Agenda item

37/20   

The Council considered a report that detailed the formal proposals of the Executive in order to achieve a balanced Revenue Budget for 2021/22.

In her introduction, the Leader of Council paid particular tribute to the work of the Section 151 Officer; the Deputy Section 151 Officer and the Finance Team in presenting a balanced set of Revenue Budget proposals for 2021/22.  In addition, the Leader also drew the attention of Members to two minor errors in the published agenda papers whereby reference had incorrectly been made to ‘public sector housing’ instead of ‘private sector housing’.  Finally, the Leader also set out the significant future financial challenges that were being faced by the Council.

In the ensuing debate, particular reference was made to:-

(a)     the proposed additional £200,000 funding for the Climate Change Action Plan.  When questioned, the Leader advised that the recently established Community Board would be considering potential mechanisms for Bids to this fund to come forward.  In response to a number of requests over the inability of Members to attend meetings of the Community Board, the Leader committed to following up this point outside of this Council meeting;

(b)     recommendation 6.  Non-Executive Members thanked their Executive Member colleagues for taking into account the views arising from the Joint Budget Meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Development Management Committee held on 14 January 2021 with regard to recommendation 6.  By way of a further plea, Members also asked that monies be allocated towards funding the Recovery and Renewal Plan and Climate Change Action Plan sooner rather than later.  In reply, the Leader assured Members that projects would be progressed in the upcoming months;

(c)     the business rates loophole for second homes.  In acknowledging the repeated concerns raised, the Leader informed that lobbying to close the loophole was ongoing and she remained hopeful that this would be implemented as part of the Business Rates Reform during the Spring of 2021.

In line with statutory requirements, a recorded vote was then undertaken on the substantive motion.  The voting on the motion was recorded as follows:

For the motion (26): Cllrs Abbott, Austen, Bastone, Birch, Brazil, Brown, Chown, Foss, Hawkins, Hodgson, Holway, Hopwood, Jackson, Kemp, Long, O’Callaghan, Pannell, Pearce, Pennington, Pringle, Reeve, Rose, Rowe, Smerdon, Spencer and Taylor

Against the motion (0):

Abstentions (0):

Absent (4):  Cllrs Baldry(*), McKay(*), Sweett and Thomas(*)

and the vote on the motion was therefore declared CARRIED.

(NOTE (*): due to experiencing connection issues at the time of the recorded vote, Cllrs Baldry, McKay and Thomas were unable to take part in the vote.  However, each Member had indicated their support for the recommendations during the debate.)

It was then:

RESOLVED

1.     That Council Tax be increased by £5 (which equates to a Band D Council Tax of £175.42 for 2021/22, an increase of £5 per year or 10 pence per week.  This is a 2.93% increase).  This equates to a Council Tax Requirement of £6,718,291;

2.     That the financial pressures set out in Appendix B of the presented agenda report (amounting to £696,761) be agreed;

3.     That the net contributions to/(from) Earmarked Reserves of £414,600 (as outlined in Appendix D of the presented agenda report and including the proposed use of £746,000 of New Homes Bonus funding to fund the 2021/22 Revenue Budget) be agreed;

4.     That the savings of £122,191 (as shown in Appendix A of the presented agenda report) be agreed;

5.     That Partnership funding levels be agreed in accordance with Section 5 of the Executive report presented to its meeting held on 28 January 2021, including a £10,000 contribution to the CVS in 2021/22 and 2022/23;

6.     That approval be given to the allocation of £500,000* for funding for the Recovery and Renewal Plan and a further £200,000* funding for the Climate Change Action Plan to be funded by:

a.       Withdrawing the contribution to the Planning Earmarked Reserve in 2021-22 of £50,000;

b.       Utilising £200,000 of New Hones Bonus funding from 2021-22 (instead of using £200,000 of New Homes Bonus funding for the 2021-22 Capital Programme); and

c.       Utilising £450,000 of funding from the Business Rates Retention Earmarked Reserve;

(* This funding is to be put into an Earmarked Reserve for the purpose stated).

7.     That an amount of £380,789 (the fifth tranche of COVID funding, as set out in paragraphs 11.2 and 1.9 of the Executive report presented to the meeting held on 28 January 2021 meeting) be approved (to be transferred into a ‘COVID Earmarked Reserve’) to protect against future COVID losses in 2021/22;

8.     That the Council should set its total net expenditure for 2021/22 as £9,676,767 (as outlined at Appendix B of the presented agenda report);

9.     That the minimum level of the Unearmarked Revenue Reserve be maintained at £1.5 million; and

10.  That the level of reserves as set out within the presented agenda report and the assessment of their adequacy and the robustness of budget estimates be noted.  (NB. this is a requirement of Part 2 of the Local Government Act 2003).