Decision details

Medium Term Financial Strategy Consultation 2025/26 - 2028/29 Provisional Settlement Update (Highways & Transport Committee)

Decision Maker: Highways and Transport Committee

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Purpose:

All Committees were being asked to provide feedback in relation to their financial responsibilities as identified within the Constitution and linked to the budget alignment approved by the Finance Sub-Committee in March 2024. Responses to the consultation would be reported to the Corporate Policy Committee to support that Committee in making recommendations to Council on changes to the current financial strategy.

Decisions:

The Committee considered a report which sought feedback on the Medium-Term Financial Strategy for 2025/26 – 2028/29 for the Corporate Policy Committee to consider at its meeting on 6 February 2025 ahead of the final approval of the 2025/26 budget at full Council on 26 February 2025.

 

Following a number of suggestions which had been raised previously in respect of selling advertising space in car parks, FlexiLink vehicles, parking tickets and household waste bins and a suggestion to revisit these, officers reported that a work stream had been identified through the transformation programme which included exploring advertising opportunities across different asset types. This would be followed by the launch of soft market testing phase to gauge interest and feasibility, and the project would be routed the transformation work stream.

 

Officers informed members that as ANSA was being brought in-house this would provide an opportunity to look at commercial elements such as advertising on roundabouts and exploring a different delivery model.

 

RESOLVED: (By Majority)

 

a) Recommend to the Corporate Policy Committee, for their meeting on 6 February 2025, all proposals within Appendix A, as related to the Committee’s responsibilities, for inclusion on the Council’s budget for 2025/26.

 

(b) Identify any further budget change proposals, as related to the Committee’s responsibilities, that could assist Corporate Policy Committee in presenting an overall balanced budget to Council for 2025/26.

 

(c) Note the capital growth items listed in Appendix B and the revenue implications noted in paragraph 23. These will be reviewed by the Capital Review Programme Board in January before a final list is brought to Corporate Policy committee in February.

 

(d) Note the contents of Appendix C – Provisional Local Government Settlement 2025/26 (Finance Sub Committee).

 

(e) Note the contents of Appendix D – Council Tax benchmarking and scenarios (Finance Sub Committee) and consider what the impact of any requests for a change of Council Tax policy would be

 

 

Report author: Tracy Baldwin

Publication date: 27/01/2025

Date of decision: 23/01/2025

Decided at meeting: 23/01/2025 - Highways and Transport Committee

Effective from: 04/02/2025

Accompanying Documents: