Agenda item

To consider and recommend to Council the 2019/20 Revenue Budget, which proposes a Council Tax requirement of £97.87m requiring a Council Tax increase of 2.99% in 2019/20. The Council Tax increase will raise £2.84m. 

This report also proposes the Fees and Charges for 2019/20 as set out in Appendix H and the Parish Expenses as set out in Appendix I and recommends the level of General Reserves as set out in Appendix F and Appendix G.

(All Members had been granted a dispensation by the Monitoring Officer to speak and vote on this item).

(Councillors Steve Ardagh-Walter, Jeff Beck, Dominic Boeck, Richard Crumly, Lynne Doherty, Billy Drummond, Adrian Edwards, Dave Goff and Anthony Pick declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 16 by virtue of the fact that they were dual hatted Members and a number of proposals would affect them in that capacity. As their interest was personal and not an other registrable nor a disclosable pecuniary interest they determined to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillor Jeff Beck declared an other registrable interest in Agenda item 16 by virtue of the fact that he was a Council appointed Trustee of The Corn Exchange (Newbury) Trust Limited, Readibus and Volunteer Centre West Berkshire. As his interest was an other registrable interest he  determined to leave the chamber and neither take part in the debate nor vote on the matter).

(Councillor Jeanette Clifford declared a personal interest in Agenda item 16 by virtue of the fact that she was a Governor and Foundation Governor of St. Bartholomew’s School, a Trustee of the Charity of Mrs. Mable Luke and a Governor of South Central Ambulance Service. As her interest was personal and not prejudicial she was permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillor Lynne Doherty declared a personal interest in Agenda item 16 by virtue of the fact that her husband was co-opted onto Shaw-cum-Donnington Parish Council. As her interest was personal and not prejudicial she was permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillor Rick Jones declared a personal interest in Agenda item 16 by virtue of the fact that he was a Council representative on WB Mencap and a member of West Berkshire Disability Alliance. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he was permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillor Tim Metcalfe declared a personal interest in Agenda item 16 by virtue of the fact that he was a Trustee of the Adventure Dolphin (Pangbourne) Charity. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he was permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillor Billy Drummond declared a personal interest in Agenda item 16 by virtue of the fact that he was a governor at The Willows School, a Foundation Governor at St Bartholomew’s School and a director of Greenham Business Park. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he was permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.)

(Councillor Jeff Beck left the meeting at 8.18pm and did not return)

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 16) concerning the 2019/20 Revenue Budget, which proposed a Council Tax requirement of £97.87m requiring a Council Tax increase of 2.99% in 2019/20. The Council Tax increase would raise £2.84m.  The report also proposed the Fees and Charges for 2019/20 as set out in Appendix H and the Parish Expenses as set out in Appendix I and recommended the level of General Reserves as set out in Appendix F and Appendix G.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Graham Jones and seconded by Councillor Anthony Chadley:

That the Council:

“(1)      approves the 2019/20 Council Tax requirement of £97.87million, requiring a Council Tax increase of 2.99%.

(2)     approves the Fees and Charges as set out in Appendix H and the appropriate statutory notices be placed where required.

(3)     approves the Parish Expenses of £15,389 as set out in Appendix I.

(4)     acknowledges and notes the responses received to each of the public facing savings proposals in the public consultation exercise undertaken on the 2019/20 budget.

(5)     notes that the following amounts for the year 2019/20 in accordance with regulations made under Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (by the Localism Act 2011):-

(a)       65,021.46 being the amount calculated by the Council, (Item T) in accordance with regulation 31B of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 (as amended by the Localism Act 2011), as its council tax base for the year.

(b)       Part of the Council’s area as per Appendix M being the amounts calculated by the Council, in accordance with regulation 6 of the Regulations, as the amounts of its council tax base for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which a Parish precept relates.

(6)       Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2019/20 (excluding Parish precepts) is £97,870,951.

