The Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council met on Tuesday, 30 September 2025, to discuss the financial outturn for 2024/25, progress against the Corporate Plan 2024-2025, and the next stage of consultation on the Local Plan 2024-2045. The meeting was also scheduled to include the Leader of the Council's position statement and the Mayor's communications.

Here are the key topics that were scheduled to be discussed:

Local Plan 2024 to 2045

A further stage of consultation on the Local Plan 2024 to 2045 was scheduled to be considered. The report pack stated that this further Regulation 18 draft Plan had been prepared as a direct response to:

• Changes to the national planning system brought about by a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published in December 2024;
• An increase in the borough wide housing target; and
• Potential employment land for allocation to meet identified need once quantified.

The report pack stated that the Local Plan needed to allocate land to meet an overall plan period housing requirement of 15,603. The report pack also stated that this Regulation 18 consultation proposed additional housing allocations to meet an identified shortfall of circa 3,700 additional dwellings to contribute towards this need to 2045. In addition, potential sites for employment land development were also scheduled to be put forward for consideration for allocation once the borough's employment needs were quantified through emerging evidence.

The report pack stated that the Regulation 18 version of the Local Plan provided an opportunity to consult on potential sites for future allocation to meet the updated housing need the council had to plan for. The report pack stated that there were 12 additional housing sites put forward for consultation that could assist in meeting this shortfall, including a proposal for a new settlement which would continue to help to meet identified housing and employment needs in this plan period and beyond. With regard to meeting the borough's employment land needs, the exact requirement to plan for in terms of both general industrial and strategic B8 needs was not fully known at this point. However, 4 additional potential future employment sites to meet the needs once quantified were scheduled to be presented for consultation in this Regulation 18.

The report pack stated that the Regulation 18 would also provide an opportunity to address some policy gaps, either as a result of the new December 2024 NPPF or to respond to evidence findings since the last Regulation 18. New and/or updated policies within this Regulation 18 were scheduled to be:

• Sustainable Development Policy
• Safeguarding Development Potential Policy
• Hot Food Takeaway Policy
• Open Space Provision Policy
• Sport and Recreation Facilities Policy

The report pack stated that alongside the Regulation 18 Plan there were three additional documents that representations were being sought on. Firstly, the Settlement Hierarchy Methodology Review paper advises on the process being undertaken to carry out a review of all the defined settlements in the borough. In addition, the Settlement Boundary Methodology paper seeks comments on the method that is employed to review and refine the settlement boundary around the borough's towns and villages. Finally, the Site Selection Paper outlines the evidence-based, iterative process used to identify and assess potential development sites for allocation in the Local Plan.

Summary of achievements to the Corporate Plan 2024-2025

The meeting was scheduled to include an update on key corporate achievements made against the Corporate Plan 2024-2025. The Corporate Plan covers the period 202-2028, and sets out the council's priorities, goals and ambitions under three key themes: People, Places and Prosperity.

Some of the achievements listed in the report pack under the People theme were:

