The following Motion has been submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 15.1 and 15.2.
MOTION 1
Proposer: Councillor Gunner
Seconder: Councillor Greenway
That this Council will provide to all Members full details of all proposed cost savings in the 2024/5 budget, including implications on service delivery, ahead of the individual service committee meetings where their service committee budgets will be recommended for the 2024/5 budget.
Minutes:
As confirmed earlier in the meeting, the Chair confirmed a change in the order of the agenda announcing that Agenda Item 19 [Motions] would be considered now.
The Chair confirmed that in line with requirements of the Constitution a motion had been submitted in accordance with Council Procedures 15.1 and 15.2.
The Chair invited Councillor Gunner to present his motion.
Councillor Gunner in presenting his Motion confirmed how disappointing it was that he was having to table it. He outlined that he and other Councillors had been asking for some time to receive information about the proposed savings and the budget and that councillors had not received this information. Councillors only as recently as 4 January 2024 had received a highlighted list of savings and had been told that Councillors effectively had no say on what had been placed onto that list. The list included entries such as the reduction in the foreshores team; a reduction in the RNLI team, it included cuts in community safety; cuts to play area budgets and parks; and included the removal of the coffee machine as well as work on energy efficiency and omissions reducing work. As things stood, apart from the headlines that Members received on 4 January, which had still not been published publicly, members had not received the full detail of what those savings meant. Councillor Gunner confirmed that many Councillors, cross party, had raised concerns over the lack of Member consultation and the lack of briefing in terms of what the savings meant in the longer term. One Councillor had asked if impact assessments had been undertaken on those savings and Councillor Gunner outlined that this was something that many Councillors would be interested to receive. Councillor Gunner explained that all his motion set out to achieve was to insert the right of Councillors to know in full what the savings were and what they meant in the budget. In view of the depth of his and other Members’ concerns he had submitted this motion and following further discussion with cross-party members he proposed to adjust the motion slightly to include the wording below:
Furthermore, officers will identify viable new income generation opportunities and provide to the relevant Committees annual estimates of any new income streams identified.
Councillor Greenway confirmed that he would second the motion and the alteration.
The Chair sought advice from the Group Head of Law & Governance and Monitoring Officer. He confirmed that the Motion presented by Councillor Gunner had been altered and was different to what had been confirmed within the agenda papers. The Group Head of Law & Governance confirmed that a member could alter a motion of which they had given notice with the consent of the seconder and the meeting and that the consent of the meeting should be indicated without discussion. If support was not signified, then the alternation would then need to be moved as an amendment.
Having obtained consent from the seconder to the Motion, Councillor Greenway, and the Council, the alteration to the motion was accepted.
The altered motion was read out as follows with the added words highlighted in bold:
That this Council will provide to all Members full details of all proposed cost savings in the 2024/5 budget, including implications on service delivery, ahead of the individual service committee meetings where their service committee budgets will be recommended for the 2024/5 budget. Furthermore, officers will identify viable new income generation opportunities and provide to the relevant Committees annual estimates of any new income streams identified.
As consent to the alteration had been confirmed, the Chair then invited debate on the motion. Most Councillors speaking confirmed that they supported it. Many emphasised the importance of pursuing and understanding income streams and undertaking work to improve income generation. Councillors also felt that being provided with as much information as possible would assist with debate at the budget setting meeting. They supported the points raised about improving income generation and investing to save which were all important parts of the strategy to achieve the savings required. A plea was made to provide the added information required in sufficient time ahead of the next cycle of meetings that would be taking place in January and February and to avoid providing presentations on the night or the day before a committee meeting.
The Interim Joint Chief Executive and Director of Environment and Communities confirmed that Members had been provided with written detail of the proposals and what the savings looked like at a Member Briefing on 4 January 2024. That briefing had also explained in detail what the Savings Strategy aimed to achieve; and the longer term plans for the Council covering the next few years. Each of those plans would come forward to Members as a project and so Members would receive all the detail covering several issues including maximising cost, recovery and looking at income streams. All of that had been covered within the Savings Strategy report presented. The Interim Joint Chief Executive confirmed that Officers would be happy to provide more detail at the forthcoming Service Committee meetings that would consider each of their budgets, however, the first of the budget committee meetings would be taking place on 23 January 2024, which was the Environment Committee, with the remaining committees following in rapid succession. This meant that Officers would provide what they could at those meetings, but it could not be promised that this information would be provided allowing Members a week to review what they would receive. This was because following tonight’s meeting, officers would have to work in gathering this information and assembling it in an appropriate way. With the publication deadlines in place for the issuing of agendas, this would be a challenge. The message was reinforced in that the Financial Strategy covered much of what Members needed to know.
In response, Councillors questioned where this information existed. The Interim Joint Chief Executive referred to the further detail on savings that had been provided to Members on 4 January 2024 and she explained that vacant posts had been proposed as savings and why. The strategy aimed to protect the services to the community as far as possible. This was the Council’s first attempt at making the savings that it needed to with the Savings Strategy outlining the consequences of not doing so, which were reinforced by the Group Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer.
Councillors reinforced their wish to receive this information stating that it would assist them in understanding and being able to properly scrutinise the budgets. This was why it was important to receive as much information as possible to allow Councillors to fully understand what the savings meant for the Council in the longer term and to understand the income streams available and the full detail of these.
Councillor Greenway, as seconder to the Motion, confirmed that it was clear that there were still some large outstanding questions that members had, and they were simply requesting to receive as much detail as possible on the implications to service delivery ahead of the next round of Service Committees. He held concern that Members did not have that level of detail.
Councillor Gunner, as proposer of the Motion, stated that as Members were expected to make some very tough decisions, the request for more information was not unreasonable. Members could not make decisions on the future of Arun Times and how this would be published; on events or increasing cemetery fees, without being in receipt of the essential detail. The fact that Members had not been invited to have input into these proposals was another concern. Councillor Gunner confirmed that he had been requesting to receive this information since October and had tabled this motion in the middle of December 2023. He confirmed that he had also said that he would be happy to withdraw the motion if the outstanding information was provided and he believed that this information could have been provided earlier. What Members had received had been the headlines at the Member Briefing, not the detail that sat behind the headlines. The motion had been presented to allow Councillors to understand what the savings proposed meant in practice. Councillors wanted to receive as much detail as possible and alternative options and proposals.
Having undertaken a vote on the motion this was unanimously approved and therefore declared CARRIED.
The Council, therefore
RESOLVED
That this Council will provide to all Members full details of all proposed cost savings in the 2024/5 budget, including implications on service delivery, ahead of the individual service committee meetings where their service committee budgets will be recommended for the 2024/5 budget. Furthermore, officers will identify viable new income generation opportunities and provide to the relevant Committees annual estimates of any new income streams identified.
The Chair then called a short adjournment confirming that the meeting would resume in 10 minutes at 18.04.