Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the Meeting held on 17 January 2022 were signed as a true record.

a)  Death of Council Employee

The Lord Mayor referred to the recent sad death of a Senior Crew Member in Waste Services.  A joint letter of condolence has been sent by the Lord Mayor, the Leader of the Council, and the Cabinet Member for City Services to the family to express sincere condolences on behalf of the City Council.

b)  Death of Dick Ryder

The Lord Mayor referred to the recent sad death of Dick Ryder who was Assistant Director Procurement at the City. Dick’s wife Judy also worked for Coventry City Council.  The Lord Mayor had written a letter of condolence to Judy on behalf of the City Council.

c)  Death of Eileen Sheriden

The Lord Mayor referred to the recent sad death of Eileen Sheriden, known as the “Mighty Atom. Arguably Coventry’s most famous cyclist and a true Coventrian, Eileen was born in Cheylesmore and blazed a trail for other female cyclists to follow. She embarked on a series of endurance races and broke a number of records but is perhaps best remembered for cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats in less than 3 days in 1954. She then got back on the saddle to complete another 300 miles to ensure she set a new 1,000-mile record too. She was once named as “Britain’s Greatest Cyclist” by Cycling Weekly, transforming perceptions of women cyclists at a time when there were no cycling races for women in the Olympics. 

d)  Earthquake in Turkey and Syria

The Lord Mayor referred to the devastating loss of life in Turkey and Syria following the catastrophic earthquake earlier this month. Thoughts were with all of those who had lost loved ones and who continued to face trauma and hardship following this tragic event.

The Lord Mayor invited all present to join him in a Minute’s silence as a mark of respect for all those mentioned above.

e)  Recent Trip to Dresden

Following an invitation from the Mayor of Dresden, Dirk Hilbert, the Lord Mayor reported that he and the Lady Mayoress visited the City for the commemoration of the 78th anniversary of the destruction of Dresden.  

RESOLVED that the following petitions be referred to the appropriate City Council body:

• Request to create a litter strategy to reduce the amount of litter and fly tipping across Coventry – 495 signatures, presented by Councillor S Gray
• Request to install additional street lighting at three locations across Woodlands Ward: the park area on the Bannerbrook Park estate, the Brookstray are around the subway in Mount Nod and the top of Park Hill Lane in Park Hill – 92 signatures, presented by Councillor P Male
• Request to cut back tress on the approach to the junction and crossing and make safe the junction at Hen Lan and Briscoe Road – 200 signatures, presented by Councillor R Lancaster

There were no declarations of interest.

In accordance with the Constitution, a Motion without Notice was moved by Councillor M Mutton, seconded by Councillor G Lloyd and adopted that agenda items 6 (Council Tax Setting Report 2023/24), 7 (Budget Report 2023/24) and 8 (Medium Term Financial Strategy 2023-26) be considered together.

It was noted that a recorded vote would be taken in respect of all decisions relating to matters the subject of Minutes 110 (Council Tax Setting Report 2023/24) and 111 (Budget Report 2023/24) below, including any amendments.

From the Cabinet, 21 February 2023

Further to Minute 96 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Interim Chief Executive (Section 151 Officer) which calculated the Council Tax level for 2023/23 and made appropriate recommendations to Council, consistent with the Budget Report 2023/24. 

The report calculated the Council Tax level for 2023/24 and made appropriate recommendations to Council, consistent with the Budget Report 2023/24 on the same agenda.  The report recommended a 4.9% increase in the City’s Council Tax.  Some figures and information detailed within the report were necessarily provisional due to precepts from the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Fire and Rescue Authority having not been confirmed at the time of publication.  These figures were shaded in grey within the report and were confirmed as final figures at the meeting.

The report incorporated the impact of the Council's gross expenditure and the level of income it would receive through Business Rates, grants, and fees and charges. This resulted in a Council Tax requirement, as the amount that its expenditure exceeded all other sources of income.

The report included a calculation of the Band D Council Tax that would be needed to generate this Council Tax requirement, based on the City's approved Council Tax base.  The 2023/24 Band D Council Tax that was calculated through this process had increased by £89.99 from the 2022/23 level.

Each year the Government determined the maximum Council Tax increases that local authorities could set without triggering a referendum.  For 2023/24 the Secretary of State had published a report which proposed that the rise in Coventry City Council’s Council Tax must be below 5% in 2023/24 to avoid triggering a referendum, comprising a 2% precept for expenditure on adult social care and a maximum of 3% for other expenditure.  At the time of writing the Secretary of State’s report was subject to parliamentary approval.  The recommendations within the Budget Report 2023/24 were based on a proposed increase in Council Tax of 4.9%, incorporating a core Council Tax rise of 2.9% and a 2% Adult Social Care Precept.

Recommendations followed the structure of resolutions drawn up by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, to ensure that legal requirements were fully adhered to in setting the tax. As a consequence, the wording of the proposed resolutions was necessarily complex.

As it was his final meeting before leaving the authority, the Leader and the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources thanked Paul Jennings, Finance Manager, for the work he had undertaken in relation to budget setting proposals over a number of years. 

RESOLVED that the City Council:

1.  Notes the following Council Tax base amounts for the year 2023/24, as approved by Cabinet on 10 January 2023, in accordance with Regulations made under Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 ("the Act"):

a)  86,075.2 being the amount calculated by the Council as its Council Tax base for the year for the whole Council area:

b)  Allesley  387.5

  Finham  1,549.4

  Keresley  369.8  ...  view the full minutes text for item 110.

