Agenda item
Announcements
a) Mayor/Deputy Mayor
b) Leader of the Council
c) Chief Executive
Minutes:
The Deputy Mayor made the following announcements:
1) Mayor’s Engagements
The reason for the Mayor’s absence this evening was that he was taking part in a four day visit with other Civic dignitaries to Sheffield Memorial Park, near Serre-les Puisieux, in northern France. This was the site of the First World War Accrington Pals Memorial and several other memorials commemorating Pals battalions from the North of England.
The visit, which had been postponed for 2 years due to COVID, was to celebrate the upgrading and reopening of the track from the village to the site to make the memorials more accessible. The Council had contributed £5,000 to these works, along with contributions from other local authorities and their French counterparts.
Over the four days, the Mayor would be taking part in a number of services of remembrance and civic events and would be visiting other cemeteries, memorials and monuments in the area. Given that tomorrow marked the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, the Mayor was very proud to have been asked support this event.
2) Battle of the Somme and Re-Dedication of Cenotaph
On a similar theme, the Deputy Mayor confirmed that he would be attending the Battle of the Somme commemoration tomorrow at 10am, in Church Street Gardens and later, at 2.30pm, he would be at the centenary event for the Cenotaph in Oak Hill Park.
3) Other Engagements
Earlier this month the Deputy had been proud to attend an event organised by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, which supported The Prince's Trust. The event was to recognise the achievements of the latest cohort of young adults completing The Prince's Trust programme, for those not in education, employment or training.
This Saturday the Deputy Mayor would be attending Rishton Festival in celebration of the Queens Jubilee. The day would begin with a parade through Rishton’s terrace streets before arriving at the festival ground at Hyndburn Academy, including stalls and musical and dance acts.
4) Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service
On 2nd June 2022, two local winners of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service had been announced. The two groups had been included in the list of 244 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year, 6 of which had come from Lancashire. This year’s Hyndburn winners included:
- Friends of Rhyddings Park, Hyndburn - For playing a key role in reviving the park and transforming its cafe to provide a base for community activities such as gardening, walks, craft, well-being sessions.
- Church & Oswaldtwistle Rotary - For improving life for the whole community through an impressive range of environmental, social and youth projects, which went far beyond simple fundraising.
Each of the groups would receive a certificate signed by HM The Queen and an exclusive commemorative crystal, presented by the Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire, The Lord Shuttleworth KG KCVO, at an award ceremony which would be held on Monday 11 July at County Hall in Preston. The Council added its congratulations to these two outstanding groups.
5) Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022
The Council also placed on record its congratulations to the following individuals who had been named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours lit on 1 June 2022 and who all had strong links to Hyndburn:
- Miranda Rosemary Barker, Chief Executive Officer, East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce who had been awarded an OBE for services to business and to the community in Lancashire.
- Deborah Patricia Clark, Founder and (former) Chief Executive Officer, Community Solutions North West Limited, who had received the MBE for services to the community in Lancashire.
- Lieutenant Stephen Hutchinson RNR, Chair, Accrington and District Unit, Sea Cadets, who had received the BEM for voluntary service to young people in Lancashire.
6) Support for Batten Disease
Finally, the Deputy Mayor announced that he was wearing a tangerine coloured tie this evening to raise awareness of Batten disease and to show support for the charities that worked with people with this inherited condition and their families.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Miles Parkinson OBE, made the following announcements:
7) Update on Future Developments
Summer was fast approaching and the next meeting of Council would not be until September 2022. There would be only one further meeting of the Cabinet in July 2022. Accordingly, it would be useful to provide an update on future developments in Hyndburn.
The Town Centre Partnership Board and Stakeholder Group had produced a foreword to the funding bid which explained their ambition for Accrington to be a vibrant, bustling market town, underpinned by its existing strengths, new investment and the town’s architectural heritage. The plans would tap into the visitor economy, which would open up opportunities for local people too. There was a strong architectural base in the town centre encompassing the Town Hall, Market Hall, Burtons Chambers and the Town Square. The plans would also restructure some green spaces to create activities for all the family and to make Accrington a destination again.
