Agenda item

Details of the Budget Process which will be used at the meeting are attached.

Council was asked to consider a net revenue budget of £327.746 million, to increase council tax, approve rents, fees and charges, the capital programme and reserves as detailed fully in the updated published budget papers.

 

The Chairman explained at the outset, how she intended to chair this item and referred to the previously circulated budget process. She 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 circulated with the summons.

 

c)     he reports of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee held on 5 and 9 February 2018 circulated with the summons.

 

d)    The recommendations from the Cabinet meeting held on 6 February 2018.

 

E)     The Financial Plan Update 2018/19 report of the Section 151 Officer, together with the revised Budget Book, proposed fees and charges and the relevant extract of the Schools Forum minutes, minutes of the meeting held between group leaders and trade unions, the Wiltshire Housing Board.

 

The Leader of the Council addressed Council delivering her budget speech (Appendix A). In making her address, the Leader highlighted the achievements made, the challenges ahead and the plans to improve outcomes for the people of Wiltshire. The Leader concluded by thanking officers and her Cabinet for working hard to produce the budget.

 

Councillor Philip Whitehead, Cabinet member for Finance, presented the Council’s proposed Financial Plan update for 2018/19. In presenting the budget, he referred to the savings that had been identified, and the areas that would receive financial investment. He thanked the role played by the non-executive councillors through the overview and scrutiny process. In presenting the budget: he emphasised his view that the council had successfully protected priority services whilst meeting the challenging financial circumstances including the growth in the demand for certain services and the reduction in income; the plans for capital investment in projects; how the council deals with forward planning and measures taken in year to manager budget pressures; how the council manages investments and reserves; the approach taken to making workforce issues and the relatively low level of redundancies made; the implication of the reduction in central government funding and the impact on the council tax; the specific transformation programmes to improve adult social care thereby meeting the additional demand, and the plans to better integrate with NHS partners to address wider community health issues; how technology can be better designed to enable the public to access information and services to improve efficacy and efficiency; the policy of devolving asset and services to local communities to manage, and the promoting of volunteering to support services in communities; the developing commercial approach to how traded services are delivered to partners and the public; that the balanced budget would support the delivery of the business plan; and thanked the work undertaken by non-executive councillors through the scrutiny process.

 

Councillor Whitehead moved the budget as presented and this was duly seconded by the Leader. This included the further proposal made following the announcement of the final financial settlement from central government, and included in the circulated second draft, that a one off £0.655m be allocated for Streetscene arising from the additional Rural Grant.

 

Councillor Graham Wright, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, presented the reports of his Committee dated 5 February which had considered and scrutinised the budget proposals, and from the meeting on the 9 February where the proposals made by the Liberal Democrat Group had been presented. He made reference to the well-established process and the areas of focus undertaken in that process. He discussed the role to be played by the Financial Planning Task Group throughout the year, and thanked the officers for their professional support. He ended by encouraging all non-executive councillors to engage throughout the year.

 

Councillor Ian Thorn, in his capacity as Chairman of the Financial Planning Task Group, reported on the work of his Task Group and thanked the Cabinet Member for his good attendance at the task group, and to Michael Hudson in supporting the work of the group. 

 

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

 

Councillor Ian Thorn, in his capacity as Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, stated that: there were areas of commonality between the parties, particularly in  transformation of services and taking, appropriately, a more commercial approach; the opportunities offered through the changing nature of council finance and the greater engagement with communities; the importance of investing in the right priorities; a recognition of the challenges faced by all councils; the context in which the budget is set, and the regret that the council did not take the opportunity in previous occasions to raise council tax to protect the budget leaving, in his view, a greater revenue gap that had to be bridged, and for that reason he could not support the budget; his concerns that not enough progress had been made to achieve savings in programmes such as the adult social care transformation programme; whether the council was clear enough about its approach to commercialisation; that there were a number of gaps in information; and thanked Councillor Graham Wright for his enthusiastic promotion of scrutiny, but asked to consider the time given scrutiny to look at proposals in greater depth. He ended his speech by thanking the officers and Cabinet Members for their work.