(7)       That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2019/20 in accordance with Sections 32 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, amended by the Localism Act 2011:-

(a)       £329,889,607 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 taking into account all precepts issued to it by Parish councils.

(b)       £227,777,905 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.

(c)       £102,111,702 being the amount by which the aggregate at 7(a) above, exceeds the aggregate at 7(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with the Section 31A(4) of the Act, as its Council Tax requirement for the year (Item R).

(d)       £1570.43 being the amount at 7(c) above (Item R), all divided by 5(a) above (Item T), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the ‘basic amount of its Council Tax for the year (including Parish precepts)’.

(e)     £4,240,751 being the aggregate amount of all special items (Parish precepts) referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act (as per Appendix M).

(f)      £1505.21 being the amount at 7(d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 7(e) above by the amount at 5(a) above, 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 items relates.

(8)       notes that for the year 2019/20, Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley & The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service have issued precepts to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for each category of dwellings in the Councils area as indicated in Appendix M.

(9)       in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the aggregate amounts shown in the tables in Appendix M as the amounts of Council Tax for 2019/20 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings.

2.2      notes that a petition was submitted to the Council on 14 February 2019 at a meeting of the Executive, calling on the Council to award a grant to the Corn Exchange of £50,000 in 2019/20 and 2020/21. In view of the financial implications resulting from the proposal detailed in the petition, and the fact that the Council has agreed to transfer the freehold of the Corn Exchange building to the Trustees of the Corn Exchange, it is recommended that the request within the petition for the Council to provide additional funding should be rejected”.

Councillor Graham Jones explained that the budget had to be set in the context of the national picture which was somewhat turbulent and therefore difficult to predict. The Administration had to make the difficult decision to increase Council Tax to offset increasing demand and decreasing funding from Central Government.

AMENDMENT 1: Proposed by Councillor Graham Jones and seconded by Councillor Anthony Chadley:

That the Council:

“1.  Reduction in inflation provision (page 127 Appendix D1 Ref 5). On 13 February 2019 the January inflation figures were released. The waste contract is inflated on the January RPIX which was announced as 2.5%. The budget had been built at 3%. It is therefore proposed to reduce the amount provided for by 0.5% which amounts to £89k.

2.   Reduction in amount required to support Childcare Lawyers. (page 128 Appendix D2 Ref 7) The proposal is to reduce the increased budget requirement for Childcare Lawyers from £500k as originally proposed, to £320k. This is therefore a reduction of £180k.

3.   Reduction in the Voluntary Sector saving proposal (page 130 Appendix E Ref 31). The proposal is to reduce the saving in the Voluntary Sector from £40k to £11k. This is therefore a reduction of £29k. The remaining £11k will be a reduction to the funding to the Alzheimer’s Society, who have confirmed that the loss of funding will have no impact on their future plans to service delivery.

4.   Increase in Risk Reserves It is proposed that the additional funding arising from the points above, be used to increase the Risk Reserves by £240k. During 2018/19, £812k has been released from the Risk Reserves to support the budget position. These reserves need to be replenished so there is adequate provision.”

The amendment was put to the vote and declared CARRIED.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 4.17.3 it was requisitioned that the voting on the Amendment be recorded. The names of those Members voting for, against and abstaining were read to the Council as follows:

FOR the Motion:

Councillors Steve Ardagh-Walter, Peter Argyle, Howard Bairstow, Pamela Bale, Dominic Boeck, Graham Bridgman, Paul Bryant, Anthony Chadley, Keith Chopping, Jeanette Clifford, Hilary Cole, James Cole, Richard Crumly,  Lynne Doherty, Adrian Edwards, Sheila Ellison, James Fredrickson, Dave Goff, Clive Hooker, Carol Jackson-Doerge, Marigold Jaques, Mike Johnston, Graham Jones, Rick Jones, Tony Linden, Tim Metcalfe, Ian Morrin, Graham Pask, Anthony Pick, Garth Simpson, Richard Somner, Anthony Stansfeld, Quentin Webb, Emma Webster and Laszlo Zverko.

