Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the Council meetings held on 23 January 2019.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the Council Meetings held on 23 January 2019 were confirmed and signed as an accurate record.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Iain Cassidy, Ben Coleman, Sharon Holder and Anne Rosenberg.  

An apology for lateness was received from Councillor Donald Johnson.

There were no annoucements.

There were no declarations of interest.

No public questions were submitted.

There were no public questions.

This report sets out the 2019/2020 revenue budget proposals including:

· Council tax levels

· Savings and growth proposals

· Changes to fees and charges

· Budget risks, reserves and balances

· Equalities Impact Assessments

7.07pm - In accordance with Council convention, the Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, and the Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Andrew Brown, were given unlimited time to speak on the Budget report.

Speeches on the report were also made by Councillors Christabel Cooper, Bora Kwon, and Max Schmid (for the Administration).

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                        Alford                                       (None)

Caleb-Landy                Brocklebank-Fowler

Brown (D)                    Brown (A)

Connell                        Donovan

Cooper                        Johnson

Cowan                         Karmel

Culhane                       Lloyd-Harris

De’Ath                         Loveday

Fennimore                   Stainton

Harcourt                      Stanton

Harvey                         Thorley

Homan                                                           

Jones                                                             

Kwon

Leighton

Macmillan                                                       

Morton                                                            

Murphy                                                           

Perez                                                              

Qayyum

Quigley

Ree

Richardson

Sanderson

Schmid

Siddique

Smith

Uberoi

Umeh

Vaughan

Vincent

FOR                            31

AGAINST                    11

NOT VOTING            0

The report and the recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.14pm – RESOLVED

That Council, for the reasons set out in this report and appendices, agree:

1.1.          To note that the Council is entering the 10th year of government-imposed austerity. This year’s reduction in government investment is £3.5m, meaning a total reduction of £73m. 

1.2.          To apply central government’s modelled “adult social care precept” levy of 2% for 2019/20.

1.3.          To note that in previous years this levy was covered by the council but due to continued government cuts this has become unsustainable

1.4.          To adjust the Hammersmith & Fulham element of the council tax in line with inflation (2.7%) for 2019/20.

1.5.          To set council tax for 2019/20 for each category of dwelling, as calculated in accordance with Sections 31A to 49B of the Localism Act 2011, as outlined in the table below and in full in Appendix A:

(a)       The element of council tax charged for Hammersmith & Fulham Council will be £762.02 per Band D property in 2019/20

(b)       The overall Council Tax to be set at £1,082.53 per Band D property in 2019/20.

(c)         The Adult Social Care Precept will be set at 2% and forms £14.55 of the Hammersmith & Fulham Band D charge.

1.6.          To note the element of council tax charged by the Greater London Authority in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 will be £320.51 per Band D property in 2019/20.

1.7.          To set the Council’s own total net expenditure budget for 2019/20 at £136.712m.£

1.8.          To approve £10.8m new investment on key services for residents.

1.9.          To approve fees and charges as set out in paragraph 6.1 including freezing charges in adult social care, children’s services and housing.

1.10.       To approve the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.1

This report presents the Council’s four-year Capital Programme for the

period 2019/2023 and the Capital Strategy for 2019/20.

8.15pm – 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                            30

AGAINST                    0

NOT VOTING             11

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.16pm – RESOLVED

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

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:

1.3.     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

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

1.5.     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). 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.

1.6.     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. 

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

This report sets out the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy for

2019/2020.

8.16pm – The report and recommendations were moved by the Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Max Schmid, before being put to the vote:

FOR                            30

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING           11

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.16pm – RESOLVED

1.1       That approval is 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 this report.

1.2       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.

This report sets out the Council’s pay policy statement for the financial

year 2019/20.

8.17pm – The report and recommendations were moved by the Cabinet Member for Public Services Reform, Cllr Adam Connell, before being put to the vote:

FOR                            UNANIMOUS

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING            0

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.17pm – RESOLVED

1.1.          That Council is recommended to approve the pay policy statement for 2018/9 as set out in the attached document.

1.2.          That Council endorses 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 2019/2020 financial year. The review takes into account the

recommendations made in the Independent Remuneration report to

London Councils in January 2018.

8.17pm – 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 Councillors Alex Karmel and Andrew Brown (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                            30

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING           11

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED.

8.28pm – RESOLVED

That the Members’ Allowances Scheme 2019/20, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, be adopted.

This report sets out the reasons for joining Capital Letters which will be a vehicle for the Council to jointly procure with other London boroughs affordable Private Rented Sector (PRS) accommodation across London.

8.28pm – The report and recommendations were formally moved by Cabinet Member for Public Services Reform, Cllr Adam Connell, before being put to the vote:

FOR                            UNANIMOUS

AGAINST                   0

NOT VOTING            0

The report and recommendations were declared CARRIED

8.28pm – RESOLVED

That Members approve the proposal to join an accommodation sourcing and letting company Capital Letters (London) Ltd, a Company Limited by Guarantee wholly owned by local authorities.

This report is requesting approval of the 2019/20 Council calendar.

8.29pm – 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.

8.29pm – RESOLVED

That the schedule of meetings in the 2019/20 Council calendar be approved.