Agenda item

To receive a statement from the Leader of the Council in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9.

The Leader started his statement by associating himself with the Mayor’s comments regarding the passing of Dolly Parton. Her visit to Rotherham in 2007 was fondly remembered along with her fierce advocacy for children’s education.

Since the last Council meeting:

-       Five of Rotherham’s Green Spaces had again been recognised with the prestigious Green Flag Status; Clifton Park, Greasbrough Park, Rother Valley Country Park, Ulley Country Park and Rotherham Crematorium and Cemetery in East Herringthorpe.

-       The Council had received an award for its tenant engagement activity receiving Exemplar Status from TPAS (the national tenant involvement experts). The Council was currently one of only five organisations to hold this award.

-       Thousands of children from across Rotherham had taken advantage of the free swimming places in the Council’s leisure centres – totalling just short of 28,000 visits altogether. There were a further 30,000 visits to the Clifton Park Watersplash in the hot weather. There had been 4,500 visits so far this year from people aged over 65 to leisure centres, taking advantage of the half price pilot.

-       Provisional data showed all Rotherham students achieved higher A Level grades this year, with 74.9% achieving A* to C grades in A Levels and equivalent qualifications, an increase of 1.8% compared with last year.

-       73.1% of students achieved a grade 4 or above in English, exceeding the national average of 71.4%, while 58.5% achieved grade 5 or above, compared with 55% nationally.

-       The Rotherham Show had taken place. The Leader stated that it was lovely to see so many families enjoying the event which remained the biggest free cultural festival in the north of England. He thanked all staff involved.

The Leader of the Majority Opposition Group, Councillor Zach Collingham,

was invited to respond to the statement. He agreed with the comments regarding the Rotherham Show which had been another success for the borough. It was also good to hear that the borough had some high standard parks and increasingly educated young people.

In relation to the 28,000 visits to the leisure centres, Councillor Collingham asked if there was any evidence as to whether those people would have gone anyway, without the discount.

He also questioned how the Council was already forecasting a £10.9 million overspend, just four months into the financial year. Councillor Collingham asked:

-       What assurances could be provided regarding the Council’s understanding of the drivers behind the overspend;

-       What was being done to address those drivers within the Council’s control;

-       What long-term plan was in place to reduce reliance on external providers.

In relation to Dinnington, Councillor Collingham asked the Leader if he was embarrassed that a flagship regeneration project was going to take the Council over four years to deliver, having encountered numerous delays.

Reference was made to Doncaster Sheffield Airport and reports that it was due to run out of money. He asked if the Leader was concerned that it was not listed as an agenda item at SYMCA’s next board meeting.

Regarding the petition due to be discussed under Minute 60, Councillor Collingham asked the Leader to agree with him that Councillor Thorp was an asset to the borough. He also asked if the Leader would learn anything from Councillor Thorp who had garnered more responses on his petition than the number of responses to the last two Council Plan consultations combined.

In response, the Leader stated that it was his understanding that free swimming had driven an increase in the number of children able to attend leisure centre and he was happy to provide those figures to Councillor Collingham.

Regarding the projected overspend, the Leader explained that nearly every local authority would project an overspend in Quarter 1. Those that did not would likely have overbudgeted and the Leader did not think that was a good way of setting budgets or priorities at the start of the year. In relation to the specific pressures, it was confirmed that there were a larger number of children in external residential placements than expected. This was not something the Council could control. The Leader explained that the most expensive 11 children in placements cost the Council more than £10million per year. One child who needed to come into care would cost one million pounds. However, that needed to be spent in order to keep children alive. In addition, it was confirmed that work had been underway for a number of years to improve early help to prevent children going into care and to build a number of in-house residential provisions which helped cut costs and improve quality for Children In Care. The Leader asked Councillor Collingham and opposition Members to engage with reality and look at the record of the Council in balancing its budget for many consecutive years.

The Leader stated that he was concerned about the delays in Dinnington, however, many of those delays related to matters outside of the Council’s control and issues that could not have been identified before the Council had ownership of the buildings or was on site. He was proud of the work being done to deliver improvements for the Dinnington residents.

The Leader did not wish to speculate on Doncaster Airport. Conversations continued and he was in regular contact with South Yorkshire’s Mayor on the matter. The situation remained that they wanted to see the Airport reopen but that it could not be done at any cost.

Regarding Councillor Thorp, the Leader stated that he respected the work that had been done. However, he stated that it was not in any way comparable to engagement on the Council Plan. Asking ‘would you like to stop some cycle lanes, yes or no’ was not the same as asking residents to engage on a whole range of public service delivery across a half a billion pound a year budget.

Questions from Members were invited.

Councillor Reynolds asked why the overspend on the Library had not been included in the £10.9m figure. He also asked if it was open yet.

The Leader confirmed that the projected overspend related to the General Fund whereas the Library was a capital project. Work was still ongoing on the Central Library, and it was expected to open in Quarter 1 of next year.

Councillor Bacon referenced the green spaces and asked whether SYMCA would act on its promise to use money confiscated from criminals to fund big cleans. To date only £8,000 had been raised and one big clean undertaken.

The Leader stated that there was no suggestion of the Mayor reneging on the method of funding promised. He was happy to ask the question and report updates back to Councillor Bacon if there were any.

Councillor Marshall stated that it was fantastic that 28,000 children had attended the free swimming sessions. She asked the Leader if he agreed that, given the number of children who had very sadly died in open water during the 2026 summer, every penny that had gone into free swimming was worth it if one life had been saved.

The Leader stated that this was absolutely right and he was proud to have helped keep children safe, as opposed to the many years when money was being taken away from public authorities which put children in danger.

Councillor Cusworth asked if the Leader agreed that, not only had Rotherham children achieved brilliant exam results, but they had done so in schools starved of investment, supported by exhausted teachers and parents struggling with the cost of living crisis. She wished to place on record her thanks to the teachers, non-teaching staff and parents who had supported the borough’s children in achieving the above national average results.

The Leader did associate himself with those comments and stated that an enormous debt of gratitude was owed to so many professionals who not only turned up during school hours, but who also gave their own evenings, weekends and holidays to improve the lives of children.

Councillor Baker-Rogers asked the Leader if he agreed with her that the uptake of free swimming by children and discounted swimming by senior citizens was fantastic to see. She also wished to place on record her thanks to Dolly Parton and the Imagination Library.

The Leader did agree with Councillor Baker-Rogers.