Agenda item

The Committee considered the Revenue Budget Strategy 2018/19 to 2020/21 (Appendix A) which had been endorsed by the Executive Board for consultation purposes at its meeting on 27^th November 2017.  The report provided Members with the current view of the Revenue Budget for 2018/2019 together with indicative figures for the 2019/20 and 2020/2021 financial years. The report was based on officers’ projections of spending need and took into account the provisional settlement issued by the Welsh Government on 10^th October 2017.

Members considered detailed budget information which was appended to the report as follows:

·         Appendix A – Corporate Budget Strategy 2018/19 to 2020/21;

·         Appendix A(i) – Efficiency summary for the Environment and Public Protection Services (none for the Community Safety Service);

·         Appendix A(ii) – Growth Pressures summary for the Environment Service (none for the Public Protection and Community Safety Services);

·         Appendix B – Budget extracts for the Environment, Public Protection and Community Safety Services;

·         Appendix C – Charging Digest for the Environment, Public Protection and Community Safety Services.

The Director of Corporate Services advised that although the announced provisional settlement of -0.5% was significantly better than the anticipated -2%, however, this still meant the authority was required to identify efficiency savings for 2018/19 of £8.544m compared to the initial £12.527m and would continue to have a negative impact on the Council’s resources.

With regard to the Environment Department the Committee noted that within the 2017/18 performance, based on the August 2017 monitoring, there had been an £533k overspend. The Director of Corporate Services highlighted that the over spend was primarily due to the non-achievement of car park income targets and a decrease in planning application income.  Furthermore, the Committee noted that in the setting of the current financial year’s budget, from a total sum of £2.515m allocated to services, £1.027m was allocated to Environment, a detailed breakdown of the budget extract was appended to the report in Appendix B.

In summary, the budget proposals would assume full delivery of the £25.6m identified savings. Furthermore, the budget proposals assumed a Council tax increase of 4.12% and that a 1% movement in council tax levels equated to +/-£820k.

The following issues were discussed during consideration of the report:

With reference to the Budget Extract (Appendix B of the report), a query was raised regarding the Animal Licence Movement Scheme and the possible duplication of work between the Local Authority and agencies such as DEFRA particularly since the introduction of Electronic Identification (EID).  The Head of Housing and Public Protection recognised the potential duplication of work and acknowledged that this was an area where improvements could be made in conjunction with a number of agencies. 

In response to a comment regarding pest control the Head of Housing and Public Protection informed the Committee that since the cessation of the pest control service, staff within the Public Health team provide advice to the public and have received specialist training and equipment to prevent vermin infiltration. The Authority offers a paid service to the public, which provides a variety of benefits including a better understanding of the sources of vermin avoiding reoccurring pest problems.

Reference was made to Appendix B of the report.  A comment was raised regarding CCTV and that the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) was currently looking to re-instate the CCTV provision throughout Carmarthenshire.  The Community Safety Manager confirmed that the PCC had pledged to improve the CCTV provision and that the initial work would be starting in Carmarthen.  The Committee was informed that whilst the CCTV system would be managed by the Police, both the Community Safety Manager and the Community and Safeguarding Manager were working closely with Police colleagues in order to ensure a smooth transition.

In response to a query, the Community Safety Manager stated that currently there were a significant number of CCTV cameras which were out of action and that she was currently awaiting the results following a comprehensive review.

With reference to Appendix C, disappointment was expressed regarding the high cost of £370 for a car parking 12 month season ticket within Ammanford, it was further commented that the general idea of a season ticket was to provide a discount as an incentive.  The Head of Highways and Transportation stated that the number of season ticket purchases had been reducing in recent years which was perceived as a positive step in order to provide more scope for general shoppers, helping to sustain turnover levels in car parking spaces on a daily basis.

RESOLVED:

6.1       that the 3 year Revenue Budget Consultation 2017/18 to 2019/20 be noted;

6.2       that the Charging Digests as set out in Appendix C of the report be endorsed.