Meeting documents

To approve as a correct record and to sign the Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 15 December 2015.

The Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 15 December 2015 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

Council Tax 2016/17 (Item 7.2)

As advised at the meeting held on 27 February 2013, dispensations under Section 33 of Localism Act 2011 were previously requested and granted to all Members in relation to the setting of Council Tax. The dispensation applies for this meeting and the remainder of the Council term up to May 2016.

 

There were no further interests declared.

 

To receive any announcements from the Chairman, Cabinet Leader or the Head of Paid Service.

(a)       Chairman’s Engagements

 

A list of Engagements carried out by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Council between 16 December 2015 and 24 February 2016 had been circulated.

 

(b)       Chairman’s Announcements

 

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·        Sport Relief Swim - Thursday 25 February 2016

·        Chairman’s Charity Reception - Friday 4 March 2016

 

(c) Announcements from the Leader of the Cabinet

 

The Leader of the Cabinet recommended to full Council that Councillor Jules Cook be appointed to the Planning Committee.  This was agreed.  The Leader advised that she had appointed Councillor Jules Cook to the Customer Services Policy Advisory Group.

 

(d) Announcements from the Head of Paid Service

 

The Chief Executive had no announcements to make.

 

(e) Petitions

 

No petitions were submitted.

 

In accordance with Section 38 (1) of the Localism Act 2011 Full Council was asked to approve the 2016/17 Pay Policy.

 

It was moved by Councillor P Hudson, seconded by Councillor P Jones and

 

 

RESOLVED

 

That the 2016/17 Pay Policy be approved.

 

Councillor Mrs Darby spoke with reference to this year’s budget which had continued to be a year of further change.  Councillor Mrs Darby thanked Councillors and Officers for their commitment to progressing with the changes to the working of the Council and while keeping the interests of the Council at the heart of changes still maintaining value for money services.

 

There had been significant areas of work undertaken in respect of campaigning against HS2, collaborative working on a Joint Local Plan for Chiltern District Council and South Bucks District Council, and continued development of shared services with the majority of council employees now on harmonised terms and conditions.  Next stages were to progress with developing a single culture based around customer service and continuous improvement to help transform service delivery via a digitally agile workforce

 

The Leader of the Council advised that the Council Budget continued to be under constraint and the Autumn statement had painted a picture that councils will need to be financially self sufficient and able to deal with the impact of withdrawal of funding from central government.  The Secretary of State had listened to councils but it remained important to maintain a strong grip on finances and the medium term financial landscape remained extremely challenging.

 

Cllr P Jones expressed concern that the Council were proposing to increase council tax to the maximum amount.

 

Cllr Berry highlighted that an increase of 3% was being proposed which was higher than the increase recently supported by the Resources Overview Committee. .

 

In response to members’ concerns, the Portfolio Holder for Support Services advised that the Council was grateful to the government for listening to representations from the authority and the additional funding for the next two years was welcome but the Council needed to plan beyond the two years now to ensure that finances could sustain a lower level of funding from Central Government, be more self sufficient and ensuring that the capital projects commitments can be met. 

 

The Chairman of the Council thanked officers and members for their continued hard work and commitment to the excellent management of the Council’s finances.

 

It was moved by Councillor Darby and seconded by Councillor Stannard and

 

RESOLVED:

 

Revenue Budget 2016/17

 

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

 

ii)    That, it be agreed, in total £29,000 be provided to Chiltern District Council parishes in respect of the impact of Council Tax Scheme on their tax bases for 2016/17;

 

iii)   That the following use of earmarked reserves for 2016/17 be agreed:

             - Local Development Plan £163,500

 

       iv) That the following additions to earmarked reserves for 2016/17 be                    agreed:

            Capital - Funding replacement refuse vehicles, £394k

Capital - Funding of future capital programme, £1,412k.

 

v)    That a budget requirement of £10,710k, which will result in a District council tax of £170.62 for a Band D property be approved.

