Voting record

a)    A net general fund budget of 2022/23 of £417.703m;

b)    The Council’s Tax requirement for the Council be set at £311.192m for 2022/23 with an average Band D of £1,638.16, an increase of 91p per week;

c)     The Wiltshire Council element of the Council Tax be increased in 2022/23 by the following:

i)                 A 1.99% general increase;

ii)               Plus a levy of 1% to be spent solely on Adult Social Care;

d)    The Corporate 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 2022/23;

e)    The changes in the fees and charges as set out in the report;

f)      The Capital Programme 2022/23 to 2029/30;

g)    The Capital Strategy set out in Appendix 9; and

It is recommended that Council endorse the Medium Term Financial Strategy and the forecast budget gap, after the utilisation of the budget equalisation reserve, of £10.705m for the 2024/25 financial year.

h)    The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for 2022/23 of £24.173m;

i)       A 4.1% increase for social dwelling rents, except for rents currently over the formula rent which will    be capped at formula rent as per national guidance;

j)       All service charges related to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA)

Removal of ‘Introduce Parking charges for Blue Badge holders’ saving of £0.040m to be funded by an equal value reduction of the £1m High Streets budget

Removal of ‘Introduce Sunday charges in all car parks’ saving of £0.050m to be funded by an equal value reduction of the £1m High Streets budget

Removal of ‘Remove free event parking from Town Councils’ saving of £0.020m to be funded by an equal value reduction of the £1m High Streets budget

Removal of ‘Increase car parking charges by 10p per hour on every tariff’ saving of £0.600m to be funded by an additional saving ‘To increase annual, half-yearly and Quarterly Season Tickets by CPI (4%)’ which would deliver £0.024m and a £0.576m reduction of the £1m High Streets budget for the 2022/23 financial year and £0.120m funded by an equal £0.120m reduction in the High Streets budget in the 2023/24 financial year.

The proposal is to increase the Area Board Capital Grants to the previous level of funding of £0.800m prior to the re-allocation of £0.400m to Local Highways and Footpath Improvement Groups (LHFIG), an increase of the budget of £0.400m. It is proposed that this increase in the Capital Programme is funded by borrowing.

There is a revenue impact of undertaking additional borrowing to fund an increase in the Capital Programme, made up of interest and Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP). This impact will not affect the 2022/23 budget as any borrowing is assumed to be undertaken at the end of the financial year and therefore no interest cost is assumed and the MRP is charged the year following the expenditure.

The revenue impact of this proposal is £0.020m every year from 2023/24 and will have the impact of increasing the draw from the Budget Equalisation Reserve in 2023/24 to £9.122m and increase the budget gap in 2024/25.