Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development

(please refer to the budget papers)

The Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development introduced Andrew Powers, the Accountant for Environment and report as circulated with the agenda.

He hoped that all members recognised the difficult circumstances being faced by all authorities in Gloucestershire.

The settlement had been worse than anticipated and as such some cuts affecting services had been necessary.

The funding gap for 2011-12 was £2.94m and the budget papers outlined the proposals for bridging that gap.

Some decisions taken last year would go towards this, as well as some other measures which included, a freeze on staff wages, a reduction of 5% to Cabinet allowances and member allowances frozen for 4 years. 

32 jobs would be lost this year, with more next year, though these were restructuring redundancies and the focus was service resilience.

Power Perfector equipment would reduce energy costs over a period of time.  As an estimate it would require £19k investment at the leisure centre in 2013-14, but this would not be built into the budget until the savings were clear.  This would be capital investment.

The move to sustainable planting at Berkley Mews and Oxford Gardens would only generate a saving of £22k and as consultation had clearly identified that planting was important to the town, it was regrettable that these cuts were required.  His personal feeling was that the flower beds were in keeping with the regency buildings and drew visitors to the town and his hope was that residents in the area could help.  Members were assured that the sustainable planting would still provide some colour. 

The aim of the increased allotment charges was to achieve a cost neutral service.  Despite the increased charges, allotments in Cheltenham still offered good value, the Council would be making investment and management of sites could involve the Allotment Association at some point in the future. 

In the past, green waste collections had formed part of the Council Tax charge.  However, given the large expense associated with the service, an alternative approach needed to be taken and this had resulted in an additional charge.

Public toilets had been mentioned earlier in the meeting.  Four would remain open, Royal Well, the external toilet at the Town Hall and those in Pittville and MontpellierPark.  Whilst these would remain open, the opening and closing times and cleaning regime would change. 

Many of those toilets being closed posed safety issues and some were actually a rather poor advert for the town.  When originally built they were the only option to visitors to the town centre, however, with shops, cafes, etc, this was no longer the case. 

He accepted earlier comments about vandalism to redundant toilets, stressing that the buildings would be secured and options would be discussed in the future.

Over-grown verges could inhibit drivers and obscure signage but reducing the number of cuts from 15 (10 of which were subsidised by CBC) to 5 (the number funded by the County Council) would save £110k. 

An alternative regime would need to be put in place and crucially, discussions held with the County Council about funding, which at the current level was simply not enough.

Members could take solace from the fact that car parking charges had been frozen, in order that CBC weren’t priced out of the market.  £250k investment had been identified for car parks in the town in acceptance that not doing so could cause more lost revenue. 

The removal of the free dog bag facility would save the Council £12k and had only been kept as part of last years budget as Cabinet had been led to believe that they were biodegradable, which they were not and ultimately, would have gone to landfill. 

The Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development highlighted that a balanced budget had been achieved and without the closure of a major service.  He asked that if members were apposed to any of the proposals that they offer an alternative.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for his introduction and welcomed the remarks about sustainable planting, she too, felt formal beds were right for the architecture in Cheltenham. 

The following responses were given to questions from members of the committee;

• Charges at the cemetery and crematorium were increased last year and remained the lowest in the County.
• The loss of the Urban Designs Projects Officer would impact the ability of the service to support Civic Pride.  Civic Pride was largely capital funded and capital would need to be used to support the programme.
• The proposals did not include any changes to the way in which weeds were addressed in the town.  This would remain wholly funded by the County Council next year.
• Power Perfectors would show significant savings over time.  All energy initiatives had a payback period and would eventually pay for themselves, so there was a commitment to reduce the Councils carbon output.
• The scale of landline bills were such, as those doing operational jobs needed to be in contact with Managers and vice versa. 
• Evening allowances did not form part of staff terms and conditions and proposals like this demonstrated the desperate financial situation the Council were in.
• The £719k Housing & Planning Delivery Grant (HPDG) had been taken as capital as it was not ring fenced, in fact, none of it was now.  If the HPDG had been used to build staffing levels and the grant was then withdrawn by the government, it would not be sustainable for the Council.  As such, it was put into the base budget and can therefore be used as the Council agrees necessary.
• Concessionary fares was always meant to be funded by the government, however, CBC used over £900k of local tax payer funding to compliment the operational period between 9am and 9.30am.  This was now being transferred to the County Council and central government had taken the difference from CBC by top slicing their grant.  Government would be increasing the entitlement age from 60 to 65 and across Gloucestershire the service would operate from 9.30am, which would affect those in rural areas the most.  The recession could be seen as the greenest thing to hit the carbon reduction efforts. 
• The Disability and Pensions Forums previously had budgets of £500, this was being cut to £250, though there was talk that the Disability Forum may be disbanded.
• Every year £125k was taken from revenue accounts and transferred into the Planned Maintenance Programme budget.  This would not happen in 2011-12 and had been justified by the saving of £400k from the closure of most public toilets.
• A number of first aiders did not claim the allowance.  At present there were 2 Health & Safety Officers and in 2013/14 this would reduce to 1.5 as one intended to reduce their working hours.  These posts were vital for the Council, especially at the depot.
• The commissioning structure would be an amalgamation of numerous services and the structure was currently being discussed.
• The proposed support for the Warm and Well scheme would be for next year only and discussions were ongoing.

The Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development noted the same themes were being raised and he would endeavour to look at each of them.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development and Accountant for their attendance.