Agenda and minutes

Prior to asking Councillors if they had any interests in the business, the Lord Mayor asked the Monitoring Officer to make a short statement on the declarations of interest process. The Monitoring Officer reminded Members that they didn’t need to declare any interests already in their public register. He also reminded members that it was illegal for a member to take part and vote on the budget if they were 2 months or more in arrears of their Council Tax account, but there were no Councillors in this position.

The Monitoring Officer further informed Council that he had sought a dispensation from the Standards Committee for those members who were Council Tenants or who had family who were Council Tenants. This dispensation would enable those members with such an interest to take part and vote in the debate on the General Fund Revenue Budget and the Housing Revenue Account. The Monitoring Officer further advised that if a Member wished to benefit from the dispensation, they would need to identify themselves at the meeting in order to receive the dispensation, and it would be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

The following Members sought and received dispensations:

Cllr Aldred,

Cllr Chamund

Cllr Nangreave

Cllr Halford

Cllr Aqbany

Cllr Pickering

Lord Mayor, Councillor Byrne

There were no further interests.

There were no statements by the City Mayor / Executive.

The Council is asked to:-

a)    Consider the comments of the City Mayor’s Recommendations for the General Fund Revenue Budget 2020/21 to be published prior to the Budget Meeting and will be attached to the Council Script;

b)    Consider the views of the Overview Select Committee meeting on 12 February 2020 will be submitted prior to the Council meeting and a copy will be attached to the Council Script);

The Council is recommend to:-

a)    Approve the City Mayor’s proposed budget for 2020/21; and

b)    Approve the technical recommendations to Council which will be published ahead of the meeting on 19 February 2020 and will be attached to the Council Script;

            Attached are copies of extracts from the following Scrutiny Committees and Commissions which considered the budget:

-       Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission – 4 February 2020 (Appendix 3 a.i)

-       Children, Young People and Schools Scrutiny Commission

-        – 28 January 2020 (Appendix 3 a.ii)

-       Economic Development, Transport and Tourism Scrutiny Commission – 5 February 2020 (Appendix 3 a.iii)

-       Health and Well-being Scrutiny Commission – 30 January 2020 (Appendix 3 a.iv)

-       Heritage, Culture, Leisure and Sport Scrutiny Commission

-       – 21 January 2020 (Appendix 3.a.v)

-       Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission – 15 January 2020 (Appendix 3 a.vii)

The City Mayor submitted his proposed budget for 2020/21 to 2021/22. The report contained details of the financial pressures facing the Council, the proposed budget strategy including assessments of risk, and impact and consultation outcomes.

Details of the City Mayor’s Recommendation of General Fund Revenue Budget 2020/21 and the General Fund Revenue Budget and Council Tax 2020/21 – Formal Resolutions were made available at the meeting and are attached to these minutes.

Moved by the City Mayor, seconded by Councillor Cassidy:

That Council:

1)    Thanks partners and scrutiny committees who have commented on our draft budget;

2)    Notes the comments made in the City Mayor’s formal Decision Notice published on 18February 2020 and attached as Appendix A to the script and available at the meeting and attached to these minutes;

3)    Approves the recommendations set out in section 3.1 of the report ‘General Fund Revenue Budget 2020/21 to 2021/22 without amendment; and

4)    Approves the formal budget resolution as set out in Appendix B to the script, made available at the meeting and attached to these minutes.

The Lord Mayor put the motion to the vote.

It was noted that under the requirements of The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 the names of the Councillors voting for or against the proposition or abstaining would be recorded by the City Barrister and Monitoring Officer and included in the minutes of the meeting.

For the motion:

Councillors Aldred, Ali, Aqbany, Bajaj, Barton, Batool, Broadwell, Byrne, Cassidy, Chamund, Clarke, Cole, Cutkelvin, Dawood, Dempster, Fonseca, Gee, Govind, Halford, Joshi, Master, Moore, Myers, Nangreave, O’Donnell, Pantling, Patel, Pickering, Rahman, Rae Bhatia, Riyait, Russell, Kaur Saini, Singh Sandhu, Solanki, Soulsby (City Mayor), Thomas, Valand, Waddington, Westley, Whittle, Willmott.

Against the motion:

Councillor Porter.

The Lord Mayor declared the motion carried.

The Council is asked to:-

(a)       Consider the comments of the City Mayor’s Recommendations for the Capital Programme 2020/21 to be published prior to the Budget Meeting and will be attached to the Council Script;

(b)       Consider the views of the Overview Select Committee meeting on 12 February 2020 will be submitted prior to the Council meeting and a copy will be attached to the Council Script;

The Council is recommended to:-

(a)       Approve the capital programme described in this report and summarised at Appendices Two to Four, subject to any amendments proposed by the City Mayor;

(b)       For those schemes designated immediate starts, delegate authority to the lead director to commit expenditure, subject to the normal requirements of contract procedure rules and finance procedure rules;

(c)        Delegate authority to the City Mayor to determine a plan of spending for each policy provision, and to commit expenditure up to the maximum available;

(d)       For the purposes of finance procedure rules:

•        Determine that service resources shall consist of service revenue contributions; HRA revenue contributions; and government grants/third party contributions ringfenced for specific purposes (but see below for the Local Growth Fund);

•        Designate the highways maintenance programme and transport improvement programme as programme areas, within which the director can reallocate resources to meet operational requirements.

