Agenda item

The Executive Leader, Councillor R Fuller to address the Council on the State of the District.

The Chairman will invite the Leaders of the Opposition to respond to the address.

[In the ensuing debate, a Member may speak once and no speech may exceed 5 minutes in length without the consent of the Chairman].

The Chairman invited the Executive Leader, Councillor R Fuller to address the Council on the State of the District 2021 and to open the debate which was scheduled to follow. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is appended in the Minute Book.

In his opening remarks Councillor Fuller began by reflecting back on his State of the District address the previous year that focussed on the Council’s immediate Covid response and was proud to report on a record of action that been undertaken since then to support communities around the District. His sincere thanks were offered to both Officer and Members who supported the delivery over the last year, with new ways of working being deployed.

Focussing on the business community, Members were advised of the successful delivery of a range of discretionary grant schemes alongside the mandatory Government schemes resulting in the award of £56m to support local businesses. Alongside this £22m of business rate reliefs and the securing of an additional £1.4m of Government funding to further business recovery and growth support schemes and the direct delivery of £900k of hardship funding and Council Tax support payments.

Attention was drawn to support of £65k funding for the community and food banks, together the Council’s own stock of food and supplies for vulnerable and shielding residents, the extension of the Community Chest fund to £50k for Covid support and Covid recovery projects and the success for the Council in the being an early adopter of the Kickstart youth employment scheme.

In referencing his first public statement on the Coronavirus on 18th March 2020, the Executive Leader reminded Members of the Council’s priority to assist the business community, maintain essential services and support the most vulnerable in the District and this has guided all the Council had achieved over the last 16 months in response to the pandemic.

The Executive Leader explained that the resultant delivery of new services in response to the pandemic would have been easy for this to impact on other areas of activity, but he reported that the direction of the Cabinet was to maintain business as usual. This can be demonstrated by the continued delivery of the waste and operations service, with the District Council being one of only 5% of all Council’s that have managed such an achievement.

Members were informed of the success in preventing 523 homelessness cases throughout the past year and the eventual accommodation of 108 individuals under the Government’s ‘Everyone In’ scheme, as well as new Homelessness and Housing Strategies securing £25k of Government funding to continue the Council’s outreach service to support rough sleepers.

An update was provided on the channel shift of an increase in residents accessing services digitally at times to suit them, with more than 24k online portal accounts created and activity taking place outside normal working hours. A further update was provided on the award of £12.2m of Community Infrastructure Levy funding towards a range of infrastructure projects around the District, the most awarded in a single year so far.

Attention was drawn to discussions held previously on the potential impact of the pandemic on the Council’s finances, with the suspension of car parking charges, closure of leisure centres, commercial rental income under pressure and other fee income predicted to reduce significantly, the Executive Leader explained that there was a risk of a much larger gap of £8m predicted in the Council’s budget but due to the actions taken by the Cabinet and Senior Officers, together with the Government support received, he was pleased to report the fantastic achievement of a £60k underspend on the budget figures set the month before the pandemic took hold. It was further noted that despite not knowing the outturn figures for the year, a Council Tax freeze was delivered for this financial year.

Members were acquainted with details of a range of new projects delivered in addition to the other achievements in the previous year to deliver the manifesto commitments of the administration and response to emerging priorities to ensure Huntingdonshire continued to thrive. This has included the rolling out of electric vehicle charging points in the Council’s car parks, provision of a brand new park in St Ives and the securing of nearly £4m in grant funding to decarbonise the Council’s buildings.

The Executive Leader referred to the issue of problem parking around the District and the successful introduction in the responsibility of civil parking enforcement for on-street parking offences, as well as other successful projects that had been delivered that were not required as statutory services or commitments but demonstrated the ambition of the District Council.

Attention was drawn to future projects including the transformation of an area by the river in Godmanchester, an agreement with the Longhurst Group to develop nine redundant District Council land holdings to deliver 100 new affordable homes, delivery of the £1.5m Covid recovery accelerated town centre work with secured funding from the Combined Authority and the significant investment in the St Neots town centre regeneration plans, with similar proposals planned for Huntingdon, St Ives and Ramsey.

