What will the town’s top tories get up to on Tuesday?

On Tuesday (18 August 2015) the town's top tories will meet in their cabinet at 17.30. Some of what they get up to in their meeting is open to the public. So what do we know about their plans?

1. Good news, like thousands of ordinary Warwickshire residents, Rugby's tories are becoming increasingly concerned about how their cousins in Shire Hall are running the county council. The first item on the agenda concerns the declining standards of advice Rugby is getting under a shared service with Warwickshire County Council to provide advice on equalities. It is proposed to jettison the deal with the tory-led county council and set up a Rugby only service.
2. It is proposed that the Council now holds a referendum on the proposed Coton Neighbourhood Plan. This was discussed at the Cabinet meeting in March - see http://rugby.lib.dm/a9TG7 . There have been a handful of objections to the plan. Some residents were concerned about the proposals for allotments and a property developer just did not want the Council to adopt a neighbourhood plan at all.
3. The Cabinet will consider a performance report for the first quarter of the Council's financial year (April to June 2015). The most astonishing part of the performance report is that the conservatives are considering stopping counting how many empty shops there are in our town centre - see http://rugby.lib.dm/a7ZQB .
4. After consultation the Council is considering adopting a new homelessness strategy. The strategy builds on the good work the Council has done to reduce the likelihood of Council tenants falling into rent arrears and being evicted - see http://rugby.lib.dm/a0TJ8 . It also notes the success of the Council's bid for more money to provide advice on housing for young people - see http://rugby.lib.dm/a3Rfh . (It says nothing about the likelihood the conservative government's changes will make homelessness more likely - see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33608826 nor does it note the threat to the homelessness posed by the county's tories- but you can read about it here http://rugby.lib.dm/a1Zz8 ).
5. It is proposed that the Council adopt a new risk management strategy. The papers released by the Council do not say what this new strategy will be or even how it differs from the old one. Nor does the report say what the Council considers to be the main risks it faces.
6. The Cabinet is then being recommended to exclude the public whilst it discusses letting some contracts outside the Council's normal standing orders. This part of the agenda is secret and we can't say what the excuse the tories have for not following normal standing orders nor why the public should not be able to hear this excuse.