Agenda item

Members considered a report on the contractual spend on the proposed waste collection contract in accordance with the agreed spending protocol.

 

RESOLVED:

 

a)    To note the decisions taken by Wycombe and Chiltern District Councils that the existing procurement should continue, and also that the current contract be extended to September 2020, at which point the new service will be implemented.

 

b)   To agree that an officer acting on behalf of the Shadow Executive be involved in the procurement exercise in an advisory capacity.

Members considered a report on the contractual spend on the proposed waste collection contract in accordance with the agreed spending protocol. Two minor amendments to the wording of the recommendations were made.

 

RESOLVED:

 

a)    To note the decisions taken by Wycombe and Chiltern District Councils that the existing procurement should continue, and also that the current contract be extended to September 2020, at which point the new service will be implemented.

 

b)   To agree that an officer acting on behalf of the Shadow Executive be involved in the procurement exercise in an advisory capacity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Questions and responses

 

Question 1 – Community Infrastructure Levy

 

The proposed new Vale of Aylesbury Plan does not include plans to adopt a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). CIL is in place for the Wycombe District, and Chiltern and South Bucks have been carrying out the necessary consultations to have CIL in place soon, however Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) have no plans to implement CIL. How does the Shadow Authority plan to mitigate for this inconsistency across Bucks, including the potential financial impact and devastating effects on building strong and sustainable partnerships within the historical Vale area because of the decision not to implement CIL by AVDC?

 

Response

 

The Shadow Portfolio Holder for Planning responded to the question. It was advised that Chiltern and South Bucks District Councils were yet to make a decision on the adoption of CIL. The intention for AVDC, as set out in Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan (VALP), was to prepare and adopt CIL subsequent to the adoption of VALP. Due to the plan taking longer to prepare and progress through Examination, this has therefore not been possible. Nevertheless, once VALP is adopted a CIL can be prepared and recent changes to the CIL Regulations mean that the preparation process has been significantly shortened. Therefore it will be for the new Buckinghamshire Council to decide whether it chooses to adopt the delivery of CIL in Aylesbury Vale ahead of any Bucks wide plan, but only once VALP is adopted.

Question 2 – the future finances of Buckinghamshire Council

From the most recent accounts for the five Bucks Councils, total expenditure on services during 2018/19 was £375m approx. Appendix 1 of the consolidated position report shows the planned expenditure for 2019/20 as £368m. Where does the new council intend to cut services, and should we be planning for further service cuts in the following years?

Response

There are a number of differences between how the Accounts for the Councils are produced compared to the amalgamated budget information. In this instance, the main reason for the reduced figure is the accounting for depreciation. Within the Accounts, depreciation is shown at Service level; however it is not included within the amalgamated budget as it is not a cost that is chargeable to Council Tax. Our work on amalgamation of revenue budget shows the total service budget in 18/19 across the 5 Councils excluding depreciation etc. was approx. £351m. The service budgets have actually increased from 18/19 to 19/20 by around 5%.

 

Question 3 – Bucks Home Choice Policy

 

Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) currently operates a sub allocation policy which means that 50% of new builds are allocated to residents with a local connection, and that 25% of re lets are allocated in accordance with local connections. In light of the fact that the new Buckinghamshire Council will have to review and manage the Bucks Home Choice Policy, please can you advise as to whether a consultation would take place prior to any changes to the how the policy currently operates in AVDC?

 

Response

 

The current expectation is that from vesting day, the existing Bucks Home Choice Allocations policy would continue to operate in the same format with ‘district zoning’ pending the adoption of a new Buckinghamshire Council Allocations Policy within 2 years. To this end we would expect that this would also apply to all of the local lettings policies that are currently in place, of which the Aylesbury Vale – sub groups is one. A report will be presented to the shadow executive in the future outlining the process and the approximate timescales required to bring forward a new Housing Allocation Policy, which will of course be taken through the all of the required consultation processes.

 

Question 4 - future finances to be inherited by the Buckinghamshire Council 

The combined operating deficit for the five councils during 2018/19 was £99M (from the most recent published accounts). Having compiled the consolidated financial position, what is the operating deficit for 2019/20 projected to be?

Response

The operating deficit included within the Council’s accounts is prepared on an accounting basis and includes items that are not charged to Council tax (such as depreciation, asset valuations and pensions liabilities).  As these are technical adjustments that do not impact on residents, they have not been included in our work to date on the consolidated financial position, and will only be considered at year end.  The statement of accounts of the five Councils have not yet been signed off.  The projection of the current year monitoring positions are reported separately by each existing authority.

 

 

 

 

Question 5 - future finances to be inherited by the Buckinghamshire Council 

 

The accounts for the five Bucks Councils show that total useable reserves were £286M on March 31st this year. Having compiled the consolidated financial position, what do we expect useable reserves to be at the birth of the new Unitary Council?

 

Response

 

The consolidated reserves position is currently being reviewed and an updated position is due to be considered by Shadow Executive members over the coming months.  Initial forecasts show a reduction in the consolidate position due to (in particular) reserves committed to the Unitary Implementation Programme (£12.8m) and reserves committed to the capital programme.

 

Question 6 - future finances to be inherited by the Buckinghamshire Council 

From the most recent accounts for the five Bucks Councils, total capital expenditure 2018/19 was £216M. The last page of the Consolidated Position Report shows the planned capital expenditure for 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 as £178M, £105M and £76M respectively. What impact does the Shadow Executive believe these savage cuts will have on the already crumbling infrastructure of the county?

Response

 

The capital programme includes both regular planned expenditure and one-off capital items.  In 2018/19 there was some significant one-off spend within the County programme in particular, in relation to the acquisition of investment properties; plus one-off schools spend. The regular recurrent programme of capital spend remains stable (for example Strategic Highways maintenance at £21m p.a. for all 3 years).  There are some significant one-off items in the early programme (such as Chiltern Lifestyle Centre); plus schools and roads funded schemes.  We would expect that year 3 of the programme will have less expenditure as future business cases and bidding rounds for funding are still being developed; and we would anticipate that the programme will become further developed post vesting day.  In particular we are progressing a number of HIF (Housing Infrastructure Fund) bids including around £180m for Aylesbury which is not currently reflected in the capital programme.