Issue - meetings

Councillor Richard Samuel, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Resources, Will Godfrey, Chief Executive, and Andy Rothery, Chief Finance Officer (S151), introduced the report.

Councillor Richard Samuel explained that since last bringing the draft Budget papers to this Panel on 10^th January 2022, work had been done on refining the numbers but there were no significant changes. He reported that footfall figures for Bath in January had been extremely low, he explained that this shows the pressure on our High Street and also on Heritage Services (Roman Baths). The Council does need the income from its commercial and heritage estate. He stated that he is still listening to representations on the Budget proposals and still pulling together public feedback.

Will Godfrey, Chief Executive, stated that the last 18 months/2 years have seen the most difficult financial position the Council has ever faced. He explained that the foundations that have been built mean that the Council is in a relatively strong position. He added that the Budget proposals show that officers have fulfilled their responsibilities that will help deliver the Corporate Priorities. A huge amount of activity sits behind this Budget and there will be challenges but there are firm foundations.

Andy Rothery, Chief Financial Officer (S151), explained to the Panel that they have the core elements of the Budget papers and Annexes that will go on to the Cabinet meeting on 10^th February and the Council on 15^th February 2022. He added that we are in year 2 of a 5-year strategy and that the Budget has been significantly informed by Covid. He informed the Panel that the consultation on the Budget proposals has been more extensive this year than in previous years. There have been two sessions with this Panel and presentations at other PDS Panels along with a budget Webinar.

Panel members asked the following questions and made the following points:

Councillor Karen Walker, Chair of the Climate Emergency and Sustainability PDS Panel gave a brief outline of the comments from her Panel’s meeting on 17^th January 2022 regarding the Budget proposals:

‘The budget is unrealistic and will put further costs on residents; more transparency is needed in the papers; there are concerns about parking charges in Midsomer Norton and Radstock; concerns about the Garden Waste Service; concerns about cuts in Street Lighting and a request for reassurance that the staffing issues in the Climate Emergency team be addressed’.

Councillor MacFie asked about the Council’s reliance on external commercial income to fund the Council’s base budget and if we are seeking to reduce this. He also queried the fact that BANES is the third lowest rate for Council Tax. Councillor Richard Samuel, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Resources, explained that over many years the Council has been fortunate to have strong external income streams (eg from the Roman Baths and large commercial estate). The downside of this is that this income was greatly reduced during the pandemic. There has been some compensation,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72