Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance to follow

The Cabinet Member Finance presented the report, noting that in previous years, budgets had been prepared under a general philosophy of no growth in services unless there is a statutory requirement or a compelling business case for an ‘invest to save’ scheme. However, the Council’s aspirations to modernise its offer, become financially sustainable and be carbon neutral by 2030 require realignment of resources.

An allocation was agreed by the Council in April 2015 to facilitate the redevelopment of the Town Hall. A briefing paper, which is attached as an appendix, outlined the progress made to date but essentially concluded that all of the options identified are currently outside the financial envelope of affordability available for the Council to progress. Of the original allocation, £1.6m is still available, for which she recommended the following reallocation:

·         Invest a sum of £1m to pump prime the commercial opportunities identified by The Cheltenham Trust including investment which both sustains and grows income at the Town Hall);

·         Allocate £50k to fund two full-time documentation officers to ensure the collection receives accreditation status,

·         Allocate £200k in a contingency fund to fund the associated costs of the investment in leisure@ in respect of the splash-pad;

·         Allocate £350k to a climate emergency fund to help facilitate the Council’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030.

In February 2019, Council unanimously called on the Cabinet to declare a Climate Emergency, which was duly announced in July 2019. As part of the motion, Council requested that a report be presented within six months outlining the local actions the Council could take to help address this emergency. A report was presented to Council in October 2019 outlining the actions needed and an indicative timetable, as well as recommending the initial resources required for the authority to effectively gear up to delivering the scale of actions required by 2030. There is widespread public support for addressing climate change issues, with more than four in five Cheltenham residents agreeing that the Council should play a role in tackling air quality issues (83%), enabling people to walk/cycle more (82%) and enabling public transport use (81%).

The report recommended initial ‘seed funding’ of £150,000 per year to fund additional staffing resources, in order to create the capacity and capability to develop the business cases for the initiatives outlined in the roadmap and to identify and secure external funding to enable climate emergency projects to progress. It is proposed that £350k be reallocated from the original Town Hall allocation to address the resources required. In addition, it is proposed that £75k be allocated from the planned maintenance reserve (originally allocated to the restoration of Pilley Bridge) on the grounds that the council needs to prioritise its resources towards the delivery of corporate plan priorities.

Whilst telematics technology is now being fitted to council vehicles operated by Ubico in order to ensure that they are being used effectively and efficiently, including reducing fuel consumption, there is a need to ensure that the technology is in place and can integrate with other business systems as necessary, including any Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system CBC may purchase going forward.

The report therefore proposes allocating £200k, subject to a business case, for the purchase of an ‘In Cab’ technology system. It is anticipated that the implementation of this system would offer a number of financial, service related and carbon reduction benefits to the council and its residents. She suggested that this system would reduce the mileage required, because it would guide the crew around their collection route and reduce mistakes. This would have a direct benefit in reducing the fuel used and associated carbon usage. In addition, it is likely that the council would see fewer missed collections, meaning that return journeys to collection areas would not need to be made, again contributing to lowering the fuel and carbon usage. This investment would also support wider process improvements for waste collections.

She added that a report relating to the future provision of public conveniences was presented to Cabinet on 5^th November 2019. Within that report, recognition for redeveloping the toilets at Sandford Park was identified, with a recommendation to set aside funding for a new facility within the 2020/21 budget proposals, to be considered by Council in February 2020. In order to satisfy that commitment, the budget proposals include a sum of £143,500 in the proposed capital programme for 2020/21.

The Cabinet Member Finance placed on record her thanks to the members of staff involved in pulling the report together.

She also acknowledged an email received from the Leader of the House of Commons on the day of the meeting (11^th February), which clarified that the budget debate will not happen on the date originally planned. It is delayed due to the government’s prioritisation of different legislation, and is likely to take place during the week beginning on the 24^th February instead. The budget settlement is therefore not yet finalised, though the authority already needs to set its budget. No major changes are expected, but she stressed that the situation is not yet finalised.

RESOLVED THAT:

Council be recommended to approve the following:

1.    The revised budget for 2019/20 be approved;

2.    The budget assessment be considered by the Section 151 Officer at Appendix 2 in agreeing the following recommendations;

3.    The final budget proposals including a proposed council tax for the services provided by Cheltenham Borough Council of £214.08 for the year 2020/21 based on a Band D property (an increase of 2.39% or £5.00 a year for a Band D property), as detailed in paragraphs 4.11 to 4.16, be approved;

4.    The growth proposals be approved, including one off initiatives at Appendix 4;

5.    A lending (overdraft) facility of up to £100,000 to the Cheltenham BID be approved, to facilitate the delivery of an ice rink as detailed in Section 7;

6.    The Executive Director Finance and Assets (in consultation with the Borough Solicitor) be authorised to take such actions and make such arrangements as are necessary for the implementation of the above lending facility to Cheltenham BID;

7.    The savings / additional income totalling £826,000 and the budget strategy at Appendix 5 be approved;

8.    The use of reserves and general balances be approved, and the projected level of reserves, as detailed at Appendix 6, be noted;

9.    The capital programme at Appendix 7 be approved;

10.  The programmed maintenance programme at Appendix 8 be approved;

11.  Cabinet note that the Council will remain in the Gloucestershire business rates pool for 2020/21 (paragraphs 4.4 to 4.10);

12.  The Pay Policy Statement for 2020/21 be approved, including the continued payment of a living wage supplement at Appendix 9;

13.  The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) detailed in Section 5 and Appendix 10 be approved;

14.  A level of supplementary estimate of £100,000 for 2020/21 be approved, as outlined in Section 13.