Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors T Broom and C Harriss, and from Nick Graham.  Councillor Jilly Jordan (Deputy Cabinet Member – Environment) attended in place of Councillor Broom.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 January  2024.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 4 January 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Cllr Arif Hussain declared a prejudicial interest as he owned investment properties in High Wycombe. He left the room while the changes to council tax discounts and premiums was considered.

The following hot topics were discussed:-

Cabinet Member for Transport

Buckinghamshire Council had been given £1,991,000 in funding recently granted from the UK Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) capital fund, which was 100% of the bid submitted. LEVI aimed to support those who could not install their own charge points at home and so would enable more people to be able to make the switch to EVs. The new LEVI-funded installation programme would be a step change and help the Council work towards their target of 1,000 publicly-accessible charge points in Buckinghamshire by the end of 2027, as set out in the Buckinghamshire Council’s 5-year Action Plan. The new LEVI funding built on the Council’s earlier successes with the Wendover electric vehicle charging trial that was already underway.

Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services

A lunch had been held to celebrate apprenticeships which also included their managers. There were currently 133 staff undertaking an apprenticeship with 23 new starters. The apprenticeships were wide ranging from legal and surveying skills to occupational therapists. Staff from Adult Learning and Buckinghamshire New University also attended.

Deputy Cabinet Member Environment

The Deputy Cabinet Member referred to tree planting in Wing wood. 132,000 trees would be planted across a 51-hectare plot of council-owned land (previously used as farmland) by the end of the 2023 to 2024 planting season. There were local members at the event including 30 members of the public. The Council had pledged to plant a tree for every resident in the County.

Cabinet Member for Planning and Enforcement

As part of its long-term plan for housing, the government had announced today that every council in England would be told that they would need to prioritise brownfield developments and instructed to be less bureaucratic and more flexible in applying policies that halt housebuilding on brownfield land. There would be a consultation on this to which the Council would respond on a package of measures aimed at making it easier for developers to get permission to build on derelict sites in urban areas. The Leader commented that it would be helpful to obtain a definition of a brownfield site.

Leader

The Leader as Chairman of the People and Places Board at the LGA gave evidence at a Parliamentary Select Committee on the transition from education to employment for young disabled people. This included providing evidence on what Buckinghamshire Council had been doing in this area. 

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Angela Macpherson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing  

The government has allowed councils which provide social care to adults to increase their share of council tax by up to an extra 2% in comparison to last year’s council tax. This additional council tax charge is called the adult social care precept. What is the level in percentage terms of the total amount of the Buckinghamshire Council precept which is made up from the social care precept element collected from council tax payers, since its introduction in 2015/16, and what is the total amount in monetary terms which the social care precept brings into the local authority as a financial figure to be used to fund adult and social care since 2015/16 to support this important service?

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Angela Macpherson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing  

Adult Social Care Precept 

The government has allowed councils which provide social care to adults to increase their share of council tax by up to an extra 2% in comparison to last year’s council tax. This additional council tax charge is called the adult social care precept. What is the level in percentage terms of the total amount of the Buckinghamshire Council precept which is made up from the social care precept element collected from council tax payers, since its introduction in 2015/16, and what is the total amount in monetary terms which the social care precept brings into the local authority as a financial figure to be used to fund adult and social care since 2015/16 to support this important service?” 

RESPONSE from Councillor A Macpherson 

The Adult Social Care Precept was introduced by the then Government for the financial year 2016/17. It allows those councils with responsibilities for Adults Social care to levy an additional precept, ‘the ‘Adult Social care precept’, on its Council Tax bills. This additional locally raised funding is ring-fenced to Adult Social Care, and the percentage by which it can increase each year is announced through the Local Government Settlement and forms part of the Council tax referendum threshold. 

 The table below shows the Basic and Adult Social Care ‘ASC’ precept amount (£s) and % for each year from 2015/16.  In 2024/25 the ASC precept is £255.17 or 13.9% of the total amount collected from council taxpayers.  This is projected to generates £59.0m of funding for the delivery of adult social care services in 2024/25 compared to the net Adult Social Care budget of £197.4m and represents 4.9% of the Council’s gross budget for 2024/25 or 11.0% of the net budget.   

