Issue - meetings

This report was considered by the Cabinet at their 12th September 2019 meeting. It presents the April 2019 to July 2019 revenue and capital budget monitoring for 2019/20.

Councillor Richard Samuel introduced this report to the Panel, reminding them that it had been subject to discussion at the Cabinet meeting held on 12th September 2019.

He said that the figures were not encouraging as significant pressure remains regarding Children’s Services, in particular around Looked After Children and those with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities.

He informed the Panel that there was currently a £1m shortfall in income from the Commercial Estate due to a slowing down of high street retail income.

He stated that Community Services were £0.42m under budget due to a favourable variance from strong visitor performance in the first quarter of the year in the Roman Baths and that both admission and retail income performed above budget expectations.

He said that the capital budget is currently showing an expected under budget position of £30.5m mainly due to re-phasing of Bath Quays and ACL/ADL loan drawdowns into future financial years to reflect revised project spend profiles.

He added that flood defence work was ongoing at Bath Quays South and 50% complete. With regard to Bath Quays North he explained that land assembly was ongoing and encouraged members to find out more details about the project.

The Head of Management Accounts said that void rates within the Commercial Estate had decreased, but that a yield challenge still remained. He added that the current year-end forecast is an over budget position of £1.68m, which equates to 0.59% of gross budgeted spend (excluding Schools) and that mitigation is being assessed.

Councillor Winston Duguid said that he was concerned for the coming 2-4 years of the Council and asked if valuation of the Commercial Estate took place regularly.

Councillor Richard Samuel replied that the estate had been built up over many years and said that land owned by the Council could be more profitable for both the community and the Council if planning consent were gained for specific projects. He added that he was willing to bring more information to the Panel on this matter.

The Chairman agreed that this could be considered as a future workplan item. He added that he was concerned about the health of the whole Council retail estate and asked if management of the estate had been addressed.

Councillor Samuel replied that this had not yet been addressed, but that there would be a budget line that states better utilisation of the Council’s assets.

Councillor Hal Macfie commented that Keynsham Town Councillors have been discussing the Riverside development with officers in Property Services and asked if units were proving difficult to sell would a lower rate be considered.

Councillor Samuel replied that in principle this would be considered, but that there was not a clear policy on this currently. He gave an example of two empty units in Walcot Street that were unlettable due to persistent damp and an odd layout and that decisions on these and similar sites would need to be taken as whether to renovate fully or consider actions to lead to a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19

This report presents the financial monitoring information for the Authority as a whole for the financial year 2019/20 to the end of July 2019.

Councillor Robin Moss made an ad-hoc statement. He expressed slight concern that the changes in savings would be centralised which could create a risk of unforeseen circumstances happening on the ground.

Councillor Richard Samuel introduced the report by saying that the Revenue budget outturn was currently forecast to be £1.68m over budget.  The areas over budget were mainly due to additional demand in Children’s Services and a shortfall in income from the Commercial Estate.  Whilst the Children’s Services budget was re-based for 2019/20 there has been an unexpected increase in specialist Health and Social Care placements, the Commercial Estate was due to a slowing down of high street retail income.  To provide mitigation Managers had been requested to develop cost reduction plans and to minimise spend wherever possible. That would further improve the year-end position.  The capital budget was currently showing an expected under budget position of £30.5m mainly due to re-phasing of Bath Quays and ACL/ADL loan drawdowns into future financial years to reflect revised project spend profiles.

Council reserves would be required to mitigate the current position if the actions being put in place were not successful. The current position would require use of £1.68m of the Budget Contingency Reserve (which was set up to mitigate budget risk). Provision would need to be made within the 2020/21 budget to replenish the Budget Contingency Reserve for any drawdown made during 2019/20.

Councillor Richard Samuel moved the recommendations.

Councillor Dine Romero seconded the motion by thanking Councillor Samuel and the Section 151 Officer for the report.

Councillor Samuel thanked Councillor Moss for his statement, agreed with the comments he made in his ad-hoc statement, and encouraged Councillor Moss and other Members of the Council to question the new ways of managing savings in the Council through the scrutiny process. 

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

2.1  To note the 2019/20 forecast over budget of £1.68m (as at the end of July 2019) and the recovery plan actions outlined in Appendix 1;

2.2  To note the mitigations that will be required shown in paragraph 3.6, if the over budget position cannot be reduced by the end of the financial year;

2.3  To approve the revenue virements listed for approval in Appendix 3(i) and to note those virements listed for information only;

2.4  To note the capital year-end forecast detailed in paragraph 3.15 of this report;

2.5  To note the changes in the capital programme including capital schemes that have been agreed for full approval under delegation listed in Appendix 4(i)