Agenda item

The Chairman invited Councillor M Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, to introduce the report to Members on the proposed Medium Tern Financial Plan 2024/25 to 2026/27 and Capital Programme 2024/25 to 2027/28.  The following key points were highlighted:

 

·       Councillor Tett thanked all those who had helped shape the budget, this included majority members of the Portfolio Challenge groups, Cabinet and Deputy Members, the cross-party Budget Scrutiny Inquiry Group, the Chief Executive and her Senior Leadership Team as well as the Section 151 Officer and his finance team.

·       That there had been considerable risks involved in putting together the budget, which had been impacted by uncertainty, with international turmoil, the ongoing war in Ukraine, recent disruption and strikes, cost of living pressures through the year, political uncertainty with a general election looming, all alongside significant increased demand for Council services.  One of the biggest surprises was the rise in the national minimum wage which while very welcomed also added a £3m pressure to the budget.  Inflationary pressures would add £36m to the budget over the 3 year MTFP period.

·       That a lack of clarity on the Local Government Finance Settlement until a couple of weeks ago had created uncertainty for Council budget setting.

·       That the whole local government was under intense pressure, with a number of Councils really struggling with their finances.

·       That the budget building principles had included a return to a 3 year revenue budget, continuing to deliver the Corporate Plan and Manifesto commitments, a 4 year capital budget to provide investment in key schemes and to support local economic recovery and growth, and to open about risk so that it was identified, quantified, where possible mitigated.

·       £45m savings had been achieved between 2020 and 2022, with £30.4million savings being delivered in 2023/24.  This would mean that £75.4m of savings (17.1% of the 2020/21 net budget had been achieved in the first 4 years of the new unitary Council.  Further major new efficiencies, savings and additional income of £95.3m would be generated over the course of the MTFP meaning that by the end of 2026/27, £170.7m in income and savings will have been realised in the first 7 years of the new unitary Council.

·       That there were very strong demand pressures within the budget in four key areas:  adults and children’s social care, temporary accommodation, and Home to School Transport (£97.4m).  These problems were common across the local government sector.

·       That the MTFP recognised the importance of having corporate contingencies in place to mitigate very high financial risks / uncertainties.

·       That key changes since the draft budget included intense lobbying of central Government for additional funding for local government, which had let to an announcement of £600m additional funding for all of local government and a one-off social care grant and funding guarantee of £5m.

·       That changes to Council Tax Premiums around empty homes (under the Levelling Up Act) had allowed the following planned savings to be removed from the final budget (reinstate litter collection £200k, reinstate gully cleansing £350k, reinstate weed spraying £230k and reversing plans to close HRCs 1 day per week £300k).

·       On how the Council was funded through Council tax, Business Rates, the Adult Social Care precept, plus some grants monies.

·       That the level of General Fund Reserves was expected to be 8% of net revenue operating expenditure, equating to £42.8m.

·       A high-level breakdown was given of the £600m earmarked for major capital programme expenditure 2024-2028. This included £179.8m for strategic infrastructure, £168.3m for the schools programme, £107.9m for roads, £37.1m for Town Centre regeneration, £34m for HRCs and Waste Vehicles, and £26.1m for housing and homelessness.

·       Information on how the capital programme was being funded.

·       That the budget included for a basic increase in Council tax of 2.99% for 2023/24 and a 2% increase in the Adult Social Care precept. This would be the equivalent of an increase of £1.69 per week for a Band D property.

·       The risks and uncertainties faced in setting the proposed budget.

 

Councillor Tett commended the budget to Council and moved the recommendations as per the report. This was seconded by Councillor A Macpherson.

 

The Chairman informed Members that as the earlier amendment at agenda item number 7, proposed by Councillor Wilson, had been lost that she did not intent to deal with the second amendment he had submitted, so would move straight to the budget amendment that had been received from Councillor Williams and seconded by Councillor Blamires.  The amendment wording was:

 

“This council notes that yet again we have seen a prolonged period on incessant rain throughout the late Autumn and Winter months. This, combined with freezing weather, has resulted in a significant deterioration in the condition of many roads across Buckinghamshire.

 

This council believes that, from a resident perspective, one of the key measures of success is the condition of our roads. The Budget today already proposes a record level of expenditure upon repair and resurfacing of our roads with the current £100m+ programme now being extended into a further year in order to continue the ‘member led’ rolling maintenance programme. Nevertheless, since this Budget was developed, it has become apparent that further action is again required to address the now evident need.

