Agenda and minutes

          The Minutes from the meeting held on 15^th September 2025, were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

          Regarding the swimming pool at Halton Leisure Centre, officers noted that the pool was in disrepair when obtained by the Council. A report was made of all the defects, and the Council was seeing which defects the constructor could be held accountable to. There had been no extraordinary issues with anti-social behaviour, and issues were managed appropriately. There was no retention on the project so only legal proceedings could be done to hold the construction contract to account.

          As the contract was agreed a long time ago, officers will liaise with Property Services to see who agreed to the contract with the contractor. agreed and the contractor.

          It was suggested that the pool’s abrasive surface was caused by the pool’s hard water but this was contested by officer.

          It was confirmed that no public questions had been received.

          The Board was presented with the minutes relating to the Employment, Learning & Skills and Community Portfolio, which had been considered by the Executive Board since the last meeting of the Board.

          It was noted that as the items were already approved by the Executive Board, the Board could not comment on items to be determined.

          The Board received a report and accompanying presentation which introduced Culture 26; Made In Halton. Halton will be delivering borough of Culture in 2026 titled Culture 26; Made In Halton; this is being developed in partnership with Cultivate Halton. Culture is defined as literature, music, theatre and performance, visual arts, dance and digital media. Culture 26 has been funded by the UKSPF (UK Shared Prosperity Fund). Halton’s first cultural event was in 2021, and officers were keen to have collaborative work with culture.

          There are four elements of Culture 26, or ‘Crucible of Culture’: Leadership, Communication, Diversity and Dynamism. Halton’s creative consultation was held at Norton Priory and Widnes Market and showed the Council’s commitment to inclusive cultural engagement through Cultivate Halton’s growing network of artists, organisations, and communities. Culture 26 will link in with Visit Halton which was a successful tourism project that was funded with CIF money. Visit Halton was deemed the best tourism project in the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCR) and won national awards. A physical music trail was planned to highlight when famous musicians preformed in Halton. Day trips were suggested as ‘post cards’ which highlighted historical areas in Halton.

          Reconnecting Runcorn delivered eight projects with £23.6m Towns Fund investment to boost skills, transport, housing, environment, and visitor attractions. Partnership opportunities were made as part of this project and more would surface as the project continues. In September 2024, two internationally renowned muralists were commissioned create four Runcorn historical events as murals. Local stories were promoted and sought through the project. Aspire Grants were available for residents who wanted funded to produce a cultural project.

          Cultivate Halton will invest locally through inclusive programmes, festivals, and community hubs after it was granted £200,000 from the LCR. A Cultural Officer will aim to unite sectors to co-create an inclusive cultural offer to transform Halton into a tourism destination. Cultivate Halton will include a wide region of topics including arts, technology and sciences. Festivals that have happened in the borough will be built upon like Halton Fest and Eco Fest. An independent Panel will look at grants to ensure the right thing is being achieved, grants should be allocated at the end of December 2025. A Film Fest was planned, and promotional work was planned with Halton Castle.

          The new Place Strategy will be a longer-term strategy for the borough to strengthen collaboration between the Council and external cultural participants.

          In response to questions raised by the Board, the additional information was provided:

• Historically, LCR expressed an interest in partnership bid but they were keen for the boroughs to collaborate amongst themselves. Halton planned to bring artwork in from artists from neighbouring boroughs.
• Halton had good professional relationships with the LCR boroughs, but Halton was sometimes overlooked despite its successes.
• LCR wanted to stop the culture programme after St Helens and the Wirral’s second year of culture but Halton did not have a second year so Halton and Sefton will have their culture year in 2026, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

          The Board received a report on the library service including: the relocation of Runcorn Library, acquisition of an electric vehicle and amendment to opening hours. In the accompanying presentation, it was highlighted that there had been an increase in footfall in its temporary location in Church Street. Doors were kept open which led to the increase of footfall and school events and coffee mornings were popular. The library will move permanently to the Brindley in 2026, and officers were keen to maintain this community engagement and utilise the existing Brindley audiences. Self-service technology will be at the new library, but staff will still be on site. The new library will have an outdoor reading space and larger space for events. Cafe facilities will be at the new site too.

          The library had a new electric van which will bring library books to schools, residents and care homes. A phased staggered approach was planned with the vehicle to reach areas which were least efficient for deliveries. The van was a delivery vehicle for library books, and these were delivered monthly. The van will also go to places with a high footfall. This service had received positive feedback and was free for residents; it was especially praised by more isolated residents. Promotional work for this was being done and this will be rolled out over the next 12 months. Residents who receive deliveries will not be counted as part of the footfall. If needed, library staff could refer residents to Council services.

