Decision details

The committee considered the report which provided the current forecast outturn for the financial year 2024/25 based on income, expenditure and known commitments as at the end of July 2024. It also identified actions that were being taken to address adverse variances to urgently address financial sustainability.

Officers advised that two further recommendations were being put forward in addition to those published in the report which would read:

4.    Approve the award of a grant to Nether Alderley Parish Council in the sum of £164,540 in order to carry out agreed improvement works to Nether Alderley Parish Hall as a means to discharge an obligation under a s106 agreement between Cheshire East Council and Bruntwood Limited, dated June 2016, namely to provide funds to undertake refurbishment works to Nether Alderley Grade II listed Parish Hall and;

5.    Delegate authority to the Interim Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services to take all necessary steps to enter into a funding agreement with Nether Alderley Parish Council for the purposes of providing the grant and evidencing use of the monies, and in doing so evidencing of the discharge of the obligation under the s.106 agreement.

Officers advised that the transferral of reserves to mitigate overspend would be addresses in the FR2 report, and that the council collected business rates under the Business Rate Retention Scheme, which only allowed local authorities to retain a portion of the monies, however there was an ongoing review into this process.

Officers undertook to provide a written response in respect to the following questions:

CCTV efficiencies

1.    Members were advised previously that CCTV was a non-statutory service. Would the removal of the CCTV service be looked at and would it be included in future consultations for budgeting or cost savings?

2.    Although the CCTV service generated around £220k income for the council, there were associated costs, of around £480k to the council. What was being done to address this gap?

3.    Could officers confirm that the Council were given a Safer Cheshire Partnership grant from the police, and how much this was?

S106 Monies

Could officers confirm that the refurbishment of a parish hall was considered as an appropriate use of section 106 funding under current policy?

RESOLVED (unanimously):

That the Environment and Communities Committee:

1.    Review the factors leading to a forecast adverse Net Revenue financial pressure of:

Council: £26.5m against a revised budget of £387.6m (6.8%) Environment and Communities: £0.6m against a revised budget of £48.4m (1.2%)

To scrutinise the contents of Annex 1, Section 2 relevant to services within the committee’s remit, and review progress on the delivery of the MTFS approved budget policy change items, the RAG ratings and latest forecasts, and to understand the actions to be taken to address any adverse variances from the approved budget.

2.    Consider the in-year forecast capital spending:

Council: £164.5m against an approved MTFS budget of £215.8m, due to slippage that has been re-profiled into future years. Environment and Communities: £19.5m against an approved MTFS budget of £19.0m;

3.    Note the available reserves position as per Annex 1, Section 5;

4.    Approve the award of a grant to Nether Alderley Parish Council in the sum of £164,540 in order to carry out agreed improvement works to Nether Alderley Parish Hall as a means to discharge an obligation under a s106 agreement between Cheshire East Council and Bruntwood Limited, dated June 2016, namely, to provide funds to undertake refurbishment works to Nether Alderley Grade II listed Parish Hall and;

5.    Delegate authority to the Interim Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services to take all necessary steps to enter into a funding agreement with Nether Alderley Parish Council for the purposes of providing the grant and evidencing use of the monies, and in doing so evidencing of the discharge of the obligation under the s.106 agreement.