 

vi)  That the level of fees and charges for 2016/17 already considered by Portfolio Holders as part of the information underpinning their budgets be confirmed;

 

vii) That the advice of the Director of Resources (Appendix A) be noted.

 

Consideration was given to the report which explained that the Cabinet meeting in February had considered the financial position of the Authority for 2016/17 and future years, and recommended to the Council meeting the budget for 2016/17. All members of the Council had received a copy of the Cabinet report and the information in that report was used to underpin decisions taken at the meeting.

 

At the meeting additional information was considered relating to the Final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2016/17 published on 8 February 2016, which contained a number of changes for the information published prior to Christmas.  The main changes were:

 

·        The additional tariff (Negative RSG) is removed for 2017/18 and 2018/19.  It is still intended to be a feature of the 2019/20 funding.

 

·        A Transition Grant in 2016/17 and 2017/18 to ease the pace of RSG reduction.

 

·        The ceiling for council tax increases for all districts is raised to £5.

 

Appendix A summarised the impact of the changes on the Council’s finances over the period to 2019/20.  The main implications were to improve the financial position in 2016/17 to 2018/19, but the forecast for 2019/20 still showed a deficit.  The additional resources available in 2016/17 were used to increase the funding available to the Capital Programme.

 

Members attention was drawn to Appendix B of the Cabinet report which contains the advice of the Chief Financial Officer in respect of the budget as required under the Local Government Act 2003. Since that meeting information had been received from the major precepting bodies so that the Council was in the position to agree the total 2016/17 council tax for the area.

 

In order to comply with the Government’s requirements regarding recorded votes at budget setting meetings, Councillor Mrs Darby requested a recorded vote in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 14.4.

 

It was then moved by Councillor Mrs Darby, and seconded by Councillor M Stannard.

 

On being put to the recorded vote the recommendations were agreed, with the votes being cast as follows

 

For (36): Councillors A K Bacon,  J A Burton, J Cook, E Culverhouse, I A Darby, M Flys, C Ford, A Garth, A J Gladwin, A S Hardie, M Harker, M Harrold, P J Hudson, C Jackson, C Jones, P M Jones, R Jones, D J Lacey, J MacBean, P E C Martin, S A Patel, D W Phillips, N M Rose, C Rouse, J Rush, M Shaw,  P N Shepherd, Mrs L M Smith, M Smith, M Stannard, D Varley, N Varley, H Wallace, E Walsh,  C J Wertheim,  and F S Wilson.

 

Against (0): 

 

Abstained (1):  Councillor S Berry

 

RESOLVED

 

i)       That it be noted that the following amounts for 2016/17 have been determined under delegated authority and in accordance with regulations made under the local Government Finance Act 1992:

          a) 43,559.86 being the amount calculated by the Council, in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992, as its Council Tax Base for the year.

          b) The amounts calculated by the Council, in accordance with regulation 6 of the Regulations, as the amount of its Council Tax Base for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items (i.e. Parish precepts) relate, are shown below.

Council Tax Base 2016/17
Amersham	6,614.22
Ashley Green	454.31
Chalfont St Giles	3,093.13
Chalfont St Peter	6,400.30
Chartridge	825.52
Chenies	131.41
Chesham	7,890.87
Chesham Bois	1,636.67
Cholesbury	504.28
Coleshill	343.38
Great Missenden	4,870.60
Latimer & Ley Hill	506.44
Little Chalfont	3,196.52
Little Missenden	3,147.17
Penn	2,329.81
Seer Green	1,213.65
The Lee	401.58
	43,559.86

 

2.       That the Council calculates the following amounts for 2016/17 in accordance with Sections 31A, 31B and 34 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended by the Localism Act 2011):

a) £42,914,222 being the aggregate expenditure which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) (a) to (f) of the Act (including the General Fund and Parish Precepts).

 

b) £32,857,595 being the aggregate income which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3) (a) to (d) of the Act.

