Agenda and minutes

The Mayor presented Irene Ashton with the Colin Smith Memorial Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to her community.

Apologies were submitted on behalf of Councillors Boothby and Nichols.

On the motion of Mr Bray, seconded by Ms Witherford, it was

RESOLVED – the minutes of the meeting held on 20 December 2011 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

Councillors Smith and Sprason declared a personal interest in the budget items as council tenants.

Councillor Allen declared a personal interest in the same items as the lessee of a garage from the council.

The Mayor paid tribute to past Mayor Brian Edwards who had recently passed away and provided details of the funeral arrangements for those who wished to attend.

He congratulated Councillor Bill on his MBE and Councillor Bessant and his wife on the birth of their son.

The Mayor listed his forthcoming charity events including the fashion show on 13 March, indoor bowls evening and carvery on 29 March, curry night on 24 April and civic service on 29 April.

a)         Question asked by Councillor MR Lay and addressed to the Executive Member for Finance

            “What progress has been made in awarding the lowest paid staff at HBBC (those earning below £21k) a cost of living increase as sanctioned by the government? I raised this issue last year at a Finance and Audit Committee meeting following a report to the committee indicating a large revenue underspend. No report back has been given. Thank you”

            Response from Councillor KWP Lynch

“Whilst central government recommended a payment of £250 for those earning under £21,000 the National Joint Council (NJC), who represents local authorities and is the employers negotiating body, had not agreed this as part of the pay deal. However the NJC in preparation for the pay negotiations for 2012/13 has consulted employers and a discussion has again taken place to consider paying £250 to those staff whose earnings are below £21,000. We are still waiting to here from NJC. 

Outside of this, and following Cllr Lay raising this at Finance and Audit Services Select Committee, the Council implemented a local arrangement whereby all staff who earned under £21,000 were paid a one off amount for 2011/12 of £125 in December 2011. 245 employees received this payment with the total cost being £37,883 (including on costs).”

In response to a supplementary question, Councillor Lynch confirmed that should a similar revenue underspend be repeated the same action would be taken.

b)         Question asked by Councillor MR Lay and addressed to the Executive Member for Finance

“From 2001 to 2010 HBBC received significant sums of additional finance to support capital projects from the government and regional development bodies. Could he indicate all the projects with grants of over £50,000 that the Council were awarded during this period and the projects the money was assigned to”

Response from Councillor KWP Lynch

“The total amount of capital funding received between 2001 and 2010 by this Council is £13,899,469 as follows:

The breakdown is :-

In his position statement, the Leader of the Council congratulated Irene Ashton on being awarded the Colin Smith award, Councillor Bill on his MBE, Councillor Bessant on the birth of his son, and Mike Brymer and his team for their excellent services and increased customer satisfaction. The Leader thanked Sanjiv Kohli and Councillor Lynch for their work on the budget and highlighted the intention to freeze Council Tax again this year. He also made reference to the suggested contribution to rural broadband and the recent arrest of three people for theft of lead from church roofs in Hinckley.

Councillor Bessant responded by supporting the freeze in Council tax, echoing the congratulations offered to Councillor Bill and thanking everyone for their good wishes.

Councillor Lay supported the congratulatory comments already made, and spoke in support of all employees in Business, Contract and Street Scene Services who had contributed to the high achievement in the service and were a credit to the authority.

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Commission introduced the minutes of the meetings held on 8 December 2011 and 5 & 19 January 2012. He highlighted the ongoing reviews into fuel poverty, care for people with dementia and the newly convened Barwell and Earl Shilton Scrutiny Group which would provide valuable input into the development of the SUEs.

Members received a report which presented the proposed HBBC Pay Policy Statement for 2012/13 in line with Section 38 of the Localism Act 2011 which required the statement to be prepared in order to be transparent and accountable with regard to how local authorities pay and reward their workforce.

On the motion of Ms Witherford, seconded by Mr Bray, it was

RESOLVED – the HBBC Pay Policy Statement for 2012/13 be approved.

The Executive Member for Finance gave his budget speech, stating that whilst separate reports, the following seven items all related to the same budget and as such they would be discussed and voted on together. For the purpose of these minutes the discussion and voting are recorded as one, but the resolutions are set out under each separate item.

