Meeting documents

To sign the Minutes of the meetings held on 1st and 22nd December 2015.

The Minutes of the Cabinet meetings held on 1 and 22 December 2015 copies of which had been previously circulated, were approved and signed by Councillor I A Darby, Cabinet Leader, as a correct record.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Cabinet received a report attaching the draft 28-Day Notice which provided a forward look at the Agenda for the next meeting of the Cabinet.  The Notice would be published on 7 March 2016.

It was noted that the Chilterns Crematorium Joint Committee Forward Plan for 4 February 2016 meeting had been included in error as the meeting had already taken place and therefore was not for consideration.

RESOLVED -

That the Draft 28-Day Notice / Forward Plan, to be published on 7 March 2016, be noted.

i)     Councillor G Harris reported that major refurbishment was being finalised at Chiltern Pools including the fitness studio, spinning studio and main reception. The works were due to be completed in early March and once finalised an Open Day was planned and was hoped to coincide with the National Sport Relief Events, subject to confirmation from GLL.

ii)    Councillor P Martin reported that the Council was at the half way stage of the Issues and Options consultation process for the Joint Local Plan.  It was confirmed that 33 responses had been received to date and it was hoped that through meetings with local communities, and the continued use of social media more residents within the District would be encouraged to submit their views on the proposals.  Meetings across the District had taken place and continued to be arranged by local communities and supported by councillors.

Cabinet considered the report which provided information affecting the Council’s revenue budget for 2016/17 in order for the Cabinet to make recommendations to Council on 24 February 2016 regarding the Council’s Budget and Council Tax for 2016/17.

The Director of Resources advised that the report was based on the following assumptions:

• Government (RSG) funding assumed to reduce in line with the information contained in the provisional Local Government Settlement, including the effect of the additional tariff
• The forecast growth in business rates for 2016/17 (£300K after 50% levy) was assumed to be sustained over the period, and that full retention of business rates come into effect in 2019/20, enabling all the growth to be retained locally
• The changes outlined in the consultation on New Homes Grant were assumed to come into effect from 2017/18.  An allowance had been made for the impact of the Newlands Park development
• Service expenditure assumed to increase for planning purposes by broadly 2.5% per annum approximately as a result of cost pressures
• Council tax assumed to increase by 1.99% per annum after 2016/17

The Director of Resources provided a verbal update on the recent announcement of the Final Local Government Finance settlement. The Additional Tariff (Negative RSG) element of the provisional settlement has been removed for 2017/18 and 2018/19; a new transition grant has been introduced for 2016/17 and 2017/18 to ease the impact of the RSG withdrawal; and all district councils were now permitted to increase Council Tax by £5 on a Band D property.  The impact for Chiltern District was to receive a transition grant of £134,000 and an increase in Council Tax would provide £81,000 which was a total of £215,000 additional resources for 2016/17.

The Deputy Leader / Portfolio Holder for Support Services added that the Finance Settlement was encouraging for the short term, and it was good  that the Secretary of State had listened and accepted the concerns of local authorities and the next three years were more positive, but the  issues from 2019/20 of the negative RSG remained a significant concern.  He advised that members needed to plan now for a longer term impact on available funding, and in the context of the funding of the capital programme take the opportunity in 2016/17 to provide additional resources. Decisions on the level of council tax increase are made each year and it was prudent at this stage to  accept the offer of increasing up to £5 for 2016/17..

The Director of Resources advised that revised figures for the recommendations to Council had been produced within an extremely tight timescale due to late receipt of the most up to date information on the Local Government Finance settlement and therefore final figures would be clarified and agreed with the Portfolio Holder for Support Services prior to finalising the report to be submitted to Council.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

Revenue Budget 2016/17

1)    That the Revenue budget for 2016/17 as summarised in the table in paragraph 5.14 of the report be approved;

2)    That,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

Cabinet considered the report which proposed the Capital Programme for 2016/17 - 2019/20 and the proposed Repairs and Renewals Programme for 2016/17 - 2019/20.

The Director of Resources advised that as part of the Council’s budget process the Capital Programme was reviewed in order to assess, as part of the overall financial strategy of the Authority, what the scale and composition of the programme should be and the consequential funding implications for the financial strategy.

