Agenda item

To deal with any questions submitted under Council Procedure Rule A2.2(vi).

·         Two questions have been received (report attached).

Two questions had been received.  The Mayor read aloud the questions shown below.

1)    Huncoat Garden Village

To the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Regeneration (Councillor Kath Pratt)

Submitted by Mr Miles Parkinson OBE

“Nationally major political parties are agreed on the need to provide 100,000s of new housing per year.  In Hyndburn, we have the transformational Huncoat Garden Village development, which would be a development worth over 400 million pounds once developed, providing infrastructure, school places, environmental standards, etc and much more, on mostly the former Huncoat Power Station Site (brownfield).

Could you inform me at what stage the Council is at on this major housing provision?”

Response:

Councillor Pratt Kath thanked Mr Parkinson for his question.  She also paid tribute to Mark Hoyle, Head of Regeneration and Housing, who had worked long and hard to bring the proposals to fruition.  She indicated her agreement with Mr Parkinson’s observations about the impact of the development.  Both main political parties nationally had made positive statements about the need for housing growth.  The project would include supporting infrastructure and make use of brownfield land.

The Council was making good progress on the scheme, which would deliver around 1,800 brand new, modern, energy efficient homes in a fabulous setting.  An announcement in relation to a £30m bid for funding was anticipated by the end of the month and officers were in regular contact with Homes England about the project.

The project was on track to receive planning approval for the relief road by early 2024 and public consultations would take place in December 2023 - January 2024 via 2 exhibitions and the provision of information on-line.  Negotiations were on-going with and land owners in accordance with the Huncoat Garden Village Masterplan.  Major housing developers were already keen to work with the Council on this project.

She acknowledged Mr Parkinson’s on-going interest in this scheme and thanked him for raising the issue today.

2)    Inward Investment

To the Leader of the Council (Councillor Marlene Haworth)

Submitted by Mrs Bernadette Parkinson

“Can I congratulate the Council and especially Sara Britcliffe MP on receiving the additional £20 million of funding adding to the previous £20 million with £3 million from Hyndburn & LCC and the £15 million to be spent in Hyndburn from the LCC bid, with £20 million from the collaboration with Hyndburn Leisure on the Leisure transformational agenda and now awaiting Huncoat Garden Village £30 million bid, plus a £5 million arts bid.  The goal to achieve over £100 million investment is within eyesight and with a positive attitude it’s just the start.

All those involved should be thanked for their hard work over the years to be successful in these bids for the betterment of Hyndburn residents.

Could you inform me when the Town’s Board will set to work on using the additional £20 million for the benefit of Hyndburn residents?”

Response:

The Leader of the Council acknowledged that the additional funding was fantastic news.  She thanked Sara Britcliffe MP for lobbing on this matter.  The Council was awaiting further guidance from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to fully understand the funding criteria.  The guidance issued at the time of the funding announcement confirmed a broad timeline to start unlocking the funding, as follows:

• By April 2024 – local authorities to bring local partners together to form a Town Board, or expand existing town Deal Boards where they already existed, and start the process of setting out and creating a long-term vision and plan based on the town’s local priorities and needs;

• Spring 2024 – Once a Town Board was in place, capacity funding would be released to support the development of investment plans, including additional community engagement activities.  On-going engagement and support would also be available from the Towns Taskforce; and

• From Summer 2024 – Submission of Long Term Plans and release of Year 1 funding.

Given that Hyndburn already had a Town Board for Accrington, the Council would commence work on reviewing the Board’s make up in the New Year, specifically looking at whether there was a need to expand and/or adapt the Board to ensure that it brought together a cross-section of local community leaders, employers, councillors and the local MP.

Once the Board membership and terms of reference had been agreed, the Council would then commence work on defining and agreeing its long term plan for Accrington and the submission of the plan in line with the timescales.