Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2018.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the Council Meeting held on 24 January 2018were confirmed and signed as an accurate record.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Alan De’Ath, Sue Fennimore, Ali Hashem, and Jacqueline Borland.

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Jane Law, Marcus Ginn, Andrew Brown, and Michael Adam.

The Mayor invited all Councillors to the Civic Service at All Saints Church on the 15^th of April 2018.

Councillor Caroline Needham declared a non-pecuniary interest in Item 6.4 as a recipient of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

No public questions were submitted.

There were no public questions.

This report sets out the 2018/19 revenue budget proposals including:

·         Council tax levels

·         Savings and growth proposals

·         Changes to fees and charges

·         Budget risks, reserves and balances

·         Equalities Impact Assessments

7.05pm - In accordance with Council convention, the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, and the Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Joe Carlebach, were given unlimited time to speak on the Budget report.

Speeches on the report were also made by Councillors Sue Macmillan, Sharon Holder, and Max Schmid (for the Administration) – and Councillors Harry Phibbs, and Lucy Ivimy (for the Opposition).

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, then made a speech winding up the debate. The report and recommendations were put to the vote and a roll-call was undertaken, in accordance with Council convention when voting on the budget:

FOR                            AGAINST                  NOT VOTING

Aherne                       (None)                        Adam

Brown (D)                                                      Alford

Cartwright                                                      Botterill

Cassidy                                                          Brown (A)

Chumnery                                                     Carlebach

Coleman                                                        Dewhirst

Connell                                                          Donovan

Cowan                                                           Ffiske

Culhane                                                        Ginn

Harcourt                                                         Hamilton

Holder                                                            Ivimy

Homan                                                           Johnson

Jones                                                             Karmel

Lukey                                                             Law

Macmillan                                                      Loveday

Morton                                                            Nsumbu

Murphy                                                          Phibbs

Needham                                                      Smith

Perez                                                              Stainton

Schmid

Umeh

Vaughan

Vincent

FOR                            23

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING           19

The report and the recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.40pm – RESOLVED

1.         To freeze the Hammersmith & Fulham element of the council tax charge, and not apply the 3% increase modelled by the Government for the coming year.

2.         To not apply the “social care precept” levy of 3% as modelled by the Government for the coming year.

3.         To set council tax for 2018/19 for each category of dwelling, as calculated in accordance with Sections 31A to 49B of the Localism Act 2011, as outlined below and in full in Appendix A of the report:

(a)       The element of council tax charged for Hammersmith & Fulham Council will be £727.81 per Band D property in 2018/19

(b)       The element of council tax charged by the Greater London Authority will be £294.23 per Band D property in 2018/19

(c)        The overall Council Tax to be set at £1,022.04 per Band D property in 2018/19.

(d)        The Social Care Precept set at nil

4.      To set the Council’s own total net expenditure budget for 2018/19 at £138.944m.

5.      To approve £6.5m new spend on key council services.

6.      To approve fees and charges as set out in paragraph 6.1, including freezes for all parking charges, and all fees and charges in children’s services, adult social care, housing, markets and libraries.

7.      To approve the planned additional contribution of £0.620m to the Efficiency Projects Reserve and estimated contribution of £2.6m from the benefit receivable from the London 100% business rates retention pilot.

8.      To note the budget projections, made by the Strategic Finance Director to 2021/22 in consultation with the Senior Leadership Team

9.      To note the statement made by the Strategic Finance Director  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.1

This report presents the Council’s four-year Capital Programme for the period 2018-22. The programme for this period totals £282.5 million.

8.40pm – The report and recommendations were formally moved by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan.

The report and recommendations were then put to the vote:

FOR                            23

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING            19

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.42pm – RESOLVED

1.            To approve the General Fund Capital Programme budget at £37.3m for 2018/19 (paragraph 5.1, Table 2 and Appendix 1).

