“There is every possibility that Cambridgeshire County Council may forgo the Government's exceptional offer of permitting a 2% additional Council Tax increase to offset rising adult social care costs (take-up assumed by the Government in its revenue support grant settlement for Cambridgeshire for 2016/17). Cuts to adult social care from not taking up the 2% offer would have adverse effects on the residents of South Cambridgeshire so this Council takes the opportunity before the County Council makes its decision on this to express its concern to the County Council and urges it to take up the offer.”
Decision:
The motion was lost.
Minutes:
Councillor John Williams proposed the following Motion:
“There is every possibility that Cambridgeshire County Council may forgo the Government's exceptional offer of permitting a 2% additional Council Tax increase to offset rising adult social care costs (take-up assumed by the Government in its revenue support grant settlement for Cambridgeshire for 2016/17). Cuts to adult social care from not taking up the 2% offer would have adverse effects on the residents of South Cambridgeshire so this Council takes the opportunity before the County Council makes its decision on this to express its concern to the County Council and urges it to take up the offer.”
In presenting the Motion, Councillor Williams explained that the County Council’s General Purposes Committee was scheduled to meet next week ahead of the County Council budget meeting in the middle of February and said that this was an opportunity for the District Council to provide an input on behalf of the people of South Cambridgeshire. He was concerned that if the additional 2% Council Tax increase was not put in place the £5 million shortfall would have to be found from other County Council services.
Councillor Aidan Van de Weyer seconded the Motion.
Councillor Bridget Smith, Leader of the Opposition, could not disagree with the impact of the cuts and felt that the District Council had no choice but to lobby the County Council on behalf of its residents. She added that the County Council needed to take a robust approach.
Councillor Simon Edwards, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance and Staffing, said that any Council’s budget was very complex and that he, as well as the majority of other South Cambridgeshire District Councillors, was not a County Councillor and was not aware of the specific details relating to the County Council’s budget. He said that to make an evidence-based decision Members needed to know all of the aspects of the budget and that Council Tax was only a small part of it. In view of that, he felt it would be irresponsible for the District Council to agree to the Motion at this meeting. He reminded Members that an extraordinary meeting of the Partnerships Review Committee would be held in February to scrutinise the County Council’s budget in much more detail.
Councillor Ben Shelton agreed that it would be inappropriate for this Council to send a recommendation to the County Council on how it should manage its budget and made the point that Members of this Council would not appreciate any other local authority interfering with the way in which the District Council set its Council Tax. Councillor Mark Howell, Portfolio Holder for Housing, also supported this view.
Councillor Anna Bradnam supported the Motion as, in her view, it simply urged the County Council to take the opportunity to take an additional 2% increase in Council Tax and made the point that as residents of Cambridgeshire this affected everyone in the District. Councillor Janet Lockwood agreed with Councillor Bradnam’s comments and highlighted that the Partnerships Review Committee extraordinary meeting was due to meet after the County Council had already made its decision regarding its budget, so it would be too late to make any recommendations to take into account for the 2016/17 budget.
Councillor Nick Wright, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, suggested that Members should lobby through their respective County Councillors instead of through the way proposed in the Motion.
Councillor Douglas de Lacey referred to the fact that members of the public were asked for their views as part of public consultation on a Council’s budget, and felt that this Motion was along similar lines of providing comments or suggestions rather than telling the County Council what it should do.
Councillor Ray Manning, Leader of the Council, agreed with the comments made by Councillors Edwards and Shelton and thought that the Motion overstepped the mark in terms of the District Council getting involved in how the County Council set its budget.
Councillor Kindersley proposed an amendment to remove the words ‘and urges it to take up the offer’ from the last sentence of the Motion. Councillor Williams, as mover of the original Motion, accepted the amendment which became the substantive Motion.
Voting on the substantive Motion, with 13 votes in favour, 31 votes against and 2 abstentions, the motion was lost.
NOTE – Councillors Neil Davies and Edd Stonham were not present at the meeting for this vote.