My report to council

Posted By: Greg Couzens
Date Posted: 07/10/2008

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Finance Portfolio.


I will start my report by reviewing last year’s financial position. Members may recall that throughout the year we had been forecasting a balanced budget position. I am pleased to report that the final position was more positive than this. We achieved a budget surplus of just over £1m. This was achieved by the actions of all services that made a strong effort in the last couple of months to get spending within budget. I would like to thank all services and the portfolio holders for their help and assistance. This surplus will in the first instance be added to balances in line with our existing policy. We will of course review balances when we set next year’s budget.

Turning to the current year we have taken our first formal look at the financial position at the last Cabinet. Services have identified potential risks of £3.3m. The major area of this risk remains with the Adult Care modernisation programme. However it is traditional at this time of year for services to be pessimistic about the financial position and we will be working with them to ensure that forecasts are accurate and effective action is being taken to get spending in line with the budget. Members are aware that we also have a £2m budget pressures fund which we will be operating strictly in line with the approach agreed by Cabinet.

I know it is only July but I have been thinking about next year’s budget and Council Tax for some time now. I will remind Council that due to the approach taken in February we have a stable finance position for the next three years. It is unlikely that the Government position will change although we must remain vigilant. I have said previously that I want to look to have an even lower Council Tax increase in 2009/10 than in this year; continuing this administrations excellent track record. It would be our lowest Council Tax increase for 12 years! I am confident that this can be achieved. However I am aware that we have a number of issues in the pipeline which we will need to address. These include the Pay and Grading Review outcomes, Adult Care Modernisation and any impact of the recession. We will be assessing these issues over the next couple of months and will be reporting to Cabinet in the autumn.


In my last Council report I informed members that Councillor Keith Swift and I have been looking at opportunities to increase our income through commercial activities. We have two projects which we are closely monitoring. These are the tender for a social enterprise to collect and recycle bulky waste and also a scheme to maximise income form the sponsorship of road signs and roundabouts. We will ensure that members are involved fully once we have received a feasibility study in about 4 weeks.

It has been an eventful few months on the highways side of my portfolio

• Town Head: Fully operational.
• The street lighting PFI scheme continues to progress, we are negotiating with two service providers and the preferred bidder will be announced in the autumn.
• Gully Cleaning: This is on track with over 10,000 gullies cleaned already.
• Sudden Junction: I realise this has been a controversial project, but the good news is; “Next week will see the switch on of the Silk St. lights” making the whole project fully operational!

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matters relating to the Finance and Highways Portfolio.




Greg Couzens
Portfolio Holder for Finance