Agenda item

Public Participation

 

The following members of the public made statements on the proposed Budget:

 

Mr Dulwich - urged Council to maintain funding to retain in his opinion, the much needed Connect 2 bus Service to the Royal United Hospital, Bath and gave examples of the impact of its withdrawal.

 

Mr Byrne – expressed his dissatisfaction with the reductions in funding of Council services and for not challenging sufficiently the reductions in central government funding.

 

Mr Williams – expressed concern over the decline in services provided by the Council citing litter along highways, the proposed discontinuation of funding of the Connect 2 bus services and proposals to charge for the green waste bin service. He considered that a modest increase in council tax would be a preference to maintain and improve such services.

 

Council was asked to debate and approve a net revenue budget of £314.983 million, to freeze Council Tax, approve rents, fees and charges, the capital programme and reserves.

 

The Chairman explained at the outset, how he intended to chair this item and referred to the previously circulated budget process. He reminded Councillors of the various papers that had been circulated in connection with Council’s consideration of this item as follows:

 

a)        The Leader’s budget speech - this was emailed to Councillors once it was given and is attached as Appendix A to these minutes.

 

b)        The proposed amendments of the Liberal Democrat group, including comments from statutory officers.

 

c)       The reports of the meetings of the Overview And Scrutiny Management Committee held on 4 and 13 February 2015.

 

d)       The recommendations from the Cabinet meeting held on 10 February 2015.

 

E)        The Financial Plan Update 2015/16 report of the Section 151 Officer, together with the  Budget Book, proposed fees and charges and the relevant extract of the Schools Forum minutes.

 

F)        The proposed council tax resolution which would be taken separately.

 

The Leader of the Council addressed Council delivering her budget speech (Appendix A). The Leader highlighted the successes of the Council, the continuing pressures on Council services and the financial challenges facing the Council in the face of continued reductions in central Government funding.

 

Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet member for Finance presented the Council’s proposed Financial Plan update for 2015/16. He noted that the Council had made savings of £123 million over the last five years whilst continuing to invest in the growth of the local economy, the need to make savings of £30 million in 2015/16 and have a balanced budget, despite continued financial pressures. Councillor Tonge guided members through the budget documentation highlighting key points. He referred to the consultation undertaken on the budget which included public meetings, tenants’ panel and meetings with the trade unions, details of which were presented.

 

Councillor Tonge thanked Michael Hudson, Associate Director for Finance, his team and other officers for their hard work on putting together a difficult budget. He also thanked Councillor Glenis Ansell and her Financial Planning Task Group for their scrutiny input into the budget process.

 

Councillor Tonge concluded by commenting that the Council had strong financial management, was aware of its costs and prepared to challenge. It managed its reserves and debts professionally and was innovative about the way it addressed the challenges it faced. The Council also recognised the national economic situation and the unprecedented reductions in its grant and the difficult decisions that needed to be made to continue to be financially strong.

 

The Council would continue to lobby central Government for a change in local government funding and stress the need for certainty to be able to plan ahead with confidence. Council was therefore assessed as financially viable with sound and strong financial standing to set the proposed frozen council tax to continue to benefit in particular, the less well off pending improvements in the economic situation.

 

Councillor Dick Tonge moved the budget as presented and this was duly seconded by the Leader.

 

Councillor Simon Killane, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee presented the reports of his Committee dated 4 February which had considered and scrutinised the budget proposals.  He explained how scrutiny had been able to add value to the budget process focussing on the 12 key Business Plan deliverable outcomes. He hoped that scrutiny had assisted to improve the budget process and facilitate a more informed debate at this meeting. He considered that scrutiny had a role to play in the implementation of the budget and hoped that scrutiny would be engaged in this way.

 

Councillor Glenis Ansell, Chairman of the Financial Planning Task Group reported on the work of her Task Group and how it had reviewed and monitored the budget, examined this years budget process to ensure it was robust, reliability of systems, assessment of assumptions and financial planning, how the funding gap would be bridged and the approach to identifying necessary savings, and that reserves were set at a prudent amount. Councillor Ansell reported that her Task Group was satisfied on all these areas. Furthermore, she considered that the budget process had worked very well. The members’ briefing, arrangements for public consultation and engagement of scrutiny had added value to the budget process.  The Task Group had also looked at specific budget areas and identified those it wished to consider further.

 

The Chairman invited remaining Group Leaders to comment on the budget as proposed.

 

Councillor Jon Hubbard spoke on the proposed budget, acknowledged the difficult and challenging financial situation and spoke against the one size fits all approach taken by central Government when it came to reductions in local government funding. Councillor Hubbard commented that he would not be supporting the budget as he did not feel it would adequately support the elderly and vulnerable. This was particularly in relation to the Connect 2 bus service to the RUH, Bath. He compared this Council with other comparable unitary authorities which had agreed modest council tax increases. He considered that due to reductions in central Government funding, this Council would not be able to deliver reasonable services without looking at ways of increasing its income.