• Maintaining 100% Decent Homes across council homes
• Improving the energy efficiency of 57 council homes funded by the government's Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund
• Buying 13 more council homes, increasing the council's housing stock.
• Supporting 330 customers into different housing tenures
• Providing housing advice to 1,289 customers
• The Welfare Support Service assisted 1,617 residents who were experiencing financial hardship.
• Creating the Hinckley and Bosworth Food Poverty Network
• Paying a total of £5,663,196 in respect of Council Tax Support
• Continuing to support Warm Welcome venues across the borough
• Supporting 40 individuals into employment and skills through Beam partnership
• Carrying out more than 40 HBBC employee Health MOTs
• Installing six defibrillators across public access community centres
• Delivering eight Steady Steps 24 week falls prevention programmes across the borough to older adults
• Delivering seven Chatty Chairs classes
• Supporting 391 people with long term health conditions by signposting them into programmes and services that will support them to become more active
• Delivering four ESCAPE-Pain programmes to help 55 people aged 45+ with osteoarthritis or other health conditions causing severe pain in their knee/hip and back, to become more physically active
• Providing neighbourhood mental health coordination on behalf of the Integrated Care Board (ICB)
• Delivering age appropriate eight-week wellbeing courses to 30 schools, engaging with 1,250 children and young people
• Supporting 500 children through 1:1 emotional literacy support in schools
• Helping 6,702 inactive adults, older adults, children and young people to become more active
• Working with four local clubs to offer two 'come and try it' days for LD/SEND pupils and local day care groups
• Providing weekly tennis sessions at three venues for neurodiverse young people
• Increasing footfall at Hinckley Leisure Centre to 866,783
• Securing bicycle and scooter parking onsite at key council events
• Supporting local GP practices in the borough to obtain the national accreditation 'Active Practice'
• Tackling damp and mould in council homes by revising the damp and mould process
• Implementing advanced response to damp and mould cases to exceed upcoming targets required by Awaab's Law¹
• Assisting 160 individuals through the Safe Spaces project
• Continuing to develop and extend the reach of the Housing and Respiratory Illness Project, including training and partner agency referral
• Continuing to address emerging community safety concerns through the Endeavour Partnership
• Investigating 703 cases of anti-social behaviour
• Achieving 74.9% tenant satisfaction for ASB cases
• Investigating 748 noise complaints
• The safeguarding team took appropriate action to ensure the safety and welfare of 503 individuals
• Organising a successful Youth Conference aimed at 12-to-15-year-olds
• Ukrainians living in Hinckley and Bosworth continue to receive bespoke support from the Ukraine Response Co-ordinator, including housing support
• Commissioning specialist youth outreach and diversionary provision through Streetvibe Young People's Service
• Developing a LLR Hate Crime Hub
• Working closely with local police, Hinckley Business Improvement District (Hinckley BID), partners and businesses to reduce crime in Hinckley town centre
• Through working with partners, we've experienced a decreasing trend across the area in serious violence compared to the previous year
• Using robust structures to partnership manage any issues relating to the night -time economy
• Between April 2024 and March 2025, the council's domestic abuse outreach service supported 167 victims/ survivors of domestic abuse
• The council's domestic abuse outreach service launched a target hardening offer for residents giving survivors access to a target hardening pack
• Continuing to support Voluntary organisations and volunteers through two dedicated funding pots; Making a Difference and Community Volunteer Fund
• Community Organisations and Volunteers continue to receive support via the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) partnership to find volunteers or volunteering opportunities
• Launching a one-off fund in 2024 to mark the 50th anniversary of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council
• Installing 287 Lifelines to support vulnerable residents
• Installing 17 fall detectors and six smoke detectors to support vulnerable residents
• Undertaking a public consultation on council communications methods
• Attracting NHS Physiotherapy partners into the Hub alongside capital investment into the remodelling and refurbishment of the newly occupied areas

Some of the achievements listed in the report pack under the Places theme were:

• Exceeding national planning targets by processing 84% of minor applications and 81% of major applications on time or within agreed timeframes
• Carrying out site improvements at Battling Brook
• Investing £61,000 in refurbishments and improvements to Richmond Park play area and ballcourt
• Successfully opposing the development of the proposed Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange
• Running three successful campaigns on litter, fly tipping and dog fouling
• Identifying 10 category one hazards in private sector properties and monitored or used enforcement where appropriate
• Increasing recycling rate for household waste collections in 2023/24 (latest audited data) from 41.2% to 43.5%
• Providing food waste collections for existing trade waste customers in accordance with legislation from 1 April 2025
• Continuing to provide a low-cost recycling solution to Hinckley Town Centre BID Members helping them to increase recycling
• Continuing to deliver community tree planting schemes across the borough
• Continuing to improve electric vehicle charging point access in partnership across key sites
• Retaining Green Flag status at Argents Mead and Hollycroft Park
• Progressing biodiversity works across five HRA sites
• Launching the council tenant gardening competition
• Advancing works to a prominent car park to improve access and biodiversity
• Completion of solar project at Hinckley Leisure Centre (March 2025)
• Completing installation of green technology at a sheltered housing scheme to reduce carbon emissions
• Advancing further measures to reduce carbon emissions across housing community assets
• Commencing a programme of works to install PV panels to non-traditional council homes
• Supporting Hinckley Club for Young People to obtain grants to install solar panels
• Continuing use of HVO for the fleet saved 710 tonnes of carbon (75% reduction compared to 2019/20 baseline)
• Revising the parish toolkit to reflect climate change and biodiversity mitigations
• Establishing a new community equipment grant for the rural areas
• Holding a successful annual Rural Conference in March 2025
• Delivering three inter active parish forums with participation from partners such as police and LRALC

Some of the achievements listed in the report pack under the Prosperity theme were:

