Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors T A Bond, M I Cosin and J M Heron.

It was noted that in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4, Councillors S F Bannister and P J Hawkins had been appointed as substitute members for Councillors J M Heron and M I Cosin respectively.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members in respect of business to be transacted on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

Please note that in accordance with the agreed Protocol for Public Speaking at Overview and Scrutiny, the right to speak only applies to agenda items 5 and 6.

The right of the public to speak does not apply to the following agenda items: Apologies; Appointment of Substitute Members; Minutes; the Forward Plan, the Scrutiny Work Programme, any agenda item that is not accompanied by a written report and items that are exempt business.

Members of the public wishing to speak must register to do so by no later than 2.00 pm on the second working day before the meeting.

To consider the attached report of the Director of Finance, Housing and Community and the Director of EKS.

To assist members the order of the annexes has been changed so as to present annexes 4 – 7 of the report first.

The Director of Finance, Housing and Community presented the report on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) 2017/18.

Members were advised that the existing scheme, which had been in place since 1 April 2013, had a funding shortfall due to reductions in the Revenue Support Grant and a new more affordable scheme had needed to be developed. As the scheme was funded through the Revenue Support Grant once that was removed the scheme would eventually become unfunded.

The main changes in the scheme were:

·         Increase the minimum contribution to 10% and limit savings to £6,000 (saving the scheme £259,000);

·         Assuming that the self-employed had a minimum income equivalent to the National Living Wage after 12 months (saving the scheme £230,000); and

·         Restricting the scheme to the equivalent of a Band D property (saving the scheme £35,000).

Additional changes were made to ensure the scheme was consistent with Housing Benefit rules while maintaining the original schemes principles of protecting the most vulnerable wherever possible.

It was acknowledged that the scheme was dependent on the level of unemployment and predictions were made on the basis of no significant change to the current level.

All working age CTRS claimants and 5% of households not claiming CTRS were consulted on the options for the scheme. A total of 634 responses (7.8%) were received to the consultation undertaken with existing recipients of the CTRS accounting for 86% of the responses.

The proposed scheme (10%) was the joint lowest in Kent with many other authorities proposing schemes set at 20%. The Council was also working to develop a hardship scheme and trying to minimise the impact of the changes.

RESOLVED: (a)   That it be recommend to the Cabinet that decision CAB84 be reaffirmed as follows:

                        (b)   That it be recommended to the Council:

(i)         That the current minimum contribution towards their Council Tax made by recipients of Council Tax Support is increased from 6.0% to 10.0%.

(ii)        That the maximum savings that a Council Tax payer liable to pay Council Tax can have and still claim Council Tax Support is reduced from £16,000 to £6,000.

(iii)       That a minimum income is used within the calculation for self-employed Council Tax payers after twelve months of self-employment.

(iv)      That the maximum level of Council Tax support is restricted to the equivalent of a Band D property charge.

(v)       That only the first two children in a family will be included in the calculation for children born after April 2017. (Some exceptions will apply).

(vi)      That the Family Premium is not included in the calculation of Council Tax Support for all new working-age Council Tax payers.

(vii)     That the period for which a late claim can be backdated be reduced to one month.

(viii)    That the period for which a Council Tax payer can be absent from Great Britain and still claim Council Tax Support is reduced to 4 weeks (with some exclusions for certain occupations).

(ix)      That the element of the work-related component of Employment and Support Allowance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98.

To consider the attached report of the Director of Finance, Housing and Community.

The Director of Finance, Housing and Community presented the Revised 2016/17 Treasury Management Strategy report.

Members discussed the reporting route for the Council’s investments, noting that Treasury Management matters were currently reported to the Governance Committee and included within the Medium Term Financial Plan.

RESOLVED:  That Cabinet decision CAB85 be reaffirmed and it be recommend to Council:

(a)  That the revised Treasury Management Strategy 2016/17 be approved.

(b)  That a report on property investment be submitted annually to Council.

(The Chairman, with the consent of Members, varied the order of the agenda to take this item of business after Minute No. 100 (Exclusion of the Press and Public) and Minute No. 101 (Property Investment Strategy). Upon the conclusion of their consideration of the Property Investment Strategy, the Committee resolved to readmit the press and public for the remainder of the meeting.)

It was moved by Councillor M J Holloway, duly seconded and

RESOLVED: That, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the remainder of the business on the grounds that the items to be considered involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To consider the attached report of the Director of Finance, Housing and Community.

The Chief Executive presented the report on the Property Investment Strategy.

RESOLVED:  (a)   That it be recommended to the Cabinet that decision CAB87 be reaffirmed as follows:

(i)     It was agreed, subject to Council approval of (b) (i) to (iii) below:

(1)   That two Project Advisory Groups be established as follows:

·         Commercial Investment Project Advisory Group

·         Residential Investment Project Advisory Group

(2)   That the creation of one or more residential and commercial property companies be approved.

(3)   That the Leader of the Council be requested to delegate the approval of the detailed form of the companies to the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources and Performance, supported by advice from the Residential Investment Project Advisory Group and the Commercial Investment Project Advisory Group respectively.

(4)   That the Leader of the Council be requested to delegate the approval of property investments to the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources and Performance, advised by the Project Advisory Groups.

(b)   It was agreed to recommend to Council:

(i)     That a supplementary capital budget of £200 million, for the acquisition of commercial and residential assets for the economic regeneration and well-being of the district and for investment purposes, be approved.

(ii)    That a supplementary revenue budget of £200 million from the Regeneration Reserve, for the use of appropriate external professional support to establish a framework and assist with acquiring properties, be approved.

(iii)   That the implementation of the Investment Property Strategy, and the investment strategy criteria set out at Appendix 1 of the report, be adopted.