Agenda item

Cabinet:

(a)        NOTED the Local Government Finance Settlement.

(b)        REQUESTED that the following options be modelled in the Medium Term Financial Strategy reports to Cabinet and Council in February 2016:

-       a 2% increase in Council Tax year on year;

-       a £5 increase for 2016/17 followed by a 2% increase year on year;

-       a £5 increase for every year of the current Parliament.

(c)        APPROVED the inclusion of £200,000 in the authority’s Capital Programme, as a fund to finance the refurbishment of General Fund Equity Share properties;

(d)        APPROVED the inclusion of an additional £160,000 in the authority’s Medium Term Financial Strategy and revenue budgets to meet anticipated additional costs in respect of the Local Plan, to be funded from New Homes Bonus receipts;

(e)        APPROVED the creation of a new Neighbourhood Plans Project Officer post;

(f)        APPROVED the inclusion of works at Sawston Tannery in the Capital Programme, to be funded by grants from external organisations.

Cabinet gave consideration to a report which updated Members regarding the Local Government Finance Settlement and its implications for the authority for the financial years 2015-16 to 2019-20.  It also sought approval for various other matters affecting the Council’s revenue and capital budgets and Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Councillor Simon Edwards, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance and Staffing, presented the report and made the following points in respect of the Local Government Finance Settlement:

·         the Settlement forecasted the Revenue Support Grant reducing by 49% from 2015-16 to 2016-17, by 75% from 2016-17 to 2017-18 and to £0 thereafter, as set out in the table and graph at paragraph 9 of the report;

·         the New Homes Bonus scheme would remain in place, but as a four year scheme, rather than over six years, so the Council would still receive income as part of it which it was using towards an infrastructure fund and its contributions to the Greater Cambridge City Deal.  The Government was also consulting on other reforms to New Homes Bonus, including:

-       withholding new New Homes Bonus allocations in areas where no Local Plan had been produced or submitted for inspection;

-       reducing payments for homes built on appeal;

-       only making payments for delivery above baseline representing ‘deadweight’;

·         the Settlement retained the basic principles of the Retained Business Rates system, including:

-       the proportions passed onto central Government and to local precepting authorities;

-       tariffs and baseline funding levels (uprated in line with the small business non-domestic rating multiplier for 2016-17);

-       levy rate and safety net arrangements, also uprated as above.

·         in terms of Retained Business Rates, an adjustment to the tariff deduction for 2018-19 and 2019-20 would be made as set out in paragraph 19 of the report.

Councillor Edwards said that all of the relevant factors that featured in the Local Government Finance Settlement would be included in the Medium Term Financial Strategy scheduled for consideration in February.  Other areas of additional funding were reported as follows:

·         the refurbishment of General Fund equity share properties, with a budget of £200,000 sought to start the project off and allow time for completion and resale.  The investment cost would be returned to the capital programme on resale, with any surplus generated being a contribution to the General Fund;

·         additional resources required for the Local Development Plan, as considered at the extraordinary meeting of Council in June 2015;

·         the creation of the new Neighbourhood Plans Project Officer post;

·         the purchase and upkeep of scaffolding at Sawston Tannery and related insurance in the Capital Programme, the cost of which would be met from a grant awarded by Historic England.

In terms of the Medium Term Financial Strategy, Councillor Edwards proposed that officers be asked to produce the following models for Council Tax for inclusion in the report due for submission to Cabinet and Council in February:

-       a 2% increase in Council Tax year on year;

-       a £5 increase for 2016/17 followed by a 2% increase year on year;

-       a £5 increase for every year of the current Parliament.

Cabinet supported this proposal.

Councillor Bridget Smith, Leader of the Opposition, supported the proposal for a new Neighbourhood Plan Project Officer post as a designated position to assist parishes in the production of their Plans.  She asked whether any other Councils were proposing to freeze their Council Tax and, if so, why they would do that.  Councillor Edwards understood that Huntingdonshire District Council and East Cambridgeshire District Council were proposing Council Tax freezes, but made the point that they charged higher rates of Council Tax than South Cambridgeshire District Council.  It was also noted that the assumptions of the two Councils were different, as was their strategy for use of the New Homes Bonus.

Cabinet:

(a)        NOTED the Local Government Finance Settlement.

(b)        REQUESTED that the following options be modelled in the Medium Term Financial Strategy reports to Cabinet and Council in February 2016:

-       a 2% increase in Council Tax year on year;

-       a £5 increase for 2016/17 followed by a 2% increase year on year;

-       a £5 increase for every year of the current Parliament.

(c)        APPROVED the inclusion of £200,000 in the authority’s Capital Programme, as a fund to finance the refurbishment of General Fund Equity Share properties;

(d)        APPROVED the inclusion of an additional £160,000 in the authority’s Medium Term Financial Strategy and revenue budgets to meet anticipated additional costs in respect of the Local Plan, to be funded from New Homes Bonus receipts;

(e)        APPROVED the creation of a new Neighbourhood Plans Project Officer post;

(f)        APPROVED the inclusion of works at Sawston Tannery in the Capital Programme, to be funded by grants from external organisations.