Agenda item

Councillor Townend gave the opening remarks to the agenda item and made the following comments:

• The proposals in the draft budget report for 2018/19 were initially agreed for recommending to Council at Cabinet on 16 January;
• Members briefing sessions on the draft budget proposals were held;
• Cabinet had identified £300,000 savings in the proposals;
• It was worth noting that council tax for a Band D property was increased by £6.57 per year to £226.44;
• The budget proposals were being considered in a macro economic environment marked by significant uncertainties that included the still to be decided local government funding settlement and the fair funding review;

Tim Willis, Director of Corporate Resources then advised the meeting of a correction to Table 5 in para 4.13 as follows:

  Total for 2019/20 should be £586,000 and not £712,000;

  Total for 2020/21 should be £101,000 and not £338,000.

Members of the Panel then made comments and asked questions about the proposals in the budget report as follows:

• What percentage of the council resources in the budget was to be spent on street cleansing in Cliftonville?
• Was this allocation not having a detrimental effect on street cleaning work in other areas of the district?
• Business rates retention scheme – Would the council be better or worse off if it did not take part in the pilot scheme?
• Will there be a proportionate formula to the allocation of benefits to be derived from the pilot: - do the less affluent areas get more?
• Will TDC be able to scrutinise the scheme?
• Would Members be able to look at the scheme to ascertain whether Thanet would be as better off as the other Councils participating in the scheme?
• Is the extra revenue to be generated from the pilot going to be ring fenced or allocated to the general fund? If it is to be ring fenced, what would be the percentage allocated to economic growth?
• Business incentives – What Business incentives are offered to investors to attract inward investment into the district?
• Why was it the case that the extra income to be derived from council tax was only due to be allocated amongst the major preceptors and not to all other preceptors? Council tax discount from government used to be passed on to Parish Councils, but this had now been stopped. The Parish/Town Councils were now worse off. Therefore in future TDC should consider including minor preceptors;
• Could officers provide more information on business incentives;
• If Town/Parish councils could show evidence that as a result of some of the actions they had taken to attract investment (including additional street cleansing work), could they be allocated some of the revenue from the pilot scheme?

Tim Willis and Tim Howes (Director of Corporate Governance) gave the following responses to Member comments and questions:

• The issue regarding street cleansing was not directly related to the draft budget report before the Panel;
• Business rates retention pilot scheme – There was a ‘no detriment’ clause in the pilot agreement;
• Council will not be worse off by being in the scheme. They can only be better off. However the details of the scheme have not been agreed and are not yet ready for sharing;
• The pilot scheme has multiple benefits that include:

§  Reward based upon incentivising economic growth;

§  Some allocation to each district based on the population size and business rates base;

• Redistribution based on need and deprivation has not yet been agreed. However it should be noted that there is diversity between Kent districts regarding business rates base, growth, population and deprivation. Discussions are still on-going;
• The pilot scheme is for one year with a possible extension for another year. The memorandum of agreement is being finalised with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Modelling of the distribution of the funds cannot be complete until the principles are agreed across Kent;
• A proportion of the revenue will go towards economic growth, as this was part of the assumptions of the bid to participate in the pilot scheme. However no specific figures have been agreed as yet;
• Business incentives – The questions could not be answered in detail without input from the Head of Growth & Development and a written response will be provided to Members;
• Parish Councils could not directly access the revenue from the pilot scheme. However they could participate in some of the projects that TDC decided to implement in their respective jurisdictions;
• The role of scrutiny by Councils has not been discussed. This could be explored at an appropriate time of the pilot scheme and advice will be sought regarding that issue.

Members noted the report.