 

Councillor Ernie Clark, Leader of the Independent Group, stated that the group had their individual opinions, recognised the challenges to face, and thanked officers for their support.

 

Councillor Ricky Rogers, Leader of the Labour Group, stated thanked the officers for the work in developing the budget, and recognised the efforts made to deal with financial challenges, and emphasised how this impacts on local communities especially the increase of the precept on low-income families. He encouraged the council to recognised and combat where injustice is evident, and asked whether non-domestic rate relief could be extended to support voluntary organisations. He expressed regret that the opportunity to fully harmonise parking charges across the county, but welcomed the 1% decrease in council house rents. He ended by thanking all the staff for their work.

 

The Chairman reiterated the process for amendments, the rules of debate to be operated, that all votes will be recorded, and the need keep comments on potential impacts of the budget on staff to a general nature so that future consultations were not jeopardised.

 

The Chairman then 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 Ian Thorn formally proposed his Group’s amendments, as detailed in the council summons, subsequently seconded by Councillor Ruth Hopkinson, which had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee on 9 February 2018. In making his proposal, he emphasised: how he believed his group’s amendments enhanced the ambitions and delivery of the budget including an emphasis on supporting communities; and how the amendments were intended to be funded.

 

The Chairman invited Group Leaders and the Chairman of Overview & Scrutiny to respond to the amendments.

 

In response to the amendment, The Leader stated that she would leave Councillor Whitehead and Councillor Thomson to respond in detail, but did state that the decision not to increase council tax in previous budget was in recognition of the financial pressure on households.

 

Councillor Ernie Clark stated that he could not, on balance, support all the amendments, and cautioned against replacing perfectly good street-lighting equipment.

 

Councillor Ricky Rogers stated that group was undecided about whether to support the amendments.

 

Councillor Graham Wright stated he would wish to review the process to maximise the time available to scrutinise the budget.

 

Councillor Chris Devine stated that whilst he supported how the budget, overall, had been prepared, he was unclear how the rural grant would be used effectively to support the prioritised in rural communities.

 

Councillor Jonathon Seed stated he could not support the amendment as they did not address the priorities in the business plan.

 

Councillor Chris Williams queried the wording of the amendment in relation to the ability to reclaim monies from the HRMC and could not support the amendments; and reemphasised the scope of the services included in the communities’ budget.

 

Councillor Alan Hill expressed regret that there were no proposals from more political groups to address the concerns that they have raised in debate, and that the amendments submitted were limited in scope.

 

Councillor Steve Oldrieve stated his support for the amendments and particularly on the proposals for investment in replacing older street lighting with LED lighting as it reduces expenditure and energy usage.

 

Councillor Mathew Dean stated that he supported the previous decisions of the council not to increase council tax.

 

Councillor Bridget Wayman stated that she was pleased that the rural grant increase would be used to support street scene services responding to the priorities expressed by the communities; and that plans are already in place to replace street lighting as appropriate.

 

Councillor John Thomson stated that whilst he was content that the administration’s budget proposals would be sufficient to support the services delivered, and that he would not be supporting the amendment.

 

Councillor Jerry Wickham stated that more was already being doing to invest in communities, and that the role of the portfolio holders was valuable in supporting the capacity of the Executive.

 

Councillor Richard Clewer stated that the portfolio holders were supported in the remuneration scheme following the recommendation of the independent remuneration panel, and that councillors should be supported appropriately in their role.

 

Councillor Jacqui Lay stated that she was not convinced that there was enough evidence for her to support the amendments.

 

Councillor Ruth Hopkinson stated, in response to some of the issues raised in the debate, including: the purpose of the rural grant to address the underfunding of predominately rural authorities, but that the money was available to be used in any community of the authority; she also expressed the group’s continuing support for the area board model; and argued for a streamlining of the roles of councillors supporting the executive in the same spirit that we ask staff to do more with less.

