Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was submitted from Chris Johnson and Gregor Murray.

Councillors Adrian Mather and Michael Firmager attended the meeting as substitutes.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To answer any public questions on items contained within this agenda.

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this committee.

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Committee or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

There were no public questions.

To answer any member questions on items contained within this agenda.

There were no Member questions.

To consider the proposed bids for the Place and Growth Directorate.

The Committee considered the proposed revenue and capital bids for the Place and Growth Directorate, set out in agenda pages 5 to 74.

Clive Jones (Leader of the Council), Imogen Shepherd-DuBey (Executive Member for Finance), Stephen Conway (Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Housing), Lindsay Ferris (Executive Member for Planning and Local Plan), Paul Fishwick (Executive Member for Active Travel, Transport and Highways), Sarah Kerr (Executive Member for Climate Emergency and Resident Services), Ian Shenton (Executive Member for Environment, Sport and Leisure), Richard Bisset (Lead Specialist – Place Clienting), Graham Ebers (Deputy Chief Executive (Director of Resources and Assets), Andy Glencross (Service Manager – Green and Blue Infrastructure) Rhian Hayes (Assistant Director Economic Development and Growth), Francesca Hobson (Assistant Director – Environment and Safety), Zulfiqar Mulak (Interim Assistant Director Neighbourhood and Communities), and Trevor Saunders (Interim Assistant Director – Planning) attended the meeting to answer member queries.

The Executive Member for Finance stated that there was currently a £4m revenue shortfall for the 2023/24 financial year, inclusive of potential savings already identified, whilst there was a £14m gap in the capital programme.  Whilst high priority capital spends would stay in the budget, the Committee were being asked what other revenue or capital schemes might be prioritised whilst inviting members to put forward any savings suggestions. The revenue reserves had been used during the last financial year, whilst inflation was running very high and Council Tax would only be permitted to be increased by 1.99%.

During the ensuing discussion, members raised the following points and queries:

·         When would the Committee receive a breakdown of the cost of agency workers, contractors, interims and fixed term contracts (that translates into people, outside of IR35)? Officer response – A similar request had also been made by the Personnel Board, and to avoid duplication of work these figures would be provided to both sets of members as soon as possible;

·         Was the additional adult social care council tax precept included in assumptions? Officer response – An increase of 1% (in addition to the 1.99% base council tax increase) had been assumed as officers were not certain what would be permitted at this stage;

·         Was there an assumption that the £14m gap in the capital programme would be bridged? Officer response – This was the working assumption through a variety of channels including leveraging additional income and reprofiling schemes. There was no assumption that Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) would be borrowing to fund the capital programme;

·         It was noted that there was a level of uncertainty around the level of new homes bonus that WBC would receive, and as such a reduction of this income had been factored in over a period of time to try and reduce WBC’s dependency on this;

·         In relation to bid PG R29, additional consultancy budget for the Local Plan, it was noted that this was a drawdown pot to assist in future years;

·         In relation to bid PG R30, development management staffing costs, it was noted that this bid  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.