 

This council therefore resolves to release £5m from the ‘mitigating future financial risk’ Reserve and add this to the 2024/2025 Revenue for Highways road maintenance. This will amend the Budget proposals as follows:

 

·                Overall Revenue Budget (p75)

Replace Transport Portfolio gross budget £86,514,000 and amend to £91,514,000

Replace Corporate items, Revenue Reserves -£2,476,000 and amend to -£7,476,000

·                Undertaken the consequential amendments to the net budget lines, total budget lines and the Transport Portfolio Budget lines (p167).

 

Additionally, Council is asked to further approve additional resolutions to those on page 45 of the Council papers; namely that:

 

·                The Cabinet Member for Transportation should begin immediate planning for the urgent deployment of this funding.”

 

Councillor Williams highlighted recent terrible weather, significant rainfall and flooding, and then the freeze thaw had wreaked havoc on local roads.  Releasing £5m additional funding for road maintenance, in addition to the £100m 4 year programme, would help the Council to further target maintenance of arterial roads, link roads and key busy roads.  It was mentioned that the Council had 29 crews out repairing roads, clearing gullies, fixing potholes via plane and patch, and the additional money would really help to target more roads before Spring and Summer.  Feedback from residents was that they were happy with the quality of road surface repairs being delivered through the new contract.

 

In seconding the amendment, Councillor Blamires stated that it was entirely right for the Council to use reserves to provide additional funding for road maintenance in response to the recent weather and that over half of residents surveyed during the budget setting process and stated that road maintenance was their second highest funding priority.  Following the recent storms there had been a staggering 540 emergence call outs for road maintenance in 3 weeks.  Council highway teams were commended for the work that was being done around the clock to fix potholes and make road repairs.

 

Following debate on the amendment it was put to the meeting and was CARRIED.

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rules, the Chairman then invited Councillor Morgan, Leader of the Alliance Group (main opposition group), to comment on the budget proposals. The following main points were highlighted:

·               Councillor Morgan thanked the Section 151 Officer and his finance team for their tireless work in preparing the budget.

·               That central government needed to do more to restore local authority funding to sustainable levels, particularly relating to funding for adult and children’s social care.

·               That she believed the scrutiny process had been limited in scope and time, with insufficient time being allowed for enough questions to fully understand the decisions being made.

·               That alternative options for the future use of King George V Council offices in Amersham for social/affordable housing should have been explored rather than selling the offices.

·               That an Amersham hub on the ground floor should be created to encompass essential frontline services to the community including the Fire Authority, NHS, Thames Valley Police and the South Central Ambulance Service.

·               That more needed to be done in response to the severe housing crisis relating to reducing housing waiting lists and providing more affordable housing through new developments.

·               That critical issues such as climate change, ending rough sleeping and homelessness should be the Council’s top housing priorities.

·               That the Council should give greater consideration to becoming a social housing provider.

·               That the Council should be doing more to devolve community centres, sports pitches and green spaces to Town and Parish Councils, to invest in and regenerate town centres, and to establish a High Wycombe Town Council.

·               That she was not supportive of the reduction in funding to Community Boards, nor believed that the budget provided a comprehensive solution to address the ongoing financial crisis the Council was facing.

·               That there had been a lack of transparency and consultation in the budget process.

 

The Chairman thanked Councillor Morgan for her comments and invited Councillor Wilson to speak on behalf of the IMPACT Alliance grouping. The following main points were highlighted:

·                Councillor Wilson expressed serious concerns for public services in Buckinghamshire by 2030 and stated that central government needed to do more to restore local authority funding to sustainable levels, including for adult and children’s social care.

·                That the Council was increasingly outsourcing services to third parties and becoming a commissioning service for private companies and agencies.

·                That the MTFP was inadequate because it lacked the vision, ability and resolve to address the expenditure issues in a meaningful and timely way.

·                Concerns were expressed about the business rate resets of £8m and the Dedicated Schools Grant deficit of £3m.

·                That the initiatives on temporary accommodation in children’s homes was welcomed, although more material solutions were required for adult social care, housing and home-school transport.

·                That the current registered housing providers were failing the most vulnerable, the Council needed to do more in response to the severe housing crisis.

 

At the conclusion, the Chairman thanked Councillor Wilson for his comments. The Chairman then opened up debate on the budget and invited questions and comments from Members, who highlighted the following:

(i)                 The ambitious capital programme expenditure 2024-2028 that had been highlighted by the Leader of the Council, and was investing in the priorities of local people.

