Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies of absence.

There were none.

To receive declarations of interest.

There were none.

To consider the Council’s Capital Strategy.

The Principal Accountant introduced the report and referred Members to page 3 of the document pack. The Strategy was approved annually and set out the long term context of the council’s capital expenditure, borrowing & investment and was a requirement of the 2018 Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA) Prudential Code. In 2020 CIPFA carried out a consultation which resulted in the Prudential Code being revised.

The Principal Accountant drew Members attention to the amendments which had been made to the Strategy since it had been approved in 2021. They also advised that due to the recent changes to the Prudential Code some of the required changes may not be added to the Strategy until 2023/24. One of the main changes to the strategy was identified on Page 10, item 3 of the Principals of the Capital Strategy. The Principal Accountant also advised that the General Fund (GF) Total on page 12 was incorrect and should be amended to 1174, 1310, 1266 and 1217.

Councillor Davies asked for confirmation as to the amount being spent on addressing climate change listed on page 13. The Principal Accountant confirmed that there were additional items in the Housing Capital Programme.

Councillor Braun asked whether Members would consider new projects next year or if projects would be taken individually to committees. The Principal Accountant advised that new projects could be taken to individual policy committees or they could be submitted during the budget setting process.

Proposed by Councillor Brine and Seconded by Councillor Turner.

Councillor Pearson expressed hope that the council were going to look at Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points as he believed that they were starting to fall behind other parts of the County. Councillor Turner confirmed that the County Council were rolling out 500 EV Chargers they would be asking the Parish and Town Councils whether they wanted to join in with the contract. It was also confirmed that the budget included a small sum for the District Council to become involved with some research carried out by the Forest of Dean to look at installing EV Charging Points in council owned Car Parks. The Chair, Councillor Cornell advised that the County Council was the lead authority for EV Charging Points.

Councillor Braun welcomed the Capital Strategy and confirmed that the Council’s climate action plan had been assessed against 324 other Councils and it had made the top 20 of all Councils and the top 4 District Councils.

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

To consider the Council’s financial position over the medium term and set a budget requirement and the level of council tax for 2022/23.

The Strategic Director of Resources presented the report and highlighted the following areas:

The provisional local government financial settlement

·     The provisional settlement was announced on December 16^th 2021 as a one-year settlement.

·     The provisional settlement received was better than anticipated.

·      Any updates on the governments commitment to assess how future funding allocations were decided would be reported to Members.

·      District Councils were allowed a £5 Band D increase for Council Tax.

·      Council Tax base growth was higher this year at Stroud District Council (SDC).

·      The reset of Business Rates Growth had been delayed by a further year.

·      Business Rate Pool income was not included in the base budget as the level of funding available could not be confirmed

·      An additional year of New Homes Bonus grant had been awarded. The District had seen a 1.9% increase in properties and 34% decrease in the number of long-term empty properties.

·      The fair funding review was expected to result in a reduction and best estimates had been included.

Adjustments to revenue budget in future years

• Inflation was a key theme in the budget, at the time of writing the report the Consumer Price Inflation CPI was 5.4%.
• There was no certainty in terms of staffing costs as the pay award had not been agreed.
• A new table had been included to show the changes in the Ubico Contract
• Appendix B highlighted a number of different pressures and showed the changes that were made to the budget. It was confirmed that some of the items that had already been agreed were on hidden rows on the table.
• Appendix C showed adjustments that had been made due to the Council Plan priorities.

Medium Term Financial Plan and the use of reserves

• Set out how the budget would be managed over the medium term.
• There was a significant deficit on the Collection Fund at the end of the last financial year, there was a reserve in place to match the deficit.
• Table 3 showed the balance of the Equalisation Reserve. The Estimated Surplus / (Deficit) row should have been removed.

Capital Programme

• Appendix E showed the full capital programme.
• The figure for the total General Fund for 2022/23 in Table 4 should have been 14,032 instead of 14,012.

Statement of the Chief Financial Officer

• Additional money was being included for a number of council plan priorities and the overall reserve balance had improved.
• The risk of inflation had been flagged.
• Highlighted paragraph 6.6 on page 44.

In response to questions from Councillor Davies the Strategic Director of resources confirmed the following:

• He would be able to provide figures showing the Council Tax collection rates and arrears following the meeting if required. At the end of 2021 the arrears had risen however this year the arrears were falling and the collection rate was stabilising.
• He would need to confirm following the meeting how many of Ubico’s vehicles were low carbon.
• Biodiversity knowledge was scattered throughout the council and this knowledge could be increased for both staff  ...  view the full minutes text for item SRC.067

To present to the committee the revised budget estimates for 2021/22 and the original estimates for 2022/23.

The Accountancy Manager introduced the report and explained that it had already been to Housing Committee on the 7 December 2021. She further explained that since that report there had only been one adjustment which was to include the role for a Resident Involvement Officer for a period of 2 years.

The Accountancy Manager then drew the Committees attention to a few key points within the report which included:

·       The proposed increase of Social Rents by 4.1% - This was in line with National Rent Guidance and the Budget Strategy approved by Council. A full list of the charges was included in Appendix A.

·       The service charges for communal areas and Independent Living were estimated to rise by more than the proposed increase. The decision was made to wait until the figure was known before passing these charges onto tenants which could result in higher charges next year.

·       Shared Ownership rents were not included in the report due to the charges being set out in each individual lease not set by the Council, however these were due to increase in line with retail prices. 

·       Table 1, on page 155 of the document pack, sets out the individual changes to the HRA. The changes included in table 1 were largely short term and overall had an effect of an additional £100k away from the predicted budget.

·       They would be looking to transfer just over £1 mill from HRA General Reserves in order to balance the budget.

·       Table 3, page 159, sets out the financial position of the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP)  for the period 2021-2026. This showed in 2025/26 the forecasted reserves were lower than the minimum recommended balance which was largely due to the inclusion of the retrofit works agreed by Housing Committee in 2021.

·       Graph 1, page 160, showed the forecast of the HRA General Reserves over the next 30 years should things stay as they were. This graph enabled them to see how sustainable their decisions would be and showed there was time to put in a measured approach with regards to making savings for the HRA.

·       Page 161 identified the risks and uncertainties, the biggest of those being cost inflation which would have a big impact on the Retrofit and New Build programmes.

·       Page 161, section 10, sets out the borrowing position which included borrowing for the Retrofit and the New Build Programmes.

·       Page 162 sets out the Capital Programme which included Major Works, New Homes and Regeneration Programme, Independent Living Modernisation and the Land Appropriation in May Lane, Dursley.

The Accountancy Manager gave the following answers in response to questions asked:

·       The 3% inflation figures were produced for the Housing Committee and have since increased. If they continued to increase, further funding would need to be allocated or the projects re-evaluated to see what could be delivered.

·       The existing budgets for Services that had been brought in house had been re-allocated however, the expectation was that those savings would be included once they were  ...  view the full minutes text for item SRC.068