Agenda item

 The Council’s 151 Officer has provided various reports over recent months highlighting the Council’s current financial position and the scale of our financial issues for the future.  Whilst acknowledging the lack of clarity (due to various uncertainties), this report provides an update on possible financial measures to help future deficits.

Officers request that Cabinet considers the items identified and advises on the way forward.

Cabinet

            RESOLVED

            That the report be noted and Officers be instructed to proceed with each proposal.

The Leader of the Council introduced this report outlining that the Council’s 151 Officer had provided various reports over recent months highlighting the Council’s current financial position and the scale of its financial issues for the future.  Whilst acknowledging the lack of clarity, due to a variety of uncertainties, this report provided an update on possible financial measures, proposed by Officers, for Cabinet to consider helping anticipated future deficits, particularly from 2022/23.   Although Cabinet had received regular updates on the Strategic Targets, this report provided an update following the Coronavirus Pandemic Lockdown, which had commenced on 23 March 2020, the detail of which had been set out in Appendix A to the report.

The Chairman stated that the Council’s Corporate Management Team, had been working with Group Heads of services examining possible changes to service delivery that would assist the Council’s Budget.  These proposals had been set out in Appendix B to this report.  The Chairman then invited the Chief Executive to work through the first part of the report and Appendix A.  He reminded Councillors that the Council had agreed the ten Strategic Targets in 2019, long before the Council had any idea of the financial troubles lying ahead of it.  Appendix A provided a target and timescale update for each of the targets listed. Members were reminded of the fact that for the last eight months; Officers have been tied up with the Coronavirus pandemic.  However, it was appropriate, currently, for Cabinet to consider each target and its appropriateness in the current climate and the estimated revised timescales. 

The Chairman firstly invited debate on the first part of the report and the strategic targets as set out in Appendix A.

Cabinet was very much of the view that Officer’s focus had rightly been in responding to the demands of Covid-19 and it was accepted that this had had an impact on the targets.  However, Cabinet confirmed that it felt that the all of the targets were still very relevant and revised timescales were noted.

The Cabinet Member for Technical Services, Councillor Stanley, made reference to strategic target (8) [Public Engagement Strategy] stating that this had been one of the targets that had been rapidly progressed and as a result of the pandemic as it had been vital for the Council to engage better with the public through better digital channels.  He referred to the last Cabinet meeting where funding had been recommended for an enhanced webcasting service and that significant improvements were being made to the Council’s web site in terms of design and content to make information clearer and easier to find, especially in relation to the top transactional services. Work had also progressed in looking at call handling and introducing web chats at a time when the public wanted to engage with the Council in different ways and were demanding to do this too.  There was now an expectation through places like Amazon and Netflix that people should be able to communicate with larger organisations in different ways.  This was right and the Council was responding to this and as it had become not just a personal preference from the customer prospective but a necessity to be able to contact and engage with the Council in different ways. Councillor Stanley stated that had been a lot of success and engagement around social media activity, with the introduction of the Leader of the Council’s social media broadcasts and so this was a target that had progressed very well.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Mrs Gregory, praised the work on housing [target 7] and confirmed some good news items against the target set.  She stated that there were now 90 new housing units in the pipeline and that there would be another 22 progressing further by the end of this month.  The Council had also secured 2 temporary accommodation units of family size.  There were also schemes where terms had already been agreed providing a more accurate reflection on progress. Looking at this, a scheme in Bognor Regis had been proposed for extension to provide a further two properties.

The Cabinet Member for Commercial and Business Development, Councillor Coster, acknowledged the distractions brought about by Covid-19 and stated that despite this much progress had been made in pushing forward the strategic targets. Examples were the change in governance [target 5] and the Public Engagement Strategy. Even regeneration issues were pushing forward, the details of which would be reported through soon.

