Council and councillors

Report No.67/2019 was received from the Chief Executive.

Mrs Briggs, the Chief Executive, introduced the report the purpose of which was to enable Cabinet to decide if Rutland County Council should support the campaign for a Rural Strategy led by the Rural Services Network.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         The Rural Services Network (RSN) was a special interest group of the Local Government Association (LGA) which had been lobbying Government for a specific Rural Strategy.

·         The Strategy would support the Council’s aim of providing appropriate infrastructure for the area and highlight the funding gap that rural authorities experience whereby they receive less money per head from Government but pay more Council Tax.

·         The Leader had met with representatives from Barclays Bank regarding the closure of their branch in Uppingham and had been assured that they were looking at other ways in which they could support the rural community.

DECISION:

Cabinet APPROVED Rutland County Council supporting the campaign for a Rural Strategy through the Rural Services Network.

Reasons for the decision:

A fully funded Rural Strategy of the type proposed could provide significant benefits to the County as a whole and ensure that issues of the type that affect Rutland feature more prominently in deliberations by Government when setting policy.