Agenda item

(Leader) To consider the attached report.

Notes

That a recorded vote is held on the recommendations contained within the report, in accordance with the Council Procedure Rule V3 ‘Voting at Budget Decision Council 18 February 2016 Meetings’ which directs Members to comply with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, immediately after any vote is taken at a budget decision meeting there must be recorded in the minutes of the proceedings of that meeting the names of the persons who cast a vote for the decision or against the decision or who abstained from voting.

“Budget decision” means a meeting at which:

(a)             a calculation is made (whether originally or by way of substitute) in accordance with any of the Sections 31A, 31B, 34 to 36A, 42A, 42B, 45 to 49,

52ZF, 52ZJ of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended; or

(b)        a precept is issued under Chapter 4 of Part 1 of that Act,

and includes a meeting where making the calculation or issuing the precept as the case may be was included as an item of business on the agenda for that meeting.

References to a vote are references to a vote not only on the substantive budget motions agreeing the budget, setting council taxes or issuing precepts, but also on any amendments proposed at the meeting.

Mover: Councillor J Philip, Finance and Economic Development Portfolio Holder

Councillor J Philip presented a report of the Budget for 2021/22 (including Medium-Term Financial Plan, Capital Programme and Fees and Charges). He thanked Mr A Small, Strategic Director and S151 Officer and Mr C Hartgrove, Interim Chief Financial Officer for an excellent budget and for their sound financial advice.

The Portfolio Holder added that there had been a slight error reported on page 90 of the agenda in the first table, where it stated ‘Thornwood Parish Council’, this should have read ‘Thornwood via North Weald Parish Council’.

The Portfolio Holder stated that this had been a very challenging year in terms of Covid-19 and had a massive impact in many areas of the Council’s budget. However, this was a balanced budget and he confirmed that a Council Tax freeze of 0% for 2021/22 had been applied.

There voted for the recommendations (45) namely: Councillors  N Avey, R Baldwin, R Bassett, A Beales, N Bedford, P Bolton, H Brady, R Brookes, L Burrows, D Dorrell, I Hadley, S Heap, S Heather, B Jennings, J Jennings, S Jones, H Kane, S Kane, H Kauffman, P Keska, J Lea, J Leppert,  A Lion, C McCredie, R Morgan, S Murray S Neville, M Owen, A Patel, J Philip, C C Pond, C P Pond, B Rolfe, B Sandler, M Sartin, J Share-Bernia, P Stalker, D Stocker, D Sunger, B Vaz, C Whitbread, H Whitbread, J H Whitehouse, J M Whitehouse and D Wixley.

Report as first moved ADOPTED

            RESOLVED:

(1)        That the draft General Fund Revenue and Housing Revenue Account budgets for 2021/22 as presented in Appendix A be approved (pages 83-111 of the agenda).

(2)        That the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account Capital programmes for 2021/22 to 2025/26 presented in Appendix B be approved (Pages 113-120 of the agenda).

(3)        That the updated General Fund Medium-Term Financial Plan for 2021/22 to 2025/26 presented in Appendix A be approved (pages 83-111 of the agenda).

(4)        That the proposed Fees and Charges for 2021/22, including an average rent increase of 1.5% on Council Dwellings, presented in Appendix C be approved (pages 121-147 of the agenda).

(5)        That the Section 151 Officer’s report – in accordance with Section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003 – on the robustness of the estimates for the purposes of the Council’s 2021/22 budgets and the adequacy of the reserves, presented in Appendix D be noted (pages 149-154 of the agenda); and

(6)        That the Section 151 Officer’s recommendation to retain a minimum £4.0 million contingency balance in the Council’s General Fund Reserve for the duration of the adopted Medium-Term Financial Plan be approved.