Agenda and minutes

The Leader of the Council reported that Agenda Item 13 had been withdrawn

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Vanessa Alexander and Ethan Rawcliffe.

There were no declarations of interest or dispensations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 18^th June 2025.

The minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 18^th June 2025 were submitted for approval as a correct record.

In respect of Minute 44 – Minutes of Cabinet (Minute 409), Councillor Khan, Leader of the Opposition, thanked Mark Hoyle, Head of Housing and Regeneration for information supplied to him recently in response to a question asked at an earlier Cabinet meeting about the updated risk register for the Huncoat Garden Village project.

With regard to Minute 46 – Neighbourhoods Boards, Councillor Khan indicated that he had not received a full explanation as to the selection process for the Board’s Chair.  Councillor Dad responded that both he and the MP had been involved in the recruitment process.  Due diligence had been carried out during that process.  Therefore, his answer remained the same as had been provided at the earlier Cabinet and Council meetings.

In connection with Minute 46 – Economic Development Officer, Councillor Khan highlighted an error at the end of the paragraph underneath the ‘Economic Development Officer’ heading, which should read ‘…tenure as Portfolio Holder for Economic Development & Sustainability’.

Resolved                                    -    That, subject to the following amendment:

the substitution at Minute 46 under the heading of ‘Economic Development Officer’ of the words ‘Portfolio Holder for Economic Development and Sustainability’ for the words ‘Leader of the Council’,

the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.

To receive verbal reports from each of the Portfolio Holders, as appropriate.

Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services

Councillor Stewart Eaves reported on the following:

King George V Playing Fields

The tenders for the Sports Pitch Drainage Installation at King George V Playing Fields had been opened last week and it was anticipated that the successful tenderer would be determined this week, with a view to works commencing in September 2025.

Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Culture, Heritage and Sport

Councillor Kimberley Whitehead reported on the following:

The Council’s Culture, Arts and Heritage Fund was being launch today.  The initiative would establish a Culture, Arts and Heritage Grant Programme for 2025/26, to support a wide range of projects that celebrated local identity, built pride in place and would bring people together through culture.  The scheme would offer grants ranging from £150 to £10,000.

Applications would be welcomed from community groups, charities, not-for-profit organisations, schools, artists and businesses.  The programme aligned with the Council’s Culture and Heritage Strategy 2025-30, which had recently been approved.  The closing date for applications was 1^st September 2025, to enable projects to be delivered by March 2026.  The Culture and Heritage investment Panel (CHIP) would be involved in the selection of projects.  Some £90k was available in total.

Councillor Dad noted that the funding was good news and sat alongside funding available from the Cabinet Action Fund for other types of community projects.

Portfolio Holder for Business, Growth and Sustainability

Councillor Scott Brerton reported on the following:

Economic Development Officer

At the last Cabinet meeting, it had been reported that a new Economic Development Officer was being recruited.  An appointment had now been made and the successful candidate was due to start imminently.  The extra staffing would give economic development a significant boost.

Get Hyndburn Working

Councillor Brerton had recently attended the Get Hyndburn Working event along with the local MP to discuss on-going issues about getting people into work and removing any barriers, in line with the Government’s Connect to Work initiative.  The event had been well attended and would be repeated regularly.

Business Engagement

Business workshops and drop-in events were being planned for the year ahead and would be launched shortly.

Draft Climate Change Action Plan

A draft Climate Strategy and Action Plan document had been considered on 14^th July 2025 by the Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee and had been well received.  Overall, the Council was considered to be ‘punching above its weight’.  Councillor Brerton thanked all those involved.

Net Zero Working Group

The Net Zero Working Group continued to meet and was well supported by officers, including Tim Brodest, Home Energy Reduction Officer, and Anne Hourican, Senior Environmental Initiatives Officer. The Council was leading the way in this area of work.

Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Town Centres

Councillor Clare Pritchard reported on the following:

Acccrington Town Centre Group

A group had been established to consider town centre issues in Accrington, comprising representatives of the Council, Police, voluntary organisations and service providers.  To date the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 113.

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Melissa Fisher, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Regeneration, outlining the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery 2025 - 2026 grant and Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme 2025 - 2026 grant funding the Council had been awarded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

The report also identified how the Council proposed to utilise both funding programmes and sought approval to enter into agreements with Maundy Relief and Stepping Stone Projects to support their activities and services in the relief and prevention of rough sleeping.

Councillor Fisher provided a brief introduction to the report, highlighting the increased funding available from MHCLG and the overall approach to the issue which involved multiple stakeholders working to address the reasons for rough sleeping which were wider than simple access to housing matters.  She was pleased to see the Council working closely with Maundy Relief and Stepping Stone Projects.

