Meeting documents

To receive the minutes of the meeting of the PAG held on 10 September 2014.

The minutes of the meeting of the PAG held on 10 September 2014 were received.

The PAG considered a report seeking approval for the draft revenue budget and fees and charges schedule for 2015/16 for the Environment Portfolio. The report outlined the context of the overall financial position facing the Council for the coming year.

In considering the report the PAG particularly noted the following inflation assumptions:

·         Salaries inflation from April 2015 of 1%

·         Contracts inflation 2% (unless different rate specified within contract)

·         Business rates 2.3%

·         Gas -10% (saving on new contract), Electricity 12% and water 5%

·         Other expenditure heads 0%

·         Income 2%.

The PAG also noted that the 2015/16 budget of £1,609k was a decrease of £237k on the current year’s approved budget due to reasons set out in paragraph 6.4 of the report.

The PAG were made of aware of the risks within the budget, the main ones being:

·         Changing levels of recycling volumes of paper, glass and cans

·         The cost of the refuse, recycling and ancillary services contract

·         Income for car parking

After questions and answers about detailed items in the budget, the PAG agreedto advise the Portfolio Holder to approve for submission to the Cabinet.

Having considered the advice of the PAG, the Portfolio Holder has APPROVED for submission to the Cabinet:

1)    The 2015/16 revenue budget of £1,609k

2)    The 2015/16 fees and charges

The PAG received a report asking Members to advise the Portfolio Holder on what the charges should be for the Garden Waste Collection Service for the year 2015/16. 

The options for charging regimes were set out in section 3 of the report.  The PAG noted that on the basis of renewal by all current customers, the expected budgetary income would not be met if the payment regime for 2015/16 remains the same as the previous year.

Having considered all the options, the PAG were of the opinion that, due to the uncertainty associated with an increase in charges, charges should remain the same for 2015/16 as the previous year and that more promotional work should be carried out to encourage residents to sign up to the scheme.

With regards to the discount for a part-year subscription, the Portfolio Holder noted that this would depend on how many residents subscribe to the service in the first half of the year.

With the agreement of the Portfolio Holder, this item was withdrawn from the Agenda.

The PAG considered a report which described the proposed new street cleansing vehicles. 

In line with the current contractual requirements with BIFFA and on the basis of the standard fleet renewal timescale of 7 years,  the current street cleansing fleet is due to be replaced from November 2014. BIFFA have recommended a fleet purchase with some slight alterations to the current vehicles in use in order to improve the cleansing services. The details of the proposed new vehicles and the reasons for the proposed changes were set out in section 3 of the report.

In the discussion which followed, it was confirmed that it would be the responsibility of BIFFA to maintain the vehicles. 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

None received.

Members noted that the following item contained exempt information which was not available to the press and public.

(Schedule 12A part 1 (para 3) - information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular individual)

The PAG received a report on Station Road car park in Gerrards Cross. 

The PAG were advised that the report was due to go to Resources PAG on 11 December for consideration.  The PAG noted the contents of the report and endorsed the recommendation set out in the report to extend the licence for pedestrian access to Tesco for a further rolling annual period.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.