Harborough District Council

Members agreed to defer the big resourcing report to Corporate and Performance Scrutiny before final council approval. The revised motion requires scrutiny consideration on 2026-07-23 and an extraordinary council on 2026-07-27.

Cabinet agreed to request council approval for additional street cleansing resources: £10,000 revenue per year for a driver and £135,000 capital to buy a large road sweeper. Members explained that the existing arrangements were not enough to deliver the intended street-cleansing service level, and the new vehicle would increase fleet capacity. The discussion also suggests an ongoing follow-up around road-sweeping schedules and wider pavement cleansing concerns.

The panel approved £10,000 per annum to recruit a driver for a new mechanical road sweeper. This is a small but direct operational spend linked to a new piece of equipment and service delivery capacity.

The council reduced the bulky waste collection fee to £10 for three large items or 12 sacks, accepting a net annual cost of £37,920 because lower income no longer fully offsets the contract cost. This is a direct spending decision affecting waste collection finance and contractor payments.

The committee split available Section 106 community facilities funding between two competing Kibworth projects. The parish council's phased community hub/library scheme received the balance after allocating £60,000 to the scouts project, with the final parish council award stated as £263,953.99.

Central government is changing planning regulations so that many simpler applications must be determined by officers rather than committee, while a joint decision by the chief planning officer and planning chair will decide whether the remaining cases go to committee. The committee expressed strong concern that this reduces local democratic input and requested further consideration once final regulations are published.

The panel reviewed community safety partnership activity, crime and disorder functions, and the scrutiny work plan. Key procurement-relevant issues included community safety funding, low-risk food business communications, environmental enforcement pressures, fly-tipping and bulky waste charges, dog fouling reporting and patrols, and support for vulnerable residents and waste disposal. Members also proposed future scrutiny of the strategic land holding / Tin House Farm project and discussed the need for better information sharing and prevention work.

The committee focused on the council’s accounts recovery and external audit position, including publication of the 2025/26 statements and the continuing challenge of legacy balances and reserve assurance. A major procurement-related issue was the internal audit finding on procurement compliance, where outdated contract procedure rules and unresolved actions drove a red assurance rating, but officers reported that revised rules have now been approved and ownership strengthened. Members also noted a new information governance work programme and adopted a counter fraud, corruption and bribery strategy, while standards activity was calm with no new complaints.