The Chair, Cllr. Roy Denney invited Members and Officers to hold a two minute silence for both Ian Davies and the Duchess of Kent who sadly passsed away on 4 September 2025.

Ian Davies, Development Services Team Leader, a long serving Officer at Blaby District Council with 36 years of dedicated service sadly passed away on 1 August 2025.

No disclosures were received.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held 20 May 2025 and 8 July 2025 (enclosed).

The minutes of the meetings held on 20 May and 8 July 2025, as circulated, were approved subject to two amendments:

·         In the minutes of the meeting held on 20 May 2025, that Cllr. Antony Moseley’s name be corrected at minute item 5 – Election of Leader of The Council.

·         In the minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2025, that Cllr. Cheryl Cashmore’s name be corrected against item 58 – Questions Under Council Rules Procedure.

The Chairman, Cllr. Roy Denney made announcements in respect of the following:

·         Attended the Leicestershire Melton Proms at St Mary’s Church in Melton on 10 March 2025.

·         Joined 500 other attendees at Glenfield’s annual Picnic in the Park.

·         Invited by the High Sherriff of Rutland and High Sherriff of Leicestershire alongside Parish Councillor Oliver Hall to a charity cruise on Rutland Water, in aid of the Warning Zone charity.

·         Attended a meeting of Blaby Tourism Partnership at Stanton Lakes.

·         The High Sheriff of Leicestershire, Stephen Bryan held a Garden Party at his home which was also attended by 6 other High Sheriffs in full uniform.

·         Officiated the VJ Day flag raising ceremony at the Council grounds.

·         Accompanied a party of veterans to the National Memorial Arboretum, which was extremely moving.

·         A tiger hunt to find the memorial to the Royal Leicester Regiment, which has a brass tiger proudly displayed.

Cllr. Denney thanked the Vice-Chair Cllr. Janet Forey for attending two events on his behalf whilst he was abroad, and invited the Vice Chairman to make her announcements in respect of the following:

·         VJ Day ceremony at Leicester Cathedral

·         The Gala Day at Badgerbrook Primary School in Whetstone.

The Leader, Cllr. Ben Taylor presented his statement in respect of the following:

• Remembrance of Ian Davies
• Specialist supported housing formally opens
• Food waste consultation
• Works at Huncote
• Fosse Meadows biodiversity project
• Volunteering initiatives
• Milestone for New Lubbesthorpe
• Local Government Reorganisation update
• Armed Forces support

Requests received by the Protocol deadline to be reported by the Monitoring Officer with details of the Agenda Item to which they relate. (Such persons entitled to use the Protocol attend for the purpose of making representations, answering questions or giving evidence relating to the business of the meeting and the time allocated to each person is a maximum of three minutes unless extended at the discretion of the Chairman).

No requests were received.

Any Members wishing to submit questions must do so to the Monitoring Officer no later than 5 working days before the meeting.

The Monitoring Officer will report if any questions have been submitted.

Cllr. Paul Hartshorn raised the following question, - to Cllr. Ben Taylor, Leader of the Council:

“Back when the soft play at Enderby Leisure Centre re-opened, Cllr Gill didn't receive an invite to the event. We raised this in Council and were told processes were in place to ensure that wouldn't happen in future. Unfortunately, myself and Cllr. Moseley were excluded from the recent opening of Frost Court, an oversight, I'm sure, but one that our residents noticed. Please can the appropriate Cabinet member explain the process in place to invite ward members to these events,  and give confidence to our residents that ward councillors will not be excluded from such events in future?”

Cllr. Ben Taylor, Leader of the Council, responded:

“The official opening of Frost Court was a celebratory event held after the opening of the scheme, and it was arranged by the developer. 

In terms of a process to invite ward members to such events there is not a set practice, that is because events/opportunities are all different in terms of size, attendees, arrangements and organisers. 

In terms of the future, I can give assurance that where appropriate given the specifics of events, Ward Councillors will be invited where the Council is involved in arranging the event.”

