Agenda item

Councillor Pauline Church, Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement, Commissioning, IT, Digital and Commercialisation, introduced and moved the recommendation as detailed in the report. The proposal was seconded by Councillor Richard Clewer.

The council was required by regulation to provide an Annual Treasury Management Review of activity and credential treasury indicators for the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. A variation of the report had been presented to Cabinet.

The council continued to finance capital expenditure through maximising the use of capital receipts, capital grants and internal borrowing, overall enabling the council to under borrow by £176.5m and avoid interest costs of £3.8m. 

It was stated that the council undertakes capital expenditure on long term assets and investments, financed immediately through capital or revenue resources with no impact on the Council borrowing need, or if insufficient in ternal funding was available or a decision was taken not to use internal resources, this would give rise to borrowing need.

A summary of the council’s borrowing position on 31 March 2021 was detailed in appendix 1. The council’s treasury position was intrinsically linked with the Capital Programme. When placing treasury transactions in the market, consideration would be given to investments with environmental and social benefits. 

The Chairman then invited Group Leaders to comment on the report and

presentation.

Councillor Richard Clewer thanked Councillor Church and noted that the report had been approved by Cabinet.

Councillor Ian Thorn, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, thanked officers for enabling attendance at Council in a safe way and Trowbridge Town Council for hosting the meeting at the Civic Centre. He then noted that it would be helpful to understand the administration’s view in terms of how to ensure the investments were as ethical as possible, in terms of investments with institutions and loans to local authorities. He hoped for a Business Plan which was more specific, and output driven so that we can measure performance in specific ways.

Councillor Graham Wright, on behalf of the Independent Group, thanked Councillor Church for her report.

Councillor Ricky Rogers, Leader of the Labour Group, noted that it was financially reassuring to hear that the Capital Programme would be back on track with future projects and developments.

The item was then opened for general debate.

During debate, there was a request for future reports to set out the criteria relating to social policy objectives. 

Other issues raised included the loan repayment rates of 4,5, & 6% in relation to the base rate of 0.1%, and whether there was scope to re-negotiate. The focus on capital borrowing and expenditure was also welcomed.

Councillor Church noted that as much effort as possible was made to ensure that investments were ethical. The Capital Programme needed to be deliverable and have the correct focus for the authority. She was keen for future reports to include a link to the Social Policy Objectives and would liaise with Officers to take this forward.

With regards to high loan rates, those were the rates at the time the loans were taken out, work to establish if it would be viable to come out of the high interest loans and to re-borrow had been undertaken, however, to come out of a long-term borrowing position involved quite high costs, therefore to take that option would negate any savings.

At the conclusion of debate, and after hearing from the Cabinet Member, it was

Resolved:

That Council note the contents of the report are in line with the Treasury Management Strategy 2020/21.