Decision details

The report was introduced by the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources, Councillor Ross Henley.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

·       Officers would provide a written answer to clarify on the successful status of the grant funding to protect key heritage sites in Wellington as detailed in the report.

·       Clarification was sought on the Employment Site enabling and allocation and why £200,000 had been removed, leaving £100,000.

·       Officers clarified that there was no business case attached for the £200,000 hence its removal, and believed the £100,000 was allocated for the Digital Innovation Centre.

·       Concerns were expressed that this was a report at matters up to September 2020 and was not timely.

·       Officers clarified that this report was scheduled as early as possible in the normal calendar of meetings.

RESOLVED that Full Council;

1.     Approved a supplementary estimate of £657,000 from General Reserves to fund the estimated overspend related to COVID.

2.     Approved the realignment of budgets for COVID related income and expenditure to offset the reported variances that net off to zero when including the £657,000 in 2.1 above. In addition, Council also approves delegated authority to the CEO and S151 Officer to further realign affected budgets during the year in view of potential volatility in forecasts due to COVID.

3.     Approved the reallocation of reserves to provide increased resilience and flexibility to mitigate COVID related financial pressures, and to support the Revenue Budget in the medium term, as follows:

(a)            To transfer £3.949m of New Homes Bonus reserve to General Reserves, and agree alternative financing for relevant capital schemes through Community Infrastructure Levy and borrowing as set out in paragraph 7.5.

(b)            To transfer £1.0m from the Business Rates Volatility Reserve to General Reserves.

4.     Approved amended Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Allocation Principles as set out in paragraph 7.9. 

5.     Approved changes to the General Fund Capital Programme by a total of -£1.370m for the following headings as referred in paragraph 7.3:

a)      £295,000 reduction to Major Transport Schemes budget from NHB-funded programme

b)      £375,000 reduction to remove budget for Creech Castle Road Improvements contribution from NHB-funded programme

c)      £200,000 Reduction to Employment Site Enabling schemes budget from NHB-funded programme

d)      £1,000,000 reduction to Public Transport Improvements budget from NHB-funded programme as Housing Infrastructure Fund bid not successful

e)      £500,000 increase to Education Provision budget funded by Community Infrastructure Levy.

6.     Approved the revised Budget Total for the Growth Programme of £3.56m to be funded by New Homes Bonus as set out in para 7.6 Table 3, and CIL-funded Infrastructure Capital Programme totalling £16.262m as set out in para 7.10 Table 4.

7.     Approved a supplementary estimate to the Capital Programme, in 2020/21, for grant-funded repairs at Toneworks in Wellington up to £500k, which is the maximum value of the grant funding applied for from the Historic England.

Councillors Buller, Habgood and Whetlor abstained from the vote.