Agenda item

Cabinet will be asked to agree and set the Council's medium term planning approach and to recommend the 2014/15 Council Tax and Budget to Council.  Council will consider the Cabinet’s recommendations on 18-Feb-14.

Elizabeth Derl-Davis (Radstock Town Council) made a statement [a summary of which is attached to these Minutes as Appendix 4 and on the Council’s website]about the Bronze Band support scheme. She said that about 320 pensioners, including herself, would be affected if the Council stopped paying the support charge for those living in sheltered housing. Those living in sheltered housing were there because they were over 60, disabled or had a long-term illness. They were the poorest, most vulnerable group in the country. The Bronze Band only gave access to an alarm system, which was part of the fabric of the building and could not be removed. The cost for this was £3.60 a week or £187.20 over a year. Those who could not afford to pay this amount would be expected to move. The majority of pensioners where she lived were over 80. The Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond Bands were, of course, more expensive. The cost of 320 x £187.20 was not a great sum in the overall budget for B&NES. If the Council withdrew this support, it would create a precedent. She urged the Cabinet to reverse this cut, as Bristol City Council had done.

Councillor Bull in an ad-hoc statement highlighted the continual reductions in central government grants to councils. The Institute of Fiscal Studies had warned that 50% of austerity cuts were yet to take effect. The Local Government Association had warned that eventually councils might only be able to afford adult social care and refuse collection. The budget was unsatisfactory and failed to meet the expectations of residents. There were many other relatively small cuts like the one the previous speaker had raised, but above all there had been a £1.8m cut for Children’s Services.

Councillor Laming in an ad hoc statement welcomed the recommendation for provisional approval of a River Corridor Fund. He had been urging this for the past three years. He recalled that on 28 April 2012 the river had been so low that boats had been sitting on the river bed, and there had been warnings of drought. Since then rain had been unremitting. The Transport Secretary had confirmed on the radio that morning that climate change was occurring. In his experience of 27 years on the river everything had changed, and in particular during the last 2 years.  The River Corridor Working Group was desperately needed and should be properly funded, because people’s lives and livelihoods were at risk. 23 businesses in Keynsham, including his own, had been ruined in the past two weeks because of the floods. He urged that the allocated £340,000 should not be wasted, but used as “feed money” to attract additional investment from private enterprise, government and the EU.

Councillor Gerrish in an ad hoc statement welcomed many aspects of the budget, but also raised some concerns. He was concerned that the costs of travellers’ sites were increasing. His group proposed that the proposed capital spend on travellers’ sites be reduced by £670,000, with the savings redirected to Highway Services and additional safer routes to schools. In order that this proposal could be considered properly on Tuesday, he requested the Cabinet to provide information about the sum of money actually required to deliver the Lower Bristol Road scheme, and how it would be affected if the budget were reduced as suggested. He also proposed a one-off sum of £200k from budget headroom to create a pump-priming fund to support voluntary and other external organisations in taking a greater role in the provision of Children’s Services. He also raised two Keynsham issues: making the pedestrian crossing outside St Keyna School in Charlton Road safer, and the repair of the closed footbridge in Keynsham Park.

Councillor Bevan in an ad hoc statement welcomed the budget as enabling a safer, cleaner, greener Bath and North East Somerset. She thanked Councillor Dixon for committing the afternoon of 24th February to meet her in Peasedown for a tour to ascertain what was needed and where. She urged that the public lavatories in Peasedown should be converted into additional much-need parking spaces, if that was the will of residents.

Councillor Symonds in an ad hoc statement urged that the streets be made safer for cyclists. Safety on London Road was very poor. He suggested the optimal solution would be a bus lane.

Danny Kite (Alexandra Bowling Club) in an ad hoc statement thanked the Cabinet for including the Alexandra Bowling Club in the list of organisations to be considered for the Community Asset Transfer Programme during 2014/15, and spoke about the role of the Club in the community.

Councillor Jackson in an ad hoc statement welcomed proposals to improve parking in Radstock. She suggested that there should be a master plan for parking in Radstock. She supported Councillor Hardman’s statement on Children’s Services. She also supported the statement of Elizabeth Derrill-Davis on the Bronze Band support scheme. She thought, however, that the number of pensioners affected was 450, not 320. The total sum involved was £60k, but the benefit and peace of mind for these pensioners and their relative was beyond price. She hoped that there would be an amendment to the final budget to be put to Council.

Bryn Jones (Chair,Transition Larkhall) made a statement on the impact of the Gateway project on the safety of cyclists. His group believed that the worst of the options being considered was an on-road cycle lane. He urged the retention of the existing cycle path. His group believed that there was scope for extending this to Larkhall.

