Agenda and minutes

The Mayor welcomed those present to the meeting.

An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor Debbie Chance.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

The Chief Executive advised Members that at a meeting of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee held in July 2019 all Members had been granted a general dispensation to participate in voting on Members’ allowances, the Council’s budget and Council Tax matters.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of Council held on Monday 20^th January 2020 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Mayor.

To consider Announcements under Procedure Rule 10:

a)           Mayor’s Announcements

b)           The Leader’s Announcements

c)           Chief Executive’s Announcements.

The following announcements were made during the meeting:

a)        The Mayor’s Announcements

A written record of the civic engagements that had been attended by the Mayor since the previous meeting of Council was circulated at the meeting.

The Mayor also explained that a charity dinner would be taking place on 4^th April 2020.  All Members would be welcome to attend this dinner. 

b)        The Leader’s Announcements

The Leader circulated a written update in respect of Coronavirus, also called Covid-19, for Members’ consideration.

Members were advised that the outcome in respect of the Council’s membership of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) would be announced shortly.

c)         The Chief Executive’s Announcements

The Chief Executive confirmed that he had no announcements to make on this occasion.

The following matters were discussed in detail during consideration of this item:

Medium Term Financial Plan 2020/21 to 2023/24

Members discussed the proposals detailed in the report concerning the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2020/21 to 2023/24.

There had been some positive developments that had helped to balance the Council’s budget.  This included a better rate of return on the Council’s pension investments over the previous three years than had been anticipated.  The Council had also benefitted from receiving £494,000 in New Homes Bonus (NHB) funding for 2020/21, which had not been expected.  As a consequence the original gap in the budget of £1.2 million that had been anticipated for 2020/21 had been addressed and the Council was now projecting a surplus of £82,000 in that financial year which would be returned to balances.

In order to balance the budget in 2020/21 difficult decisions had had to be taken by Members.  This included decisions in respect of funding for Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations, the decision to close the One Stop Shops and the decision that had been taken in respect of Rubicon Business Centre.  Officers had managed to achieve significant savings during the year and further savings were anticipated as a result of changing the operating model for the Dial A Ride service. However, there remained a budget gap of £1.6 million that would need to be addressed over the three years from 2021/22 to 2023/24.  In order to address this gap Members would need to make further difficult decisions.

Reference was made to the challenging financial position for most local authorities in the country.  Members noted that there remained a lot of uncertainty about Council funding moving forward; the Government’s Fair Funding Review would impact on Council finances as would an anticipated resetting of the base level for business rates growth.  Reference was also made to the fact that the Council was still subject to a Section 24 Notice and would need to demonstrate to the external auditors that the authority had a sustainable budget moving forward in order for this to be lifted.

During consideration of this item Councillor Bill Hartnett explained that the Labour group would support the ninth recommendation from the Executive Committee in respect of the MTFP for 2020/21 to 2023/24.  This recommendation was as follows:

“The increase of the Council Tax per Band D at £5 for 2020/21 be approved.”

In accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 the ninth recommendation in respect of the MTFP was subject to a named vote.

Members voting FOR Recommendation 9 below:

Councillors Salman Akbar, Joe Baker, Tom Baker-Price, Joanne Beecham, Roger Bennett, Juliet Brunner, Michael Chalk, Greg Chance, Brandon Clayton, Matthew Dormer, John Fisher, Peter Fleming, Andrew Fry, Julian Grubb, Bill Hartnett, Pattie Hill, Ann Isherwood, Wanda King, Anthony Lovell, Gemma Monaco, Nyear Nazir, Gareth Prosser, Mike Rouse, Mark Shurmer, Yvonne Smith, David Thain, Craig Warhurst and Jenny Wheeler. (28)

Members voting AGAINST recommendation 9 below:

No Councillors (0).

Members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

Members considered recommendations that had been proposed at a meeting of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee held on 30^th January 2020 in respect of the Council’s Capital Strategy and the Treasury Management Strategy.

RESOLVED that

1)        the Capital Strategy as an appropriate overarching strategy for the Council be approved;

2)        the Treasury Management Strategy for 2020/21 and the associated MRP policy be approved;

3)        the policy for Flexible use of Capital Receipts be approved; and

4)        the Investment Strategy be approved.

To note any decisions taken in accordance with the Council’s Urgency Procedure Rules (Part 6, Paragraph 5 and/or Part 7, Paragraph 15 of the Constitution), as specified.

(None to date).

There were no urgent decisions to note at this meeting.

To consider any additional items exceptionally agreed by the Mayor as Urgent Business in accordance with the powers vested in him by virtue of Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

(This power should be exercised only in cases where there are genuinely special circumstances which require consideration of an item which has not previously been published on the Order of Business for the meeting.)

There was no general urgent business for consideration on this occasion.