Basic Council tax precept and Adult Social care precept by year 

ASC precept compared to the total Council budget. 

Gross operating expenditure budget 2024/25           £1,207,923,000 

ASC precept – 4.9% of gross budget 

Net operating expenditure budget 2024/25                 £538,028,000 

ASC precept – 11% of net budget 

[Footnote: 

In December 2021, a similar table was produced based on average band D (in all years) as the actual Band D was not available for 2022/23.  This table is based on actual band D as this is now known in all years.  The calculation using actual band D provides a more accurate representation.] 

The Leader introduced the Forward Plan and commended it to all Members of the Council and the public, as a document that gave forewarning of what reports would be discussing at forthcoming meetings.

RESOLVED –

That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

For Cabinet to note the Select Committee Work Programme.

The Leader introduced the Select Committee Work Programme and commended it to all Members of the Council and the public, as a document that gave forewarning of what Select Committees would be discussing at forthcoming meetings.

RESOLVED –

That the Select Committee Work Programme be noted.

Cabinet were asked to consider the recommendations of the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group which was formed to scrutinise the Medium Term Financial Plan 2024/25 to 2026/27 and Capital Programme 2024/25 to 2027/28 that Cabinet had approved on 4 January 2024.

RESOLVED –

(1)               That the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group, as well as the supporting Officers, be thanked for their work and subsequent recommendations.

(2)               That Cabinet’s responses to the Budget Scrutiny report 2024 and recommendations, as detailed at the meeting, be agreed.

Note: a complete breakdown of the scrutiny recommendations and Cabinet’s responses can be found here.

Cabinet were asked to consider the recommendations of the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group which was formed to scrutinise the Draft Medium Term Financial Plan 2024/25 to 2026/27 and Capital Programme 2024/25 to 2027/28 that Cabinet approved on 4 January 2024.  As the Chairman, Councillor R Bagge, had given his apologies, the Vice Chairman (Councillor M Walsh) presented the report.

In January, the Finance and Resources Select Committee carried out its review of the draft budget. This involved three full days of questioning with each portfolio session attended by Cabinet Members and their deputies, the Section 151 officer, Corporate Directors and Heads of Finance. It was a cross-party constructive review on behalf of residents for Cabinet to consider. The report included 5 recommendations across the portfolios. Overall, the Inquiry Group supported the budget proposals and increase in Council Tax and acknowledged the tough decisions proposed in a difficult financial climate and rising social care costs. It was clear that there was not much room to manoeuvre given increased cost pressures for the Council through increased demand and complexity.  In particular the Inquiry Group wanted to highlight three key areas of the budget:

1.      The use of capital expenditure across a number of portfolio areas to alleviate revenue spend over the MTFP and the need to safeguard against project slippage;

2.      The significant savings built into the budget through increased foster families and;

3.      The risk of the Dedicated Schools Grant deficit growing.

The Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group’s observations, key findings and recommendations were set out in the report attached at Appendix 1 to the Cabinet report.  The Vice-Chairman extended his thanks to all Members of Cabinet and officers for attending the sessions and their contributions as this helped the Inquiry Group gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities for the Council. He also thanked the review group, Councillors R Bagge, M Ayub, P Cooper, D Dhillon, G Harris, I Macpherson, S Morgan, R Newcombe, A Schaefer, C Oliver and S Wilson for all their hard work and the Section 151 Officer Dave Skinner and Chris Ward, Senior Scrutiny Officer for his support in producing the report.

The Leader thanked the Vice-Chairman and the Review Group for the constructive cross party work that had been undertaken and then went through the proposed Cabinet response to the recommendations in the report.  In particular, the following points were made:

Recommendation 1: That Cabinet was recommended not to agree this recommendation.  The MTFP set out how the Council was deploying its resources and included those schemes that were to be delivered within the available resources.  As agreed in the response to the recommendation in 2023, the capital element of the MTFP would make clear which of the projects in the capital programme had an agreed business case, and which still required a business case to be approved before the allocated funding could be released. This would provide greater clarity about the status of projects in the programme and manage expectations. 

