Agenda and minutes

(Budget), Council - Wednesday, 24th February, 2016 6.00 pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Oldham, West Street, Oldham, OL1 1NL

Items

No.

Item

To receive apologies for absence

Minutes:

The Mayor made reference to the recent death of former Councillor Rodney Stansfield and Councillor Hudson spoke in remembrance of Mr. Stansfield.

Council held a Minutes Silence in memory of Mr. Stansfield.

The Mayor informed Council that he had received notification from the Leader of the Council of the appointment of Councillor Eddie Moores as Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors McMahon and Rehman.

To receive declarations of interest in any matter to be determined at the meeting

Minutes:

The Mayor informed the meeting that the Standards Committee had granted a dispensation to allow Members who had an interest arising from ownership or occupation of property in Oldham, to participate and vote on the setting of the Council Tax and matters directly related to such decisions including the budget calculations. All members declared a pecuniary interest in Item 3 – Budget Proposals, but the dispensation was applicable allowing Members to participate and vote on Item 3.

In accordance with the Code of Conduct, the following Councillors declared an interest in the items indicated:

Councillor Ahmad declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of his appointment as a Governor at Greenhill School, Waterhead Academy and Oldham College and Director at Harmony Trust.

Councillor Dearden declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of her appointment to Positive Steps, Groundwork Trust and Mahdlo.

Councillor Ames declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of his appointment as a Governor at Limehurst School, Hollinwood.

Councillor Haque declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of his appointment as a Governor at Mills Hill School.

Councillor Hussain declared a personal interest at Item 3 in virtue of his appointment as a School Governor at Kingfisher School.

Councillor Roberts declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of her appointment as a Positive Steps Trustee, a Governor at Blackshaw Lane Primary School and District Advisory Board (Children’s Centre) Royton.

Councillor Garry declared a pecuniary interest at Resolution 4 by virtue of her husband’s employment with Greater Manchester Police.

Councillor McLaren declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of his appointment as Governor at Radclyffe School, Chadderton School, Christ Church C of E Primary School, representative on Oldham Play Action Group, and District Advisory Board (Children’s Centre) Chadderton.

Councillor Marie Bashforth declared a pecuniary interest at Item 3 by virtue of her employment at an Oldham Secondary School.

Councillor Peter Dean declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of his appointment to the Unity Partnership Board and Joint Venture Board.

Councillor Steven Bashforth declared a pecuniary interest by virtue of his employment by the Governors of Radclyffe School.

Councillor Zahid Chauhan declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of his appointment as a Governor at Hulme Grammar School and Alexandra Park Primary School and appointment to the Oldham Care and Support and Oldham Care and Support at Home Boards.

Councillor Judge declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of his appointment as Governor at Thorp Primary School and Royton and Crompton School and Oldham Coliseum Board.

Councillor Williams declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of his appointment as a Governor at New Bridge School and Limeside School.

Councillor Ball declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of her appointment as a Governor at St. Theresa, Watersheddings, SACRE and ACE Centre.

Councillor Akhtar declared a personal interest at Item 3 by virtue of his ... view the full minutes text for item 2.

To note the Minutes of the Budget Cabinet Meeting held on the 11th February 2016 and to consider the recommendations of Cabinet in relation to the Budget for 2016/17 further to the following attached reports: PDF 191 KB

a) Treasury Management Strategy Statement 2016/17

b) Capital Strategy and Capital Programme 2016/21

c) Housing Revenue Account Estimates for 2015/16 to 2020/21

d) Statement of the Financial Officer on Reserves, Robustness of the

Estimates and Prudence of Capital Investments

e) (i) Administration Budget Report 2016/17

(ii) Main Opposition Budget Report 2016/17

f) Medium Term Financial Strategy 2016/17 to 2020/21

g) Treasury Management Half Year Review 2015/16

And if thought fit, pass the following resolutions:

1 That it be noted that on 25 January 2016, the following amounts were approved

by the Cabinet as the Council's Council Tax Base for the financial year 2016/17:

(a) 54,406 for the whole Council area [Item T in the formula in Section 31B of the

Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the "Act")]

(b) 8,389 for dwellings in the Saddleworth Parish area to which a Parish precept

relates

precept relates

2 That the Council Meeting approve the Council Tax Requirement for the Council’s

own purposes for 2016/17 (excluding Parish precepts) as being £78,588,379

3 That the following amounts be calculated by the Council for the year 2016/17 in

accordance with sections 31A to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992:

