Agenda item

The Leader of the Council and Lead Members for Transformation and Performance, Children and Education, Environment and Leisure, Corporate Finance and Housing, Health and Social Care, Planning and Transport and Regulation and Consumer Protection presented the Leadership Proposals for the Revenue Budget 2019/20.  On completion of the presentation:

 

It was moved by Councillor Swindlehurst,

Seconded by Councillor Hussain,

 

“Council Tax Resolution – In relation to the Council Tax for 2019/20

 

(a)   That in pursuance of the powers conferred on the Council as the billing authority for its area by the Local Government Finance Acts (the Acts), the Council Tax for the Slough area for the year ending 31 March 2020 is as specified below and that the Council Tax be levied accordingly.

 

(b)   That it be noted that at its meeting on 18 December 2018 Cabinet calculated the following Tax Base amounts for the financial year 2019/20 in accordance with Regulations made under sections 31B (3) and 34(4) of the Act:

 

(i)   42,789.8 being the amount calculated by the Council, in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax

Base) Regulations 2012 (the Regulations) as the Council Tax Base for the whole of the Slough area for the year 2019/20; and

 

(ii)   The sums below being the amounts of Council Tax Base for the Parishes within Slough for 2019/20:

 

a)   Parish of Colnbrook with Poyle   1,923.3

 

(c)   That the following amounts be now calculated for the year 2019/20 in accordance with sections 31A to 36 of the Act:

 

(i)   £411,146,686 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in section 31A (2)(a) to (f) of the Act.

(Gross Expenditure);

 

(ii)   £352,551,190 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in section 31A (3) (a) to (d) of the Act.

(Gross Income);

 

(iii)   £58,595,496 being the amount by which the aggregate at paragraph c

(i) above exceeds the aggregate at paragraph c (ii) above calculated by the Council as its council tax requirement for the year as set out in section 31A(4) of the Act. (Council Tax Requirement);

 

(iv)   £1,369.38 being the amount at paragraph c(iii) above divided by the amount at paragraph b(i) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with section 31B(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year, including the requirements for Parish precepts.

 

(v)   That for the year 2019/20 the Council determines in accordance with section 34 (1) of the Act, Total Special Items of £102,583 representing the total of Parish Precepts for that year.

 

(vi)   £1,366.98 being the amount at paragraph c (iv) above less the result given by dividing the amount at paragraph c (v) above by the relevant amounts at paragraph b (i) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with section 34 (2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its

Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item relates.

 

(vii)   Valuation Bands

Band	Slough Area	Parish of Colnbrook with Poyle
	£	£
A	911.32	32.93
B	1,063.21	38.42
C	1,215.09	43.91
D	1,366.98	49.40
E	1,670.75	60.38
F	1,974.53	71.36
G	2,278.30	82.33
H	2,733.96	98.80

 

Being the amounts given by multiplying the amounts at paragraph c (iv) and c (vi) above by the number which, in the proportion set out in section 5 (1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in a particular valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with section 36 (1) of the Act, as the amount to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands.

 

(viii)  Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2019/20 (excluding Parish precepts) is £58,492,641.

 

(ix)  That it be noted that for the year 2019/20 the Thames Valley Police Authority precept has been increased by 13.2% in accordance with Home Office guidance in the provisional police grant settlement.  The Police and Crime Panel are meeting on the 1^st February to consider the PCP’s precept proposals.  The following amounts are stated in accordance with section 40 of the Act, for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

 

 

(x)   That it be noted that for the year 2019/20 the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority has proposed increasing its precept by 2.99% in accordance with section 40 of the Act, for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

 

 

These precepts have not been formally proposed or agreed by the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority and may be subject to further revision.

(xi)   Note that arising from these recommendations, and assuming the major precepts are agreed, the overall Council Tax for Slough Borough Council for 2019/20 including the precepting authorities will be as follows:

 

Band	Slough	Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Thames Valley	Royal Berkshire Fire Authority	TOTAL
	£	£	£	£
A	911.32	137.52	44.19	1,093.03
B	1,063.21	160.44	51.55	1,275.20
C	1,215.09	183.36	58.92	1,457.37
D	1,366.98	206.28	66.28	1,639.54
E	1,670.75	252.12	81.01	2,003.88
F	1,974.53	297.96	95.74	2,368.23
G	2,278.30	343.80	110.47	2,732.57
H	2,733.96	412.56	132.56	3,279.08

 

(xii)   That the Section 151 Officer be and is hereby authorised to give due notice of the said Council Tax in the manner provided by Section 38(2) of the 2012 Act.