Recommendation 2: That  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Cabinet received a report and was informed that following the consolidation into a single Revenues and Benefits system there had been an opportunity to review the existing discretionary Council Tax discounts.  Two of the discounts that had been reviewed were the one month empty and unfurnished 100% Council Tax discount and the 50% discount for up to 12 months for properties undergoing major structural repairs.

Prior to the formation of Buckinghamshire Council, all of the legacy District Councils had a one month empty and unfurnished discount, and Aylesbury Vale DC and Wycombe DC had an additional discount for properties undergoing major structural repairs.  The removal of the discounts was aimed at encouraging bringing properties back into active use at the earliest opportunity. The first of these discounts cost the Council approximately £336k per year, which the second of the discounts relating to undergoing major structural reports currently cost £756k for the Council.

A review of neighbouring authorities had identified that Buckinghamshire Council was an outlier in still providing these discounts and therefore it was proposed to remove them with effect from 1 April 2024.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 made provision for Billing authorities to introduce additional premiums for empty homes and second homes. It was proposed to change the 100% empty home premium to come into effect after a property had been empty for 12 months, rather than the current position that was after a property had been empty for two years, with effect from 1 April 2025.  The introduction of the empty home premium after one year would bring an estimated additional Council Tax revenue for the Council of £0.490m from 1 April 2025.

That Council be RECOMMENDED to: 

(1)               Remove the following discretionary Council Tax empty house discounts from 1 April 2024 –

(i)            Empty and unfurnished (100% discount for the first month).

(ii)          Empty discount for property undergoing major structural repairs (50% discount for up to 12 months).

(2)               Approve the Council Tax Discounts, Exemptions and Premiums Police (Appendix 1), that reflects the removal of removal of the discounts at recommendation (1) above.

(3)               Introduce a 100% Council Tax premium from 1 April 2025 on empty homes after they have been for 12 months.

Cabinet received a report and was informed that following the consolidation into a single Revenues and Benefits system there had been an opportunity to review the existing discretionary Council Tax discounts.  Two of the discounts that had been reviewed were the one month empty and unfurnished 100% Council Tax discount and the 50% discount for up to 12 months for properties undergoing major structural repairs.

Prior to the formation of Buckinghamshire Council, all of the legacy District Councils had a one month empty and unfurnished discount, and Aylesbury Vale DC and Wycombe DC had an additional discount for properties undergoing major structural repairs.  The removal of the discounts was aimed at encouraging bringing properties back into active use at the earliest opportunity. The first of these discounts cost the Council approximately £336k per year, while the second of the discounts relating to undergoing major structural reports currently cost £756k for the Council.

A review of neighbouring authorities had identified that Buckinghamshire Council was an outlier in still providing these discounts and therefore it was proposed to remove them with effect from 1 April 2024.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 made provision for Billing authorities to introduce additional premiums for empty homes and second homes. It was proposed to change the 100% empty home premium to come into effect after a property had been empty for 12 months, rather than the current position that was after a property had been empty for two years, with effect from 1 April 2025.  The introduction of the empty home premium after one year would bring an estimated additional Council Tax revenue for the Council of £0.490m from 1 April 2025.

That Council be RECOMMENDED to: 

(1)               Remove the following discretionary Council Tax empty house discounts from 1 April 2024 –

(i)            Empty and unfurnished (100% discount for the first month).

(ii)          Empty discount for property undergoing major structural repairs (50% discount for up to 12 months).

(2)               Approve the Council Tax Discounts, Exemptions and Premiums Police (Appendix 1), that reflects the removal of removal of the discounts at recommendation (1) above.

(3)               Introduce a 100% Council Tax premium from 1 April 2025 on empty homes after they have been for 12 months.

Cabinet received a report on the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2024/25 to 2026/27 and Capital Programme 2024/25 to 2027/28 for Buckinghamshire Council. These proposals were based on the latest known funding position, service budget pressures and the key financial risks facing the Council both now and in the future. They also took account of the findings from the recent budget scrutiny inquiry.

