Decision Maker: Executive
Made at meeting: 06/12/2022 - Executive
Decision published: 08/12/2022
Effective from: 16/12/2022
Decision:
(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.
Wards affected: (All Wards);
Lead officer: Steven Linnett
Decision Maker: Executive
Made at meeting: 06/12/2022 - Executive
Decision published: 08/12/2022
Effective from: 16/12/2022
Decision:
(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.
Wards affected: (All Wards);
Lead officer: Steven Linnett
Decision Maker: Executive
Made at meeting: 06/12/2022 - Executive
Decision published: 08/12/2022
Effective from: 16/12/2022
Decision:
(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.
Wards affected: (All Wards);
Lead officer: Steven Linnett
Decision Maker: Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability
Decision published: 08/12/2022
Effective from: 30/12/2022
Wards affected: Bishop's Stortford Meads;
Lead officer: Jess Khanom-Metaman
The council’s Climate Change Strategy
2022 – 2026, approved by Council in July 2022, sees the
replacement of all of the council’s diesel vans with a fleet
of e-vehicles as a step on the route towards being a net zero
carbon council by 2030.
Decision Maker: Head of Housing and Health
Decision published: 06/12/2022
Effective from: 05/12/2022
Decision:
Enter into a five year contract with Sinclair
Financing and Leasing, procured through The Procurement Partnership
Ltd’s Contract Hire Framework, for the lease of 5no. Nissan
Leaf e-vehicles.
Lead officer: Nick Phipps
This report is to seek approval of the
attached service plan. The plan sets out the likely demands on both
the ‘food hygiene’ and ‘occupational health and
safety’ functions undertaken by Environmental Health in
2022/23. The plan details how the team will use the allocated
resources (both financial and staffing) to meet these
demands.
Decision Maker: Head of Housing and Health
Decision published: 29/11/2022
Effective from: 07/12/2022
Decision:
Approve the service plan for 2022/23 and
continue with the current level of service delivery. This approach
will allow the organisation to wait for the outcome of the pending
service reviews before making an informed decision about the future
configuration of the team
Lead officer: Jonathan Geall
Decision Maker: Executive Member for Financial Sustainability
Decision published: 23/11/2022
Effective from: 13/12/2022
Wards affected: Sawbridgeworth;
Lead officer: Lucy Smith