 

Councillor Graham Payne stated that he was satisfied that plans were already in place to assess the need to replace street lighting as appropriate, and highlighted how this may be funded.

 

In summing up, Councillor Ian Thorn stated that he believed his proportionate amendments could be accepted by the administration; that it was incumbent on councillors to accept, personally, some of the financial burden; and that the opposition groups would require more officer support to be able to make more substantial proposals.

 

In response to the amendments, Councillor Philip Whitehead stated that he was content that the plans for the use of the additional rural grant in the administration’s budget proposals were clear; argued that the portfolio holders were good value for money considering their contribution to the work of the executive; and that he was content that future plans to assess the street-lighting programme would be considered in due course.

 

At the end of the debate on the amendment, and following a recorded vote, the motion was LOST.

 

For the motion (18):

 

Cllr Bob Jones MBE, Cllr Brian Dalton, Cllr Brian Mathew, Cllr Chris Hurst, Cllr Clare Cape, Cllr David Jenkins, Cllr Gavin Grant, Cllr Gordon King, Cllr Hayley Spencer, Cllr Ian Thorn, Cllr Jim Lynch, Cllr Mike Hewitt, Cllr Pat Aves, Cllr Ross Henning, Cllr Ruth Hopkinson, Cllr Stephen Oldrieve, Cllr Stewart Palmen and Cllr Trevor Carbin

 

Against the motion (63):

 

Baroness Scott of Bybrook OBE, Cllr Alan Hill, Cllr Allison Bucknell, Cllr Andrew Davis, Cllr Andy Phillips, 

Cllr Anna Cuthbert, Cllr Ashley O'Neill, Cllr Atiqul Hoque, Cllr Ben Anderson, Cllr Bridget Wayman, Cllr Christopher Devine, Cllr Christopher Williams, Cllr Chuck Berry, Cllr Darren Henry, Cllr Deborah Halik, Cllr Derek Brown OBE, Cllr Edward Kirk, Cllr Ernie Clark, Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Cllr Fred Westmoreland, Cllr Graham Payne, Cllr Graham Wright, Cllr Horace Prickett, Cllr Howard Greenman, Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Cllr Jacqui Lay, Cllr James Sheppard, Cllr Jane Davies, Cllr Jerry Kunkler, Cllr Jerry Wickham, Cllr John Smale, Cllr John Thomson, Cllr Johnny Kidney, Cllr Jonathon Seed, Cllr Jose Green, Cllr Laura Mayes, Cllr Mark Connolly, Cllr Mary Champion, Cllr Mary Douglas, Cllr Matthew Dean, Cllr Melody Thompson, Cllr Mollie Groom, Cllr Paul Oatway QPM, Cllr Pauline Church, Cllr Peter Evans, Cllr Peter Fuller, Cllr Peter Hutton, Cllr Philip Alford, Cllr Philip Whalley, Cllr Philip Whitehead, Cllr Pip Ridout, Cllr Richard Britton, Cllr Richard Clewer, Cllr Richard Gamble, Cllr Robert Yuill, Cllr Simon Jacobs, Cllr Stewart Dobson, Cllr Sue Evans, Cllr Sven Hocking, Cllr Toby Sturgis, Cllr Tom Rounds, Cllr Tony Deane and Cllr Tony Trotman.

 

Abstained (4):

 

Cllr Ian Mclennan, Cllr John Walsh, Cllr Nick Murry and Cllr Ricky Rogers.

 

 

There being no further amendments, the meeting then returned to considering the substantive motion.

 

Councillor Graham Payne expressed his support for the budget, mentioned the additional support provided by town and parishes councils and welcomed the additional funds to support cleaner streets.

 

Councillor Jerry Wickham emphasised the scope of the adult transformation programme and his confidence in its ability to achieve savings.

 

Councillor Steve Oldrieve expressed regret that not all the opportunities had been taken since the inception of Wiltshire Council to improve services, and the continued financial pressure imposed by central government that has led to a reduction in services.

