Issue - meetings

To approve:  The General Fund and HRA Budgets for 2025/26, including the use of reserves, Medium Term Financial Strategy, Capital Programmes and Strategy, Treasury Management Policy/Strategy and the Annual Delivery Plan including the  approval of Council Tax levels for recommendation to Full Council (report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (S151) enclosed).

(Please note that in accordance with The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, a recorded vote will be taken on Budget recommendations).

(Members are reminded that if they are two months or more in arrears, they must disclose the fact and not vote on any item to set tax or any decision which may affect its calculation).

Consideration was given to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (S151) which sought to approve: the General Fund and HRA budgets for 2025/26 including the use of reserves, Medium Term Financial Strategy, Capital Programme and Strategy, Treasury Management Policy/Strategy, and the Annual Delivery Plan, including the approval of Council Tax levels for recommendation to Full Council.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance presented the report, and he thanked the Finance team for working diligently to produce it.  He stated that it was the last Budget to be overseen by the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (S151) (Christine Marshall) and he stated that she left the Authority in a good place with regard to its budget.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance advised of the following:

·         A correction to Table 12 (Reserve Balances) within Appendix 1 to the report.  This showed the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) funding as being received in 2024/25. This would be received in 2025/26;

·         An additional recommendation be added – ‘That the uplift to the real living wage (report section 11.1) be approved’.

The following issues were raised:

·         Councillor Astill  supported the additional recommendation regarding the  minimum wage, announced by the Portfolio Holder – Finance in his presentation. 

·         With regard to the HRA and Capital Programme two points were raised: 1) Gas boiler replacements within the Council’s housing stock – in order to judge if this was value for money, how many houses did this represent?; 2) What were the budgeted fees of £200,000?

o   The Portfolio Holder – Strategic and Operational Housing responded that she could not advise specifically how many houses had received gas boiler replacements however, the spend per property (not just gas boilers, but across the board) has been benchmarked against other authorities and was slightly under the benchmark figure.  Gas boiler replacement would be part of the programme of works for replacement when required.  Contracts and works to the Council’s housing stock was generally of good value and quality.

o   The Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (S151) advised that the increase in 2028/29 and 2029/30 was due to the move to air source heat pumps which were more expensive to install.  Regarding fees, this related to contracts and she would ask that the service provide more details on this area.

·         Members responded that for clarity, it would be useful to separate gas boiler replacements and air source heat pumps as this would show investment in greener energy more clearly. 

o   The Portfolio Holder – Strategic and Operation Housing agreed that this was a good point. Where there were properties with no gas availability, the decision had been taken to install air source heat pumps.  At the time, the technology around air source heat pumps was still new, with opinions divided on their efficacy .  The Authority continued to install both options but would be happy to separate this information out. The Portfolio Holder commented that she was happy to discuss this issue, and information regarding ‘green’ works coming  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93

To approve: The General Fund and HRA Budget for 2025/26, including the use of reserves, Medium Term Financial Strategy, Capital Programmes and Strategy, Treasury Management Policy/Strategy and the Annual Delivery Plan including the approval of Council Tax levels for recommendation to Full Council (report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (151)).

Consideration was given to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (S151) which sought approval of the General Fund and HRA Budgets for 2025/26, including the use of reserves, Medium Term Financial Strategy, Capital Programmes and Strategy, Treasury Management Policy/Strategy and the Annual Delivery Plan including the approval of Council Tax levels for recommendation to Full Council.

The Portfolio Holder – Finance presented the report  and started by apologising for the lateness in circulation to Cabinet of the report.  He had asked the S151 Officer to raise this matter with the Authority’s service provider, PSPS Ltd with a view to considering how joint working could  prevent such a position repeating itself in the future.

The creation of the 2025/26 Budget has been extremely challenging for South Holland with increasing costs such as pay, contract costs and the IDB levy, plus reductions in government support. This was at a time when the Authority was seeking to support those most vulnerable, to create a vibrant District for residents to live in and businesses to grow.

Despite these challenges, as part of this budget the Authority was providing more support to its residents as part of the new Council Tax Support Scheme, implementing a new Business Improvement District for the Town, deploying Long Term Towns Funding and delivering the hugely significant South Holland Health and Well-Being Hub funded mainly through grant.  The £38.6million Capital Programme was one of the most significant seen for many years.

Internal Drainage Boards continued to be an ever-increasing pressure with an additional requirement for 2025/26 of £158,000.  It was also noted that there had been a 36% increase since 2021/22, clearly not sustainable on a now £3.57million a year bill for the Council to absorb. Cabinet was aware that the Council has been in detailed discussion with government officials regarding this difficult position over the past 2-3 years as well as working through the Special Interest Group (SIG) to lobby heavily on this matter. Extra funding for councils increasing in 2025/26 to £5million had now been confirmed by Government as part of the final settlement which was welcome, but allocations were yet to be confirmed.

Due to these pressures an increase of Council Tax by the maximum 3% was proposed, equating to a £7.11 increase for a Band D property which equated to 14p a week. The vast majority of properties in South Holland were bands A, B and C and lower increases for these would therefore be seen.

Two efficiency targets were included in the budget, one in respect of the IDBs and the second relating to a need for general efficiencies of £255,000 -  this would be challenging but there were plans to address this.

This budget also included a new grant in respect of the Extended Producer Responsibility funding, which had been awarded for costs that the Authority already incurred in the waste system.  This would be available to support the budget in 2025/26 if needed or indeed future years as funding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72