Decision details

Consideration was given to recommendation FRP 23/28 of the Finance, Regeneration and Property Scrutiny Select Committee of 14 November 2023 in respect of proposed fees and charges for the provision of services related to legal fees, photocopying, Street Name and Numbering, local land charge searches and enquiries, Tonbridge Castle and recovering unpaid Council Tax debts from 1 April 2024.

Cabinet had due regard to the views of the Scrutiny Select Committee, the financial and value for money considerations and legal implications and recognised that in bringing forward the charging proposals for 2024/25 consideration had been given to a range of factors including the Borough Council’s overall financial position, market position, trading patterns and the current rate of inflation and customer feedback.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)             the proposed charges for legal costs, as set out in 1.2 of the report, be adopted with effect from 1 April 2024;

(2)             the current photocopying charges of £0.10 (inclusive of VAT) for each page of the same document or additional copies of the same page plus postage as appropriate, as set out in 1.3.4 of the report, be retained;

(3)             the proposed fee schedules for Street Naming and Numbering, as set out in 1.4 of the report, be adopted with effect from 1 April 2024, subject to noting that, following clarification requested by the Finance, Regeneration and Scrutiny Select Committee, the percentage fee increases set out in the table were correct and paragraph 1.4.4 should indicate that ‘… as a starting point of 7%’;

(4)             the proposed scale of fees for local land charges searches and enquiries, as set out in Annex 1 and 1.5 of the report, be adopted with effect from 1 April 2024;

(5)             the proposed fees and charges for 2024/25 related to Tonbridge Castle, as set out in 1.6 of the report, be adopted with effect from 1 April 2024; and

(6)             the amount of costs charged in 2024/25 to recover unpaid Council Tax debts be increased from £100 to £110, as set out in 1.7 of the report, with effect from 1 April 2024.