Decisions

The report of the Director of Finance and Transformation presented Members with the current financial position to the end of July 2024 for the 2024/25 Financial Year, in accordance with the Borough Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

Since a revenue budget of £11,671,480 was set by the Council in February 2024, a number of Cabinet and committee decisions had been taken (as set out in Annex 1) with a net impact of a slight reduction of £3,192 on the revenue budget.

Budgetary Control Monitoring Statements for Salaries and Incomes to the end of July 2024 were attached for information at Annexes 2 and 3 respectively, which reflected an underspend of £69,750 against the current salary estimates proportioned to the end of July 2024 and an actual which was £26,345 less than the apportioned income estimate for the same period.

With regard to investment income, both Core and Cashflow funds were shown above the proportion of the original estimates due to continued high base rates which, however, were not anticipated to continue in the long term.

Areas identified as variations to the original estimate as of the end of May 2024 included service fee to the Tonbridge and Malling Leisure Trust, which was below the estimate thanks to the energy efficiency measures and savings, and expenditure on temporary accommodation, which was an overspend above the estimate due to higher than expected level of clients and increasing accommodation costs.

Furthermore, capital expenditure to the end of July 2024 was detailed in Annex 4.

With regard to the savings target as identified in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, Members acknowledged that challenge was still ahead in identifying options to close the overall funding gap of £1.7m despite that the first tranche target of £305,000 to be achieved by April 2025 had already been exceeded.  It was therefore suggested that options be invited from members of the three Scrutiny Select Committees and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for evaluation, and this was supported by the Cabinet.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)          as at the end of July 2024, a net favourable variance of circa £291,000 when compared to the proportion of the 2024/25 budget as shown in paragraph 1.6.1 be noted;

(2)          the potential issues surrounding the impact of the current client levels, cost of temporary accommodation and debt recovery within the revenue budget for Homelessness Accommodation be noted;

(3)          the current business rate pool position, as at the end of July 2024 as set out in paragraph 1.7.2, be noted;

(4)          the current spend on Capital Projects for 2024/25 be noted;

(5)          the current position of the Savings Target be noted; and

(6)          Members of the three Scrutiny Select Committees and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be invited to propose options for evaluation in the forthcoming months to assist in bridging the current funding gap.

Consideration was given to recommendation AU 24/28 of the Audit Committee of 22 July 2024 in respect of risk management process and the Strategic Risk Register (SRR).

Cabinet had due regard to the views of the Committee, the financial and value for money considerations and the legal implications and noted that, as recommended by the consultant, following a review undertaken by the Management Team of all the risks contained within the SRR, a number of changes had been made to the current Register, including the deletion of some risks that were no longer felt to be strategic risks and the titles of some of the risks.  The number of ‘red’ risks on the SRR remained to be 4 as set out below:

·         Achievement of Savings and Transformation Strategy

·         Failure to agree a Local Plan

·         Implementation of the Agile software system

·         Contract/Contractor Procurement

RESOLVED:  That

(1)          the review undertaken by Management Team in streamlining the Strategic Risk Register, be noted; and

(2)          the updates to the Strategic Risk Register since the last iteration with particular emphasis on those risks categorised as ‘RED’, be noted.

Consideration was given to recommendation CE 24/27 of the Communities and Environment Scrutiny Select Committee of 17 July 2024 in respect of the draft Tonbridge Racecourse Sportsground Management Plan.

Cabinet had due regard to the views of the Scrutiny Select Committee, the financial and value for money considerations, the legal implications and noted the changes proposed to the draft Management Plan, with particular reference made to the representativeness of the Tonbridge Sports Association, which would be taken into consideration when consultation was to be undertaken for review of any management plans in the future.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)          the proposed amendments to the draft Management plan, as set out in Annex 2, be approved, subject to amending the proposed responses in respect of footpaths and active travel to read ‘unlikely to be realistic’; and

(2)          the draft Management Plan for Tonbridge Racecourse Sportsground 2024-28 (attached at Annex 3) be approved.