Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, at the Council Offices, Southfields, Loughborough. View directions

Items
No. Item

99.

Disclosures of Pecuniary and Personal Interests

Minutes:

No disclosures were made.

100.

Leader's Announcements

Minutes:

No announcements were made.

101.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 135 KB

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 10th March 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed.

102.

Questions under Cabinet Procedure 10.7 pdf icon PDF 116 KB

The deadline for questions is noon on Wednesday, 30th March 2022. 

Minutes:

Councillor Ward (on behalf of Labour Group) – Zamo??, Poland and War in Ukraine

 

“It has been widely reported in the news recently that Zamo??, our twin town in Poland, is under increasing pressure from the amount of Ukrainian refugees that they have been accepting as a result of the war in Ukraine.

 

The Labour Group would like to know if Charnwood Borough Council has been in contact with our friends in Zamo?? to offer our support, and if so, what shape that support may take? For example, could it take the form of a scheme to put Charnwood residents keen to offer Ukrainian refugees a place to stay in the UK in touch with Ukrainians currently being supported in Zamo??? Or similarly for organisations in the Borough who wish to get involved with the Sponsorship scheme?”

 

The following response had been published prior to the meeting:

 

Thank you Cllr Ward for your question. The Council has reacted quickly and proactively to show its solidarity with the people of Ukraine, Poland and Zamo??. We have flown the two national flags, lit up the Council building and supported the co-ordination of an awareness raising and solidarity event at the Sockman statue in Loughborough. We have also directly supported the collection of donations and contributed financially ensuring the delivery of donations from the fantastic response from our communities to Poland through our partnership work with the Loughborough Polish Club. A part of that initial response was to reach out to our twin town in Zamo?? via the Mayor who emailed his counterpart in early March. We have recently (24th March) received a response which includes a bank account for financial donations. We are in the process of verifying that account and we will then speak with the Loughborough Polish Club about how best to respond. In terms of refugee support we are working with partners in the Local Resilience Forum to implement the Government’s schemes. The guidance to Councils does not include the establishment of a matching process. A matching service is therefore outside of our current remit and there would be significant issues to consider in establishing such a service including security and safety both digital and physical. The current assessment is that this would be better done at scale rather than at a local level. Our focus therefore has been on ensuring that our services are prioritised to support with the safety checks for accommodation and working with partners to support arrivals.

 

Councillor Ward thanked the Deputy Leader for the response and officers for the comprehensive briefing on the matter provided for councillors on 6th April 2022.

103.

Charnwood Grants pdf icon PDF 276 KB

A report of the Head of Neighbourhood Services.

 

Key Decision

Minutes:

Considered, a report of the Head of Neighbourhood Services to consider applications received in additional Round 3 of Charnwood Grants 2021/22 (Community Facilities Grants) (item 6 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

 

The Head of Neighbourhood Services assisted with consideration of the report.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.         that the following Community Facilities Grants be awarded:

 

        up to £11,000 to New Life Community Church towards a new meeting room;

        up to £4,000 to Barrow Community Library towards a solar PV energy system;

        up to £7,797 to Fearon Hall Community Association towards disability access;

 

2.      that the following Community Facilities Grant applications be deferred to a future Round:

 

        Bradgate Park Trust - £3,000 requested – applied for funding towards the renovation of a community building;

        Loughborough Town Cricket Club - £2,932 requested – applied for funding towards accessible doors;

        The Generator Loughborough CIC - £20,000 requested – applied for funding towards building works/ventilation system for the Loughborough Generator Project;

 

3.      that the following Community Facilities Grant applications be declined:

 

        South Croxton Village Hall Group - £5,795 requested – applied for funding towards the ‘Play a Part’ disabled access project;

        Upstarts Gymnastics Club - £9,794 requested – applied for funding towards the installation of a raised pit with soft landing areas;

 

4.      that the Head of Neighbourhood Services be given delegated authority to finalise the terms and conditions of the awarded Community Grants.

 

Reasons

 

1.      To provide financial support to organisations which meet the criteria of the Community Facilities Grants scheme.

 

2.      To enable further work to be undertaken with the applicant to see whether the application can be improved and strengthened.

 

3.      To decline to provide financial support to organisations which do not meet the criteria for the award of a grant under the Community Facilities Grant scheme.

 

4.      To enable the grants awarded to be finalised and appropriate information to be supplied to the Council about the outcomes of the project.

 

Councillor Bokor, attending virtually, confirmed that she would have voted in favour of the above decision had she been physically present at the meeting and able to do so.

104.

Corporate Delivery Plan 2022-23 pdf icon PDF 2 MB

A report of the Strategic Director; Environmental and Corporate Services.

 

Key Decision

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Considered, a report of the Chief Executive to consider the Corporate Delivery Plan 2022-23 (item 7 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

 

Councillor Seaton, Chair of the Scrutiny Commission, presented a report setting out the Commission’s pre-decision scrutiny of the matter and recommendation (copy filed with these minutes).

 

The Scrutiny Commission was thanked for its pre-decision scrutiny of the matter.

 

The Organisational Change Officer assisted with consideration of the report.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.      that the 2022-23 Corporate Delivery Plan, appended to the report, be approved;

 

2.      that indirect key performance indicators are replaced with a suite of place indicators that will evolve throughout 2022-23;

 

3.      that delegated authority be given to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader, to make amendments to the Corporate Delivery Plan, including to the suite of place indicators;

 

4.      that the report of the Scrutiny Commission be noted.

 

Reasons

 

1.      To identify the Council’s key activities and performance indicators for 2022-23 that support the objectives set out in the Corporate Strategy (2020-2024).

 

2.      To provide an overview of key place metrics for Charnwood Borough Council, benchmarking these against a regional and national picture to provide wider context and comparison.

 

3.      To allow minor corrections and amendments to be made in a timely manner prior to publication and throughout the 2022-23 Corporate Delivery Plan.

 

4.      To acknowledge the work undertaken by and the views of the Scrutiny Commission.

 

Councillor Bokor, attending virtually, confirmed that she would have voted in favour of the above decision had she been physically present at the meeting and able to do so.

105.

Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) Policy pdf icon PDF 500 KB

A report of the Head of Customer Experience.

 

Key Decision

Minutes:

Considered, a report of the Head of Customer Experience to consider the Covid-19 Additional Relief (CARF) Policy in line with Government guidelines (item 8 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

 

The Head of Customer Experience assisted with consideration of the report.

 

RESOLVED that the draft CARF Policy as set out in Appendix A of the report be approved.

 

Reason

 

To respond to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities request for our allocation of the funding to be distributed to appropriate businesses.

 

Councillor Bokor, attending virtually, confirmed that she would have voted in favour of the above decision had she been physically present at the meeting and able to do so.

106.

Review of the Constitution pdf icon PDF 207 KB

A report of the Monitoring Officer, for recommendation to Council.

Minutes:

Considered, a report of the Monitoring Officer to consider amendments to the Council’s Constitution following the annual review, for recommendation to Council (item 9 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

 

The Democratic Services Manager (Deputy Monitoring Officer) assisted with consideration of the report.

 

RESOLVED that it be recommended to Council that the changes to the Constitution set out in Appendix 1 to the report be made, to be effective from the new Civic Year 2022/23.

 

Reason

 

To ensure the Constitution is kept up to date and fulfils its intended purposes.

 

Councillor Bokor, attending virtually, confirmed that she would have voted in favour of the above decision had she been physically present at the meeting and able to do so.