Cllr. Paul Hartshorn asked the following supplementary question: Thank you for your response. The Council knew about the event at Frost Court and although it’s understood the event was organised by the developer, someone should have made the Councillors from that Ward aware.  The reason I have raised this is because we have had to do quite a lot of work, me and Cllr. Moseley, to reassure residents about Frost Court and about what it was going to be and how it was going to be represented in the community. We have had to calm a few residents down and then to not be invited to the event by the developer kind of leaves a little bit of bittersweet taste in your mouth, thinking why did I bother when the developer is not interested. I wonder if the Leader, Cllr. Ben Taylor would like to pass this information back to the developer to say that they should have invited the Ward Councillors, because they did a lot of work on your behalf. I am wondering whether the Leader would like to put a little more effect into informing residents when its not organised by Blaby District Council.”

The Leader, Cllr. Ben Taylor did not add anything further to the supplementary question.

Cllr. Luke Cousin raised the following question, - to Cllr. Les Phillimore, Housing, Community Safety and Environmental Services Portfolio Holder:

“As with many areas, there has been a huge increase in graffiti in public; namely, the application of the St George’s Cross on many public facing white surfaces. Whilst it would be wonderful to believe that this demonstration is a celebration of English culture and heritage, it has become clear that this is a form of attack on members of our communities. Around the country, police are investigating instances of such graffiti as hate crimes, and, furthermore, statements on social media by anonymous agents in public forums support that these acts are not done with good intentions, certainly not intentions which celebrate English culture. I’m sad to say that it feels only a matter of time before the current climate will lead to a level of civil unrest that we will find difficult to reconcile and return from. I would like to ask Cllr. Les Phillimore, in his position of Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, what actions, precautions and preventative measures are being taken by Blaby District Council (possibly with the Police) to ensure that every member of our community feels safe in the current climate. Please can he also advise on how we, as Elected Members, can best support the efforts, so that no member of the public in Blaby feel ostracised due to one or more protected characteristics?”

Cllr. Les Phillimore, Housing, Community Safety and Environmental Services Portfolio Holder, responded:

“The Community Safety Team work very closely with our Police colleagues and other partners to ensure that anyone within the district who may be negatively impacted by potential criminal actions such as hate incidents, targeted harassment or similar are supported to feel safer. We also provide education and increased awareness across the District through work in schools and with partners at community events and local national campaigns.

We have long standing, effective partnership arrangements that have been in place over a number of years such as our regular Tactical group meetings, and Community Safety Partnership which brings together key partners from Police, Fire, Public Health, Police and Crime Commissioner and the County Council who work to not only assess emerging threats within our district but also proactively plan to take actions to reduce these. The priorities for the Community Safety Partnership are to reduce offending and reoffending, to tackle serious violence and to support vulnerable people.

Work to achieve these priorities is ongoing and constantly evolving to meet the needs of changing circumstances and issues as they arise.

Graffiti Stance – Offensive graffiti is removed as soon as possible with he support of the Council. Other graffiti is the responsibility of the owner of the property impacted, in the instances listed above they are primarily the County Council and therefore it is down to them to determine the most appropriate course of action. Any actions that maybe be considered criminal damage would also be a matter investigated by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99.

To consider the report of the Accountancy Services Manager (enclosed).

Considered - Report of the Accountancy Services Manager, presented by Cllr. Cheryl Cashmore – Finance, People and Performance Portfolio Holder and Deputy Leader.

To consider the report of the Neighbourhood Services Group Manager (enclosed).

Considered - Report of the Neighbourhood Services Group Manager - Place, presented by Cllr. Nigel Grundy– Neighbourhood Services & Assets Portfolio Holder.

To consider the report of the Licensing Team Leader (enclosed).

Cllr. Hannah Gill left and returned to the meeting during this item.

Considered - Report of the Environmental Health Manager, presented by Cllr. Les Phillimore – Housing, Community Safety and Environmental Services Portfolio Holder.

To consider passing the following resolution:

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that the item involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the said Act.

Exemption Category: 3

Reason for Exemption: The minutes contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Public Interest Test: The public interest test has been considered and, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption is considered to outweigh the public interest in disclosing the information.”

Considered – A proposed resolution to exclude the public from the meeting.  

Following consideration of this item the Chair, Cllr. Roy Denney announced that the livestream would end to allow the item to be considered in closed session.

The Restricted minutes of the meeting held on 20 May 2025 as circulated, were approved and signed as a correct record.