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Agenda and minutes

Budget, Council - Tuesday, 25th February, 2020 6.10 pm

Venue: Town Hall, Market Street, Tamworth. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services 01827 709264 

Items
No. Item

28.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence received.

 

The Mayor formally welcomed Councillor Steven Pritchard to his first meeting of full Council.

 

 

 

 

29.

To receive the Minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 394 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 10th December 2019 were approved and signed as a correct record.

 

(Moved by Councillor D Cook and seconded by Councillor Dr S Peaple)

30.

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations of Members’ interests (pecuniary and non-pecuniary) in any matters which are to be considered at this meeting.

 

When Members are declaring a pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest in respect of which they have dispensation, they should specify the nature of such interest.  Members should leave the room if they have a pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest in respect of which they do not have a dispensation. 

Minutes:

The Mayor reminded all Councillors that as this is the Budget meeting, Councillors need to consider the provisions of s 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, in this regard. 

 

In particular it is an offence for a Councillor in council tax arrears (which have remained unpaid for at least two months) to vote at a meeting of the Council where financial matters relating to the budget or council tax calculation are being considered.  Any such members need to disclose the fact that s106 applies to them and whilst they are not debarred from speaking on such matter, they must not vote on such matter.

 

 There were no Declarations of Interest.

31.

To receive any announcements from the Mayor, Leader, Members of the Cabinet or the Chief Executive

The Leader to update Members on the revised Committee membership following the by-election in December;

·         Councillor R Ford appointed to Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Committee;

·         Councillor S Pritchard appointed to the Audit & Governance Committee, Planning Committee and Licensing Committee.

Minutes:

Councillor D Cook announced the following;

 

“I would like to welcome Councillor Steve Pritchard back to this Chamber.

 

As we are all aware Councillor Pritchard is a dedicated resident, cares for others and again is a surrenderance in this town and we welcome him back.

 

With that in mind Mr Mayor I emailed the Chief Executive and the Leader of the Opposition to inform them of the new Committee Allocations following the Bi election on the 12th December. The email was dated the 8th January.

 

Just to confirm the new Committee arrangements, Councillor Michael Greatorex had 4 Committee places, I have allocated the Infrastructure, Safety and Growth Committee place to Councillor Richard Ford.

 

Councillor Steve Pritchard has taken on Audit & Governance, Planning and Licensing.

 

Under the Constitution I am required to also inform full Council of this and I duly do so at this meeting. Thank you Mr Mayor.”

 

 

Mayor R Kingstone announced the following;

 

“I have just one announcement which is to remind Councillors that I sent out an invite to all of you to attend the special meeting this Thursday night in regard to revamping and extending the skate park. The meeting is at 7pm here in the Town Hall if any of you are free to attend to be briefed on the potential proposals that will be put to our Council with regards to the skate park extension.”

 

Councillor Dr S Peaple Announced the following;

 

“In that regard Mr Mayor unfortunately IS&G was also moved to this Thursday so would you accept apologies from any of us who are still at IS&G at that point.”

 

Mayor R Kingstone responded;

 

“Certainly and if you want to come after IS&G just drop me a text to see if we are still here or not.”

32.

Question Time:

(i)                 To answer questions from members of the public pursuant to Procedure Rule No. 10.

 

(ii)               To answer questions from members of the Council pursuant to Procedure Rule No. 11

 

Minutes:

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL NO. 1

 

Under Procedure Rule No 11, Councillor Dr S Peaple will ask the Portfolio Holder for Assets and Finance, Councillor R Pritchard, the following question:-

 

“Having reported to Corporate Scrutiny that the cabinet has prepared a review of garage sites, would Councillor Pritchard tell the members of the Council which sites in Amington, Belgrave and Glascote wards have been earmarked for inclusion in the demolition programme and which of them have been designated for new housing to be built upon?”

 

Councillor R Pritchard gave the following reply:-

 

“No final decisions have been made on the future use of any of these garage sites; however a few sites have been demolished in recent months because the sites are structurally unsafe and often therefore vacant.

                          

Sites demolished recently or in progress include -

 

Barnbridge

Neville Street

Canning Road

Orchard Street

Colbourne Road

Kennet

Stonepit

Bamford Street

 

 

In the meantime, these sites are either allocated for temporary residents parking or blocked off.