 

(xiii)   That the Section 151 Officer be and is hereby authorised when necessary to apply for a summons against any Council Tax payer or non-domestic ratepayer on whom an account for the said tax or rate and arrears has been duly served and who has failed to pay the amounts due to take all subsequent necessary action to recover them promptly.

 

(xiv)   That the Section 151 Officer be authorised to collect (and disperse from the relevant accounts) the Council Tax and National Non- Domestic Rate and that whenever the office of the Section 151 Officer is vacant or the holder thereof is for any reason unable to act, the Chief Executive or such other authorised post-holder be authorised to act as before said in his or her stead.

 

(xv)  That in the event that there are any changes to the provisional precept of the Fire Authority, arising from their precept setting meeting being held on 25 February, the Section 151 Officer is delegated authority to enact all relevant changes to the Revenue Budget 2019/20, Statutory Resolution and council tax levels.

 

 

Fees and Charges –

 

(d)   Resolve to increase the Council’s fees and charges as outlined in Appendix E for 2019/20.

 

The Robustness Statement

 

(e)  Note the statutory advice of the Chief Finance Officer outlined in Appendix G, The Robustness Statement. This is required to highlight the robustness of budget estimates and the adequacy of the reserves.

 

Top-up funding for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities

 

(f)  (a) Note the mechanism outlined in Appendix J to access top-up funding to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs which is currently under review.

 

  (b) Note the move to adjust our local factors to 65% toward the National Funding Formula factors from 2019/20 as outlined in paragraph 5.4.1

 

Use of Flexible Capital Receipts –

 

(g)  Resolve to agree the Use of Flexible Capital Receipts Strategy outlined in Appendix K.

 

Pay Policy –

 

(h)   Note the Pay Policy Statement agreed at the Employment and Appeals Committee on 24^th January 2019 as detailed in Appendix L.

 

Business Rate Pilot –

 

(i)  Agree to participate in the 2019/20 Berkshire Business Rates Pilot Scheme.

 

Court Costs

 

(j)  Agree:

 

(a)  That the Court Costs associated with non-payment of Business Rates remain at the same level for 2019/20 as the current year.

(b)  That the Court Costs associated with non-payment of Council Tax be increased to £144.95 in total for 2019/20.

 

Empty Property Relief

 

(k)  Agree:

 

(a)  That the long term empty premium for properties that are empty for more than two years is increased from April 2019 to 100% thereby doubling the charge.

 

(b)  That the long term empty premium for properties that are empty for more than five years is increased from April 2020 to 200%

 

c)  That the long term empty premium for properties that are empty for more than ten years is increased from April 2021 to 300%  

 

Council’s Public Room Booking

 

(l)  Agree:

 

(a)  The proposed changes to the Council’s Public Room Booking Policy and Terms & Conditions (Appendix M), as summarised in Section 8 of this report.

 

(b) The updated pricing schedule (Appendix N), as summarised in section 8 of this report.

 

(c)  All users of our public buildings will be required to pay rates as per the updated policy and pricing schedule and that no exclusions will be made for any group, charity or other organisations without the consent of the Service Lead, Building Management in conjunction with the Council’s S151 Officer.”

 

It was moved by Councillor Strutton, as an amendment,

Seconded by Councillor Wright

 

Additional Traffic Enforcement Cameras

 

“Request officers to prepare a business case to agree capital funding for the installation of ten additional cameras as well as additional bus lane cameras to those currently proposed along our routes (including bus stops) to encourage safer driving through our town and improve traffic flow whilst raising additional revenue income.”

 

Profitable On-Street Parking

 

“Ensure that on-street parking achieves greater income in the borough through improved contract management focussing on better conversion of contested PCNs through greater accuracy at the point of issue and also focusing on enhanced enforcement of parking around schools to improve safety and accessibility.”

 

 

 

 

 

Carers Public Transport Funding

 

“Part of funding to cover the cost of public transport for carers across the borough so that they are properly supported to care for their dependents by enabling them to move around the borough without the burden of cost.”

 

Public Transport Accessibility Assessment

 

“Request officers to prepare a business case to provide one-off capital funding for an assessment of all public transport access points across the borough to determine the changes necessary to make all points accessible for our disabled and visually impaired residents.”

 

Free Parking & additional charging points for Electric Vehicles

 

“Seek to provide free on-street and off-street parking in dedicated bays for all electric vehicles and install additional charging points in these bays to further encourage the switch to zero-emissions vehicles for residents.”