(ii)               That the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry process had provided plenty of opportunities for all Members of the Inquiry Group to ask additional questions.

(iii)              On whether the Household Support Fund would continue to be funded into the future.

(iv)              Information was provided on the various work and initiatives being undertaken to provide housing, including social / affordable housing for local people.

(v)                That a Town Council for High Wycombe would be more effective if it worked in a non-political way,

(vi)              That £200m in investment had been made into the High Wycombe town centre over the last 20 years, as well as in other major infrastructure projects such as junction 4 of the M40 and the Amersham Lifestyle Centre.  All these brand new schemes and the other expenditure detailed in the capital programme 2024-28 highlighted the ambitions of the Council and that it was investing large amounts in the priorities of local people.

(vii)            Concerns were expressed at the amount of money that had to be raised locally by Council through the adult social care precept due to the inability of central Government to properly fund this sector.

(viii)          That the budget included for major new efficiencies, savings and additional income during the MTFP period, and built on the savings and income generation that had already been achieved during the first 4 years of the new unitary Council.

 

In seconding the budget proposals, Councillor A Macpherson spoke in support of the strong and prudent budget being proposed, of the additional funding being provided for road maintenance and repairs, and on the Budget Scrutiny process that was described as being rigorous, transparent and thorough.  Councillor Tett then responded to provide clarification on some of the concerns and issues that had been raised during the main debate.

 

The Chairman thanked everyone for their questions and comments and reminded Members that there was a legal requirement for a recorded vote to be taken on the budget. The Chairman also informed Members that she intended to take a recorded vote, en bloc, for all 7 budget recommendations, which were the 6 recommendations in the main agenda plus the additional recommendation resulting from the amendment. The vote was recorded as follows:

 

FOR (91): Councillors Adoh, Alam, Angell, Ashman, Ayub, Barnes, Barrett, Baum, Birchley, Blamires, Bond, Bowles, Bracken, Brazier, Broadbent, Brown, Butcher, Caffrey, Carington, Carroll, B Chapple OBE, S Chapple, Chaudry, J Chhokar, S Chhokar, Chilver, Collingwood, Collins, Cornell, Cranmer, Culverhouse, Darby, Dhillon, Egleton, Etholen, Flys, Gaster, Gomm, Goss, Harker OBE, C Harriss, Heap, Hollis, A Hussain, Mahboob Hussain OBE, Maz Hussain, Jackson, Jones, Jordan, Kelly, King, MacBean, A Macpherson, I Macpherson, Mahon, Marshall, Martin, R Matthews, W Matthews, Mohammed, Naylor, Newcombe, Ng, Oliver, Osibogun, Poll, S Raja, Rana, Rand, Rouse, Sandy, L Smith BEM, Sir B Stanier, Stannard, Strachan, Summers, Tett, Thomas, Town, Towns, A Turner, M Turner, Waite, Wallace, L Walsh, M Walsh, Ward, Waters, Williams, Winn and K Wood. 

 

AGAINST (26): Councillors Bates, Baughan, Dixon, Drayton, Fayyaz, D Hayday, O Hayday, Hunter-Watts, Majid Hussain, N Hussain, T Hussain, James, Kayani, Khan BEM, Lambert, Lewin, Morgan, Poland-Goodyer, W Raja, Schaefer, G Smith, M Smith, Stuchbury, Wassell, Wheelhouse and Wilson.

 

ABSTENTIONS (1): Councillor Gemmell.

 

RESOLVED –

 

(1)               That the Medium-Term Financial Plan 2024/25 to 2026/27 and Capital Programme 2024/25 to 2027/28 be APPROVED.

(2)               That the Council Tax Resolution (Appendix 1) be APPROVED.

(3)               That the Special Expenses budgets, precepts and associated services for Aylesbury Town, High Wycombe Town and West Wycombe Church Yard (Appendices 2 and 3) be APPROVED.

(4)               The Cabinet be delegated authority to make decisions to add up to £100m to the Capital Programme, to be funded by Prudential Borrowing, subject to a robust business case being approved.

(5)               That the Council Tax Reduction Scheme Policy (Appendix 4) be APPROVED.

(6)               That the Business Rates Discretionary Rate Relief Policy (Appendix 5) be APPROVED.

(7)               That the Cabinet Member for Transport should begin immediately planning for the urgent deployment of the £5m released from the ‘mitigating future financial risk’ Reserve that has been added to the 2024/25 Revenue for highways road maintenance.