Councillor Pritchard reported that the Accrington Town Centre Group had already identified two rough sleepers and had referred these to Stepping Stone Projects.  Councillor Whitehead commented that the funding received could not tackle all of the factors involved and that additional welfare support would be required.  There remained further work to do to better address the rough sleeping issue.  Councillor Khan indicated that he welcomed the additional funding provided and expressed the view that rough sleeping had been a growing challenge over the last few years.  Part of the solution might be to establish links into getting those individuals back into work.  Councillor Pritchard confirmed that Stepping Stone Projects did provide support around maintaining tenancies and getting into employment.  Councillor Khan asked if a positive case study could be publicised to showcase the good work taking place.  This would need to be with the consent of any individuals featured.   Councillor Whitehead indicated that positive communications was one of the Council’s priorities.  She added that she was a member of the Street Angels group, which also had a role to play in identifying and supporting rough sleepers.

The Leader of the Council applauded the good work already being undertaken by Maundy Relief and Stepping Stone Projects.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

Rough Sleeping Grant Programmes

In 2018, the previous Government had published their national Rough Sleeping Strategy and Action Plan aiming to halve rough sleeping by the end of that Parliament and eliminate it by 2027.  The Government had committed long term funding for programmes such as the Next Steps Accommodation Programme, Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) programme and the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP).

Local authorities continued to be invited to apply for funds to address rough sleeping.  The RSAP and RSI programmes were designed to fund complementary interventions and activities for this purpose.  There remained a need in the Borough for accommodation for rough sleepers as a route off the street and to prevent people from sleeping rough.  Consequently, the Council had submitted applications  ...  view the full minutes text for item 114.

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Melissa Fisher, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Regeneration, seeking approval to waive the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules in respect of the direct procurement of the Locata Pro Homelessness, Prevention and Advice (HPA2) software, which was currently the homelessness management and reporting software system used by the Council.

Councillor Fisher provided a short introduction to the report, which tied in closely with the previous item of business.  She highlighted the contract duration, annual costs and that its purpose was to support the Housing Advice and Homelessness Team.

Councillor Khan asked whether any alternative systems had been considered.  Councillor Fisher referred him to Paragraphs 3.5 and 4.1 of the report, which explained why now was not an appropriate time to change the system being used.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

The introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017(HRA) had placed new legal duties on local authorities and amended existing homelessness legislation set out in the Housing Act 1996.

The HRA (enacted in 2018) placed prevention at the heart of homelessness service delivery.  It introduced new duties for local housing authorities to intervene earlier and work to prevent and relieve homelessness, regardless of whether or not households were in priority need.

The Council had entered into a contract with Locata (Housing Services) Ltd in 2018 for a 2 year term with an option to renew annually for a further 2 years.  This contract had expired in April 2022.  The Council had continued to use this system on an out of contract annual fee with Locata (Housing Services) Ltd.

The Council needed a homelessness management system on a daily basis to manage all homelessness casework.  The Locata system provided reports on homelessness statistics, data and information on active and closed homelessness cases.  Continuous software system support was essential to ensure continuity of service delivery, compliance with the requirements of the HRA and a tool which supported auditing of the service.  The data was also used to understand the level of homelessness both locally and nationally, informed policy making and could support grant funding and bids for new interventions.

The Housing Advice and Homelessness service was currently facing significant pressures, which included the additional work of dealing with homeless applications from asylum seekers who had received a positive asylum decision, households arriving under the family reunion scheme and an increasing number of very complex homeless cases.  Therefore, this was not an ideal time to consider changing an essential software system.  In addition, given the prospect of local government reorganisation, the disruption of a possible move to a new provider did not appear to be an appropriate use of time and resources.  The new agreement with Locata would run for 2 years (at a cost of £12,000 per annum), with an option to extend for a further 2 years.  This fit well with the reorganisation timescale and would enable a successor organisation to easily move to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 115.

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Council Operations, providing an update on the Treasury Management activities since the start of this financial year.

In the absence of Councillor Alexander, the Leader of the Council provided a brief introduction to the report.

Councillor Khan referred to the impending reorganisation of local government and asked how this might affect the Treasury Management Strategy.  In particular, he asked if consideration was being given to bringing back investments into the Council’s accessible finances in order to support its priority projects.  Councillor Dad responded that local governmentreorganisation was going to occur and that in the interim the Controlling group of Hyndburn would continue to do all it could to benefit the residents of the Borough.  Martin Dyson, Executive Director (Resources) clarified that outstanding debts (currently £9.6m, not including other long term liabilities) would transfer to the new unitary authority upon reorganisation, but Hyndburn had a comparatively low level of debt, which should not be a concern to its successor body.  Investments would continue up until changeover, as the Council wished to continue to maximise its returns, however, there would be a point at which investments beyond 12 months’ duration would need to be considered carefully.

