Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Town Hall - Maidenhead

Contact: Wendy Binmore  01628 796 251

Items
No. Item

49.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

None received.

50.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 131 KB

To receive any Declarations of Interest.

Minutes:

Cllr Beer – Declared a personal interest as he is a member of Old Windsor Parish Council and was also a member of the Old Windsor Carnival Committee.

Cllr Gilmore – Declared a personal interest as he works for Airbus.

Cllr Sharma – Declared a personal interest as he works for First Group.

51.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 115 KB

To confirm the Part I Minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2016 and 9 January 2017

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

RESOLVED: That the Part I minutes of the meetings of the Panel held on 6 December 2016 and also 9 January 2017 be approved.

 

52.

Budget and Council Tax 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 2 MB

To receive the above report.

Minutes:

Rob Stubbs, Head of Finance/Deputy Director Corporate & Community Services gave a presentation on the Budget 2017-2018 where the following key points were highlighted:

 

Ø  Local Revenue Investments:

o   Expanding the planning team’s expertise and capacity: £196,000

o   Increasing the care and maintenance of public trees: £100,000

o   More grants for voluntary organisations: £160,000

o   Funding the apprenticeship levy: 280,000

Ø  Revenue recommendations:

o   In 16/17 it was £373 less than the average unitary, £213 less than any other Berks unitary and £189 less than any unitary authority.

o   3% adult social care precept at band D of £27,75, adding to the 2% in 16/17 of £18.14

o   0.95% increase in council tax at band D, adding £8.62 to the £906.95 which did not increase from 15/16 to 16/17

o   0.95% is half of the reference inflation of 2.0% in September 2016 and the 1.99% increase permitted without a local referendum

o   Fees and charges are either not increased, or are increased at or below 2.0%, or are aligned to other council

o   Increases the real terms reduction in core council tax over eight years to 32.5% plus a priority social care levy of 5%

Ø  17/18 Capital investment:

o   Used internal balances to fund Capital – will turn to significant borrowing in 2017/18

o   Interest costs avoided in recent years by funding capital projects from available cash balances

o   Capital receipts from the Maidenhead regeneration from 2018-2025 justify £73m of medium term borrowing in 17/18 for various capital projects.

Ø  Business Rates – for business

o   Small business rate relief doubling to 100% up to £15,000 – to continue to extend to all commercial and industrial units.

o   Local newspaper business rate relief of £1,500 per title

o   All locally controlled rate reliefs maintained

o   Rural rate relief extended and redefined from large parishes to smaller voting wards

o   Relief for reinvigorating vacant retail units to be extended to all commercial and industrial remises

o   Ongoing deliberations and consultations on how local government will retain all business rates by the end of this Parliament.

Ø  Context:

o   The Council continued to provide services with value for money for residents

o   Increased demand in adult social care with a permitted precept of up to 3% in each of 17/18, 18/19 and 19/20 capped at 6% in total, plus a one-off 17/18 £0.5m grant

o   New Homes Bonus £3.7m in 17/18, although reduced from six years to five years in 17/18 and then five to four in 18/19

o   Transition Grant £1.3m in 17/18

o   DSG increased by £4.8m in 17/18 to £109.8m largely due to rising pupil numbers, increases in SEN and Early Years

o   £280,000 0.5% apprenticeship levy on all payroll from 17/18

 

The Chairman welcomed the budget and appreciated the difficult times councils across the country faced. He added there were good investments in the transport system and public rights of way. He noted that additional investment was being made in Home to School Transport Services..

 

In response to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

53.

Local Government Act 1972 - Exclusion of the Public and Press

To consider the following resolution:-

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public can be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on item 6 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 – 7 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act”.

54.

Minutes

To confirm the Part II minutes of the meetings held on 6 December 2016 and 9 January 2017.