 

Councillor Ernie Clark considered that reductions in central Government funding were likely to be continued. He agreed with the comments of Councillor Hubbard and considered that there were other ways of achieving a balanced budget without all of the reductions being proposed.

 

Councillor Ricky Rogers thanked the administration for the open and transparent budget process. He acknowledged the significant savings made by the Council over the last few years and that it had behaved as a model Council and earned various accolades for the way it operated. Yet, despite this, the Council continued to be penalised when it came to its funding settlement. He referred to hard working families and the difficulties they had endured over the last few years with very low pay increases and significant increases in living costs. He acknowledged it was a difficult choice between the need to make savings and the pain and hardship of increasing council tax.

 

The Chairman gave Group Leaders the opportunity to propose amendments to the budget noting that all Group Leaders had already been given the opportunity to submit amendments in time to be scrutinised.

 

Councillor Jon Hubbard presented his Group’s amendments which had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee on 13 February 2015.  He considered the amendments faced up to harsh realities and provided an alternative solution to better meet the needs of and invest in communities, particularly the most vulnerable.

 

Councillor Hubbard moved the following amendments to the budget and this was duly seconded:

 

To increase the Council’s income in the budget by £1.719m through proposing a 1.9% Council Tax increase. The resultant additional income would be used to reverse a number of proposals within the Administrations current budget proposals summarised as follows:

 

Investment	£m		Funding	£m
Reverse garden waste charging and introduce suspension - 3 months	£  0.550		Council Tax at 1.9%	1.719
Reverse music service decision	£  0.148
Reverse part of Hopper proposal but require review of how it is delivered which can deliver some savings.	£  0.130
Reverse the decision on concessionary fares	£  0.070
Reverse the decision to remove art grants	£  0.089
Reverse the decision to remove museum concessions	£  0.070
Invest in Highways, reversing some of the savings to be reviewed and will add back some, also add in new investment in community projects	£  0.249
Invest in community transport champion	£  0.050
Reduce capital and reintroduce revenue to Area Boards	£  0.363
Total invest	£  1.719		Total Funding	1.719

 

Councillor Hubbard explained the background and rationale to the above proposals and confirmed that his proposals had been signed off by the Section 151 Officer as being financially sound, by the Monitoring Officer as legally sound and by the Corporate Directors as deliverable.

 

Councillor Simon Killane requested Council to take into account the views of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee which considered these amendments at its meeting on 13 February 2015 as detailed in its report as presented.

 

The Chairman invited remaining Group Leaders to respond to the amendments before opening the debate to other members.  During open debate, the relevant Cabinet members also responded to the amendments.

 

To assist with and manage the lengthy debate which ensued, the Chairman permitted Councillor Hubbard to respond to the points raised on his amendments before permitting Councillor Tonge as mover of the original motion to exercise his right of reply.

 

The amendments taken as one proposal, were put to the vote and LOST and in accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014), the voting was recorded as follows:

 

For the amendment (31)

Councillors Desna Allen, Glenis Ansell, Pat Aves, Rosemary Brown, Terry Chivers, Trevor Carbin, Chris Caswill, Ernie Clark, Brian Dalton, Dennis Drewett, Peter Edge, Chris Hurst, Jon Hubbard, David Jenkins, Bob Jones MBE, Gordon King, Howard Marshall, Magnus Macdonald, Dr Helena McKeown, Ian McLennan, Stephen Oldrieve, Helen Osborn, Jeff Osborn, Linda Packard, Mark Packard, Ricky Rogers, Ian Thorn, John Walsh, Nick Watts, Ian West and Graham Wright

 

Against the amendment (55)

Councillors Chuck Berry, Richard Britton, Liz Bryant, Allison Bucknell, Mary Champion, Richard Clewer, Mark Connolly, Christine Crisp, Andrew Davis, Tony Deane, Christopher Devine, Stewart Dobson, Mary Douglas, Peter Evans, Sue Evans, Richard Gamble, Jose Green, Mike Hewitt, Charles Howard, Keith Humphries, Peter Hutton, Simon Jacobs, Julian Johnson, Simon Killane, John Knight, Jerry Kunkler, Jacqui Lay, Laura Mayes, Bill Moss, Christopher Newbury, John Noeken, Paul Oatway QPM, Sheila Parker, Graham Payne, Nina Phillips, David Pollitt, Leo Randall, Fleur de Rhé-Phillipe, Pip Ridout, Jane Scott OBE, Jonathon Seed, James Sheppard, Toby Sturgis, John Thomson, Richard Tonge, Tony Trotman, Bridget Wayman, Philip Whalley, Stuart Wheeler, Roy While, Jerry Wickham and Christopher Williams. 

