Agenda and minutes

Venue: Grey Room - York House - Windsor

Contact: David Cook  01628 796560

Video Stream: Click here to watch this meeting on YouTube

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies received.

2.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 108 KB

To receive any declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

 

Cllr Baldwin asked if Cabinet Members should be declaring their interests they made at Council when considering the Borough Local Plan.  The Monitoring Officer confirmed that they did not need to make the same declarations on the agenda items under discussion tonight. 

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 319 KB

To consider the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 27th January 2022.

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 27th January 2022 were approved.

4.

Appointments

Minutes:

None

5.

Cabinet Members' Reports

5a

2022/23 Budget pdf icon PDF 8 MB

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the report regarding the proposed 2022/23 budget.

 

The Chairman informed that Cabinet that he was putting forward a change to the recommendations in relation to funding for the arts and culture.  Since the budget had been set the council had been undertaking discussions with arts organisations. 

 

Norden Farm had agreed to work with the council and a joint consultant to look at their business model and working towards becoming self-funding.   There had been a lot of lobbying from his Group and the consultation showed support for the arts.  The administration had been keen on supporting the arts and the report from the consultant had given a figure on how best this should be done.  The Leader proposed that £115,000 be provided in the 2022/23 budget to support Norden Farm this was not a grant but a partnership.

 

The Deputy Leader of the Council, Corporate & Resident Services, Culture and Heritage and Windsor informed Cabinet that with regards to proposals for the Old Court Windsor they were recommending a contribution of £25,000. 

 

It was recommended that £140,000 be added to the budget to support arts and culture. 

 

The Lead Member for Finance and Ascot informed Cabinet that it was a pleasure to present the Council’s proposed budget to Cabinet. There were seven appendices that set out the financial plans for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, its net budget requirement and associated Council Tax level for 2022/23.

 

Cabinet had considered the draft Revenue Budget and draft Capital programme on the 25th November 2021 and agreed to a public consultation to run from the end of November until the end of January 2022. The results of that consultation were included within the report.

 

The Lead Member mentioned a number of changes and clarifications that had taken place since the November report had been approved as well as highlight a few other issues.

 

He proposed to increase council tax by 1.99% and the adult social care precept by 1% leading to band D Council Tax of £1164.99 or £65 pence a week.  At the time of the November 2021 Cabinet there was some uncertainty about the estimated grant funding of £2.997 million that assumed a 6% increase in spending power. When challenged to say what he would propose if that assumption was wrong, he said he had confidence in the Finance team who had worked to gain as clear a view as possible of additional funding. He asked to be put on record that his confidence was well founded, the increase in grant funding at £2.976 million was just £21K less than that forecast. Cabinet should be aware that with the exception of Wokingham BC our share of funding was the lowest in the country.

 

Next year they were proposing growth and new investments of £5.449M shown on page 57 and on page 60 details of savings and income generation totalling £3.396M. Probably contrary to the expectations of some, they proposed increasing spending on services by £2m.

 

The budget continued  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5a

5b

Waste Contract Amendment pdf icon PDF 93 KB

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the report regarding  a decision made under delegated authority

in relation to a contract change notice to the Serco Waste Contract.

 

The Monitoring Officer informed Cabinet that officers of the Council discussed with the waste contract provider the introduction of a new fortnightly waste collection in line with the direction given by Cabinet which resulted in a change to be agreed using the contract change provisions in the contract. This involved setting off potential income streams within the waste budget, however the net increase to budget provision was identified at £500,000.

 

Under the Council’s Contract Standing Orders  and delegated authority officers were able to make variations to contracts up to £500,000 subject to consultation requirements with officers and the Cabinet Member. If the change proposed was over £500,000 then it becomes a decision to be exercised by Cabinet.

 

Whilst the net effect on the budget was correctly identified as £500,000, the adjustment to the contract was in excess of that when revenue pressures were taken into effect, meaning that appropriate officer delegated authority was not in place at the time the change notification was completed and thus it should have been a Cabinet decision.  The contract was now binding but Cabinet were being asked to ratify the decision.

 

The Chief Executive apologised to Cabinet and said that this had been a mistake by officers and should have been picked up as a Cabinet decision, there were no financial implications but our processes would be reviewed and reported to the Audit and Governance Committee. 

 

Cllr Bond said that he would have liked to have seen more detail within the report explaining the increase in the contract.  He mentioned that Cabinet had been informed about the issue so that briefing note could have been attached as an appendix.  The Chief Executive informed that during lockdown domestic tonnage had increased, he agreed that the briefing note would be circulated.

 

Cllr Carrol reported that as he had left the room during the discussion he would not be voting on the recommendations.

 

Resolved unanimously:  that Cabinet notes the report and:

 

i)               Ratifies the contractual amendment dated 28 September 2021.

ii)             Notes and endorses the actions proposed and taken in respect of

future decision making.

iii)        Recommends that the Audit and Governance Committee to review the suggested improvements to process identified in the report.

 

 

6.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 - EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

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 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) od the Local Government Act 1972, the public were excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion took place on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 3 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

7.

Minutes

To consider the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 27th January 2022.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 27th January 2022 were approved.