i) Chairman of Council
ii) Leader of the Council
iii) Head of Paid Service
Minutes:
Chairman
The Chairman addressed Council and brought Members’ attention to the Community Award packs which had been distributed across the Chamber. The Chairman urged all Members to ensure that their respective town and parish councils, and any other community groups were aware of the awards.
The Chairman spoke of the marvellous people out in the community who gave up their time to make life better, whether it was by simply popping in for a chat with someone who would otherwise be lonely, or litter picking and the many other contributions these people made to improving the quality of life in their communities. The Community Awards was an opportunity to celebrate these people and the work they did and he urged all Members to submit nominations for any groups or individuals they personally knew and who they considered worthy.
Referring to recent engagements, the Chairman advised he had attended at numerous events since the last meeting, but highlighted the following to Council: -
Top of his list, his Civic Service, which had been a thoroughly enjoyable event. The Chairman expressed thanks on behalf of himself and his good lady to all those who had made it a memorable day for them, especially to the Officers who had worked tirelessly, and to the Civic Officer for her flawless organisation.
The Chairman would be holding his Annual Civic Carol Service at St Michael’s Church in Hackthorn at 6pm on 5th December, all Members were cordially invited.
The Chairman had had the great pleasure of opening the renovated ACIS property at Ingham. The work had been undertaken by apprentices and the Chairman commended the very high standard to which it had been completed, the pride in what they had achieved was obvious.
It had been an honour to attend the degree ceremony for students of Lincoln College at the Cathedral.
On a sad note, the Chairman had also attended the memorial service for John Stanley, a former Chairman of the Council, held here in the Parish Church in Gainsborough.
The opening of the Pilgrim 400 museum in Retford had been an interesting and informative afternoon, as had been attending at the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Gainsborough Heritage Centre. He urged anyone who had not visited the Centre to do so, describing it as absolutely superb.
Last but by no means least was the visit by some of the pupils of the Parish Church School, Gainsborough, who came to learn about local democracy and how the Council works. Everybody had thoroughly enjoyed the event and the Chairman had met quite a few potential future Councillors in the making, including one young man with an eye on the Leader’s job!
Leader
The Leader addressed Council and updated the Chamber in respect of the following matters: -
· Immediately following Full Council in July the Leader attended the Local Government Association Conference in Bournemouth with the Head of Paid Service, and Councillor Bob Waller (substituting for Councillor Owen Bierley). A positive conference with valuable meetings with colleagues from the county whilst building strategic relationships;
· The following week the Leader was in London for the Future Infrastructure Conference. This was organised by the Government, with one of the topics being how to bid for infrastructure, and how this infrastructure would be built. This was an interesting conference at a technical level possibly more suited to officers, but it was an informative day nonetheless;
· On 5 August the Leader spoke with the Prime Minister who was in Boston to announce funding for Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital. The Prime Minister was pressed on fairer funding for the county, along with a number of other issues including the Business Rates Retention Review and getting a multi-year settlement for local government funding rather than a single year allocation;
· There was a meeting with partners, along with Members of West Lindsey District Council (WLDC) and the Heritage Lottery Fund about the Gainsborough Heritage Townscape Scheme on 12 August. This scheme was successful, and £1.9 million of funding had been awarded for heritage improvements to the town centre in Gainsborough. Thanks went to lead Officers and partners involved in this scheme who made this possible;
· On 2 September there was an exit interview ahead of Mr Mark Sturgess’ departure as Executive Director of Operations; gratitude was given to Mr Sturgess for his service to the District;
· On 10-13 September the Leader attended the National Council of Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) in Newcastle where the research budget for APSE was discussed, along with allocating a substantial amount of this budget to solutions for climate change from a local authority perspective. Also discussed was the ambition to be carbon neutral and how this can be made a reality. The Leader led a seminar and discussion on the commercial property portfolio that WLDC had invested in to-date;
· On 17 September the Leader attended the Local Partnership’s 10th anniversary with Lord Gary Porter of Spalding, to discuss the Local Partnership leading on the work for the Growth Deal for the Chief Executives’ and Leaders’ meeting at the Greater Lincolnshire level;
