Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Stewart Eaves, Clare Pritchard, Ethan Rawcliffe and Kimberley Whitehead.

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

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 10^th September 2025.

The minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 10^th September 2025 were submitted for approval as a correct record.

Resolved                                    -    That the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.

To receive the minutes of the meetings of the following bodies:-

The minutes of the following board were presented:

Resolved                                    -    To note the minutes of the Cabinet Waste and Recycling Group held on 30^th September 2025.

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

Leader of the Council

Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP reported on the following:

Local Government Reorganisation

Lancashire councils were continuing to work together to discuss the options for local government reorganisation (LGR) in the county.  The Leader continued to represent Hyndburn at LGR meetings to raise any local issues or concerns.

The Government had provided funding to support the collection of evidence, which would include social and economic information, stakeholder engagement and financial details.  Communities have been invited to have their say and two surveys have been undertaken during September 2025 across the County to seek views on priorities and initial thoughts.  Some 13,414 individual replies had been received, including 409 responses from key stakeholders.  These replies would help to inform the business case for the various options.  Draft proposals should be available on 7^th November 2025.  A variety of views had been expressed to date and several models were likely to emerge.  Councillors and officers were working collaboratively on this project.

In Hyndburn, the information produced would be presented to Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 11^th November and Council on 13^th November, with Cabinet making the final decision on the preferred option on 19^th November 2025.

Consultation responses had been received from both the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce and Sarah Smith MP.  Both had indicated their support for a three unitary authority option.

Cabinet Action Fund

The success of the Cabinet Action Fund was continuing and the latest list of recipients of grants had now been announced.  The five new awards were as follows:

• Oswaldtwistle Emmanuel Cricker Club – £1,000 to expand their cricket training facilities including a new mobile batting cage;
• Friends of Haworth Art Gallery – £760 for a conservation and art related project;
• Globe Bullough Park Football Club – £1,600 to provide new winter kit for their adult team and a full new kit for the under 12s junior team;
• Friends of Rhyddings Park – £1,200 to help with the delivery of inclusive craft and community meal sessions; and
• Hyndburn Comets Majorettes – £1,250 towards the cost of new uniforms, transport to events and other equipment.

There was still funding available for other applicants, particularly from community groups and charities.  Applications could be made directly on-line or via local councillors.  Take up of the funding to date had been good.

The Leader thanked all those who had been involved in the process.

Pride in Place Impact Fund

On 6^th October 2025 the Government had provided further details of the Pride in Place Impact Fund in the sum of £1.5m.  The grant was entirely capital funding and would be allocated in two tranches, £750k in the current year and £750 in 2026/27.  The money would need to be spent by the end of March 2026, although some flexibility might be permitted. 

The Council was required to sign a memorandum of understanding with the relevant Government Department about the reporting requirements. The first payment was due to be received in November  ...  view the full minutes text for item 190.

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, Leader of the Council, informing members of the findings of the Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Challenge Progress Review and thanking the LGA team for their time and encouragement at the current direction of travel.

The Leader provided a brief introduction to the report, highlighting the purpose of the review and some of the main findings in the LGA Team’s latest report, which was provided as an Appendix.  The report was very positive, but it was noted that there was still more to do.  He thanked the cross-party working group, which had included Councillors Zak Khan and Shabir Fazal, for their work in driving forward the action plan.  A number of outstanding actions remained on course to be completed later in the year.  Overall, it was pleasing to see that the Council’s work was making a difference to Hyndburn.

Councillor Cassidy undertook to pass on the Leader’s thanks to Councillor Khan.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

In October last year, the Council had invited a team of senior local government councillors and officers to undertake a Local Government Association Corporate Peer Challenge (“CPC”).

Following the original visit, an action plan had been produced by the Council based on the CPC’s 10 recommendations. 

A progress review had taken place on Thursday 4^th September 2025, focusing on the original 10 recommendations and the Council’s action plan.  To support this review, the Council had produced a position statement based on the action plan that set out progress to-date and intended future actions.