Councillor Khan noted that Hyndburn had done well to secure external funding and gain interest from its external investments.  He asked whether there would be sufficient time to spend surplus resources, if the Council chose to do so.  Councillors Whitehead, Fisher and Pritchard responded that preparation for reorganisation was a priority in the Corporate Strategy.  There was an asset management review under way and working groups would be set up to consider any relevant issues.  However, unallocated reserves were just short of £2m, not the significantly higher figure quoted recently by one councillor in the press.  Councillor Dad summed up by confirming that the Council did not currently have surplus money to spend.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

The Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities required the Council to set Prudential Indicators annually for the forthcoming three years to demonstrate that the Council’s capital investment plans were affordable, prudent, and sustainable.  The Council had adopted its prudential indicators for 2025/26 at its meeting in February 2025.

The Prudential Code required the Council, having agreed at least a minimum number of mandatory prudential indicators (including limits and statements), to monitor them in a locally determined format on a quarterly basis.

The indicators were purely for internal use and were not designed to be used as comparators between authorities.  If it should be necessary to revise any of the indicators during the year, the Executive Director (Resources) would report and advise the Council further.

‘Treasury Management’ related to the borrowing, investing and cash activities of the authority, and the effective management of any associated risks.  In February 2025 in the same report referred to above the Council had also set out and then approved  ...  view the full minutes text for item 116.

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Council Operations, on the financial spending of the Council up to the end of the June 2025 for the financial year 2025/26 and the forecast impact on the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2025/26 to 2027/28.

In the absence of Councillor Alexander, the Leader of the Council provided a brief introduction to the report.  He highlighted the £5k forecast underspend and the main adverse variances, which were linked to ICT licenses and unrecoverable Housing Benefit claims.  He reminded members that although Total Reserves were £21.751M, £19.787M was to support the capital programme and earmarked for future commitments, leaving the General Fund (Unalloated) Reserve as £1.964M.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

At the Full Council meeting on 27^th February 2025, Council had agreed the General Fund Revenue Budget for 2025/26.  This had set a budget for the Council’s total spend in 2025/26 of £17.313M.

The current forecast spend to the end of the financial year in March 2026 was £17.430M.  That provided a forecast underspend for the year against the budget to £0.005M.  Further analysis of changes in forecast spend were shown in Section 4 of the report.

Table 1: Actual Performance Against Budgets

Table 2, which was set out in the report, showed details of the most significant changes in the forecast variance.

Variance by Service

Section 4 of the report included a narrative and additional tables (Nos 3 to 11) on Forecast Outturn by each Service, Non-Service Areas and Funding for 2025/26, which provided more detailed information on the areas identified in Table 1 above.  Table 12 comprised the Forecast Movements in Reserves 2025/26, which showed that the Council was currently forecasting a reduction of £8.474M in its usable reserves during the year, bringing them to £21.751M at the end of the year.  The most significant movements in reserves were the forecast spending on the capital programme.

Potential Pressures and Risks in Year

Although the forecast underspend at Quarter 1 was relatively small at £0.05M, there were some real pressures and risks that needed to be considered that were not currently built into any financial forecasts.  The main pressures/risks to be considered were as highlighted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Council Operations, which provided an updated overview of the Council’s Capital Programme Monitoring position at Q1.  It outlined the latest phasing of the programme, including revised estimates of available resources, and highlighted any additions or changes to the forecast outturn since the previous monitoring report presented to Council on 27^th February 2025.

In the absence of Councillor Alexander, the Leader of the Council provided a brief introduction to the report.

Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

2025/26 Capital Programme

At the Council meeting on the 27^th February 2025, Members had approved a capital budget for 2025/26 of £2.726m.  A further £23.236m had been added to this budget from rephased capital projects carried forward from 2024/25.  Of these rephased budgets, £19.370m related to major projects, such as the Levelling Up funded schemes for Accrington town centre and the leisure estate investment programme.

Member approval had also been received to add a further £29.270m to the capital programme, of which £29.187m was for the scheme at Huncoat Garden Village (HGV), which was fully funded from external grants and capital receipts.

At its meeting on 27^th February 2025, the Council had approved an increase of £0.250m to the Climate Change reserve to fund decarbonisation initiatives.  Subsequently, a decarbonisation scheme had been identified as part of the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) project at the Market Hall, which included the installation of photovoltaic panels on the building’s roof with a cost of £0.500m.  Although funding had been allocated, the scheme had not yet received formal approval for inclusion in the Capital Programme and, therefore, the report sought that endorsement.

Several projects had been identified to be rephased into future years, which total £21.212m, of which, HGV was £20.980m.

