To receive a report from the leader on the activities of the executive (cabinet) since the meeting of Council on 6 March 2020.

Council received and noted the Leader’s report on the activities of the Cabinet since the meeting of Council on 6 March 2020 as contained in the supplement published on 16 July containing a corrected version of the report. The Leader introduced his report and provided a correction to paragraph 13 to include mention of Staffordshire as a member of the Shire Leaders. The Leader also referred to the announcement from government that the Council would receive an extra £1.5million to assist in the response to coronavirus.

The Leader received the following questions:

·         If the capital programme was amended to release money for flooding repairs can you confirm that no projects to benefit rural areas would be cut? It was hoped that more money would be forthcoming from government to fund the flooding repairs, if cuts to the capital programme were required this would be a decision of the full Council. It was hoped that any cuts would not affect the investment identified for market towns.

·         The intervention of the MP for North Herefordshire in efforts to secure funding from government for flooding repairs was welcome but was there concern that only minor influence had been brought to bear. It was hoped that the MP retained influence with the government. The Leader regularly wrote to ministers in the government and copied his correspondence to the MP.

·         It was queried why there was no mention of the £7.6 million funding from the Department of Transport (DfT) for highways bringing total grant funding up to £20 million. The Leader explained that this funding was part of the capital programme and was committed to potholes although its purpose had been updated by government to include mention of recovery from flooding. The administration was intent on using the whole fund for potholes and accessing other capital funding to pay for repairs to flooding damage; this would be a collective decision of the Council. 

·         The revenue implications of the purchase of the Maylords Centre and the Hillside centre were queried. It was confirmed that the Maylords Centre had a positive cash flow and the reopening of the Hillside centre was undertaken as an emergency measure in response to the flooding of a care home in the South of the county.

The meeting was adjourned at 12.50 p.m. due to technical problems. The meeting was reconvened at 1.20 p.m.

·         The community working arrangements with partners during the coronavirus was very valuable and it was asked whether the council could commit to retain the links established. It was important to not lose the links and Talk Community could work with local communities to sustain the arrangements established.

·         The non-profit principle behind the acquisition of the Maylords Centre was queried. It was explained that there was not a profit incentive attached to the purchase of the centre which allowed the council to explore options with the local community to realise its social value.

·         As the existing freeholder of the site the purchase of the Maylords Centre concerned the acquisition  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65