has been a rise in Covid-19
cases in Melton over the last week. It
is worth reminding ourselves that this rise follows some significant reductions
over the last couple of months and that Melton has for most of this year been
the area in Leicestershire with the lowest number of cases. However, matters have changed in the last
week and although a number of the cases are linked to specific workplace
outbreaks, broader transmission cannot be ruled out. All need to continue to play their part,
follow the public health advice and not be complacent. If you are invited to receive a vaccine, I
would encourage everyone to take it up.
Last month, I touched
upon the disappointing conduct of Leicestershire County Council’s Leader and
its Cabinet at their meeting on 5 February 2021. I note Councillor Evans’ comments about the
relationship between this Council and the County Council and can assure that
this Council would like to work with the County Council. However, their criticism of this Council in
relation to a land deal they did not properly understand and that this Council
was entitled to reach was a shallow and ill-judged attempt to destabilise, as
this Council negotiate with them on the relief road infrastructure
agreement. Subsequent leaks of inflated
and unrealistic valuations made their tactics even more obvious and I was
delighted this Council’s position was vindicated through the independent
professional assessment we obtained. I
would again encourage the leadership of the County Council to focus on working
to secure the required infrastructure for Melton, rather than playing games and
wasting time.
In relation to the
infrastructure agreement itself, this Council continue to negotiate with the
County Council, alongside Homes England and the Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
This Council has been completely consistent throughout this
process. It remains committed to
reaching an agreement, which supports the road but has made it absolutely clear
that any agreement has to have appropriate legal and financial protections, so
neither authority is exposed. This is
both reasonable and entirely necessary and is something this Council and its
legal team have repeatedly made clear to the County Council, as well as
highlighting how this could be achieved.
This Council stands ready to enter into any legally sound and
financially sensible agreement but ultimately, it is for the County Council to
listen to the advice they have received and to agree something that works for
all parties.
Recruitment for the
new Director for Housing and Communities has started and I am looking forward
to meeting the candidates through the process.
As this is Andrew Cotton’s last Council meeting, I want to once again
thank him for his hard work over the last year and wish him well for the
future. While awaiting the new Director’s
arrival, I was delighted to support the recent recruitment for Interim
Assistant Director for Communities and want to congratulate Aysha Rahman on
securing the role and also to welcome Craig Spence, as Assistant Director of
Housing Management, who joined us only last week.
Earlier this month,
the Chief Executive and I held one of our regular liaison meetings with
regional and National Farmers’ Union (NFU) representatives. The Council has a strong relationship with
its farming community and we talked about the impacts of the sector relating to
Covid-19 and Britain’s exit from the European Union, how the Council is
offering support and working together to tackle shared issues like
fly-tipping. We also discussed the
Council’s work to support Covid-19 recovery and its launch of the Food
Enterprise Centre and the Discover Melton website, something which the NFU are
very keen to support.
Finally, as the
Council enters the pre-election period from tomorrow, I want to offer a few
words of support to our Elections Team, who will once again be facing an
extremely busy period over the coming weeks.
Running elections are a council wide operation with hundreds of people
involved and particularly this year, the challenges of running a Covid-19
secure election are significant. I know
the Council’s team will do a great job to serve local democracy and I want to
thank them for all their efforts.