Agenda and minutes

The Lord Mayor invited the Monitoring Officer to make a statement in relation to declarations for the budget meeting.

The Monitoring Officer reminded Members that there was no requirement to declare any interests already on their registers. He noted that Members had been contacted in advance of the meeting regarding interests, but no issues had been raised. He also reminded Members if they had a pecuniary interest they would need to leave the meeting. He further noted that it was judgement for Members to make regarding the declaration of interests. He also explained about Section 106 of the Local Government Act 1992 requirements regarding the need for voting Members to not be 2 months or more in arrears of Council tax payments as this could be a criminal offence. He further outlined details of a dispensation which, following consultation with the Standards Committee, he could grant to elected Members who were Council tenants or had family members or close associates who were Council tenants. Without this dispensation it would not be possible for members with an interest in this area to vote on either the General Fund Revenue Budget or the Housing Revenue Account. The following members sought and were granted a dispensation:

Councillor Aldred

Councillor Barnes

Councillor Cank

Councillor Halford

Council is asked to approve the recommendations set out on page 1.

Moved by Councillor Cutkelvin, seconded by the City Mayor:

That Council:-

1)         Thanks the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum, Housing Scrutiny Commission, Overview Select Committee and others who have commented on our draft Housing Revenue Account budget. The comments of the Housing Scrutiny Commission and Overview Select Committee are included in the report.

2)         Notes the comments made in the Deputy City Mayor for Housing and Neighbourhoods’ formal recommendation to Council Notice published on 21 February 2024 and attached as Appendix A to this script; and

3)         Approve the recommendations for the Housing Revenue Account Budget (including Capital Programme) for 2024/25 in paragraph 3 of the report at Item 2a in the agenda pack, including the Deputy City Mayor for Housing and Neighbourhoods’ recommendations, as attached as Appendix A to this script

AMENDMENT

Moved by Councillor Kitterick, seconded by Councillor Bajaj:

That recommendation VI in the report be amended to read “Agree to delegate

to the City Mayor the authority to reduce District Heating service charges by the extent to which this represents a change to the cost of providing those services.

This was accepted by Councillor Cutkelvin and the City Mayor as a friendly amendment.

The Lord Mayor put the amended motion to the vote and declared the motion carried.

Council is asked to approve the recommendations set out on page xx.

Moved by the City Mayor, seconded by Councillor Cassidy:

That Council

1)         Thanks scrutiny committees who have commented on our draft budget; the comments of the Overview Select Committee on 8 February are attached to the budget report at Item 2b in the agenda pack and the views of other scrutiny committees also appended to the budget report;

2)         Notes the comments made in the City Mayor’s formal Recommendation to Council Notice published on 21 February 2024 and attached as Appendix B to this script;

3)         Approves the recommendations set out in section 3.1 of the report at item 2b of the agenda pack ‘Revenue Budget 2024/25’  without amendment; and

4)         Approve the formal resolutions for the General Fund Budget 2024/25, including the City Mayor’s recommendations, which are attached as Appendix C to this script.

AMENDMENT

Moved by Councillor Kitterick, seconded by Councillor Bajaj

(a)  To amend the Mayor’s budget proposals as follows:

·         To transfer £4m from the capital programme reserve, the balance of which is shown at Appendix 5 to the report;

·         To use the money to set up a new earmarked reserve to fund adventure playgrounds for the next four years, and to provide as much security of funding as we are able to give in the current climate.

(b)  To note that it will require the following changes to the Mayor’s proposed capital programme, which I will move if the amendment passes:

·         To reduce the proposed budget for operational estate maintenance by £500,000 to £2.001m;

·         To reduce the proposed budget for fleet replacement by £500,000 to £3.305m;

·         To reduce the proposed budget for the corporate estate by £250,000 to £1.25m;

·         To reduce the proposed budget for feasibility studies by £250,000 to £880,000;

·         To reduce the proposed programme contingency by £500,000 to £2.5m.

(c)  To reduce the current capital programme funding for Connecting Leicester by £2m, leaving £33.9m;

(d)  To note the Director of Finance’s advice attached.

Attachment

Advice of Director of Finance

When reducing a capital programme there is the potential to have an operational impact on the delivery of service.  Some potential risks/impacts of the proposed reductions are listed below:

·         Operational Estate – there is a risk that the backlog of maintenance across Council buildings will increase, which may cause longer term cost pressures.

·         Corporate Estate – may lead to reductions in the income generated if buildings are not fit for purpose.

·         Fleet – may lead to vehicles having less availability, due to needing more repairs as they age or vehicles ceasing to be functional.

·         Cuts to feasibility studies may prevent Council schemes progressing, or prevent us accessing grant funding due to projects not being scoped.