The programme as outlined in Appendix A, of the report, covered the period until 2020.  The Appendix contained details of the currently approved projects but over this period new calls for capital expenditure would arise linked to the Council’s business plan  and financial strategy for example:

• Developments to car parks
• The implications from the leisure needs survey and the retender of the GLL contract
• Maintenance of King George V House including updating the audio visual facilities in the Council Chamber

The Deputy Leader / Portfolio Holder for Support Services drew members’ attention to paragraph 4 of the report in relation to the commuted sums programme which provided agreements for affordable housing development with a balance of £1,852,405.  These sums were applied in line with the Council’s Housing Strategy which set out the range of options available to use these funds for the provision of affordable housing.  The Acting Chief Executive added that members were to receive a report back on the recent Housing Strategy Member Workshop focusing on developing the housing strategy and ensuring member involvement in the process.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

i)                 That the Capital Programme for 2016/17 - 2019/20 as set out in Appendix A be approved;

ii)               That the Repairs & Renewals Programme for 2016/17 - 2019/20 as set out in Appendix B, be approved; and

iii)              That the implication for the Financial Strategy of the proposed programme be noted.

Consideration was given to the report which sought agreement to the Treasury Management Strategy and related policies that should be adopted by the Council for 2016/17.

In response to a query from Cllr Wilson, the Director of Resources responded that there had been no significant changes to policies and procedures in respect of Treasury Management, but in terms of the risk profile compared to a year ago the Council’s investments were slightly more diverse and slightly longer term.  In response to a members question, it was noted that South Bucks District Council had benefitted from some large longer term investments in recent years but the gap between the authorities in terms of investments had narrowed.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

That the Annual Treasury Management Strategy for 2016/17 be approved, including the following appendices to the Annual Investment Strategy (Appendix 1):

(i)                Appendix 1A - Annual Investment Strategy Policies

(ii)                  Appendix 1B - Prudential Indicators including the borrowing limits

(iii)             Appendix 1C - the MRP method to be used in 2016/17.

Cabinet considered the report which outlined the Treasury Management operation of the Council for October - December 2015.

RESOLVED

That the Treasury Management performance for 2015/16 be noted.

Consideration was given to the report which provided a summary of each of the service plans produced by service areas within the Council.

RESOLVED

That the service plan summaries be noted.

Cabinet considered the report which sought approval on the allocation of funding from the Council’s Housing Community Organisations Fund budget for 2016-17.

RESOLVED

That the Council issues the following grants in 2016-17:

(a)  a grant of £25,000 to Chiltern Citizens Advice Bureau to support the continuation of the Specialist Debt and Money Advice Service and

(b)  a grant of £40,000 to Connection Floating Support to support the continuation of the Housing Interaction Trust service;

(c)   and that these grant allocations be funded by utilising:

i)             a contribution of £55,000 from the Housing Community Organisations Fund budget for 2016/17;  and

ii)            a contribution of £10,000 from the Community Grants Fund

Consideration was given to the report which outlined the safeguarding policies for vulnerable persons, and for children and young people.  It was noted that the report had been considered by the Personnel Committee, agreed and had been presented to Cabinet due to the implication for member development on this matter.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

i)     That the current Buckinghamshire Multi- agency policy and procedures for   safeguarding vulnerable adults be adopted Appendix 1 available via: http://www.buckinghamshirepartnership.co.uk/media/1031847/pandp_21june2013_p.pdf

ii)    That the joint Chiltern and South Bucks Child Protection Policy be endorsed and adopted (Appendix 2); and

iii)   That responsibility be delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council to adopt revisions to the Buckinghamshire Multi- agency policy and procedures and the Chiltern and South Bucks Child Protection Policy following legislative changes or decisions by either the adult or children and young people Safeguarding Boards

Consideration was given to the report which set out the requirements of the Council Tax Support Scheme for 2016/17.  It was noted that there was no legal requirement to obtain the approval of members if there had been no substantial changes, of which there had been none, but it was considered good practice.  The changes related to the annual uprating and the prescribed regulations relating to those of pensionable age.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

That the Council Tax Support Scheme for 2016/2017 remained unchanged other than the annual uprating of premiums, allowances, non-dependant deductions to the national pension age scheme that need to be reflected in the Council’s scheme.

Members considered and noted the Minutes of the following Joint Executive Committee meetings:-

• Chiltern & South Bucks Joint Committee - 16 November 2015
• Chilterns Crematorium Joint Committee - 27 November 2015