The Council Tax Resolution report would be presented as a separate report as part of the budget to Council in February 2024 and would contain the final information from the other precepting authorities leading to the total Council Tax for the area, which Full Council would be required to approve.

The Revenue Budget was for the financial years 2024/25 – 2026/27. The financial position for the Council was extremely challenging with significant pressures identified in relation to both inflation and ongoing increases in demand for key services, in line with those being experienced nationally. The Council discharged more than 1300 statutory duties and was facing increased demand pressures in key services such as Adult Social Care, Children’s Services, Home to School Transport and Temporary Accommodation. This year had become the most difficult to date in responding to these challenges whilst delivering a balanced budget, and this had been achieved through a significant programme of additional savings and income.

The Council had a strong track record of delivering savings with £45m delivered in the first 3 years following the inception of the new unitary Council, a further £30.4m of income and savings currently on-track for delivery in 2023-24. A further programme of £95.3m of new income and savings had been identified as part of the 2024-25 to 2026-27 Revenue Budget.

Since the Draft Budget report to Cabinet on 4 January 2024, the Government had announced additional one-off funding for Social Care on 24 January. This had been confirmed by the Final Local Government Settlement on 5 February and details were set out in the Cabinet report.

Overall, the key elements of the final revenue budget portfolio proposals include unavoidable growth of £47.2m, Inflation of £14.2m, and net savings and income changes of £28.3m in 2024/25. The budget proposed had been built on the agreed Council Tax base and assumes a 2.99% increase in basic Council Tax and a 2% increase for the Adult Social Care Precept, giving a total increase of 4.99%. This was the maximum allowable without triggering a local referendum and was below the average rate of inflation experienced during 2023/24.

Whilst the budget provided the best available estimates for the 2024/25-2026/27 financial years, there was significant risk around future income, cost, and funding projections. The external environment was continuously monitored, and financial risks were managed through revenue contingency budgets contained within these budget proposals.

The Capital Programme covered 4 years as many schemes spanned multiple financial years. In total the programme included £666.3m of projects. As with previous years it was proposed that a recommendation be made to Council in February for delegation  ...  view the full decision text for item 10.

Cabinet received a report on the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2024/25 to 2026/27 and Capital Programme 2024/25 to 2027/28 for Buckinghamshire Council. These proposals were based on the latest known funding position, service budget pressures and the key financial risks facing the Council both now and in the future. They also took account of the findings from the recent budget scrutiny inquiry.

The Council Tax Resolution report would be presented as a separate report as part of the budget to Council in February 2024 and would contain the final information from the other precepting authorities leading to the total Council Tax for the area, which Full Council would be required to approve.

The Revenue Budget was for the financial years 2024/25 – 2026/27. The financial position for the Council was extremely challenging with significant pressures identified in relation to both inflation and ongoing increases in demand for key services, in line with those being experienced nationally. The Council discharged more than 1300 statutory duties and was facing increased demand pressures in key services such as Adult Social Care, Children’s Services, Home to School Transport and Temporary Accommodation. This year had become the most difficult to date in responding to these challenges whilst delivering a balanced budget, and this had been achieved through a significant programme of additional savings and income.

The Council had a strong track record of delivering savings with £45m delivered in the first 3 years following the inception of the new unitary Council, a further £30.4m of income and savings currently on-track for delivery in 2023-24. A further programme of £95.3m of new income and savings had been identified as part of the 2024-25 to 2026-27 Revenue Budget.

The Final Local Government Settlement was announced on 5 February 2024 and included an increase in funding for Social Care through the Social Care grant, and an increase in the Minimum Funding Guarantee from 3% to 4%. Whilst these funding announcements were welcome the expected increases in funding were not likely to be sufficient to address either the recently experienced high levels of inflation (circa 10%) or the broadly recognised structural issues of underfunding and increasing demand which currently exist across both the sector as a whole and within Buckinghamshire. The budget proposals were based on the figures published within the Final Settlement. The one-off additional funding was allocated to the contingency budget for Social Care (approx. £5 million). The Council had played a key part in lobbying the Government for further funding.