 

Councillor Clare Cape expressed concern that some of the savings targets for adult social care were robust enough to be achieved.

 

Councillor Ross Henning expressed regret that opportunities to protect services had not been taken in previous years funded through modest increases to council tax previously.

 

Councillor Chris Devine expressed concern that the rural grant would not be adequately focused on support for rural communities.

 

Councillor Chris Hurst expressed concern over the cuts in services and their impact on the community. He mentioned specifically the impact of the changes to parking charges on members of the public in his division.

 

The Leader reiterated her administrations prioritisation of investment in social care, roads, libraries, leisure centres and flood protection; and that she still supported the decisions made to deliver services differently with a balanced budget.

 

Councillor Whitehead, in response to some of the issues raised during debate, stated that the plans were in place to invest further in streetscene issue funded by the rural grant; how the council forecasts capital spending and schedules expenditure against projects; reiterated his support for the previous decisions to cap council tax rises in previous years; emphasised the challenge he has received councillors whilst developing his proposals; encourage councillors to contact officers to identify small businesses that may qualify for rate relief; and how the robustness of each proposed saving is risk assessed.

 

Having been put to a recorded vote, the meeting;

 

Resolved

 

1. To endorse the update of the Financial Plan for 2018/19.

 

2. To approve the investment and savings proposals summarised at Sections 7 and 9 respectively of this report and at Appendix 1C, to provide a net revenue budget for 2018/19 of £327.746 million.

 

3. To:

 

 

i.      Set the Council’s total net expenditure budget for 2018/19 at £327.746 million, plus a one off £0.655m for Streetscene arising from the additional Rural Grant.

 

ii.     Set the Social Care Levy increases in line with Council’s February 2017 decision, at 3%; and a Council Tax at 2.99%.

 

iii.   Approve the capital programme proposed at Appendix 1E of this report.

 

iv.   Set the changes in fees and charges set out in detail at Section 8 of and at Appendix 1G as set out in the report , and as amended in the supplement.

 

v.     Set a 1% reduction for social dwelling rents.

 

vi.   Set the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget for 2018/19 as set out at Appendix 1F of the report.

 

vii.That all other service charges related to the HRA be increased by 4% (CPI September 2017 plus 1%), including garage rents. Except for sheltered housing schemes, as these have been reviewed individually this year and will be increased by a reasonable amount each year to move to a full cost recovery position.

 

4. To endorse the Medium Term Financial Strategy and receive annual updates on delivery against the strategy in setting future annual budgets.

 

Having previously declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in the Budget in so far as it related to the housing revenue account, Councillor Brian Dalton withdrew from the meeting when a separate vote was taken on the housing revenue account (resolutions c v, vii and viii above).

 

Recorded votes for the two votes were as follows:

 

The substantive motion to approve the budget (excluding Housing Revenue Account Items c v, vi & vii)

 

For the motion (64):

 

Baroness Scott of Bybrook OBE, Cllr Alan Hill, Cllr Allison Bucknell, Cllr Andrew Davis, Cllr Andy Phillips, Cllr Anna Cuthbert, Cllr Ashley O'Neill, Cllr Atiqul Hoque, Cllr Ben Anderson, Cllr Bridget Wayman, Cllr Christopher Devine, Cllr Christopher Williams, Cllr Chuck Berry, Cllr Darren Henry, Cllr Deborah Halik, Cllr Derek Brown OBE, Cllr Ernie Clark, Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Cllr Fred Westmoreland, Cllr Graham Payne, Cllr Graham Wright, Cllr Horace Prickett, Cllr Howard Greenman, Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Cllr Jacqui Lay, Cllr James Sheppard, Cllr Jane Davies, Cllr Jerry Kunkler, Cllr Jerry Wickham, Cllr John Smale, Cllr John Thomson, Cllr Johnny Kidney, Cllr Jonathon Seed, Cllr Jose Green, Cllr Laura Mayes, Cllr Mark Connolly, Cllr Mary Champion, Cllr Mary Douglas, Cllr Matthew Dean, Cllr Melody Thompson, Cllr Mike Hewitt, Cllr Mollie Groom, Cllr Nick Murry, Cllr Paul Oatway QPM, Cllr Pauline Church, Cllr Peter Evans, Cllr Peter Fuller, Cllr Peter Hutton, Cllr Philip Alford, Cllr Philip Whalley, Cllr Philip Whitehead, Cllr Pip Ridout, Cllr Richard Britton, Cllr Richard Clewer, Cllr Richard Gamble, Cllr Robert Yuill, Cllr Simon Jacobs, Cllr Stewart Dobson, Cllr Sue Evans, Cllr Sven Hocking, Cllr Toby Sturgis, Cllr Tom Rounds , Cllr Tony Deane and Cllr Tony Trotman.