          The Board noted that libraires in Halton were successful and would like to be given promotional material to promote them to residents. They also praised the library staff for their work in the community.

          In response to questions raised by the Board, the additional information was provided:

• In 2026, the library will exclusively use BorrowBox for users to access newspapers and magazines.
• When the Brindley is open, the library will still be accessible for those wanting to take a book out or return one.
• All four libraries in Halton were granted ‘sanctuary’ status.
• The Board would have liked the library trialled at the Brindley before it was agreed that it would permanently move there.
• Officers confirmed that it would be open to families on a Saturday.
• After a child has turned eight, they are less likely to go to the library.
• The new library service had ‘library reading time’ with some schools where the library van will bring in new books for a class to read. This was to improve child literacy.
• Halton adult learners who wrote books were in the libraries but there were a lot of self-published authors who wanted to have their books in libraries; therefore, these were part of an alternating stock.
• The survey showed that there was a low footfall after 6pm so this was why the libraries will close earlier during the week. Widnes Library was open until 6pm on Saturday.

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

          The Board received a report providing an update on the DWP Youth Guarantee Trailblazer. In August 2025, the Council, as part of the LCR, was commissioned to deliver the DWP/LCRCA Youth Guarantee Trailblazer which was aimed at supporting care leavers and young people aged 18-21 that are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Halton’s YGT launched with £300,000 from the LCR in September 2025 and tried different approaches to captures its NEET residents.

          Part of the Trailblazer was ‘Halton People into Jobs’ which helped refer young people to up skilling or signposted them to specialist services, including for mental health. NEET young people can meet with the advisors who provide practical support, including CV amending and interview practice. This could also include the means of transport to get to a job. The goal was to help 42 young people get jobs by the end of the funding period. One young person now teaches other adult learners with IT skills and is obtaining a teaching qualification.

          A door-to-door service and phone calls were done to reach out to NEET young people as they would not come to the Council office for support. 36 NEET young people had been helped by November 2025. These people would be managed to ensure that they were progressing in obtaining employment or further education. Care leavers were referred to the service and officers provided a lot of funding to help young people; 14 care leavers engaged with the service and five have secured employment.

          There was a wage incentive for those who helped young people get into work and keep them there when apprenticeship funding was delayed. Funding for the project needed to be managed to ensure as many young people as possible could be helped. Some young people request support with being self-employed, recently the YGT helped an ex-NEET young person be a self-employed tattoo artist. In some cases, multiple attempts had to be done to get young people into employment.

          The launch event at the stadium became a workshop and they learnt which areas needed to be covered to help young NEET people. 61 young people have engaged with the service since its launch. Lots of different teams worked together to make the Trailblazer work and different elements were looked at to help them; for example, that a young person’s rent was too high for jobs to pay for. Positive feedback was received from young people who engaged with YGT.

          For the future, the NEET/Care Leaver Panel will be re-established and the YGT will be promoted more. Promotion was done at the leisure centre and other places to reach out to as many young NEET people as possible. Young NEET people were met with weekly. The money for the first year needs to be spent, otherwise the YGT will receive less funding for its second year.

          The Board praised the work done by officers of the YGT.

          In response to questions raised by the Board, the additional information was provided:

• The YGT worked  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

          The Board received the performance management reports for Quarter 2 of 2025-26 (1 July 2025 to 30 September 2025) and were requested to consider and raise any questions or points of clarification in respect of these.

          The key priorities for development or improvement in 2025-26 were agreed by Members and for the various function areas reported to the Board as follows:

          · Enterprise, Employment and Skills; and

          · Community and Environment.

          The report detailed progress against service objectives and milestones and performance targets and provided information relating to key developments and emerging issues that had arisen during the period.

          In response to questions raised by the Board, the additional information was provided:

• The original budget for Supplies and Services was provided by grant funding and set in 2019, so it was highly likely to overspend inevitable.
• Council was borrowing this money from the Public Works Loan Board to bridge this funding gap.
• Officers agreed to bring the audit report on the waste service to the next meeting.
• Officers will seek information on why £500,000 was set aside for Extended Producer Responsibility as no information was provided on this.  
• Could external contractor for IT be contacted to improve service in Board Room

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.