Agenda item

F Jump presented the report. She advised there was a pressure of around £0.8m, driven entirely by inflationary costs around fuel and the pay award, and a request will be taken to Cabinet to fund these particular pressures via the use of reserves. For housing, a deficit of £1.4m is forecast, driven almost entirely by inflationary measures around repairs and maintenance costs, as well as utilities, and the use of HRA (Housing Revenue Account) reserves and reducing the revenue contribution to the capital programme will be proposed to support these costs. For the capital programme, slippage of around £2m on the general fund is forecast and a further £10.6m on the HRA. Part of the slippage on HRA is driven by the planning moratorium and other issues around timing of particular schemes.

Councillor Tindall noted page 26 of the report and the explanation of £4m to the HRA being due to the increased repairs and maintenance work being undertaken and the increasing costs to deliver these services. He asked if the increased repairs and maintenance costs were unexpected or if they are part of the planned service.

F Jump advised that the increases were being driven by increasing costs.

Councillor Tindall clarified that it is therefore an increase in costs rather than an increase in repairs and maintenance taking place.

F Jump took the comments on board and said she would amend that.

Councillor Townsend asked how much the capital slippage is of a percentage of the overall expected capital spend.

F Jump confirmed that these percentages would be circulated after the meeting.

N Howcutt added that the HRA slippage is almost entirely driven by the planning moratorium and that the slippage is a considerable percentage of the overall plan.

Councillor Guest commented on the planning moratorium and asked if there is a forecasted figure of how much would be brought in as a result of backlogged applications now that a mitigation strategy has been agreed.

A Robinson confirmed a report was taken to SPAE in November, to set out the total costs of the mitigation strategy. The contribution that Dacorum is expected to pay towards its own SANG (suitable alternative natural greenspaces) sites, Chipperfield and Bunkers Park is £16m, and the Dacorum contribution to improving Ashridge is around £18m. Much of this money is expected to be phased over the next 2-3 years and there are currently around 2,500 units in the backlog at present.

Councillor Hollinghurst noted the possibility of capital expenditure with regards to generating income and asked if officers would agree that expenditure for projects such as the installation of solar panels would help generate income or mitigate expense and could therefore be considered over the coming years.

N Howcutt advised that there is an evolving commercial programme, including the Light Industrial Programme that looks to get revenue return and part of this will focus on asset maximisation through the use of existing assets as well as any further assets that can be purchased. N Howcutt agreed that capital investments bring a revenue return and confirmed that this is an area of focus.

Outcome

The Committee approved the following recommendations:

1. To note the financial outturn position for the General Fund and Housing Revenue account as forecast at Quarter 3.

2. The revenue outturn forecast is a deficit of £0.836m for the General Fund to be funded from one off reserve requests to cover pay and fuel inflationary pressures.

3. The HRA has a deficit of £4.113m for the Housing Revenue Account. It is proposed that these additional inflationary costs will be funded through a reduction in revenue contributions to capital and from reserves.

4. The Council’s capital programme is forecast on budget, with additional slippage of £2.009m on General Fund schemes and slippage of £10.621m for the HRA.

Actions

F Jump to circulate capital slippage percentage compared to overall capital spend.