Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors A. English, S. Hession, L. Mallett and S. Webb.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Monitoring Officer advised that at the meeting of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee held on 15^th July 2021 all Members were granted a dispensation to participate in the debate and vote on matters relating to the budget and Council Tax.  Therefore, Members did not need to declare an interest and could participate in the debate and vote concerning the 2022/23 Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan 2022/23 to 2024/25, the alternative budgets and the Council Tax Resolutions 2022/23.

The minutes of the meeting of Council held on 26^th January 2022 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Council meeting held on Wednesday 26^th January 2022 be approved as a true and correct record.

There were no announcements from the Chairman and Head of Paid Service on this occasion.

There were no announcements made by the Leader at the meeting.

A period of up to 15 minutes is allowed for members of the public to make a comment, ask questions or present petitions.  Each member of the public has up to 3 minutes to do this.  A councillor may also present a petition on behalf of a member of the public.

There were no comments, questions or petitions from members of the public.

The Chairman advised that no urgent decisions had been taken since the previous meeting of Council.

At the latest meeting of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee held on 2^nd February 2022 Members considered a report on the subject of the appointment of external auditors for the Council.  The recommendation from the Committee together with the report have been attached for Council’s consideration.

The Vice Chairman of the Audit, Standards and Governance Committee, Councillor P. Whittaker, presented a recommendation from the Committee on the subject of the appointment of the Council’s external auditors for the period 2023/24 to 2027/28.  The appointment process had been discussed at a meeting of the Committee held on 2^nd February 2022.  The Committee had been advised that the Council could independently procure an external auditor, could work with other Councils to procure an external auditor or could join the Public Sector Audit Appointments’ (PSAA’s) national scheme for the appointment of external auditors.  The Committee had concluded that the PSAA’s national scheme would be the most appropriate option for the Council.

RESOLVED to accept the Public Sector Audit Appointments’ invitation to opt into the sector-led option for the appointment of external auditors to principal local government and police bodies for a procurement period of five financial years from 1 April 2023 (that is to say from 2023/24 to 2027/28).

Sustainable Warmth Funding

The Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Cultural Services and Climate Change presented a report on the subject of Sustainable Warmth funding.  Members were informed that the Council had received £429,000 funding from the Government to help local property owners improve the energy efficiency of their buildings.  The funding was designed to assist households on combined incomes below £30,000 per year and with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating D – G.

There were two main forms of funding that could be made available at this stage:

·            Home Upgrade Grants (HUGs) Phase 1 – for properties that were not connected to the mains gas. 

·            Local Authority Delivery (LAD) Phase 3 – for properties connected to the mains gas. 

The amount of action required to improve the energy efficiency of properties and the costs entailed would vary between properties.  However, it was anticipated that on average £10,000 would need to be spent from this funding per property.

The report had been pre-scrutinised at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board and a number of questions had been raised.  In response to the queries raised by the Board, the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Climate Change commented that the Council was aware of the EPC ratings for 63 per cent of properties in Bromsgrove District.  The Council would work with Act On Energy to target eligible properties for funding and a communications strategy had been developed to accompany this approach.  In total, as discussed at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting, the Council was anticipating that approximately 40 properties would benefit from the funding.

After the report had been presented Members discussed the following points in detail:

·            The positive impact that the funding would have on the energy efficiency of properties occupied by eligible homeowners.

·            The need for further action to be taken to support residents living in the District in properties with low EPC ratings.

·            The potential for the Government to provide the Council with more funding to help support additional property owners in the District.

·            The difficulties experienced by park homeowners, who would not be eligible to apply for this funding, and the delays to funding in terms of previous schemes that had impacted on mobile homeowners.

·            The need for the Council to lobby the Government to provide more funding to enable park homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their properties.

·            The impact of a fall in the availability of HGV drivers on the speed with which action could be taken locally to improve the energy efficiency of properties in the District.

·            The typographical error in the report which referred to a Borough rather than District for Bromsgrove.

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor M. Thompson and seconded by Councillor A. Kriss.

RESOLVED that

1)         the Capital and Revenue Budgets are increased to receive Bromsgrove District Council’s Sustainable Warmth scheme allocation of £429,000; and

2)         delegated authority is granted to the Head of Community and Housing Services following consultation with the Portfolio Holders for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92\21

Members are asked to note that under the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, the Council is required to take a named vote when a decision is made on the budget calculation or Council Tax at a budget decision meeting of the Council.

Under Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, any Councillor who is 2 or more months in arrears with their Council tax payments cannot participate in any item at the Council meeting concerning the budget.

The Chairman explained that recommendations had been made at the meeting of the Cabinet held earlier in the afternoon on Wednesday 23^rd February 2022.  A list of the recommendations that had been agreed at this meeting had been tabled for Members’ consideration.

Pay Policy Statement 2022/23

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Enabling presented the Pay Policy Statement 2022/23.  Members were informed that the Localism Act 2011 required Council to consider and approve a Pay Policy Statement by 31^st March each year, for the following financial year.  The report detailed the wages paid to the most senior staff as well as the most junior staff and explained the differences between the two.  As Bromsgrove District Council shared many services with Redditch Borough Council, the costs of employing staff were generally shared equally and so the Council only had to pay 50 per cent of the costs.