Overall, the key elements of the final revenue budget portfolio proposals include unavoidable growth of £47.2m, Inflation of £14.2m, and net savings and income changes of £28.3m in 2024/25. The budget proposed had been built on the agreed Council Tax base and assumed a 2.99% increase in basic Council Tax and a 2% increase for the Adult Social Care Precept, giving a total increase of 4.99%. This was the maximum allowable without triggering a local referendum and was below the average rate of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The Council was required to approve its Capital and Investment Strategy on an annual basis. The draft Strategy was included at Appendix 1 and provided the framework within which to deliver its Corporate Plan objectives through the effective investment of its limited capital resources.

As well as the Councils immediate statutory responsibilities, the Strategy also reflected the important role that it had to play in the regeneration and growth, affordable housing and climate change agendas, especially in the context of significant housing growth in the area.

The existing Capital & Investment Strategy remained fundamentally fit for purpose, and therefore only minor amendments were proposed to keep the document up to date and relevant to the current Capital Programme.

·                    Update the list of Strategies which underpin the Capital Programme to include the recently approved Regeneration Strategies, the in-train Housing Strategy, and the future Local Plan and Local Transport Plan.

·                    Expand on the definition of what Community Infrastructure Levy could be invested in, as it is restricted by Statute to specific types of infrastructure.

·                    Clarify the rules around prudential borrowing to support regeneration.

·                    Updated the Governance arrangements:

o        The Property, IT and Highways Capital Boards would be disbanded. Member briefings and updates could continue as part of regular Cabinet Member engagement by Service Directors.

o        Oversight of the Capital Programme overall would be undertaken by Corporate Capital Investment Board (‘CCIB’).

o        CCIB to review business cases and recommend changes to the Capital Programme to Cabinet for decision, including the release of funding.

RESOLVED –

(1)              That the Capital and Investment Strategy (Appendix 1) be AGREED.

(2)               That Council be recommended to APPROVE the Capital and Investment Strategy.

The Capital Programme for 2023-24 to 2026-27 had been approved by Full Council in February 2023, with an expenditure budget of £505.9m. The programme had been revised to £556.8m following additions agreed by Cabinet in July 2023 and to £582.6m by Cabinet in November 2023.

The Council often received ringfenced funding in-year from Government and developers that were added to the programme in a supplementary budget change. Additionally, the programme was reviewed quarterly to check that the profiled spend remained realistic.

The Cabinet report set out the recommended additions and reprofiling for Quarter 3, and recommended the projects listed in Table 3 to be reduced or removed from the programme. These budget changes would ensure the programme remained realistic and deliverable, and released budget for reinvestment.  The recommended changes would reduce the 2023-24 current year budget from £124.5m to £119.6m.

RESOLVED –

(1)               The addition of £4.602m in the current year 2023/24 for new externally funded ringfenced grants, Section 106 developer contributions, or ringfenced capital receipts (Table 1).

(2)               The release of £5.56m the Schools Secondary Schools places and SEN budgets (Table 2).

(3)               The removal of £0.185m where borrowing requirements no longer apply (Table 3).

(4)               The reallocation of £5.106m consisting of £4.653m from projects budgets recommended for reinvestment in priority projects with the Final Budget and Capital Programme 2024-25 to 2027-28, and an increase of £0.638m in the Capital Contingency from underspend released on the project (Table 3).

(5)               Reprofiling of £9.3m from 2023/24 into future years (Table 4).

The Capital Programme for 2023-24 to 2026-27 had been approved by Full Council in February 2023, with an expenditure budget of £505.9m. The programme had been revised to £556.8m following additions agreed by Cabinet in July 2023 and to £582.6m by Cabinet in November 2023.

The Council often received ringfenced funding in-year from Government and developers that were added to the programme in a supplementary budget change. Additionally, the programme was reviewed quarterly to check that the profiled spend remained realistic.

The Cabinet report set out the recommended additions and reprofiling for Quarter 3, and recommended the projects listed in Table 3 to be reduced or removed from the programme. These budget changes would ensure the programme remained realistic and deliverable, and released budget for reinvestment.  The recommended changes would reduce the 2023-24 current year budget from £124.5m to £119.6m.