The Executive Member reminded Council that an amendment to the HRA subsidy buyout recommendation (c) had been tabled which provided for consultation with the Scrutiny Commission / Finance, Audit & Performance Committee before a decision being made by the Executive with the (non-voting) involvement of the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Group and Chair of Scrutiny Commission.

With regard to Council tax, it was stated that this had again been frozen in line with Government recommendations in response to concerns about the public being under pressure in the current economic climate.

During discussion on the seven reports, the following points were made and questions raised:

• The importance of ensuring a large part of the income was not being spent to service debt;
• Support for the amended recommendation on the HRA subsidy buyout;
• The need to ensure residents were aware of the implications of options for use of the Argents Mead site;
• Whether the cost of demolition anticipated for the current council offices was still valid;
• The risk of eroding the Council tax base by maintaining 0% increases and risk that the public will have this expectation for future years;
• Concern whether the decrease in the budget for Disabled Facilities Grants would lead to increased waiting lists;
• Whether potential income from the Community Infrastructure Levy had been factored into the budget papers;
• The timing for a decision on future leisure centre provision bearing in mind the impending end of the current contract and how this would be financed given the lack of capital funding;
• Where funding for the sustainable urban extensions would come from particularly as the core strategy had identified the cost of development.

Mrs Richards left the meeting at 7.59pm.

In response, the Executive Member for Finance made the following points:

• In four to five years the leisure centre would require major work costing between £4m and £6m which had to be weighed up against the cost of a new leisure centre for approximately £10m. Initial appraisals would be completed within the next couple of months.
• The projected costs of demolishing the current council offices had been checked again and were still accurate.
• There would still be no waiting list for Disabled Facilities Grants.
• Income from the Community Infrastructure Levy had not been included in the projections as there was no CIL Charging Structure in place at the present time and would not be included until after 2014.
• Development in the sustainable urban extensions would be funded by the private sector, mostly by the developers. The core strategy had merely identified the infrastructure schedule and showed costs of development but did not indicate an intention for the authority to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 396.

Following discussion on all budget-related reports as one and a recorded vote as recorded above, it was

RESOLVED –

(i)         The General Fund Revenue Budgets be approved;

(ii)        The Special Expenses area expenditure be approved;

(iii)       The total General Fund service expenditure for the Council be approved;

(iv)       The proposed movement of General Fund Reserves as set out in appendix C to the report be approved.

Following discussion on all budget-related reports as one and a recorded vote as recorded above, it was

RESOLVED -

(i)         the Capital Programme 2011/12 to 2014/15 be approved;

(ii)        the financial implications be noted.

Following discussion on all budget-related reports as one and a recorded vote as recorded above, it was

RESOLVED –

(i)         the authority buys itself out of the current Housing Revenue Account Subsidy system at a cost of £67.652m as per the Communities and Local Government (CLG) HRA Self Financing Determination on 28 March 2012;

(ii)        the authority borrows up to £67.652m from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) to finance the buy out payment on 26 March 2012 (the loan being advanced on 28 March 2012);

(iii)       the determination of the structure of the borrowing be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Direction), Deputy Chief Executive (Community Direction), Executive Member for Finance and Executive Member for Housing to make recommendations to a Joint Scrutiny Commission / Finance, Audit & Performance meeting to advise the Executive, who will make the final decision with the (non-voting) involvement of the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Group and Chairman of the Scrutiny Commission;

(iv)       the debt be repaid over a maximum period of 25 years.

Following discussion on all budget-related reports as one and a recorded vote as recorded above, it was

RESOLVED – the budgets presented in the annexes to the report be approved.

Following discussion on all budget-related reports as one and a recorded vote as recorded above, it was

RESOLVED – the Medium Term Financial Strategy be approved.

Following discussion on all budget-related reports as one and a recorded vote as recorded above, it was

RESOLVED – the key elements of the report be noted:

(i)         the prudential indicators and limits for 2011/12 to 2014/15 contained within section 3 part A of the report, including authorised limit prudential indicator;

(ii)        the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Statement contained within section 3 part A of the report which sets out the Council’s policy on MRP;

(iii)       the Treasury Management Strategy 2011/12 to 2014/15 and the treasury prudential indicators contained within section 3 part B of the report;

(iv)       the investment strategy contained in the treasury management strategy part 3 section B of the report and the detailed strategy at appendix 1.

