Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed all present to the meeting and read out the Fire Evacuation Procedure.

There were no announcements for this meeting.

The Executive Member for Finance presented a report that set out the proposed Council Tax Reduction (CTR) scheme (sometimes referred to as Council Tax Support) for 2026/27.  Each Billing Authority in England had a statutory requirement to design and locally fund a Council Tax Reduction scheme no later than 11 March each year, approved by Full Council.

The proposed scheme for 2026/27 incorporated the minor legislative amendments to be made by Government through regulations that the Council was obliged to include.

Approval was sought to include increases to income bandings that were individual according to the household composition, so that the current level of support for claimants was maintained as far as possible and to continue to provide appropriate support for the town’s financially vulnerable residents.

The proposed scheme would continue to assist low-income households through an appropriately reduced council tax charge whilst remaining affordable for the Council. 

The Executive Member for Finance highlighted that this was the Council Tax Reduction Scheme which was based on income and ability to pay.  There were separate discounts and exemptions, including student discount and single occupancy, which were not included in this scheme and therefore unaffected by the recommendations.

Councillor Walker moved the recommendations, which were seconded by the Mayor.

The Chair invited Members to comment on the report.

The Chair invited the Monitoring Officer to conduct a recorded vote on the recommendations contained in paragraph 2.1 of the report.

The result of the vote was as follows:

Votes for: (41)

C Cooke, (Elected Mayor), Councillors Banks, Blades, Branson, Clynch, J Cooke, Cooper, Coupe, Davison, Ewan, Furness, Gavigan, Henman, Hill, Hurst, Hubbard, Jackson, Jones, Kabuye, Lewis, Mason, McCabe, Mohan, Morrish, Nicholson, Nugent, J Platt, S Platt, Romaine, Rostron, Rush, Ryles, Smiles, Storey, Thompson, Tranter, Uddin, Walker, Wilson, J Young, L Young.

Votes against: (0)

Abstentions: (0)

On a vote being taken, it was ORDERED that Council approved the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2026/27.

The Mayor presented a report on the proposed budget for 2026/27 and the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) to 2029/30, following on from previous reports presented to Executive on 17 December 2025 and 4 February 2026.

The annual budget report and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) was a detailed and complex report which formed the basis of the Budget and Policy Framework.  The information presented in the submitted report highlighted the key issues for consideration and provided substantial detail in the supporting appendices.

The report reflected the final Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) published on 9 February 2026, and updated on minor changes from the report submitted to Executive on 4 February 2026, which was based on the provisional settlement published on 17 December 2025.

The following key points from the Final LGFS and the conclusion of the recent budget consultation were included in the report:

• Government funding in the form of Fair Funding Allocation (Revenue Support Grant, Local Authority Better Care Fund, Retained Business Rates and Business Rates Top up Payment) of £130.960m in 2026/27, was an increase of £14.171m for 2026/27.

• The increase in the Council’s Core Spending Power (the Government’s calculation used to illustrate the overall impact of local authority funding which includes the Settlement funding, the Government’s assessment of Council Tax income, and various specific grants) from 2025/26 to 2028/29 was £57.511m or 28.4% and from 2024/25 to 2028/29 £75.648m or 41.0%.

• Forecast service demand pressures and re-basing of budgets (including for reduced income levels and legislative requirements) totalling £15.549m for 2026/27 rising to £35.963m in 2029/30. This included the proposed decision by Executive not to increase school meals prices for parents who do not receive free school meals in order to support families, for which budget provision of £0.230m for 2026/27 rising to £0.371m in 2029/30 had been provided.

• Savings totalling £2.458m per annum were removed from the MTFP. The savings were found to be unachievable in the manner originally intended.

• Proposed Service Budget Growth totalling £6.460m from 2026/27.

• Proposed Corporate Demand of £0.499m per annum from 2026/27, and the continuation of the Member Led Ward Schemes budget of £0.235m p.a. from 2026/27.

• The Mayor and Executive proposed no increase in core (general) Council Tax for 2026/27, but a 2% increase in Council Tax in 2026/27 relating to the Adult Social Care precept to reflect the increased costs of the statutory duties required for Adult Social Care.

• Proposed 2026/27 Net Revenue Budget of £200.840m and a balanced Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for the period 2026/27 to 2029/30.

• Capital Strategy Report for 2026/27 and proposed Capital Programme for 2026/27 to 2029/30 totalling £183.741m (including proposed new capital schemes and additions to current schemes and extension of schemes deemed Business as Usual totalling £11.735m in 2026/27 and rising to £56.633m by 2029/30), and the associated financing.

• The Flexible Use of Capital Receipts (FUoCR) Strategy for 2026/27 totalling £5.789m.

• Report of the Corporate Director of Finance (s151 Officer’s) in relation to the robustness  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/106

The Executive Member for Finance presented the Prudential Indicators 2026/27 to 2029/30 and Treasury Management Annual Strategy Report 2026/27.

Council was required to approve a Treasury Management Strategy and a set of Prudential Indicators annually, which self-regulated the level of capital financing activities of the Council and the affordability of the capital programme.  These needed to be set on an annual basis to comply with the Local Government Act 2003 and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Codes of Practice on Capital Finance and Treasury Management.

The Treasury Management Strategy was important from both a financial and governance perspective as it set the framework within which the Council managed its borrowing and investments, how it delivered these services, and how it controlled the risks attached to any decisions made. It also set out the parameters and criteria that governed the day-to-day cashflow management activity and how these impacted on the medium to long term financial planning. These included achieving value for money from any borrowing undertaken, managing risk, and protecting any resources that had been invested.

The Prudential Indicators were an integral part of the CIPFA Capital Finance Code and demonstrated whether the capital programme was affordable, sustainable, and prudent. They included the level of capital expenditure over the next four years, how this had been financed, the maximum level of external debt and the cost to the revenue budget.

The Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) policy governed how the Council planned to account for the repayment of loan principal in relation to its borrowing activities and had a fundamental impact upon the annual revenue cost of borrowing and over the long term. The current MRP policy was based on a 2% annuity model in line with many other local authorities. The Council took the decision during the 2022/23 financial year to review the MRP policy, the effect of which was to achieve improved affordability on an annual basis over the short to medium term, although there were higher revenue charges in 25–50 years’ time.

The Council’s underlying need to borrow was measured by the Capital Financing Requirement which was forecast to reach £312.383m during 2025/26, rising to £335.755m by the end of 2026/27 and increasing still further, to £358.733m by the end of 2029/30.  This resulted in the revenue cost of borrowing as detailed in the table at page 2 of the submitted report.

Whilst the Council was not an outlier in terms of its level of total debt it was reaching its limit of revenue affordability on borrowing to fund its future capital investment.   Changes to the Local Government Finance Settlement and how the net revenue budget had been calculated had changed significantly with the Fair Funding Review 2.0 and were not now comparable post the 2026/27 budget.

The Council would need to review what the affordability threshold would be in this context and whether the 10% best practice amount previously recommended by CIPFA was still relevant.  Capital investment was important for the ongoing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/107