Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

SRC.024

Apologies

To receive apologies of absence.

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Hurst.

 

SRC.025

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were none.

 

SRC.026

Minutes pdf icon PDF 187 KB

To approve the Minutes of the meetings held on 22 July 2021.

Minutes:

RESOLVED   That the Minutes of the meetings held on 22 July 2021 were approved as a correct record.

SRC.027

Public Question Time

The Chair of the Committee will answer questions from members of the public submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

 

deadline for receipt of questions

noon on Monday, 27 September 2021

 

Questions must be submitted to the Chief Executive, Democratic Services,

Ebley Mill, Ebley Wharf, Stroud and can be sent by email to Democratic.services@stroud.gov.uk

 

 

Minutes:

There were none.

 

SRC.028

Draft Council Plan pdf icon PDF 649 KB

This report presents the draft Council Plan which sets out the council’s priorities and objectives for the next five years.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair, Councillor Cornell, presented the report and advised that the Plan had already been considered by Housing, Environment and Community Services & Licensing Committee. The Chair drew the Committees attention to the 3 themes included in the Council Plan:

·       Environment & Climate Change

·       Community Resilience & Wellbeing

·       Economy, Recovery & Regeneration.

 

The chair advised that the Council Plan was a mix of continuing with significant ongoing projects such as the Canal and new projects, some of which had arisen from the last 18 months of the pandemic.

 

Councillor Davies advised that the Conservative group hadn’t supported the plan at previous committees, not because they disagreed with it, but because they wanted to take some time to consider it. He put forward two key suggestions:

1.     That the plan should include annotation or colour coding to show which of the items Stroud District Council would be leading on and which were projects that the Council would be working in partnership with others but would not be leading.

2.     That measures and smart objectives should be added to the key objectives to ensure that they have metrics by which they can use over the coming years to check if the Council had achieved it’s aims.

 

The Chair thanked Councillor Davies for his constructive comments and advised the Committee to look at the performance management section of the report which advised that the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) would be developed with Officers and Members. It was also confirmed that the Council Plan quarterly updates had been added to the Strategy and Resources Committee Work Programme.

 

Councillor Davies asked for confirmation that Committee Chairs would consider adding an item to their Work Programme to write or review the KPIs to help ensure that the work would be completed. The Chair advised that the service Committee Chairs were present and they would consider the request, it was also advised that the KPIs would be picked up in performance management which was on the Committees Work Programmes.

 

Councillor Brine agreed that the Council would need to be able to measure progress and that Performance Management needed to change so that Councillors were ensuring that they were looking at what the Council Plan says should be achieved and holding the administration to account. Councillor Braun stated that it would be really good for all Committee Members to work collaboratively to deliver on the Council Plan and that many of the projects would involve partnership work and that in the detailed KPIs further information could be provided on this.

 

Councillor Davies asked again whether the Council Plan could be annotated to show when Stroud District Council would be taking a lead and asked for a commitment that the KPIs would be brought back to Committee. The Chair advised that they would need to consider Councillor Davies request to see whether that information would be better placed in the KPIs or in the Council Plan. 

 

In response to a question from Councillor Turner it was confirmed that the Youth Council had  ...  view the full minutes text for item SRC.028

SRC.029

Budget Monitoring Report Q1 - 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 826 KB

To present to the Committee a forecast of the outturn position against the General Fund revenue budget, Housing Revenue Account and capital programme for 2021/22, in order to give an expectation of possible variances against budget.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Accountancy Manager presented the report and drew Members attention to the following key points: 

·       Section 3, Page 30 showed the general fund position with an expected overspend of £587k.

·       Appendix D highlighted the Covid Pressures.

·      Supported housing – the cost of the placement is higher than can be claimed from the Government.

·      ICT – continued pressure– software costs are higher than our budget allocation.

·      Additional income from garden waste and for the sale of recyclates.

·      Summary of HRA in Section 5, Page 34 showed an expected overspend position of £352k largely due to the backlog of void properties.

·      Capital Programme on Page 36 highlighted slippage for the Canal and Cycling and Walking plan.

 

Councillor Davies asked questions and received answers on the following topics:

·       The Covid grants that had been received this year had been included in the table in Appendix D.

·       As the landlord for vacant Council owned properties we pay council tax liability to ourselves however much of this was passed to the County Council and Police Authority.

·       An additional resource for IT would be considered in budget setting and the Director of Change and Transformation would be involved to ensure that they had an understanding of the resources needed. The Chair advised that an update would be added to the work programme so that this could be looked at in more detail.

 

Councillor Robinson asked whether the electric charging points identified in paragraph 7.3 would be rolled out to market towns. Councillor Turner advised that she had requested a briefing from the Commissioner at the County Council for Councillors in the Stroud District on progress being made with electric charging points.

 

Councillor Pearson asked for clarification on the table on Page 45 as he did not think that the totals had been calculated correctly. The Accountancy Manager advised that the total variance was correct however she would look at the other figures in the table to check for errors.

 

Proposed by Councillor Turner and Seconded by Councillor Braun.

