Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary or Affected Interests in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

Any Member with an Affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

To consider and approve the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 21 January 2025.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet on 22 January 2025 together with the accompanying decision records be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Leader.

There were no urgent items of business.

The Cabinet considered the following items.  The decisions are recorded in the decision sheets attached to these minutes and summarised below:

Cabinet RECOMMENDED that Council approves:

a)         A General Fund Capital Programme of £14.386m for 2025/26 in respect of

those schemes listed in Annexes A – D.

b)         That £8.388m be funded from Council resources with £5.998m of

expenditure to be externally funded (including £0.380m of S106 funding)

as outlined in paragraph 6.22.

c)         That those schemes that attract external grant funding are included

within the Capital Programme at the level of funding received and can

only proceed once the Council has received confirmation that the grant

will be awarded.

d)         The inclusion of an additional budget of £1m for Invest to Save schemes

on the basis that these will be self-financing.

e)         The Flexible Use of Capital Receipts policy for 2024/25 to 2026/27

attached in Annex E

RECOMMENDED to Council:

1)    That the Cabinet recommends to the Council a Net Revenue Budget of £105.597m and Council Tax level for 2025/26 as set out in Annexe G, to include the proposals detailed in the following recommendations i. to vii.

i.       The draft budget proposals as set out in the report presented to the Cabinet’s meeting in December 2024, subject to the revisions in section 9.3.1b) to 9.3.1g) and those decisions to be taken elsewhere on this agenda on the capital programme;

ii.     The additional budget proposals as set out in Annexe A and Annexe D and in sections 7.2 (Revenue Support Grant), 7.3 (specific grants), 7.4 and 7.5 (business rates), 8.3 (Council Tax and collection fund) ,9.3 (updated pressures & savings) and 10.1 (Schools Budget);

iii.    A provision for inflation of £4.616m (section 9.2);

iv.    A general contingency totalling £3.992m (section 11.10) use of which is to be authorised by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Executive Director: Resources in accordance with the delegations included in the Council’s constitution;

v.     A council tax discount of £50 for working age households receiving council tax support (£0.170m) and a one-off increase of £0.088m in the budget allocated for Section 13A Council Tax reliefs and associated administrative support (£0.045m), funded using the Financial Hardship Reserve, as set out in paragraph 9.3.1a);

vi.    A 4.99% increase in the Council Tax for the Council’s services with the Council Tax requirement, excluding Parish and Town Council precepts, of £85.667m;

vii.   A Council Tax for the Council’s services for each Valuation Band as follows:

2)    That the Cabinet recommendsthat the Council approves the following indicators, limits, strategies and policies included in Annexe E, following their review by the Governance and Audit Committee at its meeting on 22 January 2025:

i.       The Prudential Indicators and Limits for 2025/26 to 2027/28 contained within Annexe E(i);

ii.     The Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy contained within Annexe E(ii);

iii.    The Treasury Management Strategy Statement, and the Treasury Prudential Indicators contained in Annexe E(iii);

iv.    The Authorised Limit Prudential Indicator in Annexe E(iii);

v.     The Investment Strategy 2025/26 to 2027/28 and Treasury Management Limits on Activity contained in Annexe E(iv).

3)    That the Cabinet recommends that the Council approves the reserves and balances policy (Annexe F);

4)    That the Cabinet delegates authority to the Executive Director: Resources in consultation with the Cabinet Members for Finance and Corporate Improvement and Environment, Community and Housing to agree a policy for distribution of the Section 13A budget (paragraph 9.3.1a);

5)    That the Cabinet delegates authority to the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning to approve the detailed budget allocations for High Needs pupils and Early Years providers, up to the estimated level of available resources (section 10.1);

6)    That the Cabinet approves a three-week consultation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

This item was deferred from the agenda.

RESOLVED that the framework for arts, culture and heritage is approved, recognising the current activity already underway and developing a plan to continue the focus on enhancing community cohesion, pride in place, and economic benefits.