Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

The Cabinet Member Finance and Assets presented the report, noting that budget agreed in February outlined the planned Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), and this report sought to agree some of its key documents in accordance with best practice. He thanked Gemma Bell, Head of Finance, and the previous Cabinet Member Finance and Assets (Cllr. Hay) for their hard work on this.

He clarified that the capital strategy outlined the council’s vision of what it wished to achieve and how it intended to go about it. Key points included the need to maximise assets and firm up the capital programme, with key developments including the Golden Valley project and the upgrading of Cambray Place, while maintaining a significant investment portfolio.

He highlighted the Arlingclose economic forecast attached as an appendix to the Treasury Management Strategy report, and clarified some of the context around the strategy. He noted that CBC traditionally borrowed through Public Works Loan Board, but that central government had temporarily increased interest rates on this and prohibited investment for yield in order to slow down loans. CBC was not affected by the latter as it did not invest for yield, but would benefit when interest rates go back down again. He added that the November recovery budget had restructured some of the capital reserves to reduce future requirements on revenue to service debts, and this had been extended to 2021/22.

One Member asked for clarification on the £173m external borrowing figure mentioned in the Treasury Management Strategy (Appendix 4). Was that the council’s total borrowing, and if so how did it compare to the total budget and that of other councils? The Cabinet Member responded that the council’s asset portfolio was so large as to make the debt to asset ratio a better indicator than the debt to budget ratio. Paul Jones (Executive Director Finance and Assets) echoed this, noting that while CBC was an outlier, it was for the right reasons. Many authorities were in negative equity due to pension obligations, but CBC could afford to be more flexible thanks to its asset portfolio.

One Member asked about the council’s strategy for future upcoming liabilities, such as the Town Hall. The Executive Director Finance and Assets responded that the Property team reviewed assets on a proactive basis, with a budget for reactive maintenance too. Any significant liabilities would be outlined in the Asset Management Plan due to come to Cabinet and Council in June.

One Member asked whether CBH could explore the possibility of redeveloping brownfield sites for council housing. The Cabinet Member responded that this would be reasonable as long as it was financially viable, and each project would have its own cost-benefit analysis. The Cabinet Member Housing added that this was already something that had taken place, and would continue in the future.

One Member asked for reassurance that the council was not wasteful, following the printing of election leaflets implying as such. The Cabinet Member stressed that fiscal responsibility was at the heart of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9