Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - Zoom - Public Access via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/bathnescouncil. View directions

Contact: Michaela Gay  Email: michaela_gay@bathnes.gov.uk, 01225 394411

Items
No. Item

65.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Minutes:

The Chair Councillor Duguid (Vice Chair of the Panel) welcomed everyone to the meeting and read the following statement:

 

Due to the ongoing Covid situation and a desire to retain a level of social distancing at Council meetings at this time, we are holding this meeting virtually.  We will review this approach for any future meetings, in line with government and health guidance at that time.

 

 

66.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

Minutes:

Councillor Warrington and Councillor Furse sent their apologies.

67.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Minutes:

There were none.

68.

TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENT BUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIRMAN

Minutes:

There was none.

69.

ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC OR COUNCILLORS - TO RECEIVE DEPUTATIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS OR QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE BUSINESS OF THIS MEETING

At the time of publication no notifications had been received.

 

Minutes:

Ms Katherine Howells made a statement to the Panel objecting to the proposed parking charges in Midsomer Norton and Radstock. A copy of the statement is held on the Council minute book at attached to these minutes.

 

Councillor Hughes asked if Ms Howells was aware of any consultation on this proposal from the Council. Ms Howells stated that she had not.

 

Councillor Hodges asked if Ms Howells had any figures around her impression that the cost to enforce this proposed scheme would outweigh the income to the Council. Ms Howells did not have full figures on this but pointed out that the costs in the report show £20k for a parking warden.

 

The Chair thanked Ms Howells.

Additional documents:

70.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 359 KB

Minutes:

The Panel confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record.

71.

Cabinet Member update

The Cabinet Member will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions on the update provided.

 

Minutes:

Councillor Richard Samuel, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Resources updated the Panel on the following:

 

·  The City Region Sustainable Transport Strategy has involved a lot of Cabinet discussion and negotiation with WECA on the detail.

·  Also an interface relating to Bath Quays – the programme is challenging in bringing together a number of funding schemes to achieve the scheme on the ground with the new bridge elements coming together between July-November this year. Invitation to tender has been issued. Construction on the Bath Quays South side is progressing well.

·  Work is coming to conclusion on the 4 local High Street projects (Weston, Moorland Road, Twerton and Southdown)

·  We are in the final stages of the Milsom Quarter Master Plan work.

·  A lot of the above are heading to the WECA meeting in April.

 

 

 

72.

Council Budget pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

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 10th 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 10th February and the Council on 15th 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 17th 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.

73.

Panel Workplan pdf icon PDF 165 KB

This report presents the latest workplan for the Panel. Any suggestions for further items or amendments to the current programme will be logged and scheduled in consultation with the Panel’s Chair and supporting officers.

Minutes:

Panel members noted the future workplan.

 

Councillor Duguid asked that an item on ADL be discussed at the next agenda briefing and added to the workplan.