Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P Carpenter & Grant.

Councillor Annison attended as a substitute for Councillor Grant.

Councillor Stenhouse attended as a substitute for Councillor P Carpenter.

There were no declarations of interest declared at the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2025 were confirmed as a true record.

The Chair reported that there were no matters arising from the above minutes which were not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

The Chair read out the salient areas of the response which would be sent to Anglian Water.

The Chair asked Councillor Galer what points from his email he would like incorporated in to the response. Councillor Galer requested that the highlighted bullet points be incorporated. The Committee agreed to this request and the Democratic Services Officer reported that she would update the response and circulate to the Committee via email.

Councillor Jeal was concerned in regard to flagging up the quality of the bathing waters as every time the Council had lost the "blue flag" award for the quality of bathing waters, visitor numbers had fallen and he asked that the Committee be selective in their language in this matter.

RESOLVED:-

That the response to Anglian Water be updated to include the points raised by Councillor Galer and circulated via email for final approval.

The Executive Director - Resources reported that this report presents the 2025/26 budget for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account for approval including the capital programme for both. 

The 2025/26 medium term financial strategy was presented to Members in December 2024 and at that time set a savings/income target of £1.5million for the 2025/26 financial year, with a further £1.5million target in 2026/27 and £1 million in 2027/28. This along with a reducing reliance on the use of reserves over the short term was part of the financial strategy to produce a balanced budget for 2025/26. This was ahead of the detailed work on the service budgets and the outcome of the finance settlement. As part of the approval of the MTFS members approved savings and additional income totalling £583,500 which had been considered as part of cross party budget meetings to inform the budget.

The provisional Local Government Financial Settlement for 2025/26 was announced on 18 December 2024. The final settlement is due to be confirmed in early February and any changes will be updated as part of the budget reports to Members in February. The provisional settlement followed the publication of the Local Government Finance Policy Statement 2025/26 announced at the end of November.

The Council must present for approval a balanced budget each year. Despite the slightly improved finance settlement for 2025/26 above the level previously forecast the budget is reliant on the use of reserves as it would be in the medium term. This is not a sustainable position for the long term and when the outcomes of the future funding review are known this will assist Local Authorities with the longer-term financial planning for the provision of services and the MTFS will be updated accordingly. 

The budget report will be presented for approval by Council on 20 February 2025 to inform the setting of the council tax for 2025/26. 

The report and appendices present the detailed budget considerations for 2025/26. 
Whilst the report presents a budget for 2025/26 for approval only it does flag a funding gap of £1.1 million in 2026/27 for which early work will commence on addressing this gap in 2025/26 and be informed by the funding reforms for local government.

Councillor Wainwright reported that he would not comment fully to the Budget at this meeting and would save his questions for full Council next Thursday. However, he had attended Cabinet this afternoon and was concerned that Cabinet had reinstated Ward Budgets at £2k per Councillor which totalled £78k without consulting the cross-party Member Working Group. As a result of the Council receiving a favourable settlement from the Labour Government, it would appear that the current Conservative administration had no qualms in regard to taking more money from our reserves.

Councillor Wainwright was also concerned that the budget for lifeguard provision had been reinstated in the budget.  Councillor Wainwright asked the Executive director if she had been made aware of these two amendments prior to Cabinet. The Executive Director reported that she was not aware of the amendment to reinstate ward budgets but the lifeguard provision continued to be reviewed in order for this service to be retained. 

The Chair reported that the Council had received extra funding of £470k to combat deprivation, a 2.7% rise in the Support Grant. The Chair was disappointed that several members of his Group had sat on the Member Working Group and had not been consulted on the two amendments proposed at Cabinet and that the S151 Officer was unaware of these proposals. Councillor Jeal reported that he was also disappointed that the MWH had not been consulted.

Councillor Thompson asked whether the Council were still in negotiation with GYBID in regard to the funding of the lifeguard provision. The Executive Director reported that the lines of communication remained open but that the Council were not hopeful as the BID had allocated all of their funding for the next financial year.

Councillor Thompson asked if the costs of Devolution would have to be borne by the Council. The Executive director reported that £200k had been allowed in the budget for Devolution/LGR. Although this amount had been earmarked, if the monies were not spent, it would go back into Reserves.

The Executive Director reported on the additional costs for the IDB final settlement, one-off funding for additional costs for 2024-25 had been received but the allocation for 2025-26 had not been announced and whether there would be any further support from the Government. However, the IDB charges for 2025-26 would fall within the ball-park figure included in our budget whilst we awaited the allocation.

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee note the report.

The Executive Director - Resources reported that this report presents the Council’s Capital Strategy, Investment Strategy and Treasury Management Strategy Statement for 2025/26. 
These strategies provide a framework that gives a high-level overview of how capital expenditure, capital financing and treasury management activity contribute to the provision of local public services along with an overview of how associated risk is managed and the implications for future financial sustainability. They also highlight how the Council’s decisions on capital spend has financial implications for the future and the financial planning of the Council.

The Capital Strategy for 2025/26 is attached at appendix A and covers capital expenditure and financing, treasury management and commercial activities. It reflects how previous capital investment decisions and those taken as part of the 2025/26 budget setting have ongoing implications for the Council and its financial position in the future. An updated appendix had been circulated to members at the meeting.

The Investment Strategy for 2025/26 is attached at appendix B and focuses on how the Council can support local services by making service or commercial investments. 

The Council is required to determine annually its Treasury Management Strategy (TMS). The TMS for 2025/26 financial year is attached at appendix C and includes the following:-

• Annual Treasury Investment Strategy; and

• Operational Boundary and Authorised Limits.

The strategies are presented in line with the approved 2025/26 budget as presented for approval in February 2025 and as decisions are made in the year, this may impact on the strategies and the respective decision making and recommendations will take into account the strategies and recommend changes to them as applicable. 

An updated Appendix D had been circulated to Members prior to the meeting.

There were no questions from the Committee 

The Chair thanked the Executive Director and her team for all their hard work in the production of the budget and accompanying strategies.

RESOLVED:-

That the Committee note the report.

The Committee requested that the following items be added to the work programme 2024 - 2025.:-

(i) Corporate Plan  - the Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise the responses from the public consultation to the Corporate Plan.

(ii) Communications & Social Media Strategy - the Scrutiny Committee requests that the Comms & Social Media Strategy addresses the manner in which information is exchanged via social media in the public domain; and

(iii) Beach Hut provision across the Borough - the Scrutiny Committee requests the following points to be answered:-

• How many beach huts does the Council own across the borough
• The length & cost of the leases
• Who built the beach huts at North drive and breakdown of costs including ground works
• All information in regard to beach huts acquired at Wellington Pier.

The Corporate Services Manager advised the Committee that a Member briefing was being arranged to advise on Grass Cutting for 2025/2026.