Agenda item

Question 1

Buckinghamshire Council will inherit four separate development plans from the District Councils; what work is being undertaken to assess the impact of the differing Plans in order to enable conformity of policy, equality and fairness. For example, it is evident there is huge disparity between the affordable housing percentages in the south of the county and the north. In light of the fact that the VALP 25% affordability figure is so low in comparison with the others, will the Shadow Authority be challenging this with the Examining Inspector for VALP as it will have a financial and social impact across the whole area of Buckinghamshire if agreed at only 25%, leaving a huge financial burden on the new local authority.

As part of the Transformation to Unitary programme currently underway, this issue is being considered in the work programme for the Housing Growth and Economy Board, specifically in the Planning Workstream of that board.

It’s correct that the new Council will inherit any existing Local Plans with the associated policies and strategies.  While there is not a requirement for these to be aligned on day one, the future Buckinghamshire Council will need to set out a process and timetable to address this as part of the development of a new Buckinghamshire Local Plan.  A cross authority group of officers and members are currently considering options and timetables for this and will continue to do so over the next few months. 

In the interim, there are no changes to the statutory responsibilities for the Local Planning Authorities in Buckinghamshire; the Shadow Authority would not have a role in aligning current plans.

It should be noted that the VALP is a plan for the Aylesbury Vale District, not all of Buckinghamshire. Therefore the policies in the VALP and the supporting evidence has to relate to Aylesbury Vale, not Buckinghamshire, and the Aylesbury Vale evidence justifies a figure of 25%. There is also no evidenced alternative figure to be applied in the VALP as there is not another Buckinghamshire figure to replace the VALP figure. Furthermore, there would also have to be changes to the other two Local Plans (Chiltern &South Bucks and Wycombe) but the Wycombe plan is adopted so it cannot be changed except through a review.

Question 2

Having seen the audited accounts for all five local authorities. I refer to the audited Statement of Accounts for Bucks County Council, for the year to March 2019. In the narrative report (on page 12), the accounts say that “an operating deficit of £62.62M is reported in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement”  but that statement, which is on page 27, shows a Deficit on Provision of Services of £85.509M. Can you please confirm which of these two figures is correct - was the BCC operating deficit £62M or £86M?

The audits of the financial statements for all five Buckinghamshire local authorities have not yet been completed. The financial statements currently available on the respective local authority websites are the unaudited (draft) financial statements.

The £85.509m in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement on page 27 of the unaudited statement of accounts is the correct figure and the narrative in the final accounts will clearly reflect this. 

Question 3

Secondly, in light of the financial drag on to the new Buckinghamshire Council. I therefore ask for complete explanation/knowledge of where the recorded deficit was paid from. Because clearly it’s very important to have oversight of these facts when trying to scrutinise the activities of the Shadow Executive being that the Executive is planning to coordinate the new Buckinghamshire Council precept.

The £85.509m deficit on the provision of services is a figure arrived at on an accounting basis. By contrast the funded basis, with which Members will be more familiar and the basis upon which the Business Units of the Council are managed, is shown within the Narrative Report on page 12 of the Statement of Accounts.  This shows an overall outturn position for the Council of an underspend of £0.227m.

The Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement on page 27, also reflects other non-service related income and expenditure, which shows the gains or losses in the measurement of the assets and liabilities of the authority, arising from market valuations, interest rate changes or changes in measurement assumptions in relation to pension assets and liabilities.  When looked at as a whole, it shows that the Council achieved a healthy outturn position.

The amount chargeable to council tax and an authority’s General Fund is limited by statutory requirements and requires a number of adjustments. The statutory adjustments largely relate to arrangements for funding local authority capital expenditure or the timing with which some items are charged to council tax.

It is expected that future cash flows, aligned with the new Buckinghamshire Council’s budget process, will provide sufficient resources to finance future liabilities.