 

Abstention (1)

Councillor Nick Fogg MBE

 

 

The debate then returned to the original motion as moved by Councillor Tonge with an opportunity given for other Group Leaders and other members to move amendments. The Leader and relevant Cabinet members responded to the questions raised on the budget proposals.

 

The Chairman put the motion to the vote, taking a separate vote on the proposals in respect of the housing revenue account in which Cllr Brian Dalton had earlier in the meeting, declared a disclosable pecuniary interest. This enabled Cllr Dalton to remain present and participate in the voting on matters outside the housing revenue account.

 

On being put to the vote, the motion was CARRIED and it was therefore

 

Resolved:

 

That Council:

 

(a)       Endorses the update of the Financial Plan for 2015/16.

 

(b)      Approves the savings and investment proposals summarised at Sections 9 and 7 respectively of the report and at Appendix 1 of the report as presented, to provide a net revenue budget for 2015/16 of £314.983 million.

 

(c)       To:

 

(i)        Freeze Wiltshire Council’s element of the Band D council tax for 2015/16 £1,222.43, as calculated in accordance with statute, as set out in Section 10 of the report as presented.

 

(ii)       Set the Council’s total net expenditure budget for 2015/16 at £314.983 million.

 

(iii)      Set a 2.2% increase for dwelling rents in accordance with rent restructuring;

 

(iv)     (separate vote taken – see below)  

 

(v)       (separate vote taken – see below)

 

(vi)     Approve the Capital programme proposed at Appendix 1F of the report as presented.

 

(vii)    Set the changes in fees and charges set out in detail at Section 8 of and at Appendix 1H of the report as presented.

 

In accordance with the afore mentioned Regulations, the voting was recorded as follows:

 

For the motion (53)

Councillors Chuck Berry, Richard Britton, Liz Bryant, Allison Bucknell, Mary Champion, Richard Clewer, Mark Connolly, Christine Crisp, Andrew Davis, Tony Deane, Christopher Devine, Stewart Dobson, Mary Douglas, Peter Evans, Sue Evans, Richard Gamble, Jose Green, Mike Hewitt, Charles Howard, Keith Humphries, Peter Hutton, Simon Jacobs, Julian Johnson, John Knight, Jerry Kunkler, Jacqui Lay, Laura Mayes, Bill Moss, Christopher Newbury, John Noeken, Paul Oatway QPM, Sheila Parker, Graham Payne, Nina Phillips, Leo Randall, Fleur de Rhé-Phillipe, Pip Ridout, Jane Scott OBE, Jonathon Seed, James Sheppard, Toby Sturgis, John Thomson, Richard Tonge, Tony Trotman, Bridget Wayman, Philip Whalley, Stuart Wheeler, Roy While, Jerry Wickham and Christopher Williams. 

 

Against the motion (32)

Councillors Desna Allen, Glenis Ansell, Pat Aves, Rosemary Brown, Terry Chivers, Trevor Carbin, Chris Caswill, Ernie Clark, Brian Dalton, Dennis Drewett, Peter Edge, Chris Hurst, Jon Hubbard, David Jenkins, Bob Jones MBE, Gordon King, Howard Marshall, Magnus Macdonald, Dr Helena McKeown, Ian McLennan, Stephen Oldrieve, Helen Osborn, Jeff Osborn, Linda Packard, Mark Packard, David Pollitt, Ricky Rogers, Ian Thorn, John Walsh, Nick Watts, Ian West and Graham Wright

 

Abstentions (2)

Councillors Nick Fogg MBE and Simon Killane

 

Recommendation c iv and v – in respect of the Housing Revenue Account – Councillor Brian Dalton, having declared a disclosable pecuniary interest on this aspect of the budget, withdrew from the meeting for the duration of the vote being taken and it was

 

Resolved:

 

That Council

 

(c)

 

(iv)    Set the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget for 2015/16 as set out at Appendix 1G of this report.

 

(v)     That all other service charges related to the HRA be increased by 2.2% including garage rents.

 

In accordance with the relevant Regulations, the voting was recorded as follows:

 

For the motion (49)

Councillors Chuck Berry, Richard Britton, Liz Bryant, Allison Bucknell, Mary Champion, Richard Clewer, Mark Connolly, Christine Crisp, Andrew Davis, Tony Deane, Christopher Devine, Stewart Dobson, Mary Douglas, Peter Evans, Sue Evans, Richard Gamble, Jose Green, Mike Hewitt, Charles Howard, Keith Humphries, Peter Hutton, Simon Jacobs, Julian Johnson, John Knight, Jerry Kunkler, Jacqui Lay, Alan MacRae, Laura Mayes, Jemima Milton, Bill Moss, Christopher Newbury, John Noeken, Paul Oatway QPM, Sheila Parker, Graham Payne, Leo Randall, Fleur de Rhé-Phillipe, Pip Ridout, Jane Scott OBE, Jonathon Seed, James Sheppard, Toby Sturgis, John Thomson, Richard Tonge, Tony Trotman, Bridget Wayman, Philip Whalley, Stuart Wheeler, Roy While, Philip Whitehead, Jerry Wickham and Christopher Williams.  

