It has been a busy month with meetings, and I am also part of the Appointment Panel looking to recruit a new Chief Executive for the county council. So, there has been a lot of reading to do! Below are a few examples of what else I have been up to.
On Sunday 26th October, I headed over to Hugglescote for the Leicestershire Annual County Service.
On Tuesday, 4th November, I headed over to Warwickshire for the ‘Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Mentor Conference’. The LGA is a national organisation of which local councils are members. The LGA represents councils at the national level and helps local councils work better together.
I am a Peer mentor for the Conservative Group. A Peer Mentor is an experienced person—usually a local council leader or elected official—who volunteers to guide and support others in similar roles.
On Sunday 9th November, I attended the Roll of Honour Service at St Mary’s Church in Anstey, before laying my wreath at the War Memorial in honour of all the fallen during all wars.
Local Government Reorganisation
Leicester City
Leicester City Council has now published their final proposal to submit to the government. They have made changes to the Interim Business Case that they submitted in March 2025.
They are now calling their submission a 'Base Proposal' for Local Government Reorganisation.
They are proposing to extend the city boundaries by taking in Oadby & Wigston and the whole of Blaby and Harborough district councils, as shown below as ‘Option 2’.
They advise in their submission that this is not their 'preferred option', and they still want to revert to the original plan that they submitted to the government in March 2025. This is shown as Option 1 below.
Option 1 does include Anstey in my Division within those proposals, and you can be assured that I will continue to vehemently fight against this. I have spoken to numerous residents and 98% say that they do not want to be swallowed up by the City Council.
If you haven’t already signed our petition, please make sure you do
Leicestershire County Council
The LCC’s bid has remained the same since the March 2025 Interim Business Plan that the Conservative administration submitted.
This would see the County Council and Rutland County Council creating one Unitary Council.
This went to the full council for approval on 12th November 2025 and will go to the Cabinet to be formally approved at the cabinet meeting on 25th November 2025. The plan is still in draft form, but you can read it here:
https://democracy.leics.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=137&MId=7836
Fake Facebook Account
A few weeks ago, a fake Facebook account appeared, imitating me as your local councillor. I was alerted to this quickly, so I was able to report this fake account to the Police and Meta (who own Facebook) promptly. I was interviewed a few hours later by the police and provided as much information as I could. This illegal activity is currently being investigated.
This seems a timely reminder for me to encourage everyone to remain vigilant online and watch out for any signs of fake accounts. Obvious indicators include these profiles having no friends, or an unusually low or extremely high friend count, no photos and incomplete or vague ‘about’ information, little activity, and stolen or generic profile pictures (which you can identify via a ‘reverse image search’.
If you suspect an account is fake, here is what to do:
Ø Report it to Facebook who routinely remove impersonated profiles.
Ø Report it to police if there’s evidence of harassment, fraud, or malicious intent.
Ø Keep screenshots of posts and messages for evidence.
Consultants in County Hall
At the Cabinet meeting held 28th October, the Reform UK Cabinet approved an external consultant to come into the council to carry out an ‘Efficiency Review’.
The consultants will be carrying out the following work at a cost of £1.4 million pounds.
Consultants, Newton, are in place and starting to gather data to pinpoint opportunities to unlock savings. The focus includes:
- Targeted prevention in communities - supporting residents before they reach a crisis point and need formal support from the council,
- Managing growing demand for services - focusing on improving outcomes for residents and maximising independence,
- Improving how the council awards contracts – ensuring high quality services as close to people's homes and communities as possible,
- Efficient services – reviewing delivery to ensure high quality and efficiency,
- Reviewing budget saving plans – including cross-organisational opportunities, and maximising income.
The £1.4 million is just the cost to carry out the review. Once this is completed and Newton have presented their findings to the Cabinet, there will be further costs for them to design and implement any savings programs.
We were expecting the Reform UK ‘DOGE’ Team to carry out this work for at no cost to residents, but the administration has decided to bring in independent consultants instead.
Once I have any further updates, I will share them in my monthly reports and on my social media channels.
Richard Hill’s Church of England School Charity
I have recently become a Trustee of this charity as the Local Authority Representative. They have launched their latest round of Grant Funding that is available for past or present attendees at the school.
All the details you need to know are on the flyer below, so please share if you know someone who could be supported by the charity
Unpaid Carers
Leicestershire County Council is developing a new adult Carers’ Strategy for Leicestershire, and they want to hear your views. You can complete the Carers' Strategy survey by 11/01/26 here:
https://orlo.uk/Leicestershire-County-Council-Carers-Strategy-survey_EgIuO
I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year
If you have any issues or concerns, I’m here to help.