RESOLVED –

(1)               The addition of £4.602m in the current year 2023/24 for new externally funded ringfenced grants, Section 106 developer contributions, or ringfenced capital receipts (Table 1).

(2)               The release of £5.56m the Schools Secondary Schools places and SEN budgets (Table 2).

(3)               The removal of £0.185m where borrowing requirements no longer apply (Table 3).

(4)               The reallocation of £5.106m consisting of £4.653m from projects budgets recommended for reinvestment in priority projects with the Final Budget and Capital Programme 2024-25 to 2027-28, and an increase of £0.638m in the Capital Contingency from underspend released on the project (Table 3).

(5)               Reprofiling of £9.3m from 2023/24 into future years (Table 4).

Cabinet received a report on the forecast Revenue and Capital outturn position for Buckinghamshire Council for the financial year 2023/24 as at Quarter 3.  The Council continued to experience significant financial pressures due to continued increase in demand and complexity of need in key services, such as Adults Social Care and Children’s Social Care. The forecast revenue outturn position at Quarter 3 was an adverse variance of £4.5m, (1% of Portfolio budgets), a reduction of £4.1m from the Quarter 2 reported position of £8.6m. The adverse variance remained primarily due to pressures in Health and Wellbeing and Education and Children’s Services from demand and market insufficiency issues, coupled with pressures in Housing and Homelessness & Regulatory Services in Temporary Accommodation budgets and Transport budgets.

At Quarter 1, an adverse variance of £8.3m had been reported, and action plans were formulated in order to contain pressures as much as possible. The Quarter 2 budget monitoring report provided an update on these measures and reflected positive movements across several Portfolios linked to the delivery of action plans. The overall forecast at Quarter 2 deteriorated due to increasing pressures within Education and Children’s Services. Between Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 the Council had additionally developed enhanced spending and vacancy controls to further contain the overall budget pressure and these were detailed in the main report.

Within the overall position there was an adverse variance of £13.6m (3%) in Portfolios (£15.2m last quarter) offset by a £9.1m (£6.6m last quarter) favourable variance in Corporate & Funding.  The Capital Programme had been updated for proposed Quarter 3 Budget Adjustments, subject to Cabinet approval. Capital spending was forecast to be 99.0% of the updated budget, a variance of (£1.2m). Figure 5 in the report showed the summary Capital Budgets by portfolio and Appendix 2 was a breakdown of the programme in detail. Spend to date was £66.9m (56.3% of budget). There were five key projects with £14.7m of budget as yet unspent, where the majority of the budget was expected to be spent in the final quarter. These were outlined in Section 4.2 of the Cabinet report.

RESOLVED –

(1)               That Cabinet note the report and risks and opportunities within it.

(2)               That Cabinet note the actions being taken to mitigate pressures as set out in paragraph 1.3 of the Cabinet report.

Cabinet received a report on the forecast Revenue and Capital outturn position for Buckinghamshire Council for the financial year 2023/24 as at Quarter 3.  The Council continued to experience significant financial pressures due to continued increase in demand and complexity of need in key services, such as Adults Social Care and Children’s Social Care. The forecast revenue outturn position at Quarter 3 was an adverse variance of £4.5m, (1% of Portfolio budgets), a reduction of £4.1m from the Quarter 2 reported position of £8.6m. The adverse variance remained primarily due to pressures in Health and Wellbeing and Education and Children’s Services from demand and market insufficiency issues, coupled with pressures in Housing and Homelessness & Regulatory Services in Temporary Accommodation budgets and Transport budgets.

At Quarter 1, an adverse variance of £8.3m had been reported, and action plans were formulated in order to contain pressures as much as possible. The Quarter 2 budget monitoring report provided an update on these measures and reflected positive movements across several Portfolios linked to the delivery of action plans. The overall forecast at Quarter 2 deteriorated due to increasing pressures within Education and Children’s Services. Between Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 the Council had additionally developed enhanced spending and vacancy controls to further contain the overall budget pressure and these were detailed in the main report.

