Brighton & Hove City Council
Budget Council Agenda Item 94
Date of meeting 22 February 2024
GENERAL FUND REVENUE BUDGET, CAPITAL
& TREASURY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2024/25
Conservative Group Amendment 1
It is proposed to:
· Reverse the £0.194m planned cut in political support shown on page 111 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94)
This proposal requires funding of £0.194m. It is proposed to fund this by:
· Removing the Special Responsibility Allowances for Chairs and Deputy Chairs of committees totalling £0.094m.
· Utilising £0.100m of the additional resources set out in paragraph 3.3 of the Supplementary Financial Information.
Chief Finance Officer Comments:
The proposal to remove Special Responsibility Allowances for Chairs and Deputy Chairs would require a recommendation from the Independent Renumeration Panel (IRP) to Council, however, Council is not bound by the recommendations of the IRP.
There are additional resources of £0.510m from the Final Local Government Finance Settlement 2024/25 and these have been allocated as set out in the Supplementary Financial Information Report. For this amendment to be viable, £0.100m of the proposed allocations will effectively need to be reallocated to support this amendment.
Conservative Group Amendment 2
It is proposed to:
· Reverse the planned cuts of £0.010m to bowling green Maintenance shown on page 83 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94).
· Reverse the planned cuts of £0.030m to school grounds Maintenance shown on page 83 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94).
· Reverse the planned cuts of £0.023m home to school transport on page 53 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94).
· Reduce the planned cuts of £0.120m to Violence Against Women and Girls services on page 99 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94) by £0.041m to £0.079m to protect commissioned services.
This proposal requires funding of £0.104m. It is proposed to fund this by:
· Removing the Advisor Led Anti Racism Strategy under the Education & Skills division of the Families, Children & Learning Directorate totalling £0.104m.
We propose to cancel the Valley Gardens Phase 3 project, return any funding from the C2C LEP and any funding from Brighton & Hove City Council diverted to road re-surfacing across the city in future years.
Chief Finance Officer Comments:
The proposed removal of funding for the Anti Racist Strategy would require current advisors and secondees to return to their substantive roles and therefore is not expected to have any direct staffing or timing implications.
The proposal to cancel Valley Gardens Phase 3 would result in the council returning £6 million Local Growth funding received from C2C LEP. The council has already spent £0.783 million of this funding to date and therefore this will require using funding allocated from the Local Transport Plan (LTP) Grant for this project to reimburse the LEP fully. This would leave £0.817m LTP Grant earmarked for this project in future years available for reallocation for transport related expenditure.
The council has incurred £0.996m in costs for the project to date (including £0.213 from LTP) and this investment would be lost.
Conservative Group Amendment 3
It is proposed to:
· Reduce the planned cuts of £0.178m to public toilets shown on page 83 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94) by £0.160m to £0.018m.
· Reverse the planned cuts to the Youth Led Grants Programme of £0.040m shown on page 53 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94) and the table in paragraph 3.4 on page 432 of the Supplementary Budget Report (Item 95).
This proposal requires funding of £0.200m. It is proposed to fund this by:
· Removing the planned investment in school counselling of £0.200m shown on page 21 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94).
Chief Finance Officer Comments:
The investment in schools counselling is not formally approved or contractually committed at this stage and therefore this funding could be redirected as proposed in this amendment.
Conservative Group Amendment 4
It is proposed to:
· Reduce the planned cuts to community grants of £0.302m shown on page 98 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94) by £0.200m to £0.102m.
· Reverse the planned cuts of £0.087m to community transport, shopmobility and the Disability Advice Centre shown on page 73 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94) and described in EIA 12 on page 294.
· Reverse the planned cuts of £0.058m to extended bus services shown on page 81 of Appendix 1 of the General Fund Budget report (Agenda Item 94).
· Allocate £0.065m to gully clearance to help clear the backlog of infrastructure maintenance and introduce a regular programme of leaf removal at the 61 high-risk sites throughout the winter period.
This proposal requires funding of £0.410m. It is proposed to fund this by:
· Utilising the £0.410m additional resources left as set out in paragraph 3.3 of the Supplementary Financial Information report (Item 95).
It is proposed to increase the price for the use of cycle hangars in future years from the current £1 per week, which has led to the council having to spend £125,000 on maintenance, to £5 per bike per week. This would more than cover the cost of cycle hangar maintenance, with the remaining money raised going to fund additional cycle hangars and further maintenance.
Chief Finance Officer Comments:
There are additional resources of £0.510m from the Final Local Government Finance Settlement 2024/25 and these have been allocated as set out in the Supplementary Financial Information Report. For this amendment to be viable, £0.410m of the proposed allocations will need to be reallocated to support this amendment.
The proposed budget for 2024/25 includes £125,000 for investment to maintain Cycle Hangars across the city. Any decisions to increase the price of the use of cycle hangars would be subject to negotiation with the service provider in future years and therefore would not impact on the 2024/25 budget but could reduce the net subsidy of these facilities.