Members discussed the report and in doing so questioned what was meant by a “statement” in this context.  Officers clarified that the Pay Policy Statement was a factual statement of the remuneration provided to staff.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor G. Denaro and seconded by Councillor K. May.

RESOLVED that the Pay Policy Statement 2022/23 be approved.

2022/23 Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan 2022/23 to 2024/25

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Enabling presented the 2022/23 Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2022/23 to 2024/25.  In presenting the report, he explained that there were three main aims in the budget:

·            Firstly, to maintain all the Council’s services which had been achieved without any cuts and with a balanced budget.

·            Secondly, to invest  in the future, capitalising on the opportunities that the levelling up funding presented for the town and acknowledging the importance of engaging with the Council’s customers digitally and in ways that supported service provision moving forward.

·            Thirdly, to maintain the Council’s general fund balances as a buffer for the future and to confirm the authority’s financial stability as recognised by the External Auditors.

The 2022/23 budget and MTFP 2022/23 to 2024/25 was proposed by Councillor G. Denaro and seconded by Councillor K. May.

During consideration of this item, Councillor P. McDonald proposed an alternative budget from the Labour Group, as detailed in the main agenda pack.  The alternative budget from the Labour Group was seconded by Councillor H. Rone-Clarke.

In proposing the Motion, Councillor McDonald explained that the alternative budget had been developed in a context in which people’s living standards were increasingly under pressure.  Inflation was likely to increase to 7 per cent by April 2022 and energy costs had already increased significantly.  In addition, many residents were not experiencing increases to their wages in line with inflation, which impacted on people’s ability to manage costs.  Many residents were increasingly turning to food banks and this included key workers who had played an essential role during the pandemic.  In these circumstances, Councillor McDonald commented that it would be inappropriate to increase Council Tax and instead the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93\21

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday 16^th February 2022 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 16^th February 2022 be noted.

To deal with any questions on notice from Members of the Council, in the order in which they have been received.

A period of up to 15 minutes is allocated for the asking and answering of questions.  This may be extended at the discretion of the Chairman with the agreement of the majority of those present.

The Chairman explained that four Questions on Notice had been received for consideration at the meeting and would be taken in the order in which they had been included on the agenda.  A maximum of 15 minutes had been allocated to the consideration of Questions on Notice and the answers provided to those questions and no supplementary questions would be permitted.

Question Submitted by Councillor R. Hunter

“What actions are the Cabinet taking to lobby Government to provide a much needed longer term financial settlement for councils such as BDC?”

The Leader responded by explaining that the Council continued to work through the Local Government Association (LGA) and District Councils’ Network (DCN) to add the authority’s voice to the sector’s request for a multi-year financial settlement. On the Council’s behalf, the LGA were campaigning for local services to be provided with a long-term, sustainable future which gave Councils clarity and certainty over their funding. In the recent collective response to the one-year settlement, the DCN also called on the Government to deliver a multi-year financial settlement for district Councils.

In addition, Members were advised that the Leader continually raised this issue in discussions with the Bromsgrove MP, who then reported these concerns on to central government.

Question Submitted by Councillor J. King

“In 2019 this Council declared a climate emergency and set up a working group to drive efforts to decarbonise our activities. Yet despite all the work that has been done, a recent scorecard of UK local authorities’ climate change progress, compiled by Climate Emergency UK, put Bromsgrove very close to the bottom of our peer group, with a 10% achievement score. What are you doing to restore our reputation and ensure Bromsgrove is recognised as a leader in tackling climate change?”

In response to the question, the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Climate Change advised that the scorecard rating referred to, was undertaken by Climate Emergency UK using a methodology of only scoring local authorities’ climate change strategies and action plans.  This did not consider any actions the Council was already undertaking in tackling climate change. The Council fully appreciated that it had a great deal to do and would use the tools and data arising from this survey and that of Sustainability West Midlands to learn and inform the authority’s Climate Change Strategy and action plan. This would ensure that a strong and robust strategy and action plan was developed and regularly reviewed to demonstrate the authority’s progress.

The Council was in the process of developing its Climate Change Strategy and a detailed Action to Reduce Carbon (ARC) Plan to have progressive longer-term plans in place and address the areas where improvements were needed.

There were nine identified themes for the ARC.

·            Theme 1: Sustainable Buildings and Workplaces

·            Theme 2: Renewable Energy

·            Theme 3: Transport and Travel

·            Theme 4: Planning / Building Control and Retrofit

·            Theme 5: Community

·            Theme 6: Waste

·            Theme 7: Biodiversity

·            Theme 8: The Low Carbon and Circular Economy and Resources

·            Theme 9:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 95\21

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice.  This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

The Chairman advised that one Motion on Notice had been received for consideration at the meeting.  Prior to the meeting, group leaders had agreed that the subject of the Motion should be a standing item on the agenda for consideration at group leaders’ meetings.  In this context, the Councillor who had submitted the Motion, Councillor S. Colella, had agreed that the Motion should not be debated at the meeting.