AGAINST the Amendment:

None

ABSTAINED:

Councillors Jeff Brooks, Lee Dillon, Billy Drummond and Mollie Lock

AMENDMENT 2: Proposed by Councillor Lee Dillon and seconded by Councillor Jeff Brooks:

That the Council:

1. “Reinstate the proposed deletion of Family Support Worker

(page 129 Appendix E Ref 9) The proposal is to cancel the saving of Family Support Worker in Children and Family Services. This is therefore a saving reduction of £31k.

2. Reinstate the proposed saving from Youth Offending Team (page 129 Appendix E Ref 17) The proposal is to cancel the saving from the Youth Offending Team. This is therefore a saving reduction of £100k.
3. Reduce proposed saving against Corn Exchange (page 131 Appendix E Ref 38) The proposal is to reduce the grant saving to Corn Exchange from £174k to £124k. This is therefore a saving reduction of £50k.
4. Reinstate the proposed saving from Volunteer Centre (page 135 Appendix E Ref 99) The proposal is to cancel the saving from reduced funding to the Volunteer Centre. This is therefore a saving reduction of £5k.
5. Reinstate the proposed saving from New Ways of Working Reviews

(page 135 Appendix E Ref 100) The proposal is to cancel the saving from reduced funding for New Ways of Working reviews. This is therefore a saving reduction of £25k.

6. Increase in Risk Reserves. It is proposed that the additional funding arising from the points in amendments 1 and 2 above, be used to increase the Risk Reserves by £58k. During 2018/19, £812k has been released from the Risk Reserves to support the budget position. These reserves need to be replenished so there is adequate provision.

The amendment was put to the vote and declared LOST.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 4.17.3 it was requisitioned that the voting on the Amendment be recorded. The names of those Members voting for, against and abstaining were read to the Council as follows:

FOR the Motion:

Councillors Jeff Brooks, Lee Dillon, Billy Drummond and Mollie Lock

AGAINST the Amendment:

Councillors Steve Ardagh-Walter, Peter Argyle, Howard Bairstow, Pamela Bale, Dominic Boeck, Graham Bridgman, Paul Bryant, Anthony Chadley, Keith Chopping, Jeanette Clifford, Hilary Cole, James Cole, Richard Crumly,  Lynne Doherty, Adrian Edwards, Sheila Ellison, James Fredrickson, Dave Goff, Clive Hooker, Carol Jackson-Doerge, Marigold Jaques, Mike Johnston, Graham Jones, Rick Jones, Tony Linden, Tim Metcalfe, Ian Morrin, Graham Pask, Anthony Pick, Garth Simpson, Richard Somner, Anthony Stansfeld, Quentin Webb, Emma Webster and Laszlo Zverko.

ABSTAINED:

None

Debate then returned to the substantive Motion which was put to the vote and declared CARRIED.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 4.17.3 it was requisitioned that the voting on the Amendment be recorded. The names of those Members voting for, against and abstaining were read to the Council as follows:

FOR the Motion:

Councillors Steve Ardagh-Walter, Peter Argyle, Howard Bairstow, Pamela Bale, Dominic Boeck, Graham Bridgman, Paul Bryant, Anthony Chadley, Keith Chopping, Jeanette Clifford, Hilary Cole, James Cole, Richard Crumly,  Lynne Doherty, Adrian Edwards, Sheila Ellison, James Fredrickson, Dave Goff, Clive Hooker, Carol Jackson-Doerge, Marigold Jaques, Mike Johnston, Graham Jones, Rick Jones, Tony Linden, Tim Metcalfe, Ian Morrin, Graham Pask, Anthony Pick, Garth Simpson, Richard Somner, Anthony Stansfeld, Quentin Webb, Emma Webster and Laszlo Zverko.

AGAINST the Motion:

Councillors Jeff Brooks, Lee Dillon, Billy Drummond and Mollie Lock

ABSTAINED:

None