 

c) £10,056,627 as its council tax requirement for the year including Parish Precepts being the amount by which the aggregate expenditure at 2(a) above exceeds the aggregate income at 2(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act.

 

d) £230.87 as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year, being the council tax requirement at 2(c), divided by the Council Tax Base for the year (43,559.86) at 1(a) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B(1) of the Act.

 

e) £2,624,444 being the aggregate amount of all special items referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act (i.e. Parish Precepts, there being no other special items).

 

f) £170.62 as the basic amount of its Council Tax for dwellings in its area, excluding Parish Precepts, being the amount at 2(d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 2(e) above by the amount at 1(a) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act.

 

g) The amounts given by adding to the amount at 2(f) above the amounts of the Parish Precepts for the relevant Parish divided in each case by the Council Tax Base for the Parish at 1(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(3) of the Act, as the basic amounts of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in each Parish is:

 

2016/17 BASIC COUNCIL TAX £
	Parish Amount	CDC + Parish Amount
Amersham	81.52	252.14
Ashley Green	34.93	205.55
Chalfont St Giles	63.01	233.63
Chalfont St Peter	48.63	219.25
Chartridge	12.04	182.66
Chenies	49.30	219.92
Chesham	108.53	279.15
Chesham Bois	34.03	204.65
Cholesbury	19.38	190.00
Coleshill	26.14	196.76
Great Missenden	39.25	209.87
Latimer & Ley Hill	29.53	200.15
Little Chalfont	66.65	237.27
Little Missenden	28.25	198.87
Penn	22.68	193.30
Seer Green	36.31	206.93
The Lee	27.36	197.98

 

h) The amounts given by multiplying the basic amounts for each Parish 2(g) above by the number which, in the proportion set out in Section 5(1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in a particular valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 36(1) of the Act, as the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands.

 

3.       That it be noted that for the year 2016/17 the main precepting authorities have stated the following amounts in precepts issued to the Council, in accordance with s40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

 

Band	Bucks County Council Precept   £	Bucks & Milton Keynes Fire Authority Precept £	Police & Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley £	Total Preceptors     £
A	773.46	39.80	111.31	924.57
B	902.37	46.43	129.86	1,078.66
C	1,031.28	53.07	148.41	1,232.76
D	1,160.19	59.70	166.96	1,386.85
E	1,418.01	72.97	204.06	1,695.04
F	1,675.83	86.23	241.16	2,003.22
G	1,933.65	99.50	278.27	2,311.42
H	2,320.38	119.40	333.92	2,773.70

 

4.       That, having calculated the aggregate in each case of the amounts of the District’s and preceptors requirements, in accordance with s30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets amounts of the council tax for the year 2016/17 for each category of dwelling as follows.

 

Band	District & Parishes Council Tax £	Total Preceptors £	Total 2016/17 Council Tax £
A	153.91	924.57	1,078.48
B	179.57	1,078.66	1,258.23
C	205.22	1,232.76	1,437.98
D	230.87	1,386.85	1,617.72
E	282.17	1,695.04	1,977.21
F	333.48	2,003.22	2,336.70
G	384.78	2,311.42	2,696.20
H	461.74	2,773.70	3,235.44

 

The council tax for each category of dwelling by parish is as follows.

 

