Decisions

The Cabinet agreed to take up option 1 to address the pension fund deficit which meant that an additional lump sum payment of £1.848M would need to be paid into the pension fund to be funded from the pension earmarked reserve as well as this existing General Fund and Housing Revenue Account budgets.

As recommended by the General Procurement Board, the Cabinet established a cross party Member Procurement Board to oversee this project.

The current Strategic Risk Register and top operational risks, together with comments in respect of each risk where shown were noted.

(1)     Having considered the objections received, the issues raised around equalities and diversity and all the detailed issues, including any proposed mitigating actions, the recommendation of the Cabinet Panel to proceed with the amended proposals and the creation of the Traffic Regulation Order for all the reasons set out was approved.

(2)     The Cabinet noted and agreed that although the majority of responses opted for a resident parking permit scheme to operate on Monday to Saturday, it was recommended that the scheme operate on Monday to Friday due to the responses received to the adjacent Hatfield town centre car park amendment consultation, which proposed that the parking permit restrictions be applicable on Monday to Friday only so that the Aldykes scheme corresponded with the Hatfield town centre area to operate on Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

Having considered the objection received, the issues raised around equalities and diversity and all the detailed issues in the report, including any proposed mitigating actions the recommendation of the Cabinet Panel to proceed with the creation of a traffic regulation order for the reasons set out was approved.

Approval of the Revenue, Capital and Housing Revenue Account Budgets, Fees and Charges and Council Tax Setting 2020/21

Approval of the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020/21-2022/23

Approval of the Capital Strategy and Treasury Management Strategy

The Cabinet approved the following budget proposals and noted that any comments from the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be returned to the Special Cabinet on 21 January 2020 for consideration, before final recommendations were made to the Council:

General Fund

(1)     The proposed General Fund Budget as summarised in Appendix A, and detailed in Appendix B.

(2)     The inclusion of the savings and growth proposals into the budget as detailed in Appendices C and D.

(3)     The approval of the 2020/21 fees and charges which have been incorporated into the budget proposals, as set out in Appendix E.

(4)     The increase in the Council’s Band D Tax of £3.15 (1.49%), taking the average Band D Tax to £214.92 for 2020/21.

(5)     That £100,000 be added to the Climate Change earmarked reserve from the 2020/21 budget, the expenditure of which will be delegated to the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) and Corporate Director (Planning, Public Protection and Governance), in consultation with the Executive Members (Resources), and (Governance, Public Health and Climate Change) and the Cross Party Climate Change Member Group.

(6)     That £1.2M be added to the Pensions earmarked reserve from the 2020/21 budget to help the Council meet its potential pensions liability in year three of the proposed medium term financial strategy with the current balance of the reserve being used towards an additional payment to the fund in 2019/20 as required by the pensions actuary.

(7)     That the Budget Priority and Transformation earmarked reserve be renamed as Modernisation reserve and that authority for its expenditure be delegated to the Modernisation Board (Chief Executive, Corporate Directors and Corporate Modernisation Lead), in consultation with the Leader and Executive Member (Resources).

Housing Revenue Account (HRA)

(1)     That dwelling rents be increased by CPI+1% in accordance with Government legislation, resulting in an average rent of £106.16 per week.

(2)     The continuation of the policy to charge formula rent when vacant properties are re-let.

(3)     The approval of the Housing Revenue Account budget for 2020/21 as shown in Appendix F.

(4)     The approval of the 2020/21 fees and charges which have been incorporated into the budget proposals, as set out in Appendix H.

(5)     The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to maintain HRA working balances to around 5% of rental income.

Capital Programme

(1)     The approval of the Capital Programme for 2020/21 to 2024/25 as set out in Appendix I.

(2)     The approval of the Capital Financing for the Capital Programme for 2020/21 to 2024/25 as set out in Appendix J, and noting the forecast capital balances in Appendix K.

Medium Term Financial Strategy

(1)     The approval of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and Financial Governance Framework, including all annexes and prudential indicators for 2020/21 – 2022/23 as set out in Appendix L.

Approval of amendment to the restrictions

Having considered the objections received, the issues raised around equalities and diversity and all the detailed issues in the report, including any proposed mitigating actions, the recommendation of the Cabinet Panel to proceed with the amended proposals and the creation of the Traffic Regulation Order for all the reasons set out was approved.

Calculation of Council Tax Base and collection rate for the Borough for the year

(1)     The Council's taxbase for the year 2020/2021 was approved, incorporating a collection rate of 99.40%. 

(2)     In accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 2012, the amount calculated by the Borough Council as its taxbase for the year 2020/2021 shall be 42,590.0 and its constituent elements shall be:

Approval of the Business Plan 2020-2050

The Cabinet approved the Housing Revenue Account Business Plan 2020-2050 noting that any comments from the Cabinet Housing Panel would be returned to the Special Cabinet on 21 January 2020 for consideration, before final recommendations were made to the Council for adoption.