Agenda and minutes

The Members had before them:

A.         The Agenda Papers (previously circulated); and

B.        The Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 17 December 2015 (previously circulated).

A copy of document A will be attached to the signed Minutes.

Mr M L Bayliss, Mr S E Geraghty and Mrs L C Hodgson declared an interest in Agenda item 4 as Worcester City Council Cabinet Members.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case by Wednesday 3 February 2016).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed below.

None.

The Minutes of the meeting of 17 December 2015 have been previously circulated

RESOLVED:  that the Minutes of the Cabinet held on 17 December 2015 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Cabinet considered the 2016-17 draft Budget and Council Tax for recommendation to Full Council.  The details were set out in the report and its Appendices.

In the ensuing discussion, the following main points were made:

(a)  The Leader of the Council introduced the report and made the following points:

·         The provisional settlement had indicated an £11.4m reduction in Council funding in addition to the £2m forecast at the December Cabinet meeting.  Efforts had been made to address this gap in funding and a balanced budget had been produced. It had helped that the Council had benefited from extra income from the Council Tax buoyancy and Collection Fund. There had been other minor savings brought forward from 2017/18 and the Council no longer needed to fully implement parts of the Care Act which had helped close the funding gap

·         The Medium term financial landscape remained challenging with necessary savings rising to £34m by 2017/18. In order to make these savings, the Council needed to consider different options including extra income, efficiency savings, service delivery, the asset base and working with partners. The Council had a year in which to find these savings

·         He welcomed the additional £0.5m which had been found for footways improvements which did not impact on the £12m set aside for highways improvements

·         £2m had been set aside for town centre improvements and this money would be used to contribute to the rolling programme of improvements over a number of years

·         Investment had been made in traffic studies in Evesham and Malvern. There was continued work on vital infrastructure projects such as the Carrington Bridge and the A38

·         This was a balanced ambitious budget which met the financial challenges facing the Council.    

(b)  The settlement had been difficult for the Council, and the Leader of the Council and the Chief Financial Officer and his team should be thanked for their efforts in meeting the challenge.  It would be pointless requesting further funding from the Government but there was room for negotiation on certain funding elements. Funds were being invested in design studies which were vital for investment in the future. With the year-on-year reduction in the RSG, it was important that economic prosperity was increased and that the Council off-set these reductions. The budget for Waste Disposal had been increased by £0.5m to address the increase in waste created in the County. It was recognised that the increase in house-building in the County would increase waste tonnage therefore a new Waste Prevention Officer post had been appointed to liaise with district councils to devise ways to reduce waste tonnages. An allocation of £0.6m to Councillor's Divisional Funds had been included in the budget to reflect the vital role of councillors in the local community 

(c)  The additional funding for town centres was welcomed, particularly the plans to improve Kidderminster Town Centre in liaison with Wyre Forest District Council. The Council had made difficult transformation decisions without resorting to service reductions. Social care was an enormous challenge for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1716.

The Cabinet considered proposals to expand a number of schools within the county.  The details were set out in the report.

In the ensuing discussion, the following main points were made:

(a)  The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families introduced the report and commented that it was appropriate to provide additional places at the proposed schools to respond to the increased house-building in the local area and help successful schools to expand and deliver world class education in the local community

(b)  This was essential capital investment to provide necessary expansions to these schools which had received the support of the relevant governing bodies

(c)  The local councillor for Red Hill Primary School stated that this part of Worcester was in need of additional places. A number of local families had expressed their frustration at the inability for their children to attend their local school. In addition, a move to a 2 form entry would be easier for the school to manage. He did hope that the plans for extending the school addressed the potential traffic congestion in the local area that could result from these proposals. 

RESOLVED: that

(a)     the results of the consultations held between 2 November 2015 and 11 December 2015 be noted;

(b)     publication of statutory notices to expand the following schools with associated increases in Published Admission Number to be implemented by September 2017 be approved:

-    Red Hill CE Primary School, Worcester from 30 to 60 pupils per year

-    Rushwick CE Primary School, Malvern from 20 to 30 pupils per year

-    Wychbold First School, Droitwich from 20 to 30 pupils per year;

(c)     authority be given to:

(i)      the Director of Children, Families and Communities to approve those proposals in respect of which no objections to the Public Notices are received; and

(ii)     the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families to decide those proposals in respect of which objections to the Public Notices are received;   

(d)     to the extent that proposed expansions are agreed in accordance with (c) above, Council be recommended to approve the addition of the necessary building works associated with these expansions to the 2016/17 Children's Services Capital Investment Programme within the Capital Programme; and

(e)     the Director of Children, Families and Communities be authorised to take all necessary steps to finalise and implement the decisions made in (c) above