Agenda, decisions and minutes

None were received.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2015 as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 2015 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To note any declarations of interest made by members in connection with an agenda item.  The nature of the interest must also be specified.

Members are asked to discuss any possible interests with Democratic Services prior to the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made by any member in connection with an agenda item.

To note any issues raised during the public participation period.

No issues were raised in the public participation period.

The Leader of the Council Made the following statement:

“The start of a new calendar year is always a time for fresh thinking and never more so for us with the end of 2015 receiving the Local Government finance settlement from central government. The report on today’s agenda sets out more detail of this and Councillor Jeremy Heron the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Efficiency will comment on this later. However I can say that the actions we have already put in place and the savings identified mean that the budget we will deliver for 2016/17 we do not anticipate will have any adverse impact on frontline services. We also recognise our commitment to Council taxpayers. We have not increased Council Tax for 6 years, with help from the government.

Our focus will be on managing funds that support our plans to deliver good services to our community.  There is an ongoing need to review all the Council currently does and how we deliver. The first stage of that is now complete with the senior management restructure. Before Christmas I, together with my Cabinet colleagues and the Chief Executive, appointed a new Senior Management team, they are all with us today. We believe the Chief Executive has now got in place an excellent team to work with Councillors to deliver the actions needed to meet the challenge. I am pleased that the Chief Executive will look to move the organisation forward with the team of four Executive Heads and not look to make any further appointments. I believe we have a strong team and the additional savings will make a major contribution to the actions we need to take.

In 2015 we saw the government encourage Council’s to take on more responsibilities through devolved powers. All Councils within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have come together to respond to this and we have played our part on the basis that for devolution to work it must bring greater benefits to the New Forest in the existing system. There is currently no deal agreed with government and negotiations remain ongoing with the significant issues of finance and housing to be resolved. When there is a deal all Councillors will be engaged in determining what benefits it brings to the New Forest and its residents.

As well as the medium term financial plan, we have an indication of the amount of funding we can expect up to 2020. As we expected, the next few years will be challenging and by 2020 we will be a very different organisation to the one we were in 2010.  Looking forward there is much to do but our priority will always be to put our local residents and business first. We will work collaboratively with Councillors and partners in the Towns and Parishes to achieve the most we can for the New Forest. I urge all Councillors to play their part to work with Cabinet and help the Council meet these challenges and grasp the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

To consider the development of the Medium Term Financial Plan for the period 2016 to 2010 and the annual budget for 2016/2017.

RESOLVED:

That the emerging draft Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 to 2020, as set out in report Item 4 considered by the Cabinet, be approved to form the basis of the Council’s 2016/17 General Fund budget, to be reported to the Cabinet on 3 February 2016.

The Cabinet considered the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan in the light of the Government’s provisional local government finance settlement for 2016/17.  In addition to the settlement for 2016/17 the Council had been given an indication of the likely funding from Government until 2020.

The settlement for 2016/17, at £8.519 million, represented a reduction of 9.8% compared to the 2015/16 settlement, and was £554,000 less than the financial projections that had been reported to the Cabinet on 7 October 2015 (Minute 26 refers).  The projected reduction by 2020 was 42.3% against the settlement for 2015/16.

There was also a significant change in Government policy with the withdrawal of the Council Tax Freeze Grant so that local authorities were no longer financially supported to freeze Council Tax.  The Council Tax referendum limit remained at 2%.

It was projected that there would be further reductions in the funding that would be available to the Council in the short and medium terms through a lower than expected increase in the business rates multiplier; reduced Revenue Support Grant and New Homes Bonus payments; together with the introduction of a supplementary business rates tariff in 2019/20.

The cumulative effect was that the total funding available in 2016/17 would be £19.723 million, a reduction of £734,000 against the funding available in 2015/16.   A number of additional budget requirements had also been identified, as set out in Appendix 2 to the report considered by the Cabinet.  A number of actions had already been taken to close the budget gap, and this process would continue to ensure that the residual identified gap of £483,000 would be closed before the budget for 2016/17 was finalised in February.

RESOLVED:

That the emerging draft Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 to 2020, as set out in report Item 4 considered by the Cabinet, be approved to form the basis of the Council’s 2016/17 General Fund budget, to be reported to the Cabinet on 3 February 2016.