 

Against the motion (18):

 

Cllr Bob Jones MBE, Cllr Brian Dalton, Cllr Brian Mathew, Cllr Chris Hurst, Cllr Clare Cape, Cllr David Jenkins, Cllr Gavin Grant, Cllr Gordon King, Cllr Hayley Spencer, Cllr Ian Mclennan, Cllr Ian Thorn, Cllr Jim Lynch, Cllr John Walsh, Cllr Pat Aves, Cllr Ricky Rogers, Cllr Ruth Hopkinson, Cllr Stewart Palmen and Cllr Trevor Carbin.

 

Abstained (1):

 

Cllr Edward Kirk

 

 

The substantive motion to approve the budget (including Housing Revenue Account Items c v, vi & vii)

 

For the motion (63):

 

Baroness Scott of Bybrook OBE, Cllr Alan Hill, Cllr Allison Bucknell, Cllr Andrew Davis, Cllr Andy Phillips, Cllr Anna Cuthbert, Cllr Ashley O'Neill, Cllr Atiqul Hoque, Cllr Ben Anderson, Cllr Bridget Wayman, Cllr Christopher Williams, Cllr Chuck Berry, Cllr Darren Henry, Cllr Deborah Halik, Cllr Derek Brown OBE, Cllr Edward Kirk, Cllr Ernie Clark, Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Cllr Fred Westmoreland, Cllr Graham Payne, Cllr Horace Prickett, Cllr Howard Greenman, Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Cllr Ian Mclennan, Cllr Jacqui Lay, Cllr James Sheppard, Cllr Jane Davies, Cllr Jerry Kunkler, Cllr Jerry Wickham, Cllr John Smale, Cllr John Thomson, Cllr John Walsh, Cllr Johnny Kidney, Cllr Jose Green, Cllr Laura Mayes, Cllr Mark Connolly, Cllr Mary Champion, Cllr Mary Douglas, Cllr Matthew Dean, Cllr Melody Thompson, Cllr Mike Hewitt, Cllr Mollie Groom, Cllr Nick Murry, Cllr Paul Oatway QPM, Cllr Pauline Church, Cllr Peter Evans, Cllr Peter Fuller,

Cllr Peter Hutton, Cllr Philip Whalley, Cllr Philip Whitehead, Cllr Pip Ridout, Cllr Richard Britton, Cllr Richard Clewer, Cllr Richard Gamble, Cllr Ricky Rogers, Cllr Robert Yuill, Cllr Simon Jacobs, Cllr Stewart Dobson, Cllr Sue Evans, Cllr Sven Hocking, Cllr Toby Sturgis, Cllr Tony Deane and Cllr Tony Trotman

 

Against the motion (11):

Cllr Brian Mathew, Cllr Chris Hurst, Cllr David Jenkins, Cllr Hayley Spencer, Cllr Ian Thorn, Cllr Jim Lynch, Cllr Pat Aves, Cllr Ross Henning, Cllr Ruth Hopkinson, Cllr Stephen Oldrieve and Cllr Trevor Carbin

 

Abstained (2):

Cllr Bob Jones MBE and Cllr Gordon King