 

Against the motion (29)

Councillors Desna Allen, Glenis Ansell, Pat Aves, Rosemary Brown, Terry Chivers, Trevor Carbin, Chris Caswill, Peter Edge, Chris Hurst, Jon Hubbard, David Jenkins, Bob Jones MBE, Gordon King, Howard Marshall, Magnus Macdonald, Dr Helena McKeown, Ian McLennan, Stephen Oldrieve, Helen Osborn, Jeff Osborn, Linda Packard, Mark Packard, David Pollitt, Ricky Rogers, Ian Thorn, John Walsh, Nick Watts, Ian West and Graham Wright

 

Abstentions (3)

Councillors Nick Fogg MBE, Simon Killane and Nina Phillips.

 

 

Proposed Council Tax Resolution 2015/16

 

At the Chairman’s invitation Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet member for Finance presented a report which detailed the various calculations in the prescribed format to enable Council to approve the council tax requirement for 2015/16. It was based on the council tax base approved by Cabinet at its meeting held on 16 December 2014. The report presented also included details from the precept authorities. Councillor Tonge moved the council tax resolution and this was seconded by the Leader and it was

 

Resolved:

 

That Council approve the following:

 

1.         It be noted that on 16 December 2014 the Council calculated:

 

(a)       the Council Tax Base 2015/2016 for the whole Wiltshire Council area as 170,842.49 [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 B.

 

2.         Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2015/2016 (excluding Parish precepts) is £208,842,985.

 

3.         That the following amounts be calculated  for the year 2015/2016 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

 

(a)	£907,644,458	(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)	£684,595,015	(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)	£223,049,443	(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)	£1,305.59	(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 basic amount of its Council Tax for the year (including Parish precepts), as shown below:

Band A £	Band B £	Band C £	Band D £	Band E £	Band F £	Band G £	Band H £
870.39	1,015.46	1,160.52	1,305.59	1,595.72	1,885.85	2,175.98	2,611.18

 

 

(e)	£14,206,458	(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)	£1,222.43	(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:

 

Band A £	Band B £	Band C £	Band D £	Band E £	Band F £	Band G £	Band H £
814.95	950.78	1,086.60	1,222.43	1,494.08	1,765.73	2,037.38	2,444.86

 

 

In accordance with the relevant Regulations, the above decisions were the subject of a recorded vote as follows:

 

For the motion (76)

Councillors Desna Allen, Glenis Ansell, Pat Aves, Chuck Berry, Richard Britton, Rosemary Brown, Liz Bryant, Allison Bucknell, Trevor Carbin, Mary Champion, Ernie Clark, Richard Clewer, Mark Connolly, Christine Crisp, Brian Dalton, Andrew Davis, Tony Deane, Christopher Devine, Stewart Dobson, Bill Douglas, Mary Douglas, Dennis Drewett, Peter Evans, Sue Evans, Nick Fogg MBE, Richard Gamble, Jose Green, Mike Hewitt, Charles Howard, Jon Hubbard, Keith Humphries, Chris Hurst, Peter Hutton, Simon Jacobs, George Jeans, David Jenkins, Julian Johnson, Bob Jones MBE, Simon Killane, John Knight, Jerry Kunkler, Jacqui Lay, Magnus Macdonald, Alan MacRae, Laura Mayes, Dr Helena McKeown, Jemima Milton, Bill Moss, Christopher Newbury, John Noeken, Paul Oatway QPM, Stephen Oldrieve, Linda Packard, Mark Packard, Sheila Parker, Graham Payne, Nina Phillips, Leo Randall, Pip Ridout, Fleur de Rhé-Phillipe, Jane Scott OBE, Jonathon Seed, James Sheppard, Toby Sturgis, John Thomson, Ian Thorn, Richard Tonge, Tony Trotman, Nick Watts, Bridget Wayman, Ian West, Philip Whalley, Stuart Wheeler, Roy While, Philip Whitehead, Jerry Wickham, Christopher Williams and Graham Wright

 

 

 Against the motion (10)

Councillors Terry Chivers, Peter Edge, Gordon King, Howard Marshall, Ian McLennan, Helen Osborn, Jeff Osborn, David Pollitt, Ricky Rogers and John Walsh

 

Abstention (1)

Councillor Chris Caswill