·         Cuts to Connecting Leicester may lead to schemes that are already promised not being delivered.

·         Having a reduced programme contingency may result in schemes having to be reduced or aborted if actual costs exceed the budget.

We cannot  guarantee funding to the adventure playgrounds for four years, even if the amendment is passed, as the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

Council is asked to approve the recommendations set out on page xx.

Moved by the City Mayor, seconded by Councillor Cassidy

That Council:

1)         Thanks the Overview Select Committee for their comments on our draft budget, which are attached to the report in the agenda pack.

2)         Notes the comments made in the City Mayor’s Recommendation to Council Notice published on 21 February 2024 and attached as Appendix D to this script;

3)         Approve the recommendations for the Capital Programme 2024/25 in paragraph 2 of the report at Item 2c in the agenda pack, including the City Mayor’s recommendations, which are attached as Appendix D to this script

AMENDMENT

Moved by Councillor Osman under the name of Councillor Bajaj, seconded by Councillor Kitterick.

(a)  To amend the Mayor’s capital budget proposals as follows:

·         To add £2,000k for Neighbourhood Regeneration as a policy provision to be funded by a reduction of the 12-20 Cank Street budget £2,000k in the current programme.  

·         To add £3,000k for Flood Remediation Works as a policy provision to be funded by a reduction of £500k in the current programme for Connecting Leicester and the removal of £2,500k contingency proposed in the 2024/25 programme. 

(b)  To note the Director of Finance’s advice attached.

Attachment

Advice of Director of Finance

When reducing the capital programme there is the potential to have an impact on the remaining scheme or the delivery of a service.  Some of the potential risks of the proposed schemes are listed below:

·         The capacity of teams to deliver the additional schemes proposed.

·         Having a reduced programme contingency may result in schemes having to be reduced or aborted if actual costs exceed the budget.  If the adventure playground and this amendment are approved, there would be no programme contingency left.

·         Flood works may not be our responsibility so would require working with partner organisations.

·         Cuts to Connecting Leicester may lead to schemes that are already promised not being delivered.

·         The reduction to the 12-20 Cank Street is so significant that it is likely to mean the scheme cannot be delivered.

Furthermore, it should be noted that:

-          Capital Programme contains provision for releasing policy provisions. 

Following the debate, the Lord Mayor put the amendment to the vote.

Under Council Procedure Rule 29 of the Council’s Constitution, three Councillors requested a recorded vote.

For the amendment:

Councillors Bajaj, Barnes, Cank, Chauhan, Dave, Gregg, Joshi, Karavadra, Kennedy-Lount, Kitterick, Mahesh, Orton, Osman, Porter, Rae Bhatia, Sahu, Singh Patel, Westley

Against the amendment:

Councillors Aldred, Barton, Batool, Bonham, Cassidy, Clarke, Cole, Cutkelvin, Dawood, Dempster, Halford, Kaur Saini, Malik, Mohammed, Moore, O’Neill, Pantling, Pickering, Russell, Singh Johal, Singh Sangha, Sood, Soulsby (City Mayor), Surti, Waddington, Whittle, Zaman

The Lord Mayor declared that the amendment was lost.

AMENDMENT

Moved by Councillor Kitterick, seconded by Councillor Porter

(a) To amend the Mayor’s capital budget proposals as follows:

·         To add £750k to the capital programme as an immediate start for Connecting Neighbourhoods to be funded by a reduction in the current programme for Connecting Leicester.  Schemes detailed below:

-          £500,000 for pedestrian crossing including Orwell Drive/Beaumont  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

The Council is recommended to approve the Treasury Policy. (Page xx)

Moved by the City Mayor, seconded by Councillor Cassidy and carried:

That Council notes the comments of the Overview Select Committee at its meeting held on 8 February 2024 and attached to the report at item 2d of the agenda pack and approves the Treasury Policy at Appendix 1 of that report.

Council is asked to approve the Treasury Management Strategy 2024/25. (Page xx)

Moved by the City Mayor, seconded by Councillor Cassidy and carried:

That Council notes the comments of the Overview Select Committee at its meeting held on 8 February 2024 and attached at Item 2e in the agenda pack on and approves the Treasury Management Strategy 2024/25, which includes the Annual Treasury Investment Strategy at Appendix B of that report to become effective as soon as it approved.

Council is asked to approve the Investment Strategy 2024/25 (Page xx).

Moved by the City Mayor, seconded by Councillor Cassidy and carried:

That Council notes the comments of the Overview Select Committee at its meeting held on 8 February 2024 as attached to the report at Item 2f and approves the Investment Strategy 2024/25 set out at Appendix A to that report.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.59pm.