(e)       As in previous years, delegate to the City Mayor:

•        Authority to increase any scheme in the programme, or add a new scheme to the programme, subject to a maximum of £10m corporate resources in each instance;

•        Authority to reduce or delete any capital programme provision, subject to a maximum of 20% of scheme value for “immediate starts”; and

•        Authority to transfer any “policy provision” to the “immediate starts” category.

(f)        In respect of the Local Growth Fund (LGF), (which the Council receives as the accountable body to the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership LLEP):-

•        Delegate to the City Mayor approval to accept the Government’s funding offer each year, and to add this to the capital programme;

•        Delegate to the Strategic Director, City Development and Neighbourhoods, in consultation with the Director of Finance, authority to allocate the funding to individual projects (in effect, implementing decisions of the LLEP);

•        Agree that City Council schemes funded by LGF can only commence after the City Mayor has given approval;

•        Delegate to the Director of Finance authority to reallocate LGF funding between projects to ensure the programme as a whole can be delivered; and

•        Note that City Council contributions to LGF projects will follow the normal rules described above.

(g)       Apply the rules in (f) above to any similar Government scheme that replaces LGF;

(h)       Delegate to directors, in consultation with the relevant deputy/assistant mayor, authority to incur expenditure in respect of policy provisions on design and other professional fees and preparatory studies, but not any other type of expenditure;

(i)        Approve the earmarked reserves transfer as detailed in paragraph 5.7, of this report; and

(j)         Approve the capital strategy as  ...  view the full agenda text for item 61.

A report was considered which sought approval of a Capital Programme for the Council for the period 2020/21. Details were included within the report of the resources position and proposed projects. The report had been considered by the Overview Select Committee at its meeting on 12 February 2020 and a copy of the minutes were made available at the meeting and attached to these minutes.

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

That Council:

1)    Thanks, the Overview Select Committee for their comments on our draft budget, which were attached to the script, made available at the meeting and attached to these minutes;

2)    Notes the comments made in the City Mayor’s formal Recommendation to Council Notice published on 18 February 2020 and attached at Appendix E to the script, made available at the meeting and attached to these minutes; and

3)    Approves the recommendations set out in section 3 of the report ‘Capital Programme 2020/21’ without amendment.

Council is asked to:-

a)    consider the comments of the Assistant City Mayor – Education and Housing’s Recommendations for the Housing Revenue Budget 2019/20 to be published prior to the Budget Meeting and will be attached to the Council Script;

b)    consider the views of the Overview Select Committee meeting on 12 February 2020 will be submitted prior to the Council meeting and a copy will be attached to the Council Script); and

c)    approve the proposed Housing Revenue Account budget (including Capital Programme) for 2020/21.

Attached in the report is a minute extract from the Housing Scrutiny Commission on 13 January 2020.

The Council is recommended to:

i)             To approve the Housing Revenue and Capital budgets for 2020/21

ii)            To note the financial pressures on the HRA and comment on the proposals for delivering a balanced budget;

iii)           To note the equality assessment of the proposed revenue and capital reductions required to present a balanced budget;

iv)           To approve the approach to implement a 2.7% increase in rent ;

v)            To approve the increase in service charges of 2%, and increase in garage rent of 2.7% for 2020/21;

vi)           To approve the proposal for Hostel rents to increase by 2% for 2020/21;

vii)          Note that the scheme of virement (included within the General Fund Revenue Budget report which is also on your agenda) applies also to the HRA budget with total expenditure and total income acting as budget ceilings for this purpose;

viii)        Note that the capital strategy in that report applies also to the HRA;

ix)           Note the scheme of virement (included within the Capital Programme report which is also on your agenda tonight) shall also apply to the capital programme in this report.

A report was considered which set out the proposed Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget (including Capital Programme) for the year 2020/21. The formal Assistant City Mayor – Housing decision notice published on 18 February 2020 was available at the meeting and is attached to these minutes.

Moved by Councillor Cutkelvin, seconded by Councillor Westley and carried:

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 were included in the report and the comments of the Overview Select Committee were attached at Appendix F to the script, made available at the meeting and attached to these minutes;

2)    Notes the comments made in the Assistant City Mayor, Education and Housing’s formal recommendation to Council Notice published on 18 February 2020 and attached as Appendix G to the script, made available at the meeting, and attached to these minutes; and

3)    Approves the recommendations set out in section 3 of the report ‘Housing Revenue Account Budget (including HRA Capital Programme) 2020/21’ without amendment.

Council is asked to approve the Treasury Policy subject to any comments made by the Overview Select Committee at its meeting on 12 February 2020 which will be submitted prior to the Council meeting and a copy will be attached to the Council Script.

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

That Council notes the comments of the Overview Select Committee attached at Appendix H to the script, made available at the meeting and attached to these minutes; and approves the Treasury Policy.

Council is asked to approve the Treasury Management Strategy 2020/21 subject to any comments made by the Overview Select Committee at its meeting on 12 February 2020 which will be submitted prior to the Council meeting and a copy will be attached to the Council Script.

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

That Council notes the comments of the Overview Select Committee attached at Appendix I to the script, made available at the meeting and attached to these minutes, and approves the Treasury Management Strategy 2020/21, which includes the annual Treasury Investment Strategy at Appendix B of the report.

Council is asked to approve the Investment Strategy 2020/21 subject to any comments made by the Overview Select Committee at its meeting on 12 February 2020 which will be submitted prior to the Council meeting and a copy will be attached to the Council Script.

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

That Council notes the comments of the Overview Select Committee attached at appendix J to the script, made available at the meeting and attached to these minutes, and approves the Investment Strategy.

There being no urgent business, the Lord Mayor declared the meeting closed at 6.52pm.