To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Targowska.

To receive any declarations of interest

None received.

To consider the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2017.

To note the Part I minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Regeneration Sub Committee held on 12 December 2017 and 25 January 2018.

To note the Part I minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Prioritisation Sub Committee held on 5 January 2018.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That:

      I.        The Part I minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 14 December 2017 were approved.

    II.        The Part I minutes of the Cabinet Regeneration Sub Committee meetings held on 12 December 2017 and 25 January 2018 were noted.

   III.        The Part I minutes of the Cabinet Prioritisation Sub Committee held on 5 January 2018 were noted.

Councillor Coppinger was appointed as an RBWM representative on the Optalis Holdings Board, to replace Councillor Quick.

Members considered the council’s budget for 20118/19, for recommendation to Full

Council.

The Lead Member for Finance introduced the report and informed that there was a growing maelstrom of Councils up and down the country saying they desperately needed to increase their base Council Tax by the full 2.99%, as permitted without a local referendum, plus the full Adult Social Care Levy.

This Council’s innovative and prudent management of residents’ services enabled us to propose for next year, only a 1.95% increase in base Council Tax, plus a 3% Adult Social Care Levy.  Our residents would continue to pay the lowest Council Tax outside of London.

The Lead Member for Finance went on to explain that our effective partnerships with other Councils and organisations to deliver our services, and the wider transformation of all we do, enabled us to do more for less, and to protect the needs of residents, particularly the vulnerable, and also seek to reward fairly our hard working council teams.

Members were informed that the council continued to shouldered the rising demand to support many more young and older vulnerable residents, committing substantially more funding than had been received through the Adult Social Care Levy and new central grants, including the additional £300k announced this week, which would be allocated to reserves and drawn down as needed.  There were also additional funds to support home to school transport for pupils with special needs and families on low incomes.

Protecting and enhancing the reliefs we provide to reduce Business Rates and the grants we allocate to community organisations have all been assured. RBWM libraries continue to thrive and all remain open and for more hours.

The Lead Member for Finance continued to inform that a central grant was secured to address the desperate needs of the homeless.  With our significant investments in temporary homeless accommodation at John West House and Braywick Lodge RBWM had attracted more grant than our neighbours, including Slough, and it was expected that we would spend all of it on our ‘support before enforcement’ programme.  Community safety was also assured through the continuing funding of our 18 community wardens and the upgrade and expansion of our CCTV coverage.

Parking charges for residents with Advantage Cards would not rise and, unlike neighbouring councils, resident parking permits remain free.  Parking charges for non-residents would increase to half way between the current very low rates and the levels charged in comparable places outside the Borough.

Investment continued to satisfy the huge demands for infrastructure and community investments in schools, roads, leisure centres and parking, as we progress the need for many new full price, affordable and social rented homes in our submitted Borough Local Plan, and the substantial regeneration of Maidenhead, Ascot and the reinvigoration of Windsor.

Members were informed that looking forward into the coming years, there were many uncertainties, however, we enter these challenging few years with our finances fit for purpose.  Our revenue reserves remain more than £1m above the accepted minimum of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5a

To consider passing the following resolution:-

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 8-9 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 7-8 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local

Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 7-8 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To note the Part II minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Regeneration Sub Committee held on 12 December 2017 and 25 January 2018.

To note the Part II minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Prioritisation Sub Committee held on 5 January 2018.

Cabinet considered approval of recommendations from the Grants Panel for grants to

voluntary organisations. Although the discussion took place in Part II, it was agreed

that the decision should be minuted in Part I and that the report be made Part I.

The Lead Member for Culture and Communities asked Cabinet to approve the recommendation within the report and was pleased to say that out of a budget of £3000,000 it was recommended that £163,909 be awarded by the council with the remainder being allocated throughout the year.  For each pound we provided its value was ten times to our residents.

The Lead Member for Finance informed that he was the Chairman of the Grants Panel and that they had followed three principles when looking at the grants; was it clear what the applicant was going to do with the money and would it add value to our residents, was it feasible that the objectives for the grant award would be met and were the benefits available to all members of our community.    The current but was £300,000 with about half being allocated.  There was a rolling programme of applications with another batch due to be considered soon. 

The Chairman highlighted the graph on agenda pack page 160 that showed an increasing of growth in RBWM community grants being made available.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLEY: That Cabinet endorsed the recommendations of the Grants Panel listed below:

          RECOMMENDED TO CABINET:  That the applications listed below for the allocation of RBWM / ‘3’ Grassroots Funding be noted and the decisions be minuted in Part I following Cabinet’s confirmation of the Panel’s recommended awards.

The Panel considered, for recommendation to Cabinet, the award of Council grants to local organisations for the forthcoming year. Members considered how applications aligned with the Council’s objectives.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That: 

i)  The grants as detailed below be approved, subject to:-

a)       The approval of the budget.

b)      The organisations receiving Community Grants for capital projects obtaining any requisite planning or building regulations consents and producing copies of audited accounts and evidence of the availability of finance for the remainder of the schemes. Organisations receiving Community Grants for Revenue costs or Service Level Agreements being required to complete an Annual Return Form which should demonstrate written evidence that the money had been spent according to their application and to identify the specific outcomes achieved as a result of the grant awarded.

c)       The organisations receiving Kidwells Trust Grants:-

i)     Providing suitable acknowledgement for the grant assistance in all publicity material.

ii)    Ensuring that there is adequate insurance cover for items purchased with grant assistance.  Continuing to look for other forms of sponsorship for special events.

d)      Organisations should, wherever possible,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8a

Cabinet approved that the Part II report (agenda item 8i) be published in Part I.