• HBBC successfully spent the full UKSPF 2022-25 allocation of £2,600,011 delivering 33 projects across the borough
• The Rural England Prosperity Fund £400k capital project funding was fully spent supporting 33 projects
• Progressing a regeneration project in Desford funded by UKSPF to improve the amenity and biodiveristy
• Improving a carpark site to enhance biodiversity and amenity
• Installing six defibrillators across community assets
• Improving the amenity of wider HRA carparks
• Applying for Leicestershire tourism awards, in 2024 were highly commended for our event for third year in a row
• Commissioning eight more Market Trader videos for social media
• The BID has successfully co-located into HBBC offices within the Hinckley Leisure Centre
• Businesses in Hinckley voted positively in Q3 2023 that a fourth term should proceed
• Joint working on events programme, including promotion, pre-event and de-brief meetings, and inkind sponsorship i.e. Hinckley BID fancy dress swap shop at Snap Dragon
• Successful events program in 2024, bringing in an additional footfall of 101,073 people compared to previous weeks footfall
• Increasing participation in Active Awards by 130% compared to 2024
• Targeting key eyesore sites that require improvement
• Commissioning a new masterplan for Hinckley town centre
• Refreshing Earl Shilton and Barwell town plans
• Renewing or refreshing street furniture within the town centres
• Offering shop front improvement schemes across the borough
• Supporting delivery of Market Bosworth public realm and transport improvement scheme
• Launching the new Hinckley and Bosworth Business Network
• The monthly Economic Regeneration News e-newsletter continues to signpost businesses to the latest business support, events, news and grant funding information
• Awarding: £4,621,415.30 to local businesses in small business rates relief, £2,389,837.32 Retail, hospitality and leisure relief in accordance with permitted regulations
• Securing a new site for employment development at Station Field in Market Bosworth
• Launching work on installing new Bosworth 1485 Sculpture Trail
• Developing a new Tourism Strategy for the borough
• Exploring all options to deliver a new crematorium
• Identifying further investment and income generation opportunities linked to the council's Investment Strategy
• Continuing to support rural parishes
• Holding regular Parish Forums throughout the year
• Celebrating achievements and share key information with the 24 Parishes at the Conference
• Providing events support including annual road order, loaning of equipment, events staff
• Sharing information and offer of support to encourage applications for Leicestershire tourism awards

The report pack also listed some supporting activities, including:

• The total number of HBBC website users saw a significant boost, rising from 379,045 in the 2023/24 financial year to an impressive 903,049 in 2024/25
• 6037 new customer sign-ups for the HBBC website's 'my account' feature, bringing the total number of customers using the feature to 64,714
• The HBBC website received an impressive 1,813,015 visits, marking an increase of 147,136 visits compared to the previous year
• The HBBC website was independently ranked first for accessibility out of all 414 UK council websites in 11 out of 12 months in a monthly audit by the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM)
• From September 2024 to February 2025, the HBBC Facebook page had 28,001 content interactions, up 41.6% from the previous six months
• As of February 2025, HBBC was the most followed district/borough council in Leicestershire on Facebook, reaching a higher percentage of its population than other councils
• The chatbot feature on the council's website is used approximately 475 times a day
• Tenant engagement events held across the borough, 108 council tenants attended and engaged with us
• Recruited 130 new tenants to tenant engagement roles, making our overall total reach 300
• 100% compliance in health and safety checks to council properties: Gas Safety, Fire Safety, Communal lifts and water safety checks
• 89.4% reported being satisfied that HBBC provides a home that is safe
• Tenant Scrutiny Launched: 12 meetings held. 2 TPAS conferences attended
• Continued to utilise Click Travel, a price comparison provider, to ensure that temporary accommodation remains cost effective

Financial Outturn 2024/25

The meeting was scheduled to include a discussion of the draft financial outturn for 2024/25. The report pack stated that the outturn was presented before the audit of the financial statements and excluded unbudgeted statutory charges in accordance with accounting practice that have no overall impact on General Fund or HRA balances.

The report pack stated that the original budget for 2024/25, revised budget for 2024/25 (Presented at February Council) together with the draft outturn are summarised below. (Before any regulatory accounting adjustments, which do not affect balances).

The report pack stated that after taking account of adjustments to the budget, (e.g., virements and supplementary budgets and savings identified in year) the provisional outturn shows £17.56m being spent on services compared against a budget of £17.759m with a net amount of £0.793m being transferred from earmarked reserves and £0.633m being taken from General Fund balances.

The report pack also included details of carry forward budgets, earmarked reserves, general fund balances, the housing revenue account, the housing repairs account and the capital programme.