Decision details

(Report of Director of Finance and Transformation)

The report provided an update on the Medium Term Financial Strategy.  The Cabinet noted the current position and agreed that a programme for investigating and identifying options to achieve the necessary savings referenced in the report was required.

The Borough Council’s financial position remained significantly challenging and it was reported that the funding gap had increased to £2,150,000 based upon the information included within the report.  The Director of Finance and Transformation stressed that, to protect the integrity of the Medium Term Financial Strategy, all savings would need to be delivered by April 2026.

The Cabinet resolved that:

(1)             the latest forecast of the Medium Term Financial Strategy and the funding gap of £2,150,000, as detailed in paragraph 1.2.17 of the report, be noted;

(2)             the income expectation from the introduction of charging for parking in the Aylesford, Martin Square and Snodland Car Parks be removed from the Medium Term Financial Strategy increasing the funding gap by a further £95,000 to a new total of £2,245,000;

(3)             subject to the deletion of the items relating to the Sale of River Lawn land and to new income from charging in Aylesford/Martin Square and Snodland Car Parks, the need to deliver as soon as possible the savings and/or transformation contributions already included in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, as set out in paragraph 1.2.5 of the report, be noted;

(4)             the savings and/or transformation contributions for Tranche 1 totalling £52,000, as set out in paragraph 1.3.2 of the report, be agreed;

(5)             further consideration be given to how the balance of £48,000 savings for Tranche 1 could be found; and

(6)             a programme for investigating and identifying the necessary savings for Tranches 2 – 5, now totalling £2,145,000 as a result of recommendation 2 above, be considered and implemented.