Issue - meetings

NOTE: The papers for this item were not available at the time of despatch but will be published in due course as a separate despatch

Councillor Eleanor Jackson made a statement [attached to these Minutes as Appendix 2 but not available on the web] in which she recognised the difficult job facing the Cabinet but expressed a number of objections to the proposals and to the way the information had been provided by what she felt was drip feeding via the local press.  She also felt it was a myth to say that frontline services could be protected.  She appealed for £25,000 bridging money to be made available from the Headroom Fund so that youth services in Radstock could have a breathing space to maintain staff hours and to find alternative premises.  She also asked for a commitment from Cabinet to repair and modernise the Victoria Hall in Radstock.

Councillor John Bull made an ad hoc statement, which he said was a repetition of the same points he had made at the Overview and Scrutiny meeting concerning the allocations from Headroom Fund.  On behalf of the Labour Group, he suggested that three allocations from the Headroom Fund should be made as part of the Budget:  Replace £27K into the budget for Children and Young People Services; Allocate £8K to complete the funding of Bath Contact Centre for Parents; Allocate £5K for the Children's Rights Service.

Councillor Paul Crossley made an ad hoc statement in which he said he felt there were still some massive commitments to huge projects of dubious value, an example of which was the Bath Rapid Transport proposals.

The Chair invited Councillors David Dixon (Chair of Corporate Performance and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Panel) and Caroline Roberts (Chair of Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel) to address the Cabinet.

Councillor David Dixon referred to the Panel's recommendations which had been put into the public gallery before the meeting [attached to these Minutes as Appendices 3 and 4] which included the Labour Group comments.  He thanked the Cabinet for giving consideration to the Panel's recommendations.

Councillor Caroline Roberts observed that the previous year had seen a huge cut in the Environmental Services budget and she praised the staff of that service for achieving so much with such reduced funds.  She asked for this to be recognised in the current Budget and thanked the Cabinet for giving serious consideration to the comments made by the Panel.

Councillor Malcolm Hanney in introducing the item, referred to the Proposed Base Revenue Budget Cash Limits [attached to these Minutes as Appendix 5] which had not been included in the Agenda despatch but which had been made available in the public gallery before the meeting.

He echoed the thanks to officers for their hard work in such difficult circumstances.  He felt that the Cabinet had engaged well with Overview and Scrutiny Panels.  He observed that there had been a 16% cut across the board in grants from government and warned that about £3M of government grants were yet to be confirmed so the Revenue budget might still be subject to some change.  He joined with others  ...  view the full minutes text for item 149