Issue - meetings

Revenue Monitoring 2020/21 - Outturn

Meeting: 24/06/2021 - Executive (Item 9)

9 Revenue Monitoring 2020/21 - Outturn pdf icon PDF 501 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

That:

 

1)              the outurn position of the revenue budget and the level of balances in respect of the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and Schools Block be noted;

 

2)              the General Fund carry forward requests of £7,464,939, as set out in Appendix B to the report, be agreed;

 

3)              a supplementary estimate of £16,000 for the Digital Infrastructure Group be approved.

Minutes:

(Councillors John Halsall, John Kaiser, Stuart Munro and Wayne Smith declared personal interests in this item)

The Executive considered a report setting out the revenue outturn position of the Council for the 20/21 financial year.

 

During his introduction, the Executive Member for Finance and Housing reminded the meeting that the Council was the lowest funded unitary council in the UK with regards to Government grants.  This had meant that over the past 10 years the Council had to reduce it’s spending in real terms by around £35m, however it had managed to continue offering high levels of service and end up with a general reserve balance which at the start of the pandemic was £12.4m.  Councillor Kaiser went into detail on the programmes that had been embarked upon during this time which included the setting up of the Council owned housing companies, which not only delivered affordable homes but also made a profit to be reinvested back into services, investing in Wokingham town centre, and commercial investments which were performing well.

 

Councillor Kaiser further highlighted some of the projects that had been completed as part of the capital programme.  This included five new primary schools, one new secondary school and six major road projects.  The road projects consisted of Arborfield relief road, which was delivered on time, the new bridge at Barkham, relief roads in Winnersh and Shinfield, the start of the new southern and northern relief roads as well as the new station and new station link roads.   He went on to mention the 700 new affordable and social homes that had been completed over the last two years and the regeneration and replacement of Gorse Ride in Finchampstead which would deliver over 200 new homes.

 

Councillor Kaiser went on to inform the meeting about the work that had been carried out to ensure that during the pandemic those who were homeless were looked after and taken off the streets as well as providing information on the action and support that had been provided to the poorest and most vulnerable in the Borough and to businesses.

 

As set out in the report Councillor Kaiser highlighted that despite the challenges that had been faced during the pandemic the Council had come in under budget for the 20/21 financial year both on business as usual (£1.2m) and overall including Covid 19 costs in the sum of £800k.  The HRA was showing a surplus of £1.4m and general reserves were standing at £10.4m.  The only area where an increase of costs was showing was the Dedicated School Grant which was due to the increase in costs for children with special needs.  The Council had been working with the DfE to address this issue and had plans to deliver additional in-Borough provision to arrest these costs going forward.

 

Councillor Kaiser paid tribute to the Chief Executive, the Chief Finance Officer, the senior management and the commitment of all staff to deliver services on time and on or in some cases below budget with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9