(a) £607,726,471

being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council

estimates for the items set out in section 31A(2) of the

Act taking into account any Precepts for the Saddleworth

and Shaw & Crompton Parish areas

(b) £528,892,476

being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council

estimates for the items set out in section 31A(3) of the

Act

being the amount by which the aggregate at 3(a) above

exceeds the aggregate at 3(b) above, calculated by the

Council, in accordance with section 31A(4) of the Act, as

its Council Tax Requirement for the year (Item R in the

formula in Section 31B of the Act).

(d) £1,448.99

being the amount at 3(c) above, all divided by Item T

(1(a) above), calculated by the Council, in accordance

with section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its

Council Tax for the year (including Parish precepts)

(e) £245,616

being the aggregate amount of all special items referred

to in section 34(1) of the Act, being the Saddleworth and

Shaw & Crompton Parish precepts.

(f) £1,444.48

being the amount at 3(d) above less the result given by

dividing the amount at 3(e) above by the amount by Item

T (1(a) above), calculated by the Council, in accordance

with section 34(2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its

council tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its

area to which no special item relates.

(g) £1,463.83

Saddleworth Parish area

being the amounts given by adding to the amount at 3(f)

above the amounts of the special item or items relating

to dwellings in those parts of the Council's area

mentioned at 3(e) above divided by the amount ... view the full agenda text for item 3.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Mayor requested and it was RESOLVED that Council Procedure 10.7 (Rules of Debate) be suspended to enable the Deputy Leader of the Council to exceed the time limit for his contribution in moving the Administration Budget to 15 minutes and the Leader of the Main Opposition Group in moving the Main Opposition Budget, a time limit of 10 minutes. All other speakers would be limited to 4 minutes with a 30 second extension.

The Mayor informed the Council that regulations had been implemented which required recorded votes on specific decisions at the Budget meeting. Members would be advised when a recorded vote was required.

Prior to considering the Budget Proposals, the Mayor asked the Council to note the draft Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 11^th February 2016 be noted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 11^th February 2016 be noted.

a) Treasury Management Strategy Statement 2016/17

Councillor Jabbar MOVED and Councillor Stretton SECONDED the report of the Director of Finance which presented the strategy for 2016/17 Treasury Management activities which included the Minimum Revenue Provision Policy Statement, the Annual Investment Strategy and Prudential Indicators.

RESOLVED that:

1. The Capital Financing Requirement Projection as per paragraph 2.2.3 of the report be approved.

2. The Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy and method of calculation as per paragraph 2.3 of the report be approved.

3. The projected treasury portfolio position as at 31^st March 2016 as per paragraph 2.5.3 of the report be approved.

4. Treasury Limits for 2016/17 to 2018/19 as detailed in paragraphs 2.6.2 and 2.6.3 of the report be approved.

5. The Borrowing Strategy for 2016/17 as per section 2.9 of the report be approved.

6. The limits to interest rate exposures as set out in section 2.10.2 of the report be approved.

7. The upper and lower limits on fixed rate debt maturity structure as set out in section 2.10.3 of the report be approved.

8. The Annual Investment Strategy as per section 2.14 of the report which included the investment credit rating criteria and the level of investment in non-specified investments be approved.

b. Capital Strategy and Capital Programme 2016/21

Councillor Jabbar MOVED and Councillor Stretton SECONDED the report of the Director of Finance which set out the Capital Strategy for 2016/17 to 2020/21 and thereby the proposed 2016/17 Capital Programme, including identified capital investment priorities, together with the indicative Capital Programme for 2017/21, having regard to the resources available for the five year life of the programme.

Councillor McCann spoke on this item.

Councillor Jabbar exercised his right of reply.

RESOLVED that:

1. The Capital Strategy for 2016/21 at Appendix 1 of the report and summarised at Section 2.1 of the report be approved.

2. The Capital Programme for 2016/17 and indicative programmes for 2017/18 to 2020/21 at Annex C of Appendix 1 and summarised at Section 2.2 of the report be approved.

c. Housing Revenue Account Estimates for 2015/16 to 2020/21

Councillor Hibbert Moved and Councillor ... view the full minutes text for item 3.