Agenda and minutes

There were no Lord Mayor’s Announcements.

Please note that a full record of the of the declarations of interest is available on the recording of the meeting at Special Council 30 April 2025 - Part 1 - YouTube at time 0:11:00-00:14:01.

Councillors Karavadra and Singh Patel declared they are users of the community centres.

Councillor March declared she could not partake in the first motion Council Tax Support Scheme due to the nature of her work.  

Motion 1: Council Tax Support and Benefits

Proposed by Councillor Patrick Kitterick, Seconded by Councillor Nigel Porter to move:

This Council Notes with concern the effect of the changes to Council Tax Support in Leicester, agreed by the Full Council in January 2025, and the potential impact of the billions of pounds of cuts to welfare provision recently announced by Liz Kendall, Member of Parliament for Leicester West and Secretary of State for the Department of Work & Pensions.

The City Council meeting specifically notes the following.

1.    Councillors have been contacted by numerous local residents informing us of the hardship and distress caused by the imposition of these changes, we believe this is only the tip of an iceberg of the suffering these changes have caused.

2.     Previous re-assurances about the safety net procedures for people losing out appear in certain cases not to be working.

3.    Since the changes to Council Tax Support were agreed by Leicester City Council in January, the Government has announced a raft of deep and cruel cuts to Welfare Benefits so people on the lowest incomes in the city may well be doubly hit by cuts both locally and nationally.

4.    The designated Task Group of councillors to look at the impact of the Council Tax Support changes is only due to have its first meeting on 12th June 2025, whilst the crisis in people's finances from the extra council tax charges is happening now.

The council, therefore, calls for the following

1. To allocate additional monies to a discretionary fund to cover the shortfall in people's incomes from the withdrawal of Council Tax Support.  The discretionary fund should work in such a way that no-one who loses out from the recent changes in Council Tax Support, should have to pay for these changes in 2025/26. This one-off allocation should come from funds allocated to the bizarre Cafe Project at the King Richard III visitors centre and the bottomless pit of a project which is the Leicester Railway refurbishment scheme.  The reason for this is so that the real impact on Council Tax bills in practice can be evaluated, alongside the looking at the potential impact of the proposed national welfare cuts.
2. For the City Mayor and members of the city council to write a joint letter to Liz Kendall MP to ask her to re-consider and withdraw the cruel cuts that she announced which will hit hardest the most vulnerable people in Leicester and the rest of the UK.

Motion 2: Community Centres, Libraries and Museums

Proposed by Councillor Hemant Rae Bhatia, seconded by Councillor Patrick Kitterick to move that:

This Council notes with concern:

1. The council's "Museum Service Vision" with proposals to virtually close public access to Abbey Pumping Station, Newarke Houses Museum and Belgrave Hall.

2. The launch of a consultation on the widespread "de-funding" of libraries and community centres across Leicester.  This consultation has caused huge concern across the City of Leicester  https://consultations.leicester.gov.uk/communications/library-community-centre-proposals-2025/

3. These much loved facilities appear to be paying the  ...  view the full agenda text for item 3.

Please note that a full record of the of the discussion is available on the recording of the meeting at Special Council 30 April 2025 - Part 1 - YouTube at 00:14:01-1:33:48.

Motion 1: Council Tax Support and Benefits

Proposed by Councillor Patrick Kitterick, Seconded by Councillor Nigel Porter to move:

This Council Notes with concern the effect of the changes to Council Tax  Support in Leicester, agreed by the Full Council in January 2025, and the  potential impact of the billions of pounds of cuts to welfare provision recently  announced by Liz Kendall, Member of Parliament for Leicester West and  Secretary of State for the Department of Work & Pensions.

The City Council meeting specifically notes the following.

1.    Councillors have been contacted by numerous local residents informing  us of the hardship and distress caused by the imposition of these  changes, we believe this is only the tip of an iceberg of the suffering  these changes have caused.

2.    Previous re-assurances about the safety net procedures for people  losing out appear in certain cases not to be working.

3.    Since the changes to Council Tax Support were agreed by Leicester  City Council in January, the Government has announced a raft of deep  and cruel cuts to Welfare Benefits so people on the lowest incomes in  the city may well be doubly hit by cuts both locally and nationally.

4.    The designated Task Group of councillors to look at the impact of the  Council Tax Support changes is only due to have its first meeting on  12th June 2025, whilst the crisis in people's finances from the extra  council tax charges is happening now.

The council, therefore, calls for the following

A.    To allocate additional monies to a discretionary fund to cover the  shortfall in people's incomes from the withdrawal of Council Tax  Support. The discretionary fund should work in such a way that no-one  who loses out from the recent changes in Council Tax Support, should  have to pay for these changes in 2025/26. This one-off allocation should  come from funds allocated to the bizarre Cafe Project at the King  Richard III visitors centre and the bottomless pit of a project which is the  Leicester Railway refurbishment scheme. The reason for this is so that  the real impact on Council Tax bills in practice can be evaluated,  alongside the looking at the potential impact of the proposed national  welfare cuts.

B.    For the City Mayor and members of the city council to write a joint letter  to Liz Kendall MP to ask her to re-consider and withdraw the cruel cuts  that she announced which will hit hardest the most vulnerable people in  Leicester and the rest of the UK.

During the debate on the substantive Motion, the following Amendment was moved and seconded:

AMENDMENT

City Mayor, seconded by Councillor Cutkelvin to move:-

To strikethrough the entirety of the existing motion and replace with the following:

This council notes:

a)    with regret, the decision of the Tory and Lib Dem  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

There being no other urgent business, the meeting concluded at 21.10pm.