Decision details

As in  report

Council:

 

(a)        APPROVED the General Fund Capital Programme and the associated funding up to the year ending 31 March 2021, as set out in Appendix A1 of the report as submitted.

 

(b)        APPROVED the revenue estimates for 2016-17 as submitted in the General Fund summary, as set out in Appendix B1 of the report.

 

(c)        APPROVED the precautionary items for the General Fund, as set out in Appendix B2 of the report.

 

(d)        APPROVED the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the General Fund, as set out in Appendix B3 of the report, based on the assumptions set out in the report.

 

(e)        APPROVED the fees and charges proposed for 2016-17, as set out in Appendix B4 of the report.

 

(f)         RESOLVED that the Executive Management Team be instructed to identify additional income/ savings of £300,000 in 2016-17, rising to £930,000 from 2017-18.

 

(g)        RESOLVED that the Council Tax requirement for 2016-17 is £7,852,090.

 

(h)        RESOLVED that the Council sets the amount of Council Tax for each of the relevant categories of dwelling in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 on the basis of a District Council Tax for general expenses on a Band D property of £130.31 plus the relevant amounts required by the precepts of Parish Councils, Cambridgeshire County Council, the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner and the Cambridgeshire Fire Authority, details of those precepts and their effect as set out in the statutory resolution below.

 

(i)         APPROVED the Housing Revenue Account revenue budget, summarised in the Housing Revenue Account Summary Forecast 2015-16 to 2020-21, as set out in Appendix G(1) of the Housing Revenue Account budget setting report, in the context of the updated 30 Year Housing Revenue Account Business Plan.

 

(j)         AGREED, subject to resolution (x) below, council dwellings rents for existing tenants be reduced by 1%, in line with legislative requirements, anticipated to be introduced as part of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill 2015, with effect from 4th April 2016.

 

(k)        APPROVED the inclusion of an ongoing savings target for Housing Revenue Account services for the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21, at the initial rate of £250,000 per annum, recognising the financial constraints placed upon the Housing Revenue Account by changes in national housing policy.

 

(l)         APPROVED inflationary increases of 1.4% in garage rents for 2016-17, in line with the base rate of inflation for the year assumed in the Housing Revenue Account Budget Setting Report.

 

(m)      APPROVED proposed service charges for Housing Revenue Account services and facilities provided to both tenants and leaseholders, as set out in Appendix B of the Housing Revenue Account budget setting report.

 

(n)        APPROVED the charge for the cost of the provision of the alarm service in sheltered housing being set at £3 a week.

 

(o)        APPROVED the latest budget, spend profile and funding mix for each of the schemes in the new build programme, as set out in Section 5 and Appendix E of the Housing Revenue Account budget setting report.

 

(p)        APPROVED to earmark the required level of additional funding for new build investment between 2016-17 and  2020-21 to ensure that commitments can be met in respect of the investment of all right to buy receipts retained by the authority, up to the end of December 2015.

 

(q)        APPROVED the revised Housing Capital Investment Plan, as set out in Appendix H of the Housing Revenue Account budget setting report, in the context of the updated 30 Year Housing Revenue Account Business Plan.

 

(r)        RESOLVED to grant delegation to the Executive Director (Corporate Services) in consultation with the Leader, to allow the Self-Build Vanguard scheme to proceed during 2016-17, should the business case presented be financially viable for both the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account.

 

(s)        APPROVED the borrowing and investment strategy for the year to 31 March 2017, as set out in Appendix D1 of the report.

 

(t)         APPROVED the prudential indicators required by the Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities for the year to 31 March 2017, as set out in Appendix D2 of the report.

 

(u)        APPROVED the Capital Strategy 2016-17 to 2020-21 and Corporate Asset Management Plan 2016-17 to 2020-21, as set out in Appendices D4 and D5.

 

(v)        RESOLVED that any unspent New Homes Bonus money allocated to the City Deal be approved to roll forward to 2017-18.

 

(w)       RESOLVED that the Executive Director (Corporate Services) be given delegated authority to issue the final version of the Estimates Book, incorporating the amendments required from Council’s decisions.

 

(x)        NOTED The Government’s exemption of supported housing from the 1% rent cut.

 

In addition to resolution (g) above, Council AGREED the following statutory resolution in respect of the Council Tax for 2016-17:

 

That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2016-17 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992:

 

            (a)        £91,936,833                being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (2) (a) to (f) of the Act (gross expenditure including parish precepts, the Housing Revenue Account and additions to reserves)

 

            (b)        £79,309,268                being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A (3) (a) to (d) of the Act (gross income including the Housing Revenue Account and use of reserves)

 

            (c)        £12,627,565                being the amount by which the aggregate at (a) above exceeds the aggregate at (b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31A (4) of the Act, as its council tax requirement for the year (net expenditure to be met from council tax) being the district amount of £7,852,090 and the parish precepts of £4,775,475

 

            (d)          £209.56                     being the amount calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its council tax for the year (average council tax for a band D property for the District including parishes)

 

(e)        £4,775,475                 being the aggregate amount of all special items referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act (parish precepts)

 

            (f)         £130.31                      being the amount calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its council tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item relates (average council tax for a Band D property for the District excluding parishes), the amounts being for each of the categories of dwellings shown below in Table 1

 

(h)          In accordance with Section 34(3) of the Act, the basic amounts of council tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which a special item relates are shown by adding the amounts for band D for the District Council in Table 1 below and Appendix A of the revised supplement

 

                                          (i)         In accordance with Section 36(1) of the Act, the amounts to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands are shown by adding the amounts for each band in Table 1 below and Appendix A of the revised supplement.

 

That it be noted that for the year 2016-17 Cambridgeshire County Council, the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority have stated the following amounts in precepts issued to the Council, in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, for each of the categories of dwellings as shown in Table 1:

 

 

             and

 

  j)        that the Council, in accordance with Section 30(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the amounts set out in Appendix B of the revised supplement as the amounts of council tax for the year 2016-17 for each of the categories of dwellings shown in Appendix B.

 

SUPPORTING INFORMATION IN RESPECT OF SETTING THE COUNCIL TAX

 

Including the precepts from the County Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Fire Authority and all of the parishes, the formal Council Resolution would produce a council tax for a band D property of:

                       

           

On these figures the council tax would range from £1,030.73 for Band A to £3,351.52 for Band H before any discounts or benefits.

 

Appendix C of the revised supplementshows the General Fund summary including Parish precepts and the final Formula Grant figure.