The proposed Capital Budget for 2025/26 now totalled £34.353m, as shown in the table below:

Capital Programme 2025/26

The financing of the programme in 2025/26 was set out in a pie chart within the report.

The current programme of £55.565m and the rephasing of the programme into future years was as shown below:

Summary of the Scheme Profiles over the Medium-Term Financial Strategy

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Melissa Fisher, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Regeneration, updating members and Management Team on progressions so far on the Wilson Leisure Centre development, along with the target completion date and financial position in relation to the overall budget.

Councillor Fisher provided a brief introduction to the report including the proposed opening date, and the proposed new name for the Centre in memory of Cath Thom.  She was looking forward to the project’s completion.  Councillors Dad, Pritchard and Whitehead spoke about Cath Thom and noted that family members had been contacted and were delighted with the proposal.  Councillor Pritchard also thanked Helen McCue-Melling, Regeneration and Property Manager, for her efforts to ensure that the venue had numerous facilities for users with a disability and was dementia friendly.

Councillor Zak Khan was pleased to see that the Centre was on track and that it had not been unduly affected by the original contractor, ISG, entering administration.  He expressed some reservations about the Centre being named after a former politician rather than, say, a local sportsperson.

Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

Works recommenced on the Wilson site with Universal Ltd the newly appointed construction contractor in early January 2025.

The remaining works from the restart were scheduled for approximately 32 weeks with a completion date expected in early to mid-September 2025.

The contract progress to date was currently expected to have a completion date of 19^th September which was expected to overrun the original target by up to 10 working days.

As Universal Ltd had taken over the contract works after the previous contractor ISG falling into administration there was always likely to be some scope for some slight contract completion overrun as some aspects of works would require procuring again and therefore the current projected overrun of 10 days was within tolerable expectations.

Good progress works had been made against the planned critical path and the building was in its final phases with the focus now moving towards undertaking final external building & internal fitout and finishes.

As with all major projects there were always risks around delays due to reliance on third parties such as utility connections and the availability of providers in ensuring connections were delivered on time.

A summary of construction progress was as follows:

• Roof - Practically complete, mansafe system installed, capping to perimeter ongoing following scaffold strip.

• Internal Walls - Firestopping where applicable well advanced, air sealing where applicable well advanced, dot and dab, rendering/skimming almost complete – small areas remained.

• Internal Floors - Floor tiling ongoing in wet change.

• Internal Decoration - Plant room(s) completed, outdoor change areas well advanced, working in front of Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP).

• Pool Area - Pool earthing installed, pool shell tiling almost complete, pool wall perimeter well advanced with tape and joint and rendering.

• External Façade - Curtain walling complete, cladding well advanced.

• External works  ...  view the full minutes text for item 119.

Recommended                           That, in accordance with Regulation 4(2)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, the public be excluded from the meeting during the following items, when it is likely, in view of the nature of the proceedings that there will otherwise be disclosure of exempt information within the Paragraphs of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 specified at the items.

Details of any representations received by the Executive about why the following report should be considered in public – none received.

Statement in response to any representations – not required.

Resolved                                    -    That, in accordance with Regulation 4(2)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, the public be excluded from the meeting during the following item, when it was likely, in view of the nature of the proceedings that there would otherwise be disclosure of exempt information within the Paragraph at Schedule 12A of the Act specified at the item

In accordance with Regulation 5(6)(a) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, approval is being sought from Councillor Stephen Button, Chair of the Commuinities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to the following decision being made by Cabinet on 30^th July 2025, in private, on the grounds that the decision is urgent and cannot reasonably be deferred.

Exempt information by virtue of Paragraph 3 - Information relating to the financial or

business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Report attached.

In accordance with Regulation 5(6)(a) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, approval was granted by Councillor Stephen Button, Chair of the Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to the following decision being made by Cabinet on 30^th July 2025, in private, on the grounds that the decision was urgent and could not reasonably be deferred.

Exempt information by virtue of Paragraph 3 - Relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Members considered a report of Councillor Munisf Dad BEM JP, Leader of the Council, in relation to the lease of Piggy Park, Devonshire Road, Rishton.

Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

The reasons for the decision were set out in the exempt report.

Alternative Options Considered and Reasons for Rejection

The alternative options considered and reasons for rejection were set out in the exempt report.

Resolved                                    -    That the recommendations as set out in the exempt report be approved.

In accordance with Regulation 5(6)(a) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, approval is being sought from Councillor Stephen Button, Chair of the Commuinities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to the following decision being made by Cabinet on 30th July 2025, in private, on the grounds that the decision is urgent and cannot reasonably be deferred.

Exempt information by virtue of Paragraph 3 - Information relating to the financial or

business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Report attached.

This item had been withdrawn and was not considered.