Due to the timescale and print deadlines, the recommendations of the meeting of Cabinet held on 10 February 2022 will be circulated to Members in advance of the meeting of Council.

In accordance with CPR 8.5 of the Constitution there will be a recorded vote for this item.

Item CB 22/17 referred from the Cabinet minutes of 10 February 2022

It was proposed by Councillor Coffin and seconded by Councillor Boughton that the recommendations at Minute CB 22/17 be adopted.  In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 8.5 voting was recorded as follows:

Members voting for the motion:

Cllr Mrs J Anderson; Cllr Mrs S Bell; Cllr R Betts; Cllr T Bishop; Cllr M Boughton; Cllr P Boxall; Cllr V Branson; Cllr G Bridge; Cllr R Cannon; Cllr A Clark; Cllr M Coffin; Cllr D Cooper; Cllr A Cope; Cllr R Dalton; Cllr D Davis; Cllr M Davis; Cllr N Foyle; Cllr D Harman; Cllr P Hickmott; Cllr M Hood; Cllr F Hoskins; Cllr S Hudson; Cllr D Keers; Cllr Mrs A Kemp; Cllr A Kennedy; Cllr D King; Cllr J Lark; Cllr P Montague; Cllr Mrs A Oakley; Cllr W Palmer; Cllr M Rhodes; Cllr H Rogers; Cllr R Roud; Cllr J Sergison; Cllr K Tanner; Cllr Mrs M Tatton; Cllr G Thomas; Cllr D Thornewell; Cllr F Tombolis; and Cllr C Williams

Total = 40

Members voting against the motion: None

Total = 0

Members abstaining: None

Total = 0

(Total Members eligible to vote = 40)

RESOLVED:  That the recommendations at Minute CB 22/17 be approved.

Further to reports to the meeting of the Finance, Innovation and Property Advisory Board and Overview and Scrutiny Committee earlier in the cycle, this report updates Cabinet on issues relating to the Medium Term Financial Strategy.  It also takes Members through the necessary procedures in order to set the Budget for 2022/23.

Further to the reports to the Finance, Innovation and Property Advisory Board and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee earlier in the cycle, the joint report of the Chief Executive, Director of Finance and Transformation, the Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Innovation and Property updated the Cabinet on issues relating to the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and gave details of the necessary procedure to be followed in order to set the budget for 2022/23.

In addition, the budget setting process for this year had to incorporate the difficult task of estimating the extent and speed of the recovery of the Council’s income and expenditure impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, both in the short and medium term.

Members noted that, as at the time of publishing the report the final settlement had not been confirmed, all figures contained in the report were based on the provisional local government finance settlement received in December 2021.  The Director of Finance and Transformation advised that it was now confirmed that the final local government finance settlement was the same as the figures previously announced.  The Settlement Funding Assessment (SFA) was for one year only.  This included an allocation of £1.9m for New Homes Bonus (NHB) and a one-off Services Grant to cover national insurance increases.  The overall funding decrease on 2021/22 was £401,000 which represented 7.6%.  There was no indication of future core funding, including any replacement (or not) for NHB, beyond 2022/23 and this made financial planning extremely difficult.  The Fair Funding Review had also been deferred to a future date.  Concern was also expressed that the Negative RSG not yet imposed by the Government would be addressed as part of the Fair Funding Review and would again impact significantly on the Borough Council’s financial position.

Members noted that waste, homelessness/temporary accommodation and the Local Plan continued to have significant financial implications for the Borough Council.

Attention was drawn to recommendations from Advisory Boards and the decision of the Licensing and Appeals Committee regarding the levels of fees and charges to be implemented from 1 April 2022 (as set out at Annex 2 to the report).  Particular reference was made to the recommendations of the Street Scene and Environment Services Advisory Board (SSE 21/31) in respect of car parking fees and charges.  To enable statutory public consultation to be undertaken it was recommended that the implementation date of the proposed fees and charges should be from 1 June 2022 and not 1 April as previously recommended. 

The report then described the remaining procedure to be followed in setting the budget for 2022/23 and calculating the council tax.  For the purposes of updating the MTFS a council tax increase of £5 in 2022/23 had  been assumed and for each year thereafter.

The Cabinet deliberated on the most appropriate guidance to offer the Council as the way forward for updating the MTFS for the next ten year period and setting the council tax for 2022/23. Members were advised of details of special expenses for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17