To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 30 June 2015, as a correct record.

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 30 June 2015, be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Any interests not already registered

No additional declarations of interest were made.

There were none.

There were none.

With the agreement of the Committee the Chairman put agenda item 10 at the end. 

The Chief Finance Officer advised that the report before the Committee was the second stage of the budget process and would be presented to all Advisory Committees.  The first stage had been the ‘Financial Prospects and Budget Strategy’ report which had been reported to Cabinet on 17 September 2015.  The purpose of this report was to ensure that all Members of the Advisory Committees had a role to play in the governance of the Council and the budget decision making process and to make suggestions to Cabinet on growth and savings ideas for the services within their terms of reference. 

The main message was that this should be a significant step towards the Council becoming financially self-sufficient.  The 10-year budget at Appendix F to the report, included no Revenue Support Grant (RSG) from 2016/17 and no New Homes Bonus (NHB) from 2019/20.  In practice it was likely that some funding would still be received from these sources in the near future but the amounts were unknown.  The Financial Prospects report had recommended that any amounts that were received were placed into the Financial Plan Reserve which could be used to support the 10-year budget by funding invest to save initiatives and support for the Property Investment Strategy (PIS).  Using the funding for these purposes would result in additional year on year income that was not impacted by Government decisions.

Members had agreed the last 10-year budget in February and the changes that had been made since then included:

• Rolling the 10-year budget on for one year and updating base figures.
• Removing reliance on RSG
• Reducing the Council Tax increase assumption to 2% for all years
• Reducing fees and charges inflation to 2.5% for all years
• Reducing pay award inflation to 1% for 4 years
• Including income from PIS for the first time of £500k from 16/17, £700k from 18/19, £800k from 23/24
• Savings of £500k in 16/17 and then £100k pa for all future years

The current list of growth and savings proposals was £52,000 short of the £500,000 target (if all of the proposals were accepted), and Members were therefore being asked for further suggestions for growth and savings ideas.  He further reminded Members that that £5.3m had been saved from 2011/12 to 2016/17 (113 items) and there had been over £10m of savings since 2005/06. 

Members reviewed Appendix D which contained the growth and savings proposals put forward by the Portfolio Holders and Chief Officers, and the Service Change Impact Assessments (SCIAs) in Appendix E.  Members also considered and gave individual answers to the following five questions:

a)         What services should the Council invest more in?

b)         What services should the Council disinvest from?

c)         What services work well?

d)         What services don’t work well?

e)         What issues would you like Cabinet to take into account?

The Chief Finance Officer summarised the views put forward and Members considered whether there was anything they wanted taken forward as potential growth or savings suggestions.

In response to questions the Head  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

The Parking Manager presented the annual review of parking charges for 2016/17  which proposed revised tariffs in the Council’s off-street car parks and on-street pay and display parking bays. He also gave a presentation on the location of car parks in Sevenoaks Town Centre.

Members discussed the review of the fees and charges for off street and on street pay and display parking bays. Some Members expressed concern that there was currently no enforcement for parking regulations on Sundays, especially in Blighs carpark with it’s proximity to the town shop staff and shoppers took advantage of the free parking and as a result there was little turn over of cars. Members were advised that, were the relevant proposal approved, the signs would be changed to reflect that free all day parking was available in the Council Offices on a Sunday and enforcement in Blighs would then be introduced.

It was noted that when previously considering on-street parking charges Members had been keen for all such tariffs in Sevenoaks to be the same.  Members were advised that this was not always suitable but that all the charges would continue to be reviewed to ensure they struck an appropriate balance between turnover, efficient management of a limited resource, affordability and customer satisfaction.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved: That it be recommended to Cabinet that

a)     the views of the Advisory Committee be considered; and

b)     the proposals for revised parking charges for 2016/17 for consultation be agreed.

The Parking Manager presented a report that proposed free concessionary parking for two Saturdays on 12 and 19 December 2015 before Christmas.

A Member expressed concern that in a previous year the dates of the free parking did not correspond with ‘trade events’ that had taken place in the town and requested that if similar events were taking place again this year before Christmas then the free concessionary parking take place on the same dates.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved:  That it be recommended to Cabinet that the proposals for free parking for two Saturdays on 12 and 19 December 2015 preceding Christmas be agreed and if minded to agree the proposals, recommend to Council that the cost of funding be met from supplementary estimates

The Head of Direct Services introduced a report which explained that at the meeting of the Local Planning and Environment Committee on 1 July 2014, a report had been considered on the results of a competition exercise for providing the Pest Control Service. It was requested that a report on the income of the Pest Control Service be presented to the Committee in 12 months time. Following a change in Terms of Reference the report detailing the income was provided to Direct & Trading Advisory Committee.

Members were advised that the service was in a stronger position compared to 2014/15 as last year there was a small deficit in the trading account. This year it was hoped to break even.  It was thought that part of the increase was due to the marketing exercise but there were still areas to improve.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

The work plan was noted.

The Chairman and Portfolio Holder for Direct & Trading Services advised Members that:

·           There was a successful fly-tipping prosecution;

·           The  induction of enforcement action being taken against those who park over a dropped kerb was well received; and

·           The Kent Resource Partnership was looking at what residents were recycling and which items were being put in the wrong sacks. A recycling campaign would follow.