Issue - meetings

The Medium Term Financial Strategy outlines the financial context and challenges for the Council over the next five years and sets out a strategy that will be used to inform its annual budget process.

Councillor Richard Samuel said that, in his opinion, Council’s finances were out of control.  The expenditure had not been managed and funding had been wasted on some projects that didn’t go ahead.  There was very little evidence that the Council had presented current financial situation to the Government.  Councillor Samuel also said that there was little evidence how business rates scheme would work in this authority.  Councillor Samuel urged the Cabinet to put Council’s finances back on track.

Councillor Dine Romero said that the current administration was in favour of austerity.  Councillor Romero urged the Leader of the Council to communicate with the Government and ask for additional funding for more vulnerable in our community.  Councillor Romero felt that the budget for 2018 would be to the detriment of the people of Bath and North East Somerset.  In Councillor Romero’s view Social Care and Children Services seem to head towards cliff edge. 

Councillor Tim Warren said that the Council had received unprecedented reductions in funding and was facing difficult decisions about which services it could provide, as well as to what standard it could continue to provide them. Over the last few years it had been very successful in achieving efficiency savings and increasing commercial income but a ‘step change’ was now required given the scale of net savings it needed to find.  The new Strategy had outlined the key areas of focus to balance the budget over the next five years including a review of its priorities to ensure a sustainable financial future. 

Councillor Tim Warren moved the recommendations.

Councillor Paul May seconded the motion by saying that the Cabinet had conducted a serious review after the last Local Elections.  The Strategy  explained the financial context and the targets, as well as the financing mechanisms available to the Council. This strategy had not detailed how individual savings would be made nor how categories of additional income would be achieved. Nevertheless, it had described the scope of the work required, and taking place, to meet these targets together with some of the anticipated impacts.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

1)  Approve the attached Medium Term Financial Strategy and the recommendations outlined in that strategy;

2)  Recommend approval of the Efficiency Strategy to Council.