Agenda item

Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget 2021-22

Meeting of Council, Wednesday, 24th February, 2021 6.00 pm (Item 7.)

Minutes:

Councillor Evemy, the Deputy Leader of Council and Cabinet Member for Finance introduced this item. He commented that it was an honour to propose the second annual budget, which continued the work the administration had begun to rebuild the Council’s finance and invest in the Cotswolds.

It was a budget that recognised issues, such as the climate emergency, the housing affordability crisis and work to improve the vibrancy, strength and sustainability of the local economy and assist in the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, a revenue budget for 2021/22 was proposed, which was in surplus by £6,000.

There were big decisions taken last year, to raise revenue of £¾ m, on parking, garden waste charges and on Council Tax.

Further increases were proposed, in fees and charges and Council Tax, which would generate £ ½ m, to support services to residents.

Pressures on the budget amounted to nearly £1.2m, £400,000 for additional fleet hire for Ubico, £189,000 less in investment income due to the drop in interest rates and £170,000 less in planning income following the adoption of the Local Plan.

Covid-19 would continue to have an impact on the finances of the Council. Government grants, for 2021/22, had been set aside, £377,000 for additional expenditure and £356,000 to cover income shortfalls, to be used as needed to support the budgets.

Income which would be generated from the Recovery Investment Strategy, amounted to £363,000 in 2021/22.

£200,000 investment was proposed over 2 years in a new Civic Pride programme, to improve the public realm.

The administration were proposing increasing the Council Tax by £5 a year for Band D, to fund future plans. 52% of respondents to the consultation, agreed with this increase.

Through the Capital Strategy, a proposal to spend £18.3m in 2021/22 on general funds services, £15.2m of this figure for projects agreed under the Recovery Investment Strategy. Councillor Evemy reiterated that expenditure would not be committed to any project unless a detailed business case was presented for approval to the Cabinet or for projects over £100,000 by Council.

£16.4m for a loan, which was proposed through the Capital Strategy, was to support, principally the provision of truly affordable homes in the district.

Councillor Evemy explained that the budget would put the administration’s values into practice and deliver the ambitions of tackling the climate emergency, deliver social rented housing, strengthen the local economy, and build financial resilience of the Council.

Councillor Selwyn seconded the proposed budget. He thanked Councillor Evemy for his clear presentation. He reiterated that the consultation had taken place over various virtual platforms and strategic signs around Cirencester and that the administration genuinely wanted to hear from residents. More responses had been received this year, and the consultation was beneficial for the administration to be able to deliver service, through the published plans and work on rebuilding the Council, investing in vital services such as the waste collection service and investing in local people by providing affordable homes. He commended Councillor Evemy for making difficult decisions to be able to continue to deliver services to the residents of the district.

The Chair of Council, Councillor Robbins, announced that he had been notified of proposed amendments to the budget.

Councillor Morgan, the Leader of the opposition, proposed the following amendments, Councillor Berry seconded the proposals.

1. The £50,000 allocated for battery powered cameras to help the fight against illegal fly-tipping be removed from the £200,000 civic pride budget and recorded as a stand alone item in the accounts

2. An extra £140,000 be allocated and reinvested in the Council’s planning and enforcement departments, to help reduce the current backlog of applications and make the planning application process more in keeping with residents' expectations.

An amendment, relating to Kemble to Cirencester Rail link, was withdrawn.

Councillor Morgan spoke to the amendments. He explained that he would like to propose removing the £50,000 from the Civic Pride umbrella, in order to track and ensure the investment of this money for fly-tipping was used to track and stem the impact of fly-tipping.

On the second amendment relating to a proposal of £140,000 for the planning and enforcement department, he explained that the department was under a serious amount of stress, the response times and processing of applications were increasing, there was concern that this would get worse before it got better and the team needed help, reinvestment and extra funding.

Councillor Berry, in seconding the proposals, explained that fly-tipping was a key area which was regularly in the press and because of lockdown had probably got worse instead of better, which was why it was proposed in the first instance. He was delighted that it had been accepted, but it was not known exactly what the civic pride

presentation was, which would be discussed at Cabinet shortly.

Planning was a key area, it was where the voters see the Council at best or worse. It was an area which needed extra resources and he understood that there was a review, but needed the extra money to be able to provide the service. Currently there was a push for applications ‘not to go anywhere’ and be decided by officers, because presenting applications to the committee created extra work for staff, but which he considered created a democratic deficit, and it was therefore important to sort this out.

The Chair took each amendment in turn. Each motion was debated and then voted upon.