The Executive Leader highlighted the OxCam Arc project, one the Government’s top ten stated priorities, with Huntingdonshire sitting at the gateway to the rest of Cambridgeshire and encouraged Members to engage constructively to avoid missed opportunities. Despite the Arc concept not being perfect, particularly with some of the proposals associated with the East-West rail link, the potential benefits to Huntingdonshire residents, particularly in and around St Neots, should be embraced by all Members as unparalleled opportunities for the residents.

Members were urged to maintain the momentum and continue to rise to the challenges that may still emerge from the longer-term effects of the pandemic and recovery. The Executive Leader expressed his positivity and ambition for the opportunities available to the District Council, being the ninth largest in the country, to continue to strive for excellence that has been delivered in abundance over the last year.

In concluding, the Executive Leader referred back to his first speech as newly elected Leader in December 2019 of ambitious vision, provider of vital services and always there for the most vulnerable residents and relevance of such words today.

In response, on behalf of the HDC Independent Group, Deputy Leader, Councillor Ms S Smith thanked the Executive Leader for presenting to Members a comprehensive update of the Council’s programme of activities for the last year. In referring back to the budget meeting in February 2021, with the unprecedented year of uncertainty and disruption, Councillor Ms Smith acknowledged and thanked the Officers and Members on the Executive and the Overview and Scrutiny Panels who had ensured the robustness and transparency of the decision making and the collaborative working in the voting in favour of the budget. In noting the support funding provided from the Government in terms of the Income Compensation Scheme and Council Tax Support Scheme to all authorities, this has placed Huntingdonshire in a stronger position than many other authorities. In reflecting on the positive outcome in the award of £2m New Homes Bonus, confirmed before the budget meeting, the Finance Team demonstrated their professionalism in adapting to accommodate this in the budget.

Councillor Ms S Smith referred to the challenges ahead, particularly with the Government’s proposed changes to the planning laws that may result in the re-writing of the Local Plan and other planning policies but was encouraged by the administration’s commitment to civil parking enforcement and decriminalisation of on-street parking enforcement, as well as the ongoing work with Disabled Facilities Grants despite the reduction in funding in the current financial year.

In her concluding remarks, Councillor Ms Smith reflected on the collaboration and consultation on the Future High Streets Fund Project and it was hoped that the District Council would continue to work with the respective Town Councils and local residents to ensure the smooth delivery and implementation of these improvements to continue to demonstrate the same level of joint working that was delivered over the past year. 

Councillor Mrs S J Conboy on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Group thanked the Executive Leader for his hard work and paid tribute to the hard work of the District Council staff. In reflecting on the previous year where some had been bereaved, furloughed, lost business income and many suffered ill health and communities, although isolated during the lockdown periods, also demonstrated great community support in pulling together. This also included the way councillors worked together, irrespective of their political standing and worked together to put the residents first.

It was highlighted to the Members the ongoing impact of Covid and the challenges that still existed, particularly in relation to building the local economy and managing the impact on the Council’s budget. Councillor Mrs Conboy also referred to the Corporate Plan, that was achievable but ambitious based upon the assumption of returning to normal and likely that work will be different with access to service provided in a different way. In concluding, she thanked fellow Members and staff for their hard work during this difficult period that was a testament of commitment to putting the residents first.  

On behalf of the Labour Group, Councillor S Wakeford echoed the sentiments of the previous Members and the impact on all over the past year. The Council had reacted well to meeting the challenges of the residents and referenced the successes highlighted by the Executive Leader, including the successes in preventing homelessness and work with rough sleepers. He welcomed the
non-partisan approach and looked forward to working with the current administration in its return to some sense of normality. Councillor Wakeford concluded by commending the hard working Council staff for the help that they had provided to residents over the past year.

Councillor A Roberts highlighted the successes of maintaining front line services and delivery of new facilities such as the new Berman Park in St Ives. As a representative of one of the market towns in the District, he reported upon work with the Town Centres Recovery Officer that had been supporting welcome back grants, the Shop Locally and Think Local campaigns and looked forward to the work associated with the Accelerated Town Centres Programme.

Councillor D Dew commended the Executive Leader on his exceptional and thorough report of activities and had risen to the tremendous challenge over the past year. He also commented upon the observations by parish councils of how well the District Council had been operating in a partnership and collaborative way, as well as at recent meeting he had attended the District Council had been held up as exemplar and commended all Members and Officers.