Agenda item

The Chairman to invite the Liberal Democrats and UKIP to present their views on next year’s Budget & MTP.

(Councillor J A Gray, Executive Councillor for Resources, and Councillor P J Downes, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, were in attendance for this item).

By way of introduction the Chairman explained that he had invited the Leaders of the Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party to address the Panel about their views on next year's Budget and MTP. As Councillor P D Reeve was unable to attend, the Chairman had arranged to meet with him on 22nd January 2013 and he urged other Panel Members to attend if they were available.

The Head of Financial Services provided an update on the Council’s current budgetary position following the Government's announcement on the grant for 2013/14. Members were informed that as a result of the level of funding that would be awarded for 2014/15, the Council would need to find an additional £1.7M of savings. In terms of work that was currently ongoing on the Budget, that a review of the risk provisions was currently being undertaken. The figure for additional income from higher car parking charges had been moved into unidentified savings until better information was available. With regard to Council Tax increases, the Government had announced that those District Councils with lower levels of Council Tax would be able to increase their levy by £5 (which equated to 3.9%) if they chose to do so.

Councillor P J Downes, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, outlined the views of the Liberal Democrat Group.  In terms of Council Tax levels, he reiterated that the overall tax level for the District was too low and that his Group would support increasing Council Tax to lessen the need to reduce services. In making budgetary decisions more generally, he emphasised the importance of distinguishing between reductions in services and cost savings from improved efficiencies. A number of specific short and longer term proposals were then outlined by other Members of the Group as follows:-

v  investigate the potential to reduce the postal costs associated with the issue of poll cards in urban areas through the use of a commercial provider;

v  investigate the potential to unify the way in which elections were run across the County;

v  increase expenditure on car park patrolling and publicity to generate additional income;

v  investigate the new localism provisions to purchase 5 days of yellow lining time to fill in gaps and whether this will generate additional business for the District’s Car Parks;

v  introduce a residents only scheme for the Cowper Road, Priory Road, Avenue Road, Priory Grove and Primrose Lane area of Huntingdon to prevent all day parking;

v  introduce a charge for the provision of a second green bin only when there was a change of occupancy;

v  abandon the proposals to develop a multi-storey car park in Huntingdon;

v  give consideration to renting housing in the market towns to assist with the rising costs of homelessness and the provision of bed and breakfast accommodation;

v  take steps to achieve marginal budgetary savings, for example, in paper costs and energy usage;

v  address the issue of fraudulent declarations of Single Person Occupancy by offering an amnesty for previous acts of fraud;

v  investigate the possibility of securing Unitary Status;

v  review Members’ travel allowances;

v  identify economies of scale in procurement of stationery etc;

v  introduce a suggestion scheme to engage staff and offer rewards for ideas which resulted in budgetary savings;

v  review expenditure on temporary staff;

v  establish a maximum budget for employee training;

v  investigate whether the existing rental arrangements for providing accommodation for the Shop Mobility service offered the best solution or whether there was a more cost effective way of providing this accommodation, and

v  review the arrangements for publicising job applications, with a view to achieving cost savings by using the Authority’s website.

In thanking the Group for their constructive suggestions, Members indicated their support for a number of the ideas, which they considered warranted further review. In doing so, a number of other suggestions were made, including moving towards four yearly elections and offering the voluntary sector accommodation within the headquarters building, which would secure savings in business rates. The Chairman indicated that the suggestions made would be submitted to the Cabinet for consideration by Executive Members; however, if they were adopted, they were not likely to be implemented in 2013/14. Members emphasised the need for feedback from the Cabinet on the suggestions and general recommendations that had been made.

In concluding the discussion, the Executive Councillor thanked the Liberal Democrats and the Panel for their contributions, which would be considered by Cabinet in due course. As part of their future budgetary deliberations and, in response to comments which had been made at the last Council meeting, he invited the Panel to give consideration to the implications of not increasing Council tax levels as a potential policy.