Members considered the latest financial update. The Lead Member reported a projected underspend of £454,000, which was in addition to the £2m addition to funds for adult social care. The council’s reserves remained healthy at £6.9m including just over £1m in the Development Fund. Appendix D included a reconciliation of the Development Fund.

The Lead Member talked Cabinet through the numerous recommendations in the report:

·         An additional S106 contribution of £250,000 for the Devenish Road/Bagshot Road roundabout, in addition to the previous allocation of £120,000 of corporate funding.

·         An additional £80,000 of corporate funds to upgrade wi-fi facilities

·         Additional capital funding for regeneration: £200,000 for development options at St Clouds Way; £50,000 for the Nicholsons Centre car park; £25,000 for brownfield sites analysis of land outside the council’s ownership; and £150,000 on the development potential of the Maidenhead golf club site

·         Additional funding from the Development Fund for resources to bring about the completion of the Borough Local Plan.

·         The Care Act 2014 provided revised guidance for councils in respect of the treatment of higher rates of the Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance.  The guidance allowed councils to include these higher rate payments, which residents receive, within financial assessments for establishing how much a resident can afford to contribute towards the costs of their non-residential social care. The proposal was to consult on the issue.

·         Extension of two DAAT contracts to March 2017 to enable future contracts to be informed by the review of the service.

The Lead Member highlighted that Appendix E provided details of the council’s augmentation of the scheme to provide discounted business rate relief. The scheme had slow traction at the start but was now picking up; 14 premises had benefited to date.

The Lead Member for Adult Services and Health commented that an Opposition councillor had been quoted in the press that the council would be taking £500,000 from the DAAT budget as part of council tax and the precept for Adult Services. He stated that the council would not be taking £500,000 out of the contract for the next year.

The Principal Member for Transformation and Performance welcomed the improvements to wi-fi. Paragraph 4.10 was indicative of the journey the council had been on during the previous four years including the move to digital, which was one of the objectives of the Transformation programme. The Principal Member for Culture and Communities  commented that the wi-fi system in the libraries would be of benefit to residents.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Cabinet:

i)             Notes the report and the projected outturn position.

ii)            Approves the addition of a £250k S106 funded budget to the capital programme in respect of the Devenish Road / Bagshot Road roundabout (see paragraph 4.9).

iii)           Approves the addition of an £80k corporately funded capital budget in respect of replacement Wi-Fi infrastructure (see paragraph 4.10).

iv)          Approves the addition of additional capital budget funded by the Development Fund  in respect of the following development projects (see paragraph 4.11):

·         St Cloud Way £220k

·         Nicholson Centre / Multi Storey Car Park £50k

·         Brownfield Sites Analysis £25k

·         Golf Club £150k

v)            Approves the addition of a £116k revenue budget funded by the Development Fund for additional staff resources to facilitate the timely preparation of the Borough Local Plan (see paragraph 4.5).

vi)          That a consultation is carried out in respect of the treatment of higher rate disability living allowance and higher rate attendance allowance within the Council’s Adult Social Care financial Contribution Policy (see paragraph 4.3).

vii)         That authority is delegated to the Lead Member for Finance and the Lead Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Sustainability in consultation with the Managing Director to update the Council’s Adult Social Care financial Contribution Policy following the above consultation (see paragraph 4.3).