The Chairman echoed the positives raised by Cabinet Members and re-emphasised that Covid-19 had been a huge and all-consuming distraction, nationally and locally for the Council and that Officers had battled to undertake this challenge whilst at the same time having to also complete the day job. The result of this was that Arun continued to see one of the lowest incidents of Covid in the country and he paid tribute to Arun’s residents who had adhered to the relevant protocols.

The Chairman then alerted Councillors to Appendix B to the report.  He stated that according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, there had been a near decade of austerity within Local Government finance, with an average budget reduction for Districts of 40% and a decline in spend by the population of 23%.  The medium-term financial outlook did not look good, particularly as the Government’s own most recent figures referred to a reduction in growth of 5% nationally.  The pressure on Districts was larger as they moved towards a Government “levelling up” through the Business Rate reset and the Fair Funding Review, which were still scheduled to happen in April 2021.  The Institute of Fiscal Studies estimated that whilst the forthcoming unfunded financial pressures on County Councils would be around 1.5%, for Districts it would be around 8%, largely because of the nature in how Districts obtained their finances.

It had to be accepted that the Coronavirus pandemic had put additional pressure onto the Council to find new, and innovative ways, of balancing the books.  In 2018, the Council’s Vision 2020 programme saved the Council £3m pa on its revenue costs, which had helped to put the Council into a stronger position.  But now the Council needed to consider more ways to balance its budget. 

The Chairman drew Members’ attention to Appendix B of the report which provided a list of possible avenues the Council could embark upon and which asked Cabinet to provide guidance to Officers on each of the items listed.  Some of the items on the list had already been achieved, some were ongoing, whilst the remainder needed Cabinet support.  Depending upon the steer from Cabinet, Officers would then move these projects forward in an appropriate way. 

The Chief Executive then explained the varying sections in Appendix B and alerted Cabinet to the Officer comments showing the areas that the Council’s Corporate Management Team were keen to progress.  In total there were 35 items for Cabinet to consider and prioritise and it was outlined that in response to whatever Cabinet instructed Officers to do, further reports would be forthcoming.

In debating this item, Cabinet was of the view that in looking at the Council’s current financial situation and the possible financial measures that could be taken to help future deficits, attention needed to be given to looking at investments not just about making savings. Examples provided were Proposals 7 [introduce solar panels for car parks] and 11 [electric charging points] which would be investments in commercial activities which would bring environmental benefits which could also produce an income stream. The recruitment of a Commercial Manager was supported and seen as vital to progressing many of the proposals outlined.  It was acknowledged that the Council would have to make difficult decisions and choices but that some potential schemes were not negotiable and were too important to not progress. These were highlighted and it was stated that they were already budgeted for, being the replacement roof for the Littlehampton Chapel as a cost of £250k.  Another important priority was that of accessibility and making Bognor Regis beach accessible to all, this was confirmed as another priority which would be budgeted for in next year’s budget.  This was why the recruitment of a Commercial Manager was vital so that investments could be made to protect the lifestyles of Arun’s community.  All the 35 proposals were supported by Cabinet and it confirmed that they should be pushed forward to maintain the very high level of customer satisfaction in Arun.

A non-Cabinet Member stated that this was a long ‘to do’ list and involved a lot of work if all proposals were agreed.  How would non-Cabinet Councillors be kept updated on progress.  Would this be via individual Cabinet Member monthly reports or would a working document be sent out with timeframes and an update on progress? 

In response, the Chairman and the Chief Executive explained that before any of the projects listed in Appendix B were progressed, update reports would be submitted to Cabinet or the appropriate Committee for approval. In some cases, some of the proposals would be automatically progressed by Officers. There would also be regular updates provided to Members through the normal channels, this was a starting point by asking Cabinet to confirm how it wished to proceed with each of the proposals listed.

The Cabinet

            RESOLVED

The report be noted, and Officers be instructed to proceed with each proposal.

The Cabinet confirmed its decision as per Decision Notice C/018/191020, a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of the Minutes.