Agenda item

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the committee scrutinise and comment on the proposals within the attached draft cabinet report, ref CAB3522 which is to be considered by cabinet at its meeting on the 19 November 2025.

Councillor Neil Cutler, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation introduced the report. The introduction included the following points:

1. The Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and budget options paper showed a balanced budget for the next two years, with a relatively small deficit in the years that followed.
2. The full detail of Fair Funding Review 2.0 was expected before the end of the year, with the most significant element being the rebasing of business rates, which would create a significant reduction in the council’s revenue.
3. The food waste payment was budgeted at 80% of the full cost, as government confirmation of full funding was still pending.
4. Income from extended producer responsibility came in at £1.6 million, which was higher than the budgeted figure of £800,000.
5. The paper included one-off expenditures for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) implementation, estimated at over £2 million, and for the community governance review.
6. Savings from the TC25 programme had reached over £1.6 million off the base budget, and the transformation team would now be concentrating on LGR rather than further TC25 savings.

Liz Keys, Director (Finance), provided a further introduction which included the following points:

1. The MTFS showed a more positive and stable financial position for the council compared to previous years.
2. That fewer budget options were presented this year because the move towards LGR resulted in a shorter long-term planning horizon.
3. The report sets out the key assumptions that were being made in preparing the budget for February.

Councillor Danny Lee addressed the committee and raised several points, which could be summarised as follows. He suggested presenting the financial forecasts with best, central, and worst-case scenarios to reflect uncertainties. He asked for clarification on which specific grants were affected by the TC25 community grants reduction and sought a “best-guess” estimate for the costs of LGR.

He also enquired whether a provision for legal and valuation costs related to asset transfers under LGR should be included. Further questions were raised regarding the pattern of rental income risk, whether a contingency for the River Park Pavilion project should be included in the MTFS, and whether the council could be more ambitious with an accelerated solar energy programme.

The committee was asked to scrutinise and comment on the proposals within the attached draft cabinet report, ref CAB3522, which was to be considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 19 November. The committee proceeded to ask questions and debate the report. In summary, the following matters were raised.

1. Clarification was sought on the garage maintenance budget, including whether it applied to garages owned by the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and its overall cost-effectiveness.
2. A question was asked as to why an increase in garage rental income was classified as a TC25 transformational change and what other income increases were counted in this way.
3. Further detail was requested regarding the planned use of the additional £400,000 for the maintenance and investment in operational assets.
4. A question was raised about how businesses located outside of the Winchester City area were involved in the MTFS consultation process.
5. The recruitment of a permanent Corporate Head of Resources was questioned, given the council's limited lifespan due to LGR.
6. A question was asked about the potential impact of removing the New Homes Bonus on the council's housing delivery targets.
7. Further information was requested regarding the reduction in the employer’s pension contribution referred to in the report.
8. A question was raised about the potential for an expanded solar energy programme.
9. Clarification was sought as to why the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) reserve balance for Winchester Town was projected to remain static and how expenditure from this reserve was planned.

These points were responded to by Councillor Neil Cutler, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation, Liz Keys, Director (Finance), and Laura Taylor, Chief Executive accordingly.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That cabinet considers the committee's comments raised during the discussion of the item.