From the Cabinet, 21 February 2023

Further to Minute 97 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Interim Chief Executive (Section 151 Officer) which set out the proposals for the Council’s final revenue and capital budget for 2023/24.

The report followed on from the Pre-Budget Report approved by Cabinet on 13th December 2022 (minute 64/22 referred), which had since been subject to a period of public consultation. The proposals within the report now formed the basis of the Council's final revenue and capital budget for 2023/24 incorporating the following details:

·  Gross budgeted spend of £812m (£63m or 8% higher than 2022/23).

·  Net budgeted spend of £261m (£23m or 10% higher than 2022/23) funded from Council Tax and Business Rates less a tariff payment of £20.5m due to Government.

·  A Council Tax Requirement of £164.4m (£11.0m or 7% higher than 2022/23), reflecting a City Council Tax increase of 4.9% detailed in the separate Council Tax Setting report on today’s agenda.

·  A number of new expenditure pressures, policy priority proposals and technical savings proposals.

·  A Capital Strategy including a Capital Programme of £159.2m including expenditure funded by Prudential Borrowing of £19.6m.

·  An updated Treasury Management Strategy, Capital Strategy and a Commercial Investments Strategy.

The financial position in this Budget Report was based on the Final 2023/24 Local Government Finance Settlement. The Settlement included some variations to the core position and specific grant allocations received in 2022/23 which provided some additional resources to help the Council manage the pressures it faced, in particular in relation to social care and the wider costs of inflation. The position after 2023/24 remained uncertain despite the Government’s medium-term spending plans being set out in the Autumn Statement published in November 2022. Reviews in relation to the local government financial allocation model and Business Rates retention were not now expected within the current parliament and would therefore not be in place for 2024/25 Budget Setting. The overall local government settlement for 2024/25 was expected to broadly mirror the 2024/25 position but had not been set out at an individual authority level. As a result, it was impossible to provide a robust medium term financial forecast at this stage and the Council had instead made some planning estimates for future years. Initial assumptions indicated the likelihood that there would be a substantial gap for the period following 2023/24. The view of the Interim Chief Executive (Section 151 Officer) was that the Council should be planning for such a position.

The Pre-Budget Report was based on an increase in Council Tax of 4.9% and this position had been maintained for the final proposals in this report. This incorporated an increase of 2.9%, which was within the Government’s limit of 3% above which a referendum would need to be held plus a further 2% Adult Social Care (ASC) Precept line with Government expectations. The Precept was trailed in the Autumn Statement 2022 and included in the Local Government Settlement as the means for councils to maintain their “core spending power”. The precept was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 111.

From the Cabinet, 14 February 2023

Further to Minute 89 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Interim Chief Executive (Section 151 Officer) that presented a Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for adoption by the City Council. The previous strategy was approved in January 2022 (min 52/21 referred). The Strategy, which was included in full as a separate Appendix to the report, set out the financial and policy context for the Council’s medium-term financial plans.

The report had been considered by the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee at their meeting on 8^th February 2023 (their minute 38/22 referred) and a Briefing Note setting out a recommendation from the Committee that indicated that the Committee supported the Medium-Term Financial Strategy 2023-2026 and recommended that the Cabinet recommended to Council the approval of the Strategy as the basis of its medium-term financial planning process, was circulated. The report would also be considered at the meeting of Council on 21^st February 2023.

Cabinet considered separately the detailed proposals for 2023/24 within the Pre-Budget Report in December 2022 (minute 64/22 referred) which included the best estimate of the Council’s three-year settlement financial position available at that time. The final Budget Setting Report would be brought to Cabinet and Council in February 2023.

The national funding background had been set out in the Autumn Statement published by the Government in November 2022 with further detail included in the 2023/24 Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement on 19th December 2022. This confirmed the position that there would be no structural changes to the funding arrangements in the coming financial year.

The Council’s existing financial position had been characterised by several fundamental financial challenges including a long period which saw the real value of Government financial settlements reduce, an increase in the demand for services such as social care and the emergence of inflationary pressure on a wide range of costs. In response the Council had been able to balance its budget through the receipt of significant time-limited Government grant allocations and approval of maximum permitted Council Tax rises. The Council still faced significant budget gaps in the medium-term and one of the purposes of the MTFS was to set out the Council’s approach to managing this position. Notwithstanding, the Council would need to maintain dynamic financial models that took account of changes in its medium-term budget position and ongoing re-evaluation of its Capital Programme. These would be set out fully at the point of decision making.

The Strategy had at its heart the need to deliver the priorities set out in the One Coventry Council Plan with a paramount need to protect the most vulnerable people in the city and deliver expectations on the Council to maintain service levels and standards across a wide range of core services.

Taken together, these factors represented a combination of limited resources, challenging underlying economic and demographic conditions, increased demand, pressure to sustain the quality of services and new challenges represented by government reform and local structural and governance relationships. In these circumstances it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 112.

Councillor P Seaman, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services made a Statement in respect of the Youth Justice Service.

Councillor J Lepoidevin responded to the Statement.

To be moved by Councillor P Male  and seconded by Councillor R Simpson:

“This Council expresses its deep concern over the legacy of the City of Culture”

The following Motion was moved by Councillor P Male and seconded by Councillor R Simpson:

“This Council expresses its deep concern over the legacy of the City of Culture”

The following amendment was moved by Councillor D Welsh, seconded by Councillor R Brown and carried: 

After the words “expresses its”, delete the words “deep concerns over” and replace with “support on the work to deliver”

The amended Motion to now read:

“This Council expresses its support on the work to deliver the legacy of the City of Culture”

RESOLVED that the amended Motion as set out above, be adopted.