· The memorial service of former WLDC Councillor John Stanley was held on 19 September and the Leader attended along with the Chairman and other Councillors. It was well attended; this was followed by the Pilgrim Roots event in Bassetlaw;
· At the Civic Service for the Chairman held on Sunday 22 September the Leader performed a reading;
· The Central Lincolnshire Local Plan meeting was held in Sleaford on 23 September. Substantive discussions took place regarding the ongoing review into the Local Plan between the 4 partners;
· The Leader attended training events at the Local Government Association Leadership Academy both at the end of September and also in October in Warwick. Hopefully there would be opportunities for other Members of the Council to attend similar training in the months and years ahead;
· The Leaders’ and Chief Executives’ meeting on 4 October was attended by the Leader along with the Executive Director of Resources and the Executive Director for Economic and Commercial Growth. Success was gained with regard to the content of the Local Industrial Strategy, in particular the addition of notable place names within West Lindsey to give readers more of an indication of where the strategy was targeted;
· The Growth Deal progressed with the agreement of re-establishing the shared committee that existing previously; this was due to convene around the same time as the next Leaders’ and Chief Executives’ meeting;
· The Leader also attended a meeting with ACIS;
· The MIPIM UK Conference Team Lincolnshire dinner in London was an opportunity to meet and thank colleagues and local partners from around the county. Thanks were also given to Sir Edward Leigh MP who hosted the table. The following Thursday saw the Green Finance Conference headed by the UK Government’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which was attended due to a place granted through APSE. This was interesting as it explored how the financial wealth of local government could be utilised to lever in greener outcomes and improve the environment;
· The Leader attended a meeting with the Riverside Indoor Bowls Club on 24 October which was positive; thanks were extended to Grant White, West Lindsey District Council’s Enterprising Communities Manager who would be spearheading partnership working on a potential £750,000 multi-purpose facility at Roses’ Sports Ground;
· The Leader was a guest of the Deputy Lord Lieutenant John Burke at the ABF Soldiers’ Charity Concert at Lincoln Cathedral;
· Friday 1 November saw the Leader attend the opening of the new Superdrug store in Marshall’s Yard, Gainsborough, before moving on to the site of the new Crematorium on the outskirts of Gainsborough. This was followed by the first Group Leader’s meeting;
· The conclusion of the Housing Infrastructure agreement with Homes England had happened. WLDC were receiving a £2.1 million recycled grant delivering 796 dwellings in Gainsborough. The infrastructure work was due to take place in early 2020 to unlock the Southern Urban Extension;
· Finally, the submission of the access bid had been entered for £2.5 million to develop social enterprises and find funding solutions to deliver the objectives for the vulnerable communities agenda in Gainsborough.
Head of Service
The Head of Paid Service addressed Council on behalf of the Management Team during which the following points were made: -
· The Alchemy Event
The Alchemy Event had been held in July and had gone really well, resulting in a number of ideas being generated. These ideas had been used within the Access bid submission that had been submitted last week. Officers were also working on some of the ideas to bring them through committees over the coming months. The Head of Paid Service took the opportunity to express his thanks to the team for what had been a well-run event.
· The LGA Peer Review
Planning for the LGA Peer Review was now at an advance stage and the Management Team were expecting to have the Peers confirmed in due course. An update would be included in the Member Newsletter at the end of November.
· The Financial Statements
The Financial Statements had now been Audited and no issues had been raised. This provided the Authority with a clean audit report and a positive value for money assessment.
· General Election
Nominations would open 11th November and close on 14th November at 4pm. The Authority would then be in Purdah from 5pm on the 14th November.
Information would be circulated to Members about the Purdah period and what could and could not happen during this time by the end of the week.
· Local Government Settlement
As a result of the General Election being called, the Head of Paid Service wished to highlight to Members that the Local Government Settlement that had been expected in early December was now likely to be delayed and this could have an impact on the Authority’s budget timetable.
· Cinema Project
The Planning application for the cinema had been validated today and would now go into process.
· Pocket Parks
All Members had been emailed with details of the Pocket Parks Fund. The deadline for bids was the 31st December and Members were therefore urged to make Management Team aware of any groups of which they knew of who were looking to submit a bid.