 

Additional Public Transport Accessibility and Road Safety Initiatives & Projects

 

“Any additional funds raised over the budgeted income from traffic enforcement cameras are used to finance changes to our public transport accessibility at access points and additional road safety initiatives/projects focusing on road safety around our schools to better protect our children from accidents and to improve usage of public transport by residents.”

 

The amendments were put to the vote with 5 for, 30 against and 1 abstention. The amended recommendations were lost.

 

The original recommendations were put and carried and in accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 a record of the vote was taken as follows:-

 

There voted for the recommendations:-

 

Councillors Ali, Anderson, B. Bains, Bedi, Brooker, Carter, Chaudhry, Cheema, Dar, Davis, M Holledge, N. Holledge, Hussain, Mann, Matloob, Minhas, Nazir, Pantelic, D.Parmar, S.Parmar, Qaseem, Rana, Rasib, Sabah, Sadiq, A.Sandhu, Shah, Sharif, Sohal, Swindlehurst and Usmani ……………………………………………………………………………………….  31

 

There abstained from voting:

 

Councillors Kelly, R.S. Sandhu, Smith, Strutton and Wright  ………………………………………………………………………………………..   5

 

 

 

Resolved –

 

Council Tax Resolution – In relation to the Council Tax for 2019/20

 

(a)   That in pursuance of the powers conferred on the Council as the billing authority for its area by the Local Government Finance Acts (the Acts), the Council Tax for the Slough area for the year ending 31 March 2020 is as specified below and that the Council Tax be levied accordingly.

 

(b)   That it be noted that at its meeting on 18 December 2018 Cabinet calculated the following Tax Base amounts for the financial year 2019/20 in accordance with Regulations made under sections 31B (3) and 34(4) of the Act:

 

(i)   42,789.8 being the amount calculated by the Council, in accordance with Regulation 3 of the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax

Base) Regulations 2012 (the Regulations) as the Council Tax Base for the whole of the Slough area for the year 2019/20; and

 

(ii)   The sums below being the amounts of Council Tax Base for the Parishes within Slough for 2019/20:

 

a)   Parish of Colnbrook with Poyle 1,923.3

 

(c)   That the following amounts be now calculated for the year 2019/20 in accordance with sections 31A to 36 of the Act:

 

(i)   £411,146,686 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in section 31A (2)(a) to (f) of the Act.

(Gross Expenditure);

 

(ii)   £352,551,190 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in section 31A (3) (a) to (d) of the Act.

(Gross Income);

 

(iii)   £58,595,496 being the amount by which the aggregate at paragraph c

 

(i) above exceeds the aggregate at paragraph c (ii) above calculated by the Council as its council tax requirement for the year as set out in section 31A(4) of the Act. (Council Tax Requirement);

 

(iv)   £1,369.38 being the amount at paragraph c(iii) above divided by the amount at paragraph b(i) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with section 31B(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year, including the requirements for Parish precepts.

 

(v)   That for the year 2019/20 the Council determines in accordance with section 34 (1) of the Act, Total Special Items of £102,583 representing the total of Parish Precepts for that year.

 

(vi)   £1,366.98 being the amount at paragraph c (iv) above less the result given by dividing the amount at paragraph c (v) above by the relevant amounts at paragraph b (i) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with section 34 (2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its

Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item relates.

 

(vii)   Valuation Bands

 

Band	Slough Area	Parish of Colnbrook with Poyle
	£	£
A	911.32	32.93
B	1,063.21	38.42
C	1,215.09	43.91
D	1,366.98	49.40
E	1,670.75	60.38
F	1,974.53	71.36
G	2,278.30	82.33
H	2,733.96	98.80

 

Being the amounts given by multiplying the amounts at paragraph c (iv) and c (vi) above by the number which, in the proportion set out in section 5 (1) of the Act, is applicable to dwellings listed in a particular valuation band divided by the number which in that proportion is applicable to dwellings listed in valuation band D, calculated by the Council, in accordance with section 36 (1) of the Act, as the amount to be taken into account for the year in respect of categories of dwellings listed in different valuation bands.

 

(viii)  Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2019/20 (excluding Parish precepts) is £58,492,641.

