Agenda and minutes

Venue: Grey Room - York House - Windsor

Contact: David Cook  01628 796560

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Carroll.

2.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 219 KB

To receive any declarations of interest

Minutes:

None received.

3.

Minutes

To consider the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2020.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2020 were approved.

4.

Appointments

Minutes:

None

5.

Cabinet Members' Reports

5a

Budget 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 182 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the report that report contained four annexes which contain the main budget reports to be considered by Full Council on 25th February 2020.

 

The Chairman informed Cabinet that this had been a difficult budget to set as the council found itself in a challenging position. Difficult decisions had to be made to get a balanced budget where the council could continue to invest in helping the most vulnerable in our society as well as being able to invest in capital and regeneration projects and meeting our commitments such as climate change and carbon zero targets.

 

The Lead Member for Finance and Ascot informed that Cabinet were asked to approve four reports to Council that formed the proposed budget for 2020/21.  The council’s overview and scrutiny panels had considered the appropriate sections of the budget and the meetings were attended by himself and Lead Members, panel comments had been circulated to Cabinet.

 

The Capital Programme report set out the council’s plan for capital investment in 2020/21 and the indicative five year plan up to 2024/25. The total capital programme for 2020/21 was proposed to be £56.6m, of which the largest share,£48.598m, related to ongoing cost of existing capital schemes. New capital investment amounted to £8.062m.  a number of major schemes were in the pipeline such as the Braywick Leisure Centre, Vicus Way Car Park, regeneration projects in Maidenhead and public realm in Windsor.

 

It had been decided that all expenditure below £20k was de minimis for capital purposes and expenditure below this amount would now be funded from within revenue budgets. This decision had the benefit of a reducing the number of capital projects, enabling more focus on larger schemes when approving and monitoring spend.

 

Cabinet were informed that the report contained the following appendices; the Capital Strategy, the Capital Programme for fully funded schemes, the Capital Programme  for income generating schemes, the Capital Programme for borough funded schemes, the full Capital Programme 2019/20 – 2022/23, pre-approved major Schemes and capital cash flow.

 

Councillor Jones asked if there had been any feedback from the Chamber of Commerce and if both chambers had been consulted and was informed by the Lead Member that he had met with representatives from the Maidenhead Chamber of Commerce and Windsor CIC.  It had been a productive meeting where they discussed issues such as business rates, vacancy rates and footfall. 

 

With regards to Capital Receipts Cllr Jones was informed that there were projects that were generating income such as York House which delivered £500,000 per year after borrowing costs.  There were other income generating projects due such as St Clouds Way. 

 

Councillor Jones made reference to section 5.6 of t report regarding assets repaying borrowing and asked if it was possible to know how much income had been generated and was anticipated to be generated.  The Lead Member said he would ask officers if it was possible to provide this information and that projects such as  Vicus Way Car Park would generate income.

 

Cllr  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5a

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 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"

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 of Cabinet held on 30 January 2020.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2020 were approved.

 

8.

Cabinet Members' Reports

8a

Council Funding For Local Organisations 2020/21

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the approval of the recommendations from the Grants Panel for grants to voluntary organisations. Although the discussion took place in Part II, it was agreed that the decisions of the Grant Panel should be minuted in Part I.

 

BCF '3' FUND

 

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That the applications listed below for the allocation of RBWM / ‘3’ Grassroots Funding be noted.

 

  Organisation

£

1st South Ascot Scout Group

750

Family Friends in Windsor & Maidenhead

4,500

Learning to Work

3,000

Maidenhead Book Festival

2,000

Peer Productions

2,300

Re:Charge R&R

5,000

The Autism Group

1,000

The Baby Bank

2,825

Windsor Boys’ School Boat Club

625

Windsor Festival Society Ltd

3,000

Total proposed awards

25,000

 

It is with regret that the following organisations were not awarded any funding:

 

  • Rivertime Accessible Boating
  • Maidenhead Unit of Sea Cadet Corps

 

 

CAPITAL SLIPPAGE

 

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That:

 

i.              Following a review of the Capital Slippage, a total of £6,021 was re-added to the budget for the financial year 2020/21.

ii.            Relevant Grants Officers would continue to contact organisations with funds unclaimed since March 2018 to confirm if they are in a position to claim their funds or, have justification to carry their funds forwards by 1 September 2020. If neither apply, to inform the organisation that the funds previously awarded will be released back into the grants budget and the organisations to be informed they would be able to re-apply in future if they so wished.

iii.           Delegated authority be given to the Head of Communities, in conjunction with the Chairman of the Panel, to consider grants not drawn-down within two years of award and to release funds back into the grants budget for any applicant unable to confirm imminent draw-down of funds.

 

 

COMMUNITY GRANTS

 

 

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That: the grants as detailed below be approved, subject to:-

a)    The approval of the budget.

b)    The organisations receiving the 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:-

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

2.    Ensuring that there is adequate insurance cover for items purchased with grant assistance.

3.    Continuing to look for other forms of sponsorship for special events.

d)    Organisations should, wherever possible, seek funding from other sources to ensure that they were not solely reliant on funding through the Royal Borough and it be noted that those organisations would not necessarily be automatically awarded funding year on year.

 

  Organisation

£

1st Sunningdale Scout Group

1,500

4Motion Dance (Year 2 of 3 SLA)

12,191

4Motion Dance Theatre Company  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8a