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
Amersham	1,092.66	1,274.77	1,456.88	1,638.99	2,003.21	2,367.42	2,731.65	3,277.98
Ashley Green	1,061.60	1,238.53	1,415.47	1,592.40	1,946.27	2,300.13	2,654.00	3,184.80
Chalfont St Giles	1,080.32	1,260.37	1,440.43	1,620.48	1,980.59	2,340.69	2,700.80	3,240.96
Chalfont St Peter	1,070.74	1,249.19	1,427.65	1,606.10	1,963.01	2,319.91	2,676.84	3,212.20
Chartridge	1,046.34	1,220.73	1,395.12	1,569.51	1,918.29	2,267.06	2,615.85	3,139.02
Chenies	1,071.18	1,249.71	1,428.24	1,606.77	1,963.83	2,320.88	2,677.95	3,213.54
Chesham	1,110.67	1,295.78	1,480.89	1,666.00	2,036.22	2,406.44	2,776.67	3,332.00
Chesham Bois	1,061.00	1,237.83	1,414.67	1,591.50	1,945.17	2,298.83	2,652.50	3,183.00
Cholesbury	1,051.24	1,226.44	1,401.65	1,576.85	1,927.26	2,277.66	2,628.09	3,153.70
Coleshill	1,055.74	1,231.70	1,407.66	1,583.61	1,935.52	2,287.43	2,639.35	3,167.22
Great Missenden	1,064.48	1,241.89	1,419.31	1,596.72	1,951.55	2,306.37	2,661.20	3,193.44
Latimer & Ley Hill	1,058.00	1,234.33	1,410.67	1,587.00	1,939.67	2,292.33	2,645.00	3,174.00
Little Chalfont	1,082.75	1,263.20	1,443.67	1,624.12	1,985.04	2,345.94	2,706.87	3,248.24
Little Missenden	1,057.15	1,233.34	1,409.53	1,585.72	1,938.10	2,290.48	2,642.87	3,171.44
Penn	1,053.44	1,229.00	1,404.58	1,580.15	1,931.30	2,282.43	2,633.59	3,160.30
Seer Green	1,062.52	1,239.61	1,416.70	1,593.78	1,947.95	2,302.12	2,656.30	3,187.56
The Lee	1,056.56	1,232.64	1,408.74	1,584.83	1,937.02	2,289.19	2,641.39	3,169.66

 

5.       Determine that the Council’s basic amount of Council Tax for 2016/17 is not excessive, in accordance with principles approved under Section 52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, [and thus there is no need to hold a Council Tax referendum].

 

Consideration was given to the report which proposed the Capital Programme for 2016/17 - 2019/20,and the proposed Repairs & Renewals Programme for 2016/17 - 2019/20.

 

RESOLVED:

  

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 outlined the Treasury Management Strategy and related policies that should be adopted by the Council for 2016/2017.

 

RESOLVED:

 

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

·             Appendix 1A - Annual Investment Strategy Policies

·             Appendix 1B - Prudential Indicators including the borrowing limits

·             Appendix 1C - the MRP method to be used in 2016/17.

 

consideration was given to the report which outlined the safeguarding policies for vulnerable persons, and for children and young people.

 

RESOLVED

 

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

ii)To endorse and adopt the joint Chiltern and South Bucks Child Protection Policy (Appendix 2).

 

iii)To delegate responsibility 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 Council Tax Support Scheme for 2016/2017. The Scheme had been considered at the Cabinet meeting on 10 February 2016, and the outcome of that meeting reported to Council.

 

Whilst there are no legal requirements to obtain the approval of members if no substantial changes are planned to the current scheme, it is considered good practice.

      

RESOLVED

 

That the Council Tax Support Scheme for 2016/2017 remains 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.

 

To receive and consider reports from the Cabinet Leader, Cabinet Members or Chairman of a Committee and receive questions and answers on any of those reports in accordance with Rule 9.1 of the Procedural Rules.

a) Councillor Darby - Affordable Housing Task and Finish Group

 

Councillor Darby reported that Cabinet were proposing to establish a task and finish group to look at Affordable Housing due to the high priority of this issue at the current time.

 

b) Councillor Stannard - Leisure provision Member Working Group

 

Councillor Stannard reported that a Member working group consisting Councillors Harris, M Smith, Hudson and Walsh had been formed to consider leisure provision in the District which would include a fact finding site visit to a leisure centre in Rugby on 9 March 2016.