 

(ix)  That it be noted that for the year 2019/20 the Thames Valley Police Authority precept has been increased by 13.2% in accordance with Home Office guidance in the provisional police grant settlement.  The Police and Crime Panel are meeting on the 1^st February to consider the PCP’s precept proposals.  The following amounts are stated in accordance with section 40 of the Act, for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

 

 

(x)   That it be noted that for the year 2019/20 the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority has proposed increasing its precept by 2.99% in accordance with section 40 of the Act, for each of the categories of dwellings shown below:

 

 

These precepts have not been formally proposed or agreed by the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority and may be subject to further revision.

 

(xi)   Note that arising from these recommendations, and assuming the major precepts are agreed, the overall Council Tax for Slough Borough Council for 2019/20 including the precepting authorities will be as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

Band	Slough	Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Thames Valley	Royal Berkshire Fire Authority	TOTAL
	£	£	£	£
A	911.32	137.52	44.19	1,093.03
B	1,063.21	160.44	51.55	1,275.20
C	1,215.09	183.36	58.92	1,457.37
D	1,366.98	206.28	66.28	1,639.54
E	1,670.75	252.12	81.01	2,003.88
F	1,974.53	297.96	95.74	2,368.23
G	2,278.30	343.80	110.47	2,732.57
H	2,733.96	412.56	132.56	3,279.08

 

(xii)   That the Section 151 Officer be and is hereby authorised to give due notice of the said Council Tax in the manner provided by Section 38(2) of the 2012 Act.

 

(xiii)   That the Section 151 Officer be and is hereby authorised when necessary to apply for a summons against any Council Tax payer or non-domestic ratepayer on whom an account for the said tax or rate and arrears has been duly served and who has failed to pay the amounts due to take all subsequent necessary action to recover them promptly.

 

(xiv)   That the Section 151 Officer be authorised to collect (and disperse from the relevant accounts) the Council Tax and National Non- Domestic Rate and that whenever the office of the Section 151 Officer is vacant or the holder thereof is for any reason unable to act, the Chief Executive or such other authorised post-holder be authorised to act as before said in his or her stead.

 

(xv)  That in the event that there are any changes to the provisional precept of the Fire Authority, arising from their precept setting meeting being held on 25 February, the Section 151 Officer is delegated authority to enact all relevant changes to the Revenue Budget 2019/20, Statutory Resolution and council tax levels.

 

Fees and Charges –

 

(d)   That there be an increase in the Council’s fees and charges as outlined in Appendix E for 2019/20.

 

The Robustness Statement

 

(e)  Note the statutory advice of the Chief Finance Officer outlined in Appendix G, The Robustness Statement. This is required to highlight the robustness of budget estimates and the adequacy of the reserves.

 

Top-up funding for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities

 

(f)  (a) Note the mechanism outlined in Appendix J to access top-up funding to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs which is currently under review.

 

  (b) Note the move to adjust our local factors to 65% toward the National Funding Formula factors from 2019/20 as outlined in paragraph 5.4.1

 

Use of Flexible Capital Receipts –

 

(g)  That the Use of Flexible Capital Receipts Strategy as outlined in Appendix K be agreed.

 

Pay Policy –

 

(h)   Note the Pay Policy Statement agreed at the Employment and Appeals Committee on 24^th January 2019 as detailed in Appendix L.

 

Business Rate Pilot –

 

(i)  Agree to participate in the 2019/20 Berkshire Business Rates Pilot Scheme.

 

Court Costs

 

(j)  Agree:

 

(a)  That the Court Costs associated with non-payment of Business Rates remain at the same level for 2019/20 as the current year.

(b)  That the Court Costs associated with non-payment of Council Tax be increased to £144.95 in total for 2019/20.

 

Empty Property Relief

 

(k)  Agree:

 

(a)  That the long term empty premium for properties that are empty for more than two years is increased from April 2019 to 100% thereby doubling the charge.

 

(b)  That the long term empty premium for properties that are empty for more than five years is increased from April 2020 to 200%

 

c)  That the long term empty premium for properties that are empty for more than ten years is increased from April 2021 to 300%  

 

Council’s Public Room Booking

 

(l)  Agree:

 

(a)  The proposed changes to the Council’s Public Room Booking Policy and Terms & Conditions (Appendix M), as summarised in Section 8 of this report.

 

(b) The updated pricing schedule (Appendix N), as summarised in section 8 of this report.

 

(c)  All users of our public buildings will be required to pay rates as per the updated policy and pricing schedule and that no exclusions will be made for any group, charity or other organisations without the consent of the Service Lead, Building Management in conjunction with the Council’s S151 Officer.