On being put to the vote the first amendment was LOST:

For: Councillors Andrews, Annett, Beale, Berry, Blomefield, Hirst, Robin Hughes, Jepson, Judd, Keeling, Morgan, Norris, Theodoulou, Trotter – Total: 14

Against: Councillors Bloomer, Brassington, Coleman, Coxcoon, Dale, Doherty, Evemy, Forde, Joe Harris, Mark Harris, Roly Hughes, Ind, Layton, Maclean, Maunder, Neill, Robbins, Selwyn, Spivey, Webster – Total: 20

On being put to the vote the second amendment was LOST:

For: Councillors Andrews, Annett, Beale, Berry, Blomefield, Hirst, Robin Hughes, Jepson, Judd, Keeling, Morgan, Norris, Theodoulou, Trotter – Total: 14

The Chair then returned to the proposed Medium Term Financial Strategy and Budget 2021/22.

Councillor Harris spoke to the proposals. He highlighted that this was a budget that rebuilt Council finances, and recognised the huge challenge which was faced to fill the budget black hole which was inherited and responded to the huge cuts to funding from the Government.

It allowed investment in the Cotswolds, for the Council to deliver genuinely affordable homes for young people and families, tackling the climate change emergency to safeguard future generations and putting sustainable, economic growth at the centre of plans to attract high quality, well paid jobs for local people. Tough decisions had had to be made on issues such as fees and charges and whether or not to raise Council Tax, and the garden waste charge, which had enabled the Council to plan for the future and weather the Covid-19 storm,

A long term plan had been implemented in the Council’s investment strategy to shore up finances, which when realised, would ensure long term financial stability and eventuality the ability to wean the Council off Government handouts and reliance upon parking charges.

Investing in issues such as housing, climate change, green economic growth strategy, would enable the Council to reinvest in communities and take advantage of the green revolution. Economic Development and job creation locally, to encourage businesses to thrive and bring jobs to the district.

He thanked Councillor Evemy and the Cabinet for the hard work in making this budget and in particular the Chief Finance Officer and her team for pulling together this budget. He considered the budget sought to rebuild the Council’s finances, investing in the Cotswolds and he urged Members to vote for approval of the budget.

Councillor Morgan spoke to the proposals, thanking Councillor Evemy and Selwyn for presenting and seconding the proposals, also thanking the Chief Finance Officer and all the officers for their hard work on this budget. He highlighted that Members were being asked to approve total borrowing over the next four years of £65.8m, which was disproportionate for a Council of this size, which only had an annual budget requirement of around £12m. Of the £65.8m borrowing, there was no idea of how £54.2m would be spent. This level of borrowing did not mean a balanced budget at the end of it. The administration inherited a budget that was debt free, with cash reserves of £13.2m, property investments of 7.5m and financial market investments of £12m. He urged Members not to vote for the proposals.

During debate concern was expressed that the corporate plans and strategies were disconnected from the budget proposals, making sure that the finances were in order, doing everything to reduce costs, although recognition of housing for local residents.

Concern was also expressed regarding the £650,000 spent on employing people to do specialist roles, although it was pointed out that consultants had not been employed to write the Climate Change strategy.

Support was expressed for the work on Climate Change which was a real reality.

Councillor Evemy summed up thanking Councillors for their comments, reiterating that there was a need to invest in services and deliver for the people of the Cotswolds.

RESOLVED that

(a) Council approve the:

(i) Budget Proposals for 2021/22

(ii) Medium Term Financial Strategy

(iii) Pay Policy Statement

(iv) Capital Strategy

(v) Investment Strategy

(vi) Treasury Management Strategy

(vii) Local Council Tax Support Scheme as detailed in 2.49 to 2.51 of the report for 2021/22.

(b) Following approval of recommendations (i)-(vii), Council delegates authority to the Chief Finance Officer to approve the Local Council Tax Support Scheme annual uprating of allowances and non-dependant deductions in line with national regulations.

For: Councillors Bloomer, Brassington, Coleman, Coxcoon, Dale, Doherty, Evemy, Forde, Joe Harris, Mark Harris, Roly Hughes, Ind, Layton, Maclean, Maunder, Neill, Robbins, Selwyn, Spivey, Webster – Total: 20

Against: Councillors Andrews, Annett, Beale, Berry, Blomefield, Hirst, Robin Hughes, Jepson, Judd, Keeling, Morgan, Norris, Theodoulou, Trotter – Total: 14Councillor Evemy, the Deputy Leader of Council and Cabinet Member for Finance introduced this item. He commented that it was an honour to propose the second annual budget, which continued the work the administration had begun to rebuild the Council’s finance and invest in the Cotswolds.