Voting record

That Council agree:

a)    That a net general fund budget of 2025/26 of £527.420m is approved;

b)    That the Council Tax requirement for the council be set at £368.818m for 2025/26 with a Band D charge of £1,886.99, an increase of £1.56 per week;

c)    That the Wiltshire Council element of the Council Tax be increased in 2025/26 by the following:

i.               A 2.5% general increase;

ii.             Plus a levy of 2% to be spent solely on Adult Social Care;

d)    That the Extended Leadership Team be required to meet the revenue budget targets for each service area as set out in Appendix 1 to this report, for the delivery of council services in 2025/26;

e)    That the Extended Leadership Team be required to deliver the revenue savings plans for each service area as set out in Appendix 1 to this report, over the MTFS period 2025/26 to 2027/28;

f)     That the changes in the fees and charges as set out in Appendix 4 are approved;

g)    That the Capital Programme 2025/26 to 2031/32 is approved;

h)    That the Capital Strategy set out in Appendix 2 is approved;

i)      That the Schools Capital Programme 2025/26 to 2030/31 in Appendix 3 is approved, including the proposal recommendations included and set out in that appendix;

j)      That the DSG budget as approved by Schools Forum is ratified;

k)    That the Medium Term Financial Strategy, the forecast balanced budget for 2025/26 financial year and the MTFS 2025/26 to 2027/28 is endorsed.

That Council:

a)    Note the draft budget estimates and proposals.

b)    Approve the HRA Annual Revenue Budget for 2025/26 as described in the report and Appendix 1, subject to an in year review.

c)    Approve the increase of 2.7% (CPI+1%) to Dwelling Rents and Garage Rents for 2025/26

d)    Approve the HRA Capital Programme for 2025/26 as described in thereport and Appendix 2, including the allocation of an additional £99m for the Council House Build Programme.

e)    Note the reviewed and updated assumptions in the HRA 30-Year Business Plan as detailed in the report.

f)     Approve authority to receive bespoke or targeted grants (if awarded) during the year.

1.    It be noted that on 12 December 2024 a Record of Officer Decision was made to approve:

a)    the Council Tax Base 2025/26 for the whole Wiltshire Council area as 195,453.54 [Item T in the formula in Section 31B(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the "Act")] and

b)    for dwellings in those parts of its area to which a Parish precept relates as in the attached Appendix.

2.    Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2025/26 (excluding parish precepts) is £ 368,818,875.44

3.    That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2025/26 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

a)    £1,226,625,772.64 (Gross Revenue Expenditure including transfers to reserves, parish precepts and any collection fund deficit) being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act taking into account all precepts issued to it by Parish Councils).

b)    £663,791,900.00 (Gross Revenue Income including transfers from reserves, General Government Grants and any collection fund surplus) being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.

c)    £562,833,872.64 (Net Revenue Expenditure including parish precepts) being the amount by which the aggregate at 3(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 3(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year. (Item R in the formula in Section 31A(4) of the Act).

d)    £2,068.18 (Wiltshire Council band D tax plus average Town & Parish Councils Band D Council Tax) being the amount at 3(c) above (Item R), all divided by Item T (2 above), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B(1) of the Act, as the amount of its Council Tax for the year (including Parish precepts), as shown below:

e)    35,413,785.64 (Aggregate of Town & Parish Council Precepts) being the aggregate amount of all special items (Parish Precepts) referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act (as per the attached Appendix C).

f)     £1,886.99 (band D Council Tax for Wiltshire Council purposes only) being the amount at 3(d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 3(e) above by Item T (2 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 Parish precept relates, as shown below:

That Council approve the updated pay policy statement set out in Appendix 1 ready for publication on the Wiltshire Council website.

1.    That Richard Clewer, the Leader of Wiltshire Council, writes to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and our Wiltshire MPs, in order to outline Wiltshire Council’s dismay at the decision in the Budget to restrict Agricultural Property Relief, and to request the Government puts an immediate stop to the Family Farm Tax.

2.    That the council undertakes an analysis of how many of Wiltshire's farms would be affected by the changes in national policy announced in the recent budget and reports this back to members.

Wiltshire Council hereby wishes to express its strong support for the retention of viable and sustainable businesses in rural settlements, recognising the vital contribution that these businesses make to residents’ lives and to the Wiltshire economy, as required by Policy 65 (Existing Employment Land) of the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan, which has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination this year, and existing National Planning Policy Framework paragraphs 88 and 98.

That Full Council supports the intention of the Leader to write to the relevant Minister seeking inclusion in the Devolution Priority Programme on the basis of the attached single Member decision report.

To adjust the schedule of committee places allocated to political groups as follows:

For the Ungrouped Member, Cllr Edward Kirk, to retain a committee place on the Western Area Planning Committee in place of a Member of the Conservative Group.

Whilst not opposed to the principle of the development of solar farms in line with the National Planning Policy Framework this Council is increasingly concerned at the concentration of solar farms, battery storage and associated infrastructure in Wiltshire. Some villages are now completely surrounded by solar farms and their continued concentration represents a significant cumulative impact and industrialisation of the countryside.

Wiltshire Council therefore calls on the Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to define more closely what is meant by ‘cumulative impact’ regarding solar farms battery storage and associated infrastructure and to take clear steps to ensure that solar developments are more evenly spread across the UK and not concentrated in specific areas effectively industrialising the countryside.

We would also ask for clarity of the priority given to ensuring that food production and farming are not destroyed as industries in specific areas through an excessive concentration of solar farms given the massive impact that would have on the rural way of life in villages that have been farmed for time immemorial.

That Council:

1)    Approve the changes to community governance arrangements as set out below as recommended and detailed by the Electoral Review Committee in the Final Recommendations:

Recommendation 1 – Mere/Zeals
Recommendation 2 – North Bradley/Trowbridge
Recommendation 3 – Salisbury (St Francis & Stratford/Milford Divisions)
Recommendation 4 – Royal Wootton Bassett/Brinkworth
Recommendation 5 – Chippenham (Pewsham/Hardens & Central Divisions)
Recommendation 6 – Trowbridge (Grove/Lambrok Divisions)
Recommendation 7 – Calne/Calne Without
Recommendation 8 – Bradford-on-Avon
Recommendation 9 – Melksham (Forest and South Divisions)
Recommendation 10 – Westbury/Dilton Marsh
Recommendation 11 – Southwick/North Bradley

2)    To authorise the Solicitor of the Council to take all necessary measures to make and approve the Community Governance Order(s) to bring into effect for 1 April 2025 all of the changes detailed under resolution 1, subject to any required consents by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England;

3)    To authorise the Electoral Registration Officer to make any necessary changes to polling districts to bring them into line with the agreed governance changes at the appropriate time, to be reported to the Electoral Review Committee.

That Council approve the following updated sections of the Constitution:

1)    Part 11A – Corporate Parenting Panel (Appendix A)

2)     Part 5 – Access to Information Procedure Rules (Appendix B)

3)    Part 7 – Cabinet Procedure Rules (Appendix C)

4)    Part 8 – Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules (Appendix D)