Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was submitted by Councillor McAndrew.

The Leader welcomed Members, Officers and those watching on the Council’s YouTube page to the meeting.

The Leader asked the Executive Member for Communities to give an update on extra government funding. Councillor Kaye said that East Herts had been allocated £213,000 under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to help fund small organisations across the District for community grants and small projects.

The Leader asked the Executive Member for Planning and Growth to give an update. Councillor Goodeve said that the council had received £34,000 to refurbish two playgrounds in Sacombe Road and Watermill Lane in Bengeo.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2022.

Councillor Goodeve proposed, and Councillor Kaye seconded a motion that the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2022 be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Leader. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2022 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Leader.

To receive any Member(s) declaration(s) of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report to follow.

(A)   Agree that the proposed budget should make use of the

flexibility from Government to increase Council Tax by 3%, which will increase Council Tax revenue by £33,813 a year and will result in a Band D Council Tax increase of £5.53 which is 53 pence a year more than the planned £5 increase included in the Medium Term Financial Plan;

(B)   Agree that Leadership Team proceed with the savings plan for

2023/24 for changes under delegated authority and that do not directly impact residents or all of local businesses;

(C)   Request Audit & Governance Committee to consider the savings items reserved for Member decision and to advise Executive of any significant adverse impact on the district of recommending to Council these savings are implemented;

(D)   Agree that in order to smooth the delivery of the substantial

savings targets over the Medium Term Financial Plan that the

General Reserve and the Interest Equalisation Reserve are used as reported;

(E)   Agree that a temporary use of £400k of the New Homes Priority Spend Reserve, repayable in 2027/28 and 2028/29, may be used to assist with smoothing the delivery of savings as reported;

(F)    Agree the pausing of non-essential capital schemes to prioritise completion of the major projects; provide essential capital financing for the purchase of food waste caddies and changes to Buntingford Depot as part of the new contract fuel and energy strategy;

(G)   Note that the pausing of the £9.6 million of capital spend will

reduce revenue costs of Minimum Revenue Provision and

interest by £719k per annum on rebased capital financing

charges using current interest rates;

(H)   Note that the savings requirements, that will need to be

delivered to balance the budget in the Medium Term, the

delivery profile of which has been smoothed using earmarked

reserves, are:

2023/24 £822k

2024/25 £2,170k

2025/26 £2,192k

2026/27 £2,053k

2027/28 £567k.

(I)    Delegate to the Head of Strategic Finance & Property, in

consultation with the Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Financial Sustainability, the ability to amend the budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan to reflect the Local Government Finance Settlement and other emerging information, so that Audit & Governance Committee can consider the must complete and up to date information when they scrutinise the budget at their meeting on 24 January 2023; and

(J)     Note that the level of budget reductions required to balance the budget in the medium term is beyond further efficiency

measures alone and instructs Leadership Team to commence

preparations for the Reconciling Policy, Performance and

Resources exercise that the new Council, elected in May 2023, will need to undertake alongside the new Corporate Plan, to balance the budget over the medium term.

The Executive Member for Financial Sustainability presented the Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan. He said that the Executive were previously asked to endorse recommendations and assumptions to provide a base for Officers to work on the budget. He said that the revised report took into account the revised position on the council’s forecasts and implications of the Autumn Statement.

Councillor Williamson said that the Executive had agreed to increase Council Tax to the highest threshold without triggering a referendum which was the highest of £5 or 2%. However, he said the Chancellor had allowed greater flexibility for councils to increase their council tax rates up to 3% which meant an increase of £5.53 on a Band D property raising £33,000 revenue.

Councillor Williamson said that the budget gap had been revised to £822,000 and £866,000 savings had been identified and were listed at paragraph 1.20 which delivered a balanced budget for 2023/24. He said the situation for years past 2024 was extremely difficult with a further £6.4m needing to be saved between 2024 – 2027.

Councillor Williamson said the report proposed using the reserves to fund the largest budget gaps. He said he was cautious about using the reserves and they would be paid back towards the end of the Medium Term Financial Plan when the savings targets had been eased.

Councillor Williamson said that the capital programme had been looked at and any lower priority capital spending had been moved into approved but not committed category so do not need to allow for the financing of these items in the Medium Term Financial Plan and provided a further saving.

