Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance and Assets

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report and explained that the council had been on the front line of the response to the pandemic in Cheltenham, on matters including licensing and business grants, providing support to vulnerable people who were shielding, setting up community testing facilities and taking on the most challenging contact tracing, all the while keeping existing services running.

The delivery of the response had placed unprecedented financial pressures on resources, in addition to the £6.8m cuts to Government funding experienced over the past decade and following the first national lockdown, it was estimated that coronavirus would create a budget deficit of £1.831m in 2020/21 as a result of additional unbudgeted expenditure and irrecoverable income losses.

He reported that Council approved a recovery budget in November 2020 to close the gap by implementing a strategy to review surplus assets owned by the Council for disposal. These would generate an estimated £4m of capital receipts which would be used to balance the budget. This work was ongoing and at pace.

He reported that by November 2020, a Government grant of £1.5m to cover expenditure relating to the pandemic response was received with an additional £300k required from internal resources.

There was also a huge impact on the income generated from sales, fees and charges. The recovery budget took this into account and at this point, even with the Government’s income compensation scheme it was estimated that total losses would be just less than £1.5m.

He was pleased to report a £394k underspend against this recovery budget. In addition since the start of the pandemic £95m of financial support had been awarded to Cheltenham businesses.

The pandemic had still cost the authority £1.47m and the damage to the economy has been acute and recovery would take time. It was proposed to use the underspend from the 2020/21 budget to fund the first steps towards the long term, green sustainable recovery of the town.

£250k would be ring-fenced to fund initiatives and projects aimed to support making Cheltenham a place for everyone to thrive.  This could include:

·         Working with the Cheltenham BID to put on events to increase the footfall into the town centre.

·         Investing in our communities to ensure residents are supported through our recovery plan

·         Investing in our public toilets to ensure they are safe, accessible and fit for purpose.

·         Investing in our green spaces to ensure there are adequate places for our residents to gather and celebrate as restrictions are released.

A number of proposals were being reviewed and he asked that authority be delegated to Officers in consultation with himself to approve spending on these projects to ensure the council can continue to be responsive to the needs of our town, businesses, partners, and residents.

He wished to put on record his thanks to the council’s executive team and every member of staff, including our partner organisations, for the tremendous efforts they have put in over the last 15 months. Notably, he mentioned the Head of Finance and her team who had worked so hard to close down the 2020/21 financial year and bring this comprehensive report forward. He was looking forward to working closely with them over the next 12 months to support the green economic recovery of the town and further in the future as we move closer to achieving financial sustainability.

In response to Member questions the Cabinet Member responded as follows :

·         Appendix 9 of the report detailed S106 funding in terms of public art but not spend; he proposed a meeting directly with the Member to discuss further but assured her that the funding was still available

·         The Executive Director Finance and Assets clarified that the £250 k outstanding sundry debt related to a Highways contract and he confirmed that this invoice had now been paid.

·         Functional Public art-the Cabinet Member Finance and Assets acknowledged the necessity to use every force in face of the climate emergency. He would pick up this issue directly with the responsible Cabinet Member and make relevant recommendations to the Public Art Panel.

·         Allocation of play spaces funding-the Cabinet Member would request officers to circulate the annotated S106 report so ward Members can follow up on the spending of that money

·         The Cabinet Member Finance agreed to provide Members with details as to the level of support that the council had provided to landlords of its own investment properties around the town

·         The Executive Director Finance and Assets undertook to circulate a breakdown of the annual £144k allocated for maintenance and repair of the Prince of Wales stadium and noted he was aware of the damage to that property due to flooding last year, which would be reimbursed through an insurance claim. He reminded Members that they had the opportunity to reprioritise resources at February budget setting.

In the debate that followed the Leader stated that it was a remarkable achievement that the council had delivered an underspend in light of the pandemic whilst continuing to deliver services throughout the pandemic. This was testament to a whole team effort of both council officers and partners.

She acknowledged the support Councillors had also provided to communities during the pandemic and wished to place on record her thanks to all those involved.

The Cabinet Member Culture, Wellbeing and Business welcomed the support to economic recovery and in particular green economic recovery. The Cheltenham Economic Recovery Task Force had been working hard with key stakeholders across the town and its work had not finished.

The Cabinet Member Safety and Communities emphasised the importance of the recovery of people and emphasised the ongoing work on building resilience within communities and opportunities for children and young people. She cited the developments at West Cheltenham as a significant opportunity in that respect. She thanked all those who had been actively involved in this ongoing project and in particular to the Cabinet Member Finance and Assets, the Executive Director Finance and Assets and his teams and all those who are concerned with ensuring that our children and young people do not go without.

A Member noted that whilst Cheltenham was a very affluent town, there were pockets of significant deprivation and it was important to be mindful that when recovery is realised, that those communities are not forgotten. There were particular issues, such as income deprivation affecting children and young people and it was likely that they would continue to live in poverty as they grow up.

The Mayor reiterated the congratulations awarded to the Executive Director Finance and Assets and the finance team who had all acted as exemplars in local government.

In summing up, the Cabinet Member Finance and Assets thanked Members for their questions and undertook to provide answers to those requesting them. He emphasised that over the last 15 months communities in the borough had shone through with the council continuing to work alongside them. Those young people growing up in poverty were at the forefront of our minds.

RESOLVED THAT:

1. the financial outturn performance position for the General Fund, summarised at Appendix 2 be received, and it be noted that in delivering services in 2020/21, there was an underspend of £394,663 against the recovery budget approved by Council in November 2020;
2. £609,345 of carry forward approved by the Section 151 Officer under delegated powers at Appendix 5 be noted;
3. the proposal for the use of the underspend after the carry forward requests outlined in Section 2.10 of this report be approved and authority be delegated to the Executive Director of Finance and Assets in consultation with the Lead Member for Finance and Assets to ensure the underspend it spent in line with this proposal;
4. the annual treasury management report at Appendix 7 and note the actual 2020/21 prudential and treasury indicators be noted.
5. the capital programme outturn position as detailed in Appendix 8 and approve the carry forward of unspent budgets into 2021/22;
6. the year end position in respect of Section 106 and CIL agreements and partnership funding agreements at Appendix 9 be noted;
7. the outturn position in respect of collection rates for council tax and non-domestic rates for 2020/21 in Appendix 10 be noted;
8. the outturn position in respect of collection rates for sundry debts for 2020/21 in Appendix 11 be noted;
9. the financial outturn performance position for the Housing Revenue Account for 2020/21 in Appendices 12 and 13 (as detailed in Section 11) be received and the carry forward of capital budgets in 2021/22 as set out in paragraph 11.9 be approved.