The Council had worked with the community to understand the town and had consulted residents and visitors through both meetings and polling. Three projects had been selected for investment which included the Market Hall; Burtons Chambers, proposed as a flexible office space; and Market Chambers, which would include renovations to the shop fronts with a view to future use of the building as an arts and cultural space. The bid would be signed off by David Sanderson MBE DL, Sara Britcliffe MP, the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council. The MP and Partnership Board had played a crucial role in compiling this bid.
At the same time, the Borough had benefited from the support of Councillor Peter Britcliffe, as Chair of the County Council, and the Lancashire Leader, County Councillor Phillippa Williamson. East Lancashire had been the birth-place of the industrial revolution. The County Council’s Levelling Up Fund bid would support the fine townscapes and natural beauty of the area. It was acknowledged that the economic base of the area had declined and fallen behind other regions over the years. Some aspects of economic growth had been very slow and there were associated health issues and deprivation. The Council aimed to tackle both economic and social inequalities. The plan would address these issues up to 2050, working with relevant Government departments. There was a collaborative, place-based leadership approach to improvement, which would focus on transportation; regeneration of the town centre and cultural investment. Members were invited to support this approach.
A meeting on Monday had revealed some windfall funding which had demonstrated the benefit of tiers of local government working closely together. A new fund had been created for major infrastructure schemes which would complement the Levelling Up funding. £5M was available across Lancashire for match funding with Levelling Up Fund 2 bids. This would help to accelerate high impact projects. Some criteria had been set and the County Council would match fund up to 50% of each scheme up to a maximum project size of £1M. A bid had been submitted on Monday and the Council had been allocated £1M under this process. This was as much as the Council’s total annual capital programme in recent years. The funding would top up the Levelling Up Fund monies to around £23M.
LCC’s own Levelling Up Fund bid for East Lancashire was around £50M, which would include monies for:
- Liveable Neighbourhoods;
- Active Travel Project;
- Public Transport - Bus Project; and
- Public Transport – Rail Project.
Levelling up was expected to:
- Boost productivity;
- Increase accessibility to jobs;
- Tackle health inequalities;
- Instil a sense of local pride and community; and
- Empower local leaders.
Hyndburn could potentially expect to receive some £18M-£19M on top of the Levelling Up monies from other sources.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund would provide some £2.943M and had been allocated to the following schemes:-
- Growth Hub (Boost) - £ 260k;
- Economic Development Function - £150k;
- International Trade Support - £40k;
- Tourism Attractions/Marketing - £20k;
- Business Support for Net Zero and Transition & Decarbonisation - £140K;
- New Low Carbon Technology - £110K;
- Support for the Arndale Masterplan - £150k;
- Support for the Arts, Culture and Heritage package - £1.25M;
- Support for the proposals to ‘Green’ the town centre and improve the Accrington Pals Memorial Garden - £560k; and
- Offer £75k each to the Market Hall and Burtons Chambers as first-year incentive/promotion packages in advance of the buildings opening - £150k.
The Council had also recently purchased, at auction, land known as Bury Meadows, off Nook Lane, Oswaldtwistle. This land comprised some 87 acres, which would become a country park and could include sculptures. A group based in Stanhill and other local residents were currently engaged with this project and the land would provide an investment for generations to come.
Townships including Oswaldtwistle, Clayton-le-Moors and Church would all see investment over the coming years. It was noted too that Hyndburn Leisure had particularly strong ties with Church.
This update tonight was seen as important, as there was no Council meeting planned during the summer recess.
Councillor McGinley thanked the Leader for this information which heralded a huge investment in the Borough. He asked if all councillors could have a copy of the announcement to enable them to respond to residents’ queries. He also asked when information would be circulated about the funding available to enable councillors to apply for monies for their areas. The Leader confirmed that he would provide the relevant information in due course.
There were no announcements from the Chief Executive, Mr David Welsby, on this occasion.