Following discussion on all budget-related reports as one and a recorded vote as recorded above, it was

RESOLVED – in accordance with sections 32 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended):

(i)         the Council’s budget requirement as set out in the General Fund Revenue Budget 2012/13, excluding Special Expenses and Parish Councils be £9,825,274;

(ii)        the Council’s budget requirement as set out in the General Fund Revenue Budget 2012/13, including Special Expenses, be £10,435,734;

(iii)       the Council’s total net budget requirement including Special Expenses and Parish Councils be £11,940,670;

(iv)       the contribution from Revenue Support Grant and Non Domestic Rates be £5,372,446;

(v)        a surplus of £20,000 on the Collection Fund be transferred to an earmarked reserve in accordance with Council policy in 2012/13;

(vi)       the Council Tax for Borough wide services, excluding Special Expenses and Parish Council precepts, for Band D be £95.96;

(vii)      the Council Tax for Borough wide services and an average of Special Expenses services for Band D be £112.17;

(viii)     the basic amount of Council Tax, being the tax relating to Borough wide services and an average of Special Expenses and Parish Council services for Band D be £152.12;

(ix)       the total Council Tax, including amounts for the County Council, Police Authority and Fire Authority and for each area and valuation band be approved as contained within appendix A to the report;

(x)        the calculation of the estimated surplus on the Collection Fund be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Direction) and the surplus be transferred to the Pension Reserve in accordance with the Council’s policy.

Members were presented with the draft calendar of meetings 2012/13. It was moved by Ms Witherford and seconded by Mr Bray that the meeting of Council in July be amended and brought forward to 19 June. This amendment was accepted. The Chairman of the Scrutiny Commission requested that the dates of the July and August Commission meetings be changed, and it was agreed that this would be discussed outside of the meeting. It was therefore

RESOLVED – the calendar of meetings for 2012/13 be agreed with the abovementioned amendment to the date of Council in July 2012 and subject to the change in dates of the Scrutiny Commission in July and August 2012.

Motion from Councillors MR Lay and S Sprason

“Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council is alarmed at the decision of Leicestershire County Council (LCC), who in removing the assisted home to school bus service which takes children from Field Head to Groby Community College is now seeking to charge £400 a year for a safe travel to school option which for many years had been provided by the County Council as a right.

This decision was taken midway through the school year causing hardship for parents and yet in a similar case the free bus from Kirby Muxloe to Groby has been allowed to continue until the end of the school year. At a minimum the route should qualify for assistance as other historic exception routes do and continue as stated in the final report of the LCC scrutiny review panel on home to school transport. We believe that the qualifying criteria are met by this route and the failure not to acknowledge this falls foul of the Equalities Act 2010.

The County Council has claimed the route from Field Head to Groby is “suitable” and available for children to walk almost 3 miles to school but do not regard safety to be an issue while many reasoned neutral observers would totally disagree with the assessment that the route is either “suitable” or safe for children to walk.

The route leads children to walk right alongside the A50 one the busiest stretches of road in the County carrying over 24,000 vehicles per day, many travelling along a good part of the route in excess of the speed limit and with the footpath running right alongside. A section of the route on the steep gradient of Bradgate Hill is a recognised accident hot-spot known by locals as “Accident Alley” which claimed another fatality as recently as Tuesday 7th February 2012. The aftermath caused the route to be closed to vehicles and pedestrians for over 7 hours.

The irony is that the school transport that is provided for eligible children by LCC school bus that children at Field Head used is the same bus that picks up children from Markfield and this assisted service will continue. However this bus will now pass Field Head children being exposed to having to walk along this dangerous route, with obviously visible empty seats as most parents in these difficult times cannot afford the £400 extra now being demanded from them, in some cases for 2 children. A ridiculous situation from which there is no gain for the County Council who will not achieve any additional revenue while no additional cost is incurred by having to continue to provide the assisted bus service, which has existed since Markfield and Field Head children began attending Groby Community College many years ago. The only negative impact with potentially serious consequences are the children who are being encouraged to walk to and from school along what is potentially a very dangerous route as borne out by an independent Risk Assessment and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 405.