2.            To approve the continuation of the Council’s rolling programmes and the continued use of internal funding for 2018/19 General Fund ‘Mainstream’ Programme as set out in Table 3 (paragraph 5.2) and specifically as follows:

·         Capital receipts and internal borrowing amounting to £4.98m to fund the Council’s rolling programmes as follows:

·           Contributions from revenue amounting to £0.521m to fund the Council’s rolling programmes as follows:

·           Section 106 funding amounting to £0.5m to fund the Council’s rolling programmes as follows:

3.            To note existing capital receipts funded schemes previously approved, but now scheduled for 2018/19 (paragraph 5.2, Table 3):

            One off schemes:

·         Schools’ Organisation Strategy - £0.03m

·         Carnwath Road - £ 3.07m

Rolling programmes:

·         Planned Maintenance/DDA Programme – £6.96m

4.            To approve the Housing Programme at £76.1m for 2018/19 as set out in Table 5 (paragraph 7.3 of the report) and Appendix 1 of the report.

5.            To delegate the potential application of 2017/18 capital receipts (totalling £7.1m) under the Government’s new Flexible Use of Capital Receipts provisions to fund Invest to Save schemes in 2017/18 and 2018/19 (as identified in Appendix 5 of the report). The final decision on whether to make use of any of this flexibility is delegated to the Strategic Finance Director, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, as part of the closure of the 2017/18 Accounts process.

6.            To approve an additional budget envelope of £50m, from 2017/18 onwards, to provide operational flexibility, for taking forward the major projects set out in section 8 of the Report. Use of this budget will be subject to relevant Member approval, agreement of funding sources and sign-off of an appropriate business case.

7.            To approve the revised annual Minimum Revenue Provision policy statement for 2018/19 in Appendix 4 of the report.

The report sets out the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy for 2018/19.

8.43pm – The report and recommendations were moved by the Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Max Schmid, before being put to the vote:

FOR                            23

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING            19

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.43pm – RESOLVED

1.            That approval was given to the future borrowing and investment strategies as outlined in this report and that the Strategic Finance Director, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, be authorised to manage the Council’s cash flow, borrowing and investments in 2018/19 in line with the report.

2.            In relation to the Council’s overall borrowing for the financial year, to note the comments and the Prudential Indicators as set out in this report and the revised Annual Investment Strategy set out in Appendix E of the report.

This report sets out the Council’s pay policy statement for the financial year 2018/19.

8.43pm – The report and recommendations were moved by the Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Max Schmid, before being put to the vote:

FOR                            UNANIMOUS

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING            0

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.44pm – RESOLVED

1.            That the Council approved the pay policy statement for 2018/19 as set out in the report.

2.            That the Council endorsed the pay schemes attached as Appendices 1, 2 and 3 to the Pay Policy Statement.

This report is the statutory annual review of members’ allowances for the 2018/19 financial year. The review takes into account the recommendations made in the Independent Remuneration report to London Councils in January 2018.

8.44pm – The report and recommendations were formally moved by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan.

Speeches on the report were made by Councillor Larry Culhane (for the Administration) and Councillor Alex Karmel (for the Opposition). The Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, then made a speech winding up the debate before the report and recommendations were put to the vote:

FOR                            23

AGAINST                   19

NOT VOTING            0

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.59pm – RESOLVED

1.            That the Members’ Allowances Scheme 2018/19, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, be adopted.

This report requests approval to cancel the last cycle of meetings in the 2017/18 Council Calendar with the exception of Cabinet meetings.

8.59pm – The report and recommendations were formally moved by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, before being put to the vote:

FOR                            UNANIMOUS

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING            0

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.59pm – RESOLVED

1.            That the following meeting be cancelled:

·         Planning and Development Control Committee – 17 April 2018.

·         Community Safety, Environment and Residents Services Policy and Accountability Committee - 18 April 2018.

·         Children and Education Policy and Accountability Committee – 23 April 2018.

·         Health, Adult Social Care and Social Inclusion Policy and Accountability Committee – 24 April 2018.