Agenda item

Councillor Learney introduced the report setting out the Winchester Town Account which was an expense set within the council budget paying for expenditure in the unparished area of the district; the five town wards, with the exception of Harestock which sits within Littleton and Harestock Parish Council.

It was reported that three quarters of this expenditure was used to fund recreation grounds, play areas and open spaces and was also used for public transport provision, community safety, public conveniences, grants to community organisations. With the majority of spend connected to inflation linked contracts, costs have increased considerably in the last few years.

In order to balance the budget, reviews have been carried out to play area refurbishment by lowering capital spend and increasing reactive maintenance and granted reductions have been agreed for future years. In addition, during 2024/25 a review of cemeteries and open space management would also take place for net efficiencies and savings.

It was emphasised that the town had small sources of income including allotments, pitch pavilion and court rental, cemeteries charges and for capital expenditure, the local portion of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). The Forum continued to support the provision of great recreation and public facilities which could be demonstrated by the new KGV pavilion, the skate park and the work carried out in the town’s parks and playgrounds as well as the aspirations strongly supported by the public in the River Park Park Plan and the Vision for Winchester. In addition, it wished to continue the greener faster agenda, and the Pride in Place work in town ward areas, therefore spending plans and unexpected expenditure needed to be carefully considered to achieve this.

It was recognised that for financial resilience, it was prudent to increase the level of reserves which would result in a precept increase greater than the 3% indicated in projections set out in the report. When looking at the level of council tax precept in the town area for 2024/25, it was therefore proposed that Cabinet be asked to endorse the maximum increase allowed under the combined town and district referendum limit for final approval by Council in February 2024.

The forum asked questions and raised comments, particularly in relation to the inflation and financial pressure, the impact of the capping limits that constrained the town forum budget, CIL funding, the disparity in the forecast between cemeteries and grants, awareness of potential shortfalls as an impact of cuts to county council services and the Government’s funding announcement which were addressed by Cabinet Member and the Finance Manager (Strategic Finance) accordingly.

RESOLVED:

That the Town Forum;

1.                    Agrees the draft budget for 2024/25 and the indicative projections for the strategy period, as shown in Appendix 1 of the report;

2.                    Approves an increase in the target minimum town reserve balance from 10% to 15% of annual net service expenditure;

3.                    Approves an increase of £5,841 to the baseline town revenue budget from 2024/25, in respect of increased reactive maintenance and annual life expectancy reports on play equipment; and

4.                    Recommend to Cabinet that the Council Tax precept for the Town area be increased to the maximum commensurate with the council tax referendum limit for 2024/25, noting the requirements for the council to keep within overall referendum constraints.