 

c) Councillor Rose- HS2

 

Councillor Rose reported that the House of Commons HS2 Select Committee had published its report. It was noted that a small group of members Cllrs Martin, Gladwin, Rose, Berry and P Jones had attended the Select Committee meeting on 20 January 2016.  Cllr Gladwin was to present to the Select Committee on behalf of the group and Chiltern District Council but due to the Select Committee timescales the presentation from Councillor Gladwin was not called and no agreement had yet been confirmed.

 

The HS2 Select Committee report had been published on Monday 22 February, and Cllr Rose summarised its key findings.

 

Cllr Rose also advised the  HS2 members working group would be considering whether to set up a Bucks wide group of planning officers and other relevant officers to consider the various permissions and consents that would need to be dealt with and also whether the Council should  become a qualifying authority

 

The likely parliamentary timetable going forward was for the third reading in the Commons at the end of March 2016, a petitioning period in the Lords at the end of March 2016 for 4 weeks, a hearing of the petitions in the Lords in May 2016 and  Royal Assent in November 2016

 

d) Councillor Martin - Joint Local Plan

 

Councillor Martin reported that the joint councils were out to consultation on the Joint Local Plan issues and options which was due to conclude on 14 March at 5pm.  Members were undertaking a significant amount of work with community groups and attending meetings to encourage participation across the District.

 

To receive questions and answers of the Cabinet Leader, Cabinet Members or Chairman of a Committee (if any) in accordance with Rule 9.2 of the Council Procedure Rules.

To receive questions without notice from any Member of the Council to the Cabinet Leader, Cabinet Members or Chairman of a Committee (if any) in accordance with Rule 9.1 of the Council Procedure Rules.

 

There were no questions.

 

 

To receive petitions and/or deputations (if any) from members of the public including provisions allowing members to ask questions of clarification at the discretion of the Chairman and restrictions on deputations covering the same subject or by the same speakers.

There were no petitions.

 

To receive reports about and receive questions and answers relating to any joint arrangements or external organisations.

Cllr Wertheim reported that he had recently attended a meeting of Bucks County Council Health & Adult Social Care Committee on behalf of Councillor N Shepherd where the key discussion had been in respect of Dentistry provision including funding for the county.  

 

Cllr Darby reported that a Health fair for the Chalfont area of the District had been arranged.

 

 

Motion 50: Members’ Allowances

To be proposed by Councillor N Rose and seconded by Councillor D Varley:

 

The Scheme of Members Allowances as agreed by Council on 26 February 2014 allowed for the automatic adjustment of the 2015/16 allowances in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (D7BT) at 31 December 2015 to produce the 2016/17 Scheme of Allowances. This Council believes it appropriate once again to freeze these allowances and so it is recommended that the automatic adjustment to produce the Scheme of Members Allowances for the financial year 2016/17 is not implemented and that allowances for 2016/17 remain at the currently agreed 2015/16 rate.

 

Motion 50: Members’ Allowances

 

The Scheme of Members Allowances as agreed by Council on 26 February 2014 allowed for the automatic adjustment of the 2015/16 allowances in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (D7BT) at 31 December 2015 to produce the 2016/17 Scheme of Allowances. This Council believes it appropriate once again to freeze these allowances and so it is recommended that the automatic adjustment to produce the Scheme of Members Allowances for the financial year 2016/17 is not implemented and that allowances for 2016/17 remain at the currently agreed 2015/16 rate.

 

Councillor N Rose proposed and seconded by Councillor D Varley and

 

RESOLVED -

 

That the Motion be carried.

 

 

 

The Leader of the Cabinet had requested a change in respect of the Council appointment to the Natural Environment Partnership for Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes.

 

rESOLVED

 

That Councillor Jane MacBean is appointed as the Council representative on the Natural Environment Partnership for Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes; replacing Councillor Emily Culverhouse.

 

To agree the Calendar of Meetings 2016/17.

Members considered the proposed Calendar of Meetings 2016/17.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the Calendar of Meetings for 2016/17 be approved.