Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cordiner-Achenbach, Freeman, Hammond, McMullen & Williamson.

There were no declarations of interest declared at the meeting.

His Worship, The Mayor, reported that there were no items of urgent business.

His Worship, The Mayor, reported that he had attended recent events with HRH Princess Ann, GY & Gorleston Young Carers, Gorleston Lifeboat & a Snooker exhibition which he and the Mayoress had enjoyed immensely.

The Leader reported that all Members had received a LGR pack this evening, which provided information to support the final push to encourage residents to take part in the survey. The Leader reported that Place - Local Identity - Locally tailored services will be shaped to reflect what matters most in each place - supporting local priorities, economies and ways of life.

The Leader reported that there would be an All-Member briefing on Monday, 8 September 2025 prior to Full Council on 11 September 2025. The Licensing Committee scheduled for 8 September 2025 would be rearranged.

The Leader reported that a motion would be coming to the next Council and would not be heard at this meeting.

The Leader reported that following a letter and phone call from the Chair of the Broads Authority, that Councillor Mogford is reinstated to the Broads Authority.

The Leader here commented that he was sure the Council would join with him in passing on their congratulations to the Chief Executive Officer in her recent qualifying for the world triathlon championships that are being held in Hawaii in October. Council here congratulated the Chief Executive Officer.

Proposer: Councillor Smith


Seconder: Councillor Plant.

That the minutes of the Council meeting held on 22 May 2025 be confirmed as a true record with one amendment, at minute number 7, that Mr Bunn's name be corrected and spelt with 2 n's.

CARRIED.

Council were asked to consider the following question received from Mr Dye, Vice-Chairman of the Great Yarmouth and District Trade Union Council:-

Reference Council Employees Pension Contributions - Are the Councillors aware that employees Pension Contributions are being invested in companies supplying hardware and components to the Israeli military. 

The Leader read out the following response from NCC to Council:-

It is a regulatory requirement for the Council to offer the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) to its employees.  The LGPS is a funded, defined benefit pension arrangement that in Norfolk is administered by Norfolk County Council through the Norfolk Pension Fund (NPF). The investment assets of the NPF currently total more than £5.5 billion and secure the retirement benefits of more than one hundred thousand scheme members including current and former employees.  As the Administering Authority, Norfolk County Council delegates responsibility for LGPS matters to the Norfolk Pensions Committee. Pensions Committee administer all aspects of the Norfolk Pension Fund and do so with an understanding of their fiduciary duties when making decisions. As fiduciaries, Pension Committee Members take decision in the scheme members’ best interests balancing investment returns against risk. This duty has been successfully undertaken by Pensions Committee to the point that the scheme is in overall surplus. 

 
Pensions Committee maintain an Investment Strategy Statement (ISS) in line with Statutory Guidance from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government. The ISS creates an overall framework for the Fund's investment and contains the Committee's views on a very wide range of investment related topics. The Norfolk Pension Fund publishes the investment strategy on its website. The Fund does not operate a policy of divestment and exclusion in its investment portfolios (details of this are available in a statement published on its website). The positions in investment portfolios may change daily but can include military contractors subject to commonly accepted limitations on suppliers of controversial weapons e.g. cluster munitions, land mines etc.  The supply of military equipment is generally strictly controlled and regulated by national governments, including our own, through export licence schemes etc.  Companies operating in this sector, be they British such as Rolls-Royce and BAE or overseas must comply with these requirements.

His Worship, The Mayor, asked Mr Dye if he would like to ask a supplementary question.

Mr Dye urged Council to put pressure on the Norfolk Pension Fund not to invest in military contractors as this could, in fact, support genocide. The Leader suggested that Mr Dye contact NPF to pass on this comment and that a copy of Council's response would be forwarded to Mr Dye for information.

Council received and considered the report from the Executive Director, Resources.

The Leader reported that this report presents the provisional outturn for the 2024/25 financial year for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) including the respective capital programmes and financing. The report also presents an update to the 2025/26 capital programme following re-profiling between financial years along with the respective financing and presents a revised reserves statement. 

The budget for 2024/25 was set by Council in February 2024. During the year the budget has been updated for in year virements and the budget monitoring position reported to members via Cabinet and Scrutiny. 

 The in-year budget monitoring reports highlighted the increased financial pressures on both the General Fund and the HRA from a number of factors in particular the increased demand for temporary accommodation and shortfall in income from a number of demand led services for example planning and crematorium. 

 

These factors were highlighted during the year and along with the impact of previous appeals in respect of business rates have impacted on the outturn position. The detail for the General Fund and HRA are outlined in more detail in the following sections and appendices.

The outturn position for the General Fund is a deficit of £1.181 million compared to the budgeted deficit of £689k, as referred to at Appendix A. To flag the deficit referred to in the covering report of £1.236m was subject to a late amendment which was omitted to be updated, due to the receipt of a grant for 2024/25. Overall the position for the general fund has required an increased call on reserves of £492k for the year. 

The HRA outturn shows a deficit of £2.6m, against a budget deficit of £2.9m, resulting in a movement of £300k and a higher year-end balance than previously forecast. 

The commentary within the report and appendices details the variances against the budget for the various services.

Following Cabinets approval to ACKNOWLEDGE AND ACCEPT the grant funding of £2.639m from Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for Warm Homes Local Grants to enable works to commence on the project  which is referred to paragraph  4.10 of the report.

The Leader proposed a slight amendment to the wording of the approved recommendation for Council to consider this evening this being to:-

ACKNOWLEDGE AND ACCEPT the grant funding of £2.639m from Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for Warm Homes Local Grants to enable works through a delivery partner secured through a framework to commence on the project (as detailed at paragraph 4.10).


The Leader proposed that Council approve the recommendations as detailed on page 11 of the agenda to include the amendment as discussed.

Councillor A Wright referred to page 19 of the agenda report, and asked for clarification in regard to the HRA Housing Stock summary 2024/25, as there was a discrepancy of 6 properties.

The CEO reported that the total should be 5743 and not 5749 and that she would take this matter away to find out about the 6 additional units and report back.

Proposer: Councillor Smith

Seconder: Councillor Plant

1) Approve an extension to Equinox Enterprises Ltd’s loan facility until March 2028 is approved (para 4.14).

2) Approve the updated General Fund and HRA Capital programmes (5.20) carried forward budgets for 2025/26 as included in the report and appendices.

3) That Council acknowledge and accept the grant funding of £2.639m from Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for Warm Homes Local Grants to enable works through a delivery partner secured through a framework to commence on the project (as detailed at paragraph 4.10 of the report).

CARRIED.

His Worship, The Mayor, read out the following paragraph to exclude the public from the meeting for the duration of the next item:-

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12(A) of the said Act.

CARRIED