 

A report will be coming to cabinet in due course to decide on the future use of the sites.

 

All sites will be subject to consultation and options appraisals on their future use, which could include housing, parking, new garages, open market disposal or other uses.”

 

 

Councillor Dr S Peaple asked the following supplementary question:-

 

“Thank you Councillor Pritchard for the detailed response I have received, noting that Canning Road has caused problems since it’s been blocked off and has denied access to the Bus Stop for some residents, but no doubt that will be rectified.

Can I therefore ask Councillor Pritchard how many of the proposed works are covered by the “Capital Programme” that is due to be passed tonight, bearing in mind that I understand, the estimate for a parking space to be created is £17,000 and therefore If you care to enlighten the Councillors how far the Capital Programme makes provision in advance for the not, necessarily specified but, total works?”

 

Councillor R Pritchard gave the following reply:-

 

“Thank you Mr Mayor, we have allocated in the Budget, monies to do works but at the moment we don’t yet know in terms of sites, which sites will be used for what. In terms of some of the works being done this will be over 3, 4, 5 years so at the moment I couldn’t tell you because we haven’t made that decision, but we have put money in the Budget to enable us to carry out those works when we make that decision.”

 

 

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL NO. 2

 

Under Procedure Rule No 11, Councillor Dr S Peaple will ask the Leader of the Council, Councillor D Cook, the following question:-

 

“In their preferred options contained in their Local Plan Review, Lichfield District Council has stated that they would like to achieve significant housing growth in Fazeley, Mile Oak and Bonehill as well as Whittington. This significant development on our borders, by just one of our neighbours,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

33.

Corporate Vision, Priorities Plan, Budget & Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 1 MB

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council proposed the Vision Statement, Priority Themes, Corporate Priorities and Plans and their inclusion in the Corporate Plan

 

The recommended package of budget proposals to enable the Council to agree the;

 

General Fund (GF) Revenue Budget and Council Tax for 2020/21;

 

Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget for 2020/21;

 

5 Year General Fund Capital Programme (2020/25);

 

5 Year HRA Capital Programme (2020/25);

 

3 Year General Fund Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) (2020/23); and

 

5 Year HRA Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) (2020/25).

 

 

To comply with the requirement of the Council’s Treasury Management Policy in reporting to Council the proposed strategy for the forthcoming year and the Local Government Act 2003 with the reporting of the Prudential Indicators and the requirement to prepare an annual Corporate Capital Strategy

 

 

RESOLVED

That Council Approved;

 

1

 

The Vision Statement, Priority Themes, Corporate Priorities and Outcomes for 2020/21:

 

2

The proposed revisions to Service Revenue Budgets (Policy Changes):

 

3

The sum of £77,339 be applied from Council Tax Collection Fund surpluses in reducing the Council Tax demand in 2020/21:

 

4

The sum of £322,619 be applied from Business Rates Collection Fund surpluses in 2020/21:

 

5

That on 28th November 2019, the Cabinet calculated the Council Tax Base 2020/21 for the whole Council area as 22,367 [Item T in the formula in Section

31B(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the "Act")];

 

6

That the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2020/21 is £4,068,334:

 

7

The following amounts as calculated for the year 2020/21 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

 

a. £49,783,001 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act (Outgoings excluding internal GF Recharges);

 

b. £45,714,667 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act (Income excluding internal GF Recharges);

 

c. £4,068,334 being the amount by which the aggregate at 7(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 7(b) above, calculated by the Council in

accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year (Item R in the formula in Section 31A(4) of the Act);

 

d. £181.89 being the amount at 7(c) above (Item R), all divided by Item T (at 5 above), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B(1)

of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year;

 

8

The Council Tax level for the Borough Council for 2020/21 of £181.89 (an increase of £5 (2.83%) on the 2019/20 level of £176.89) at Band D;

 

9

An aggregate Council Tax (comprising the respective demands of the Borough Council, Staffordshire County Council, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Authority) of £1,780.17 at Band D for 2020/21 be noted (£1,715.41 in 2019/20);

 

10

The Council Tax levels at each band for 2020/21;

 

11

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.