Budget Council                                                          Agenda Item 91

Date of meeting 26^th February 2026

GENERAL FUND REVENUE BUDGET, CAPITAL AND TREASURY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 2026/27

Green Group Amendment 1

It is proposed to:

· Remove the planned cuts of £0.100m to library services as shown on page 8 of Appendix 2 of the General Fund Budget Report (Agenda item 91) to protect the opening hours at Jubilee and Hove Libraries and maintain community libraries.

This proposal requires recurrent funding of £0.100m.

It is proposed to fund this by:

· Reducing the glyphosate weed spraying programme for 2026-27 to release £0.100m from the Weed Removal Budget of £0.275m.

Chief Finance Officer Comments:

A reduction of £0.100m from the glyphosate weed spraying programme would result in a significant increase in weeds across the city, with less than one full droplet spray able to be completed. The increase in weeds would impact accessibility of pavements and walkways, particularly affecting people with mobility related disabilities.  

Green Group Amendment 2

It is proposed to:

· Produce a feasibility report on the use of ALL council- owned empty properties including for example closed schools and New England House for temporary accommodation /emergency accommodation with B&HCC as provider, on the basis that works are done to make buildings compliant and fit for temporary habitation. This will better reflect the genuine crisis (financial and personal) of homelessness in our city. Estimated cost of feasibility report £0.021m.

· Recruit 0.4FTE post within the Planning Enforcement team to support identifying investigating and documenting all Airbnbs /short term lets in the city and cross-reference against CT /NNDR databases to ensure compliance.

This proposal requires one-off funding of £0.021m and recurrent funding of £0.021m.

It is proposed to fund this by:

· Removing the Special Responsibility Allowance of £0.006m from the Chief Whip;

· Reducing the number of Co-pilot licences in 2026-27 from 200 to 50, saving £0.036m.

Chief Finance Officer Comments:

The cost of a feasibility report for council owned empty properties is unknown but the scope would need to be restricted to the available resources. Converting council owned empty properties for temporary and emergency accommodation would reduce the ability to secure capital receipts for reinvestment in more appropriate accommodation.

Removing the Special Responsibility Allowance from the chief whip can be agreed by full council. This allowance was introduced in May 2025, funded by an equivalent reduction in the Mayoral allowance.

The significant reduction in co-pilot licences could result in greater administrative tasks and inefficient use of officer time. The findings from the co pilot pilot demonstrated a positive impact on neurodiverse staff and therefore the removal could have a detrimental impact.

Green Group Amendment 3

It is proposed to:

· Reduce the requested Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) of £15m in recommendation 2.3 of the General Fund Budget report to £6.241m to raise only what is required to balance the 2026-27 budget and excludes borrowing to top up reserves.

Chief Finance Officer Comments:

This proposal reduces the EFS by £8.759m and reduces the level of reserves held by the council which are currently below the recommended level, and pose a significant risk to the Council’s financial resilience. This would result in a budget that could not be signed off by the Chief Finance Officer. The very low level of reserves has been highlighted as a major concern by the councils’ external auditors, feedback through the peer challenge and the CIPFA Resilience Index.  If the government approves the request the council is not compelled to use all the approved £15m.

Green Group Amendment 4

It is proposed to:

Allocate £0.250m a year from 2026/27 to 2029/30 to support the acquisition of temporary accommodation, supporting families and helping to reduce revenue costs of the service.

It is proposed to fund this by:

· Reducing the Digital and AI transformation budget from £1.550m to £1.300m.

Chief Finance Officer Comments:

The Digital and AI transformation budget is funded from the capital receipts and therefore redirecting these resources means they will need to be spent on capital expenditure. Acquisition of Temporary accommodation would meet this criteria.

Reducing this capital allocation for Digital and AI would mean suspending work on initiatives to increase productivity and efficiency within the council, which are in turn linked to savings over the next four years. A decision would need to be taken on which initiatives to stop and  impact on the balancing of the Medium Term Financial Plan.