Agenda and minutes

Councillor Alcock was elected Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

Where a Councillor has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest the Councillor must declare the interest to the meeting and leave the room without participating in any discussion or making a statement on the item, except where a councillor is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of dispensation.

There were none.

To consider the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account 2017-18 draft revenue and capital estimates and the draft Financial Medium Term Plan (report of the Executive Director Commercialisation (S151 Officer) enclosed).

The Panels received a report by the Executive Director Commercialisation which set out the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account 2017-18 draft revenue and capital estimates and the draft Financial Medium Term Plan

The financial medium term plan set out the framework within which the budget was to be set, to ensure that it enabled the Council to achieve its own corporate objectives.  The report highlighted General Fund and Housing Revenue Account estimates.  The attached appendices set out the draft General Fund and Housing Revenue Account estimates and supporting papers.  Although there was a balanced budget in 2017-18, the revenue estimates would require further efficiencies in order to produce balanced and sustainable budgets. 

The existing four year capital programme had been amended to reflect revised budgets and scheme forecasts.  The Council had limited resources to finance all of these schemes and final decisions were still to be made on significant capital projects, such as Priory Road, future refuse vehicle replacement and any future investment in growth projects such as the Food Enterprise Zone.  Decisions on Priory Road and future asset projects would have a significant impact on the funding and potential receipts the Council had available.

The budget had entered a consultation period, with responses invited from residents and businesses through the Council’s website, and also through the Joint Panel’s budget scrutiny meeting.  Final estimates would be presented to Cabinet on 14 February 2017, with a recommendation for approval to Council on 22 February 2017.

In response to the 2016/17 Settlement, the Council successfully applied for the Government’s  four year Local Government Finance Settlement offer, using the Moving Forward programme as the basis of the efficiency plan.  The provisional Settlement consultation paper for 2017-18 was released on 15 December 2016, and the key components of the Settlement were:

·         Revenue Support Grant (RSG) and Four Year Settlement – The value of the four year RSG settlement had not changed so there was no impact compared to the budget set last year.

·         New Homes Bonus (NHB) – The consultation included a number of changes to New Homes Bonus which would reduce the amount the Council received by £511,000 over the medium term, which would impact on resources available for Investment and Growth.

·         Rural Services Delivery Grant (RSDG) – This grant was to remain although to date, the actual amounts had not been released.

·         Business Rates – The recent valuation of business rates took effect from 1 April 2017.  This was a revenue neutral exercise nationally however, at a local level, bills and income could rise or fall dependent on the mix of businesses in an area.  Further work was now being carried out to determine the impact to South Holland District Council.

The draft budget included assumptions for these areas and these would be updated once further information became available.

Despite the challenges of reduced funding and economic uncertainty, the Council remained in a relatively secure financial position across the medium term, with no dependency on reserves.  The draft budget continued to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

There were no urgent items.