The purpose of the progress review was to receive feedback from the CPC inspection team on the early progress made by the Council in implementing the action plan, consider the team’s’ reflections on any new opportunities or challenges that might have arisen and discuss any early impact or learning from the progress made to date.

The Council’s senior leadership team and political leadership had been interviewed as part of the review and received feedback at the end of the process.  The process had also included 1-2-1 meetings/phone calls with the Head of Policy & OD and the Digital & Transformation Lead, plus a further four focus groups with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Cabinet members, Chairs of Audit and Scrutiny Committees, and other managers and staff.   This work had been supported by the following members of the original peer team.

• Ian Miller, Chief Executive, Wyre Forest District Council;
• Dominic Bradley, Director of Resources, Horsham District Council; and
• Anne Brinkhoff, Peer Challenge Manager, Local Government Association Associate

Findings and Recommendations

The CPC team had presented their main findings and recommendations verbally to the Council on their final day and had now provided a formal report based on the visit.

The team acknowledged that since the original CPC, the Council’s context had significantly changed with the prospect of local government reorganisation (“LGR”) and the Fair Funding Review 2.0, both of which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 191.

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Clare Pritchard, Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Town Centres, providing an update on the Levelling Up funded (LUF) town centre projects.

In the absence of Councillor Pritchard, the Leader of the Council gave a brief introduction to the report, including a summary of the achievements under phase 1 of the interventions, the appointment of a contractor for phase 2 of the work, some updated financial implications, timescales for completion of the projects and plans to keep market traders informed.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

The Levelling Up Fund had been announced at the 2020 Government Spending Review to focus on capital investment in local infrastructure projects that required up to £20m of funding and built on prior programmes such as the ‘Local Growth Fund’ and ‘Towns Fund’.

In January 2022, Cabinet had given its formal approval in support of the Town Centre Stakeholder Board’s recommendations that the Council’s LUF submission should focus around the following three principal interventions, noting that at the time 2 and 3 were not in the Council’s ownership.

1. Redevelopment within the Indoor Market Hall and removal of the outdoor pavilions along Peel Street to provide an enhanced food and drink offering alongside traditional market stalls and new leisure offering – the intervention known as Market Hall.

2. Acquisition and external façade improvements/roof repairs to the properties of 43-59 Blackburn Road / 2-4 Church Street – the intervention known as Market Chambers.

3. Acquisition and redevelopment to the block 61-69 Blackburn Road to provide for a shared workspace offering – the intervention known as Burtons Chambers.

Acquisitions and Relocations

Following a delay until January 2023 in the funding announcement/agreement from the former Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, (now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), all the relevant land interests, (freehold and leasehold) within the Market Hall, Burtons Chambers and Market Chambers had been acquired through sale by agreements, although the Compulsory Purchase Order notice (CPO) for Market Chambers, would still be implemented to ensure a clean full title.

The Market Hall - Three leasehold rights had been secured from two traders in December 2023 and traders had started decanting into the temporary cabins on the town square from February 2024.  The Council had also supported a number of traders and small businesses to permanently relocate into privately owned or the Council’s own commercial units within the town centre.  New 12-month leases had been issued to traders on the town square from 1 April 2025.

Burtons Chambers - The freehold interest in the building had been secured in February 2023 and an early surrender of one of the two leasehold interests in October 2023.  Whilst the Council undertook/financially supported work to identify a potential relocation for this tenant, it had not proved possible to acquire the final leasehold interest.  However, the Council, as the landlord, might wish to review its options when this lease expired in June 2027.

Market Chambers -  ...  view the full minutes text for item 192.

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Council Operations, informing members about the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which became applicable from 1^st September 2025.

The Leader of the Council outlined the recommendation, which was to approve the guidance and policy document.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

New offences had been created by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.  The Legislation was applicable from 1^st September 2025.  Section 199 of Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 created a new offence that would hold Hyndburn Borough Council to account for fraud committed by their employees, agents, subsidiaries, or other associated persons who provided services for or on behalf of the Council.  The fraud must have been committed with the intention of benefiting the Council or its clients.  It did not need to be demonstrated that the Council’s Directors or Senior Management ordered or knew about the fraud.  It did not need to be proven there was any benefit for the Council.  The offender could simply say that was their intention in the fraud they carried out.