Councillor Bellotti in proposing the item said that local residents have been consulted more than ever before. Four Budget Fairs had been held and comments from those Fairs had been circulated to all members of the Cabinet. Comments from all the PDS Panels had been considered. The resolution from the Resources PDS Panel previously referred to would be given serious consideration. He highlighted three main objectives of the budget:

i)  to freeze Council Tax for another year;

ii)  to protect front-line services;

iii)  to facilitate more homes and more jobs.

He said that there was scope to reconsider the cut in funding of the Bronze Band scheme.

In seconding the item Councillor Crossley said that it was difficult to balance the budget in the current public funding situation. He responded to comments made by the public speakers.

Councillor Dixon said that times were tough for local authorities. B&NES was fortunate in having a large commercial property portfolio. He was pleased that the Council was able to invest in many projects in the community.

Councillor Romero said that the resolution from Resources PDS and the comments of Councillor Gerrish about Children’s Services would be carefully considered. Responding to the statement of Councillor John Bull, she said that not 2 but 4 Children’s Centres would be open full time, and, when nursery provision was taken into account, 8 out of 11 buildings would be open full time.

Councillor Allen said that he believed the budget protected the most vulnerable. He explained that the funding for the Bronze Band scheme related only to the old-style fixed alarms, which had been replaced by newer personalised alarms, which were safer.

Councillor Ball said that the Housing Service was doing well on a tiny budget, delivering housing and earning revenue for the Council. Responding to the statement of Councillor Gerrish, he said that the Council had for many years neglected provision for travellers. A budget of £1.8m had now been allocated, because of the difficulties of the designated site. He believed the money for site was safe for this year, if the Secretary of State called in the application for the site, the project would slip and the money would be lost, and the travellers could go to other parts of the area, causing inconvenience to local residents.

Councillor Stevens said that in his portfolio there was a capital programme which would generate growth. The Arts Development budget had been frozen, ensuring that the arts community could continue to deliver for the benefit of residents. There was funding for capital projects by Heritage Services, which should demonstrate to UNESCO that Bath took its World Heritage Site status seriously.

Councillor Roberts said that additional funding was being put into cycling and walking schemes. Extra money had been provided for grit bins and snow wardens. Money had been provided for the Parade road scheme and for the

east Bath Park and Ride and for various safety schemes.

Councillor Hall said that the Council had listened to and worked with communities to develop this budget. She believed that the budget had protected the most vulnerable in difficult times. Skate parks were an investment in the future of young people.

On a motion from Councillor Bellotti, seconded by Councillor Crossley it was

RESOLVED (unanimously) to recommend:

1.1  That the Council approve:

a)  The General Fund net revenue budget for 2014/15 of £119.926m with no increase in Council Tax.

b)  That no Special Expenses be charged other than Town and Parish Council precepts for 2014/15.

c)   The adequacy of reserves at Appendix 1 Table 8 with a risk-assessed level of £10.5m.

d)  The individual service cash limits for 2014/15 summarised at Appendix 1 Table 4 and detailed in Annex 1.

e) That the specific arrangements for the governance and release of reserves, including invest to save proposals, be delegated to the Council’s Section 151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community Resources and the Chief Executive.

1.2  That the Council delegates the sign-off of the Better Care Plan on behalf of the Council to the Health & Wellbeing Board in consultation with the Chief Executive, the Leader and the Cabinet Member for Community Resources.

1.3  That the Council delegates the updating of the council’s discretionary rate relief policy, to reflect the measures announced in the Autumn Budget Statement, to the Council’s Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Chief Executive and the Cabinet Member for Community Resources.

1.4  That the Council include in its Council Tax setting, the precepts set and approved by other bodies including the local precepts of Town Councils, Parish Councils and the Charter Trustees of the City of Bath, and those of the Fire and Police Authorities.

1.5  That the Council notes the Section 151 officer's report on the robustness of the proposed budget and the adequacy of the Council's reserves (Appendix 1, Annex 2) and approves the conditions upon which the recommendations are made as set out throughout Appendix 1.

1.6  That in relation to the capital budget the Council:

a)  approves a capital programme of £65.865m for 2014/15 and notes items for provisional approval in 2014/15 and the programme for 2015/16 to 2018/19 as shown at Appendix 1, Annex 3 including the planned sources of funding .

b)  delegates implementation, subject to consultation where appropriate, of the capital programmes set out in Annex 3i to Annex 3iii to the relevant Strategic Director in Consultation with the appropriate Cabinet Member.

c)  approves the Minimum Revenue Provision Policy as shown at Appendix 1, Annex 4

d)  approves the Capital Prudential Indicators as set out in Appendix  1 Table 6.

1.7  That the Council agree the Council’s proposed pay policy statement, including the arrangements for senior severance practice, as set out at Appendix 4.

1.8  That the Council notes the approach to Community Assets as set out in Appendix 5.

And the Cabinet further agrees

1.9  To authorise the Council’s Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community Resources, to make any necessary changes and presentational improvements to the draft budget proposal for submission to Council.