Within the overall position there was an adverse variance of £13.6m (3%) in Portfolios (£15.2m last quarter) offset by a £9.1m (£6.6m last quarter) favourable variance in Corporate & Funding.  The Capital Programme had been updated for proposed Quarter 3 Budget Adjustments, subject to Cabinet approval. Capital spending was forecast to be 99.0% of the updated budget, a variance of (£1.2m). Figure 5 in the report showed the summary Capital Budgets by portfolio and Appendix 2 was a breakdown of the programme in detail. Spend to date was £66.9m (56.3% of budget). There were five key projects with £14.7m of budget as yet unspent, where the majority of the budget was expected to be spent in the final quarter. These were outlined in Section 4.2 of the Cabinet report.

The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing commended her team for overdelivering on their savings target by £1.4 million which reflected the vigorous work being undertaken in the portfolio area.

RESOLVED –

(1)               That Cabinet note the report and risks and opportunities within it.

(2)               That Cabinet note the actions being taken to mitigate pressures as set out in paragraph 1.3 of the Cabinet report.

The quarterly performance report provided details of the key performance measures reported through the corporate performance framework for 2023/24 and the performance scorecard, which provided information on four key elements of performance for the Council covering Finance, Customer Service, Performance and Human Resources indicators.  Within the performance report and performance scorecard, outturns which were performing at or better than target were classified as Green, those which were within 5% of the target are Amber and those which were more than 5% of the target were Red. At the end of Quarter 3, 93 indicators had outturns reported with a Red, Amber or Green status. Of these, 54 were Green (57%), 18 were Amber (19%) and 22 were Red (24%).

RESOLVED –

That the performance report be noted including the action taken to improve performance where required.

The quarterly performance report provided details of the key performance measures reported through the corporate performance framework for 2023/24 and the performance scorecard, which provided information on four key elements of performance for the Council covering Finance, Customer Service, Performance and Human Resources indicators.  Within the performance report and performance scorecard, outturns which were performing at or better than target were classified as Green, those which were within 5% of the target are Amber and those which were more than 5% of the target were Red. At the end of Quarter 3, 93 indicators had outturns reported with a Red, Amber or Green status. Of these, 54 were Green (57%), 18 were Amber (19%) and 22 were Red (24%).

The Leader asked each Cabinet Member to comment on the red indicators in their portfolio area:-

Leader

Strategic Infrastructure projects: percentage profiled spend achieved

Performance in Q3 was 47% which was lower (worse) than the target of 75%. Actual spend on SE Aylesbury Link Road Phase 1 to date was £1,474,870 against a budget of £4m. Phase 2 spend to date was £622,923 against a budget of £500,000. The lower expenditure of Phase 1 was partly due to slower than anticipated progress on construction and land acquisition while the Housing Infrastructure Fund reallocation was awaited. This was a very difficult and complex project and a meeting was being held shortly to address this.

Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources

Average Call Wait Time

Q3 performance was 3 minutes 33 seconds against a target of 3 minutes. This was an improvement in performance compared with Q2 (4 minutes 16 seconds). The focus this quarter continued to be to help residents who were online to remain online, thereby reducing the number of calls to the Customer Service Centre (CSC). Use of call back queues and chat bots were being promoted. This quarter the CSC had launched the new Abavus Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which once fully implemented would replace all of the legacy systems. However, it should be noted that the service area was well above target with the percentage of phone calls answered in the Customer Services Centres which was 95.5% against a target of 90%. Customer satisfaction was also above target at 82%. The Leader welcome the use of Microsoft co-pilot which was being trialled, although it was recognised that currently this was for basic tasks.

£ value of unsecured debt

This indicator measured the value of unsecured debt greater than 90 days (excluding Business Rates, Housing Benefit and Council Tax, and not secured against a property or asset). Q3 performance was £14.9m against a target of £10m. The outstanding debt in this category had increased by £0.8m since Q2. This was mainly due to:

• Reclassification of £1.4m Adult Social Care debt from secured to unsecured as the legal proceedings to secure a charge against a property were not yet complete. There were currently delays with Government departments: Adult Social Care debts, with waits of 9-12 months for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Supplementary Planning Documents provided guidance to implement Local Plan policies. This Supplementary Planning Document applied to the Shenley Park site allocation (D-WHA001) near Whaddon in the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan. To adopt a Supplementary Planning Document, the Council was legally required to conduct a public consultation for a minimum of four weeks. A six-week consultation was conducted from 30 August to 11 October 2023 and the report now requested that Cabinet adopted this Supplementary Planning Document.

The Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan set out a vision and framework for sustainable growth across the North and Central planning areas area for the period up to 2033. It promoted new development to meet identified needs, which would contribute to creating a thriving, diverse, safe, vibrant place to live, work and visit.

This policy allocated the site for at least 1,150 homes, forming part of the housing requirement for the VALP. The allocation was for “an exemplar development, of regional significance, which would be a great place to live, work and grow. Built to a high sustainable design and construction standards, the development would provide a balanced mix of facilities to ensure that it met the needs and aspirations of new and existing residents, at least 1,150 homes, 110 bed care home/extra care facility, new primary school, subject to need a site for new secondary school, multifunctional green infrastructure (in compliance with Policies I1 and I2 and associated Appendices), mixed use local centre, exemplary Sustainable Drainage Systems, new link road between A421 Buckingham Road and H6 and or H7 Childs Way/Chaffron Way, public transport and cycling and walking links."

In addition to infrastructure, the Supplementary Planning Document also set out key principles for design and landscaping to ensure that a new long-term defensible edge and buffer between the village of Whaddon and the new development was created. It also identified an extension to the existing Tattenhoe Valley park in the southern half of the site.

RESOLVED that the Shenley Park Supplementary Planning Document be adoped (site D-WHA001 of the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan).

Supplementary Planning Documents provided guidance to implement Local Plan policies. This Supplementary Planning Document applied to the Shenley Park site allocation (D-WHA001) near Whaddon in the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan. To adopt a Supplementary Planning Document, the Council was legally required to conduct a public consultation for a minimum of four weeks. A six-week consultation was conducted from 30 August to 11 October 2023 and the report now requested that Cabinet adopted this Supplementary Planning Document.

The Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan set out a vision and framework for sustainable growth across the North and Central planning areas area for the period up to 2033. It promoted new development to meet identified needs, which would contribute to creating a thriving, diverse, safe, vibrant place to live, work and visit.

This policy allocated the site for at least 1,150 homes, forming part of the housing requirement for the VALP. The allocation was for “an exemplar development, of regional significance, which would be a great place to live, work and grow. Built to a high sustainable design and construction standards, the development would provide a balanced mix of facilities to ensure that it met the needs and aspirations of new and existing residents, at least 1,150 homes, 110 bed care home/extra care facility, new primary school, subject to need a site for new secondary school, multifunctional green infrastructure (in compliance with Policies I1 and I2 and associated Appendices), mixed use local centre, exemplary Sustainable Drainage Systems, new link road between A421 Buckingham Road and H6 and or H7 Childs Way/Chaffron Way, public transport and cycling and walking links."

In addition to infrastructure, the Supplementary Planning Document also set out key principles for design and landscaping to ensure that a new long-term defensible edge and buffer between the village of Whaddon and the new development was created. It also identified an extension to the existing Tattenhoe Valley park in the southern half of the site.

During discussion the following points were made:-

·         With reference to the following words in the document “The Development Framework offers the ability to address transport priorities as they evolve” a Cabinet Member asked for further clarification on what this meant. She referred to land being safeguarded for duelling and how this was triggered which would hopefully be before there was major congestion. The Corporate Director reported that there was a planning application for this site already. There was an opportunity through consideration of the planning application to see if there were any traffic solutions that could be implemented as a consequence of the planning application. There was also the ability to future proof the area through the SPD as well as the planning application in terms of responding to any future traffic issues including issues that the Council was not aware of at the moment. 

·         Reassurance was asked for in that transport modelling would be undertaken at the appropriate time in a holistic manner. The Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration gave an assurance that the modelling  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

RESOLVED –

That the confidential Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 4 January 2024 be approved as a correct record.

22 February 2024 at 3pm

22 February 2024 at 3.00pm