Under the Act, Hyndburn Borough Council might be criminally liable if it did not have reasonable fraud prevention procedures in place.

The offence would sit alongside existing law.  For example, the person who had committed the fraud might be prosecuted individually for that fraud, while Hyndburn Borough Council might be prosecuted for failing to prevent it.

The Council would have a defence if it had reasonable procedures in place to prevent fraud, or if the Council could demonstrate to the satisfaction of the court that it was not reasonable in all circumstances to expect the Council to have any prevention procedures in place.

The overall risk to Hyndburn Borough Council of a fraud which fell with the remit of this legislation was believed to be relatively low, as the fraud must have the basis to directly benefit the Council or its clients and not just the perpetrator of the fraud which was the most common result of most frauds.  The Council must have a policy in place which set out the Council’s position as to the legislation and how it dealt with it.

The Guidance and Policy Document appended to the report was part of a group of policies which inter-link and collectively formed part of the Council’s Anti-Fraud culture and governance framework.  The existing policies that this would sit alongside included the Anti-Fraud, Corruption and Bribery Policy, Criminal Facilitation of Tax Evasion Policy and the Anti-Money Laundering Policy.

As part of the steps needed to demonstrate a robust defence, the Head of Audit & Investigations intended to carry out refresher training on Fraud, Corruption and Bribery which would also include the key aspects of the new policy surrounding the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.  Project leads, especially where not a Council employee would also be made aware of this policy.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 193.

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Council Operations, providing an update on the financial position for the Council’s Revenue and Capital Budgets for 2026/27 and the impact on the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2026/27 to 2028/29.

Councillor Alexander provided a brief introduction to the report outlining the purpose of the MTFS, the implications of the Government’s Fair Funding Review 2.0, advice received from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to those authorities potentially adversely affected by the proposals, the timetable for the Local Government Financial Settlement and the possible funding solutions currently being considered by the Council.  The Cabinet was being proactive in its approach.  Ordinarily, it would not be prudent to set a budget that was reliant upon reserves, but alternatives were limited and this approach was supported by MHCLG.  The Council had sufficient reserves and would set realistic savings targets too.  There would be no cuts to service delivery and all jobs would be protected.  Further clarity over the situation would emerge over the next few months and this would be reported at future meetings.

Councillor Alexander thanked the Executive Director (Resources) and his team for their work.  The Leader of the Council noted that this was a challenging situation, but that the Council was well placed to deal with it, due to its prudent financial management.  The financial settlement was due to be announced in December 2025, following which the Council would set a balanced budget.

Councillor Cassidy commented that, had the Leader of the Opposition been present today, he might have taken up the opportunity to speak on this matter.  He anticipated that Councillor Khan would get in touch with the Leader or Portfolio Holder directly when available.  He also placed on record his thanks to the Executive Director (Resources) and his team.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

The Council had approved its Revenue Budget for 2025/26 and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2025/26 – 2027/28 at the Full Council meeting on 27^th February 2025.

Since the MTFS 2025/26 – 2027/28 had been produced the economic and political climate had changed, therefore the assumptions, pressures and risks required updating as a number might have evolved.

A report had been presented to Cabinet on 10^th September 2025, detailing the current assumptions, risks and pressures and the process for the budget 2026/27.

The current report was to inform Cabinet of the revised MTFS for 2025/26 – 2027/28 to incorporate the information presented in the report mentioned above and to extend this for an additional year into 2028/29.

For several years, the Council had been waiting for key finance reforms, including the introduction of multi-year settlements.  These had been repeatedly delayed.  The last major change was over a decade ago with the introduction of the Business Rate Retention Scheme.  This ongoing uncertainty and reliance on one-year settlements had made long-term financial planning challenging.

In June this year, however,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 194.