 

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

 

RESOLVED

a)      To note the outturn forecast for the General Fund Revenue budget.

b)      To note the outturn forecast for the Housing Revenue Account

c)      To note the outturn forecast for the Capital Programme.

 

SRC.030

Budget Strategy pdf icon PDF 433 KB

To set out the assumptions that will be used when preparing the upcoming Medium-Term Financial Plan.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Strategic Director of Resources introduced the Budget Strategy and highlighted the following sections:

·       Local Government funding – they were currently waiting for the Government spending review results.

·       New Homes Bonus – the grant had declined for many years and was expected to decrease further to £218k in 2022/23.

·       Business Rates – the planned ‘reset’ would have a big impact on the Stroud District.

·       Business rates collected by renewable energy facilities had been separated out in Appendix A,

·       Council Tax – A slight reduction in the numbers of people claiming Council Tax Support over the last few months. The final budget proposals to Council will include a recommendation to increase Council Tax by the referendum limit which is expected to be £5

·       A number of cost pressures around inflation, pressures on contracts including the utilities contract which expires next year.

·       Longer term budget adjustments in Paragraph 3.2

·       Financial resilience

·       Housing Revenue Account (HRA)

 

Councillor Turner asked whether there were any other income sources the Council could look at in terms of the HRA aside from rent and service charges. The Accountancy Manager advised that options were limited as it had to directly relate to being a landlord.

 

Councillor Davies asked whether there was anything they could do to maximise the rates from renewable energy facilities. The Strategic Director of Resources advised that he had separated it out in the report to make it clearer and that he would like the Council to do more.

 

In response to a further question from Councillor Davies regarding wage inflation the Strategic Director of Resources advised that the local government pay award had not yet been agreed and that in the future they would look to assume a 2.5% increase. Furthermore, he confirmed that there were a large number of vacancies and that Local Authorities didn’t always compete on salaries and therefore they may need to consider increasing wages for some roles.

 

Councillor Tucker asked whether they would be reviewing the investment portfolios. The Strategic Director of Resources advised that the treasury management strategy is reviewed annually and that the portfolio was under constant review. He also confirmed that some of the fund managers would be invited to present at a Members Briefing.

 

Proposed by Councillor Robinson and Seconded by Councillor Pearcy.

 

Councillor Pearcy commended the report and the hard work that had gone into the estimates despite the large number of uncertainties.

 

On being put to the vote the motion was carried.

 

RESOLVED

a)    Approve the Budget Strategy 2021/22 to 2025/26 as set out in this report and appendices

b)    Continue with the Business Rates pooling agreement, until such time as the Section151 Officer may determine.

 

SRC.031

Leadership Gloucestershire Update pdf icon PDF 478 KB

Minutes:

The Chair advised that a briefing note had been produced and would be circulated following the meeting.

 

Councillor Turner asked whether the climate change group would have budget for delivering projects. The Chief Executive advised that it was likely any budgetary requirements would be taken back to the equivalent of the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Joint Committee for consideration.

SRC.032

Gloucestershire Economic Growth Joint Committee (GEGJC) pdf icon PDF 369 KB

Minutes:

The report was circulated prior to Committee. There were no questions.

SRC.033

Gloucestershire Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee (GEGSC) pdf icon PDF 327 KB

Minutes:

The report was circulated prior to Committee. There were no questions.

SRC.034

Regeneration and Investment Board

Minutes:

The Chair advised that the meeting had been postponed and provided an update on the Levelling Up Taskforce which had met for the first time. The Levelling Up Taskforce would be looking to develop a bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund which will focus on the enhancement of Stroud Town Centre’s Wallbridge area, the railway station and Cheapside. Progress would be reported via the Regeneration and Investment Board to the Committee.

 

Further information was provided regarding the Canal Project and the public consultation event that had been held at Stonehouse Court Hotel, the Chair advised Members to look at the Cotswold Connected website for further details on timelines.

 

A briefing session had been held for Members regarding the bid for the fusion power plant. They were hoping to hear soon to see if it had been shortlisted.

SRC.035

Brimscombe Port Update pdf icon PDF 126 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The chair outlined further developments since the briefing note had been published including:

·       All 3 tenants had vacated the Brimscombe Port site and Stroud District Council had instructed One Legal to cease all legal proceedings

·       The Council had not been invoicing RUSH or Grace Network for their rent and service charges since the end of their leases. The Group Leaders had been consulted and it had been agreed that no rent or service charges will be sought from RUSH or Grace Network covering the period from the end of their lease to them vacating the site. 

·       The marketing for developers was due to go live and Members were encouraged to watch the video which had been published.

Good progress had been made around community engagement and all residents would receive a leaflet.

SRC.036

Water Source Heat Pumps pdf icon PDF 468 KB

Minutes:

The report was circulated prior to Committee.

SRC.037

Member Questions

See Agenda Item 4 for deadlines for submission.

Minutes:

There were none.

 

SRC.038

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 137 KB

To consider the work programme.

Minutes:

Council Davies asked whether an update on the Climate Change objectives could be brought to Strategy and Resources Committee. The Chair confirmed that there may be potential to look at specific topics at Strategy and Resources Committee.

 

RESOLVED                  To note the updates to the Work Programme.

 

 

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