Councillor Buckmaster said that he felt the recommendations were sensible and was pleased to see a judicious use of reserves. He said that many councils would be increasing their Council Tax to the maximum threshold and he was also pleased to see that the council could continue to help its communities through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Councillor Haysey said that the report noted that the council’s IT outage had meant the finance team lost six days in producing the budget. She thanked the Head of Strategic Finance and Property and his team for putting the report together. She said that the council had to legally produce a balanced budget or it would be declared bankrupt. She said that the council still had the ability to find savings from within its Transformation Programme and still provide residents with quality services but said that there would be difficult decisions to take in future years.

Councillor Curtis referred to recommendation (D) in the report. He asked for clarification on the term ‘smooth the delivery’.

Councillor Williamson said that the Medium Term Financial Plan savings were loaded towards 2024/25/26 so it was proposed that the council use money from reserves so the savings target was reduced. He said that the money would be paid back into reserves so the net position would be unchanged.

Councillor Curtis asked if the Executive Member could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 257.

(A) That the Draft Capital Strategy and Minimum Revenue Provision policy 2023/24 onwards for scrutiny by Audit & Governance Committee be approved; and

(B) That the principle of selling assets to raise capital receipts to reduce the revenue costs of the capital and authorise officers to prepare an initial list and marketing strategy for assets for sale for approval by Executive be endorsed.

(C) To authorise the Head of Strategic Finance & Property, in consultation with the Executive Member for Financial Sustainability, to make any changes to these documents as are necessary to reflect the impact of the local government finance settlement and other emerging information, such as the impact of the business rates revaluation, so that Audit and Governance Committee can scrutinise the most up to date financial position.

The Executive Member for Financial Sustainability presented the report. He said that this was the fifth edition of the report attached at Appendix A. He said that changes in the economic climate and the increase in interest rates need to ensure that the capital programme remained affordable. He said that lower priority capital spending would be moved to the not committed category which means that the delivery of those items would be paused until the finance becomes available.

Councillor Williamson said that the Draft Asset Management Plan looked at the council’s operational and non-operational property assets. He said that the strategy would propose an evaluation of all the council’s assets to determine whether it was in the council’s interest to retain or dispose of it. The capital receipts from any such disposals would support the capital programme or offset borrowing requirements. He said the strategy was not available for this meeting and would be presented at the January meeting so proposed an amendment to recommendation (A) in the report to remove the words “Draft Asset Management Plan”.

Councillor Boylan seconded the amendment to the recommendation. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – To amend recommendation (A) as follows: That the Draft Capital Strategy and Minimum Revenue Provision policy 2023/24 onwards for scrutiny by Audit and Governance Committee be approved.

Councillor Curtis asked if the Executive Member could confirm if the evaluation would include revenue generating assets or future generating assets.

Councillor Williamson said it could include revenue generating assets but only where the revenue return was below an acceptable threshold.

Councillor Curtis asked if there would be an opportunity to increase the return on some of these assets.

Councillor Williamson said that it would be looked at as part of the evaluation.

Councillor Curtis asked for confirmation that each asset would be looked at for revenue potential before a decision was made to sell it.

Councillor Williamson confirmed that this would be part of the process.

Councillor Curtis referred to the savings within the Transformation Programme and said it would be better to increase the revenue on the council’s assets instead of selling them off to raise money.

Councillor Buckmaster said that many the council’s assets were not capable of generating further income and so should be considered for disposal.

Councillor Haysey said the requirements were laid out in detail on page 21.

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property said the evaluation would look at assets for disposals. He said that any assets that did not contribute to the Corporate Plan or would not appreciate in capital or generate income should not be held onto by the council. He said there was potentially £2.4million value in the surplus assets. He said many of the assets were surplus to requirements and it would be a Member decision as to what assets were disposed of.

Councillor Curtis asked how the council kept track of its assets and asked when the last  ...  view the full minutes text for item 258.

(A) That the template and methodology to calculate full cost recovery under the Fees and Charges Policy be approved; and

(B) When charges are calculated using the template, then a copy of the calculation should be made available as part of the budget papers for the 2023/24 financial year.

The Executive Member for Financial Sustainability presented the report. He said this was a technical piece of work that had been developed to enable calculations to be made easily and more consistent.

Councillor Haysey said this was a good piece of work and thanked Officers for the report.

Councillor Williamson proposed and Councillor Kaye seconded a motion supporting the recommendations in the report. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – That (A) The template and methodology to calculate full cost recovery under the Fees and Charges Policy be approved; and

(B) When charges are calculated using the template, then a copy of the calculation should be made available as part of the budget papers for the 2023/24 financial year.

To consider such other business as, in the opinion of the Chairman of the meeting, is of sufficient urgency to warrant consideration and is not likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information.

There was no urgent business.