Agenda item

D Skinner highlighted that the variance of the Q1 forecast was £13k over, which was consistent with previous years and nothing to worry about.

The Chairman referred to page 12 and queried if the £138k variance relating to premises was recoverable. D Skinner confirmed it was.

The Chairman referred to paragraph 4.1 and sought clarification on whether the issue was parking or if it was due to narrow roads, and if we were liaising with others to work out why there was an increased pressure all of a sudden. D Skinner explained that there were some minor parking issues but the problem was mainly with new build developments; tighter access and turning circles etc.

Councillor Douris explained that most new builds were contained within the existing footprint and road layouts shouldn’t be changed to accommodate new builds. D Skinner said he would need to investigate further and come back to the committee.

Councillor Birnie explained that the planning department and committee wouldn’t allow developments that restricted emergency vehicle access. The Chairman advised that the issue was with refuse vehicles as they’re bigger and heavier in weight than emergency vehicles.

The Chairman referred to paragraph 4.3 relating to an unachieved income of £100k and queried the reason for this. D Skinner explained it was a combination of various reasons and additional work was being put in to discover why we are losing contracts and how we can entice business back. He said the work around this wasn’t a quick fix and would take time as people are usually tied into contracts so they would be waiting for those to expire.

Councillor Adeleke referred to paragraph 4.2 and queried if there was any reserved money for unforeseen circumstances. D Skinner confirmed there were reserves in the general fund or they could also look in the budget for any additional ways to make savings.

Councillor Douris referred to paragraph 4.3 and felt surprised that we lost contracts worth £100k and was concerned that they were not more alert to this and were not matching or trying to beat the prices of others. He said he didn’t know whether that was the full extent of the loss over the years and was worried that we could lose much more in years to come. D Skinner highlighted that it was the forecast for 2016/17 and that the waste team were investigating the trend and the options going forward. He said he would have to come back to the committee with a figure for the total loss. Councillor Douris said it didn’t fill him with confidence as we are half way through the year and hoped the team would have been working on it before now. D Skinner highlighted that the report was as at quarter 1 and he would have more information in quarter 2 and hoped there would be a difference.

Councillor Douris referred to paragraph 7.2 and asked for assurance that the overspend in line 163 of the budget relating to the regeneration of the Town Centre was due to the issues in the power supply and nothing further. D Skinner advised that the project was coming to a close and to his knowledge the problems were resolved. He said he would have more information in the next quarter.

Actions:

·         D Skinner to confirm details of new builds/road layouts/existing footprint in relation to access issues with refuse vehicles (paragraph 4.1)

·         D Skinner to confirm figure for total loss of contracts in commercial waste services (paragraph 7.2).

Outcome:

1.    The Committee noted the forecast outturn position.

2.    The Committee noted the re-phasing of the capital programme to move slippage identified at Q1 into financial year 2017/18.