Agenda item

Scrutiny of Finance and Transformation Portfolios

Minutes:

The Chairman reminded Members that the Committee had requested written submissions from Portfolio Holders, to be circulated with the agendas. On that basis, it would be assumed that the Portfolio Holders would not need to go into the detail provided and would highlight key issues. Members would be encouraged to submit questions in advance, so fuller responses could be provided at the meeting.

 

Finance – In response to Members’ questions, Cllr Richard Brooks noted the following:

 

(i)            4 Year Settlement – The Council faced a 4 year settlement from the Government in which it’s grant would be Nil in year 3 and negative in Year 4. The Council had responded to the offer rejecting the principle of a negative grant and seeking reconsideration.

 

From a net budget of £11 – 12 million, the Council had already had a reduction of £3 million, plus £1 million reduction to come, without any factoring-in of inflation. This represented a loss against its previous budget of between 30 and 40%;

 

(ii)           Localisation of Business Rates – Although 100% of business rates would be retained locally, this Council would receive around 1% and would inherit a number of risks/liabilities which would be difficult to quantify, such as the cost of appeals and back-payment of any overpayment of business rates for periods of up to 5 years.

 

(iii)          New Responsibilities – Councils were being allocated new responsibilities, such as the Council Tax Support Scheme, where Government funding was time limited.

 

(iv)         Property Acquisition – Given that many of the services that the Council provided and would wish to, were discretionary, and the prospect of a negative grant, the Council was looking to new and innovative ways to bring in revenue, including property acquisition where this was deemed to be appropriate.

 

Transformation – Councillor Colin Dougan indicated the following in response to Members’ questions:

 

(i)            Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) – The Council had benefited from grants and loans from the LEP for improvements to various aspects of the Borough. However, it was anticipated that funding for LEPs could be significantly reduced in the Autumn Statement.

 

Referring in particular to funding for Public Realm, the Council had submitted a bid for £6 million to achieve a common theme for the Public Realm across all of the Town Centre. The success of the bid was yet to be established.

 

(ii)           Surrey Heath House – The Council had some considerable success in attracting other organisations into Surrey Heath House, including Surrey Police, Surrey County Council, the Surrey Heath Clinical Commissioning Group and the Department of Works and Pensions (Job Centre Plus). Other Authorities were now seeking to attract external bodies in the same way, which would present a challenge to this Council.

 

(iii)          Community Leases – All community leases had been moved under Corporate Property. The purpose for this was to get realistic rent and best value. The leases had been moved onto a proper business footing, calculated on the Council’s behalf by Hampshire County Council. Community organisations could then seek a grant to assist in paying the commercial value.

 

(iv)         One Public Estate – There was a drive to bring together the Health and Council estate nationally under the One Public Estate project. The Executive Head of Regulatory would be project managing the Council’s input, but, as previously indicated, Surrey Heath House accommodated a range of authorities, assisting in efforts to achieve joined up working.

 

(v)          New Businesses – The Council was seeking to provide an environment where new businesses would be attracted to Surrey Heath and existing businesses would be maintained and grow within the Borough. This could be evidenced in Frazer Nash, a world leading organisation in electric vehicle technology, expanding their research and development base in the Borough and the efforts of the Transformation Team to assist in the development of the Frimley Business Group.

 

The Chairman thanked both Portfolio Holders and noted that the Corporate and Regulatory Portfolio Holders would attend the March 2017 Committee meeting.

 

Resolved, that the presentations by the Finance and Transformation Portfolio Holders be noted.

 

 

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