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 £5.8m.  The prudently projected cash receipts from our innovative development partnerships in Maidenhead will, in all reasonable circumstances, pay for all of our ongoing infrastructure investments, and give us the opportunity to pay off all of our debt and fully fund our pension fund deficit, to remove its pressure from the council tax payer.

The Lead Member for Finance also said that it was not expected that the future unfold precisely as forecast and projected, but we have the flexibility and agility and commitment to adjust our plans to accommodate most future perils and pressures.

Members were informed that this budget was about fairness and focus, having the determination to spend where needed to enhance the quality of residents’ lives, especially the vulnerable, and having the competence to generate funds from the regeneration of Maidenhead.

The Chairman thanked the Lead Member for Finance and officers for all their hard work during the budget preparation.

The Lead Member for Highways, Transport and Windsor informed that he was pleased to see that the road resurfacing programme and pot hole programme was the same as this year and that we would continue with our high standards. 

The Lead Member for Culture and Communities the Lead Member for Finance and officers for providing a budget for our parks, leisure centres and libraries making an excellent place to live, work and play.  She was pleased to mention that the water slides at Windsor’s leisure centre were to be replaced and in response from a question from the Chairman she confirmed that there would be £540,000 investment.  The new water slides were a huge undertaking that would provide fun and pleasure for residents across the borough.

The Lead Member for Environmental Services including Parking and Flooding was pleased to see that £775,000 was being allocated to upgrade our parking meters, at no cost to our residents, allowing users to pay in a variety of ways.

The Lead Member for Adult Services, Public Health and Communications reiterated the thanks to the Lead Member for Finance and officers and felt that this was a compassionate budget.  It was right to apply the 3% precept for adult social care to help protect vulnerable residents.  He was also pleased to see preventative measures being invested in with public health especially after the grant was cut by 2.5% in 2015.  It was pleasing to see that adult social care and public health services were being protected. 

The Lead Member for Maidenhead Regeneration, Maidenhead and School Improvement congratulated his colleagues for the way they had approached car parking charges and by using the advantage card protecting residents from any increase.  He was also pleased to see the major capital investments shown in appendix H (agenda pack page 134) and felt we were taking a prudent approach in borrowing that would help provide new homes for our residents.

The Chairman commented that we were front loading infrastructure to facilitate the building of new homes and the Braywick Leisure Centre.  We were backing the Royal borough by investing in the Royal Boroughs’ future. 

The Principal Member for Ascot Regeneration felt that it was a remarkable budget given that a recent survey had shown that nearly all councils in England plan to raise council tax with two thirds of councils being forced to dip into their reserves with a lack of confidence and councils fearing for their financial sustainability.  This was an excellent budget supporting council services.

The Chairman said that this was an important point as there had been no use of our reserves to produce a balanced budget, the councils having to use their reserves would find that this was not sustainable.   If we got the budget wrong the consequences for our residents could be extreme.

The Principal Member for Housing and Communications reiterated the congratulations on producing the budget and was pleased to see the investment in service delivery especially for our vulnerable residents, for example temporary accommodation was being provided for the homeless with 23 placements following SWEP; which was still in operation.

The Chairman mentioned that SWEP (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol) was a statutory duty to offer emergency help in order to prevent deaths of people sleeping rough when the temperature dropped below zero for three consecutive nights.  In the Royal Borough it was decided not to use temperature as a trigger and SWEP has been in place since 30 November 2017 and was still in place.  This was way beyond the statutory obligations and what our neighbouring authorities were doing.

The Lead Member for Children’s Services informed that there were no cuts to Children’s Services and prudent savings were being proposed without impacting services. Further investment was being made in home to school transport and across the whole budget there were positive impacts on our young people, especially the most vulnerable, to allow positive outcomes.

The Lead Member for Finance informed that the indicative budget had been to overview and scrutiny panels in November 2017 and again prior to this meeting.  The seven scrutiny panels had all endorsed the recommendations (it was noted that Cllr Jones had abstained from voting at Corporate Services O&S Panel reserving her right to express her views at Council).

The Principal Member for Neighbourhood Planning, Ascot and the Sunnings was pleased to say that there was provision for 2 more neighbourhood plans to be produced.

The Chairman asked the Lead Member for Finance to explain if there was any negative RSG in the Medium Term Financial Plan. In response Cabinet were informed that it was anticipated that this would be reversed by Government as it was current being reviewed.  It was expected that RSG would not occur and therefore we were building a balanced budget.  If the Government did not change RSG then £2.1 million would have to be found.  The Chairman mentioned that this was still an open question and was discussed in the House of Commons last night. 

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Cabinet recommend to Council that they note the report and approve the:

i)          Detailed recommendations contained in Appendix A which includes a Base Council Tax at band D of £933.42, including a 1.95% increase of £17.85.

ii)         Adult Social Care Precept of 3% (an increase of £28.85 on the £45.89 precept included in the 2017/18 budget) to be included in the Council’s budget proposals, making this levy the equivalent of £74.74 at band D.

iii)       Fees and Charges contained in Appendix E.

iv)       Capital Programme, shown in appendices I and J, for the financial year commencing April 2018.

v)         Prudential borrowing limits set out in Appendix L.

vi)       Business rate tax base calculation, detailed in Appendix P, and its use in the calculation of the Council Tax Requirement in Appendix A.

vii)      Deputy Director and Head of Finance in consultation with the Lead Members for Finance and Children’s Services is authorised to amend the total schools budget to reflect actual Dedicated School Grant levels.

viii)     Responsibility to include the precept from the Berkshire Fire and Rescue Authority in the overall Council Tax charges is delegated to the Lead Member for Finance and Deputy Director and Head of Finance once the precept is announced.