Agenda item

Decision

RESOLVED to recommend to Full Council:

Members are asked to consider the report and recommend the following to full Council:

a)  The provisional outturn position for the General Fund revenue account for 2024/25 (as shown in Appendix A);

b)  The transfers to and from reserves as detailed within the report (and Appendix C);

c) The surplus of £0.622m be transferred to the General reserve to mitigate future funding shortfalls.

d) The balance on the General Reserve of £2.825m following the transfer outlined above.

e) The surplus of £0.384m relating to retained business rates be transferred to the Business Rates reserve.

f) The financing of the 2024/25 capital programme as detailed within the report and at Appendix D.

g) The updated capital programme for 2025/26 to 2030/31 and scheme financing as outlined within the report and detailed at Appendix E;

h) Approval of additional funding to cover capital project overspends of £10,816 as detailed in paragraph 5.7.

i) The roll-forward of existing capital project funding from 2024/25 into 2025/26 as detailed in paragraph 5.9.

j). To note the addition of £55,000 towards the New Play Area (Sheringham, The Lees) to be funded from the Asset Management Reserve in 2025/26 for a total project budget of £120,000

k) The addition of £6,081 towards the Cromer Offices LED Lighting in the Capital Programme to be funded from Capital Receipts in 2025/26 for a total project budget of £178,796.

l) The addition of £20,000 towards the Public Conveniences (Sheringham & North Walsham) project in the Capital Programme to be funded from Capital Receipts in 2025/26 for a total project budget of £565,514.

m) The addition of the Holt Eco Learning Space scheme for £100,000 into the 2025/26 Capital Programme to be funded by an external contribution.

Reasons for the decision:

To provide a draft outturn position for the General Fund, Capital Accounts and Reserves which will form the basis to produce statutory accounts for 2024/25. Also to provide a draft opening position for the financial year 2025/26

Cllr L Shires, Portfolio Holder for Finance, Estates & Property Services, introduced this item. She began by highlighting the significant improvements that had been made to the financial management and monitoring processes in the last year and said that the year end position was now projected every time budget performance was monitored and this provided clearer visibility and control over outcomes. It also allowed for decisive action to be taken to address any issues as they arose.

Cllr Shires said that the Period 4 Budget Monitoring report last year had forecast a large deficit and through a combination of financial planning and cost control throughout the Council, the gap had been closed and the year had ended with a General Fund surplus of just over £600k. She thanked everyone for their hard work in achieving this, including the Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

Cllr Shires then outlined the ‘standout’ figures, including an underspend on employee-related costs, tight controls on supplies and services and the generation of £2m in income due to planning, car parking and housing related grants.

She paid tribute to staff for their continued hard work, financial discipline and professionalism.

Cllr Shires said that the initial plan had been to draw down approximately £4m from reserves and this had now been significantly reduced due to the surplus to just over £2m. This left £24m in reserves which would help with managing future pressures.

Investment in local communities had continued through the last financial year, including capital projects such as coastal protection, public conveniences, solar panel installation at Victory leisure centre and supporting affordable housing.

Cllr Shires referred to the bin underspend of £28k, outlined on page 23 of the report. This would be put into a reserve for the provision of free food waste caddies.

In conclusion, Cllr Shires said that the next budget would be extremely challenging. Early indications from central government regarding funding were not positive. However, this outturn report showed that the choices that been made had been effective and service delivery had been maintained and the reliance on the use of reserves reduced.

The Chair commented on the positive position regarding car parking income and was a good indication of how well the Council interacted with the tourism offer. He also welcomed the increase in planning related income. That said, uncertainty about the future remained, particularly regarding the Government’s continued focus on urban areas to the detriment of rural coastal ones. He highlighted the additional grant that had been received for the learning centre at Holt Country Park. This was a very positive outcome and contributed towards the country park’s status.

Members were invited to speak:

Cllr N Dixon commented on the paucity of capital projects east of North Walsham. He then referred to s5.8 (page 26) and the repaid Egmere bond. He asked for more detail on this. The Chief Executive explained that at the point when the Council was looking to take forward a capital project at Egmere to service some employment land, there was a requirement to pay Norfolk County Council a bond for related highway enabling works. As the project had not been delivered, this money had been repaid  with interest.

It was proposed by Cllr L Shires, seconded by Cllr T Adams and

RESOLVED to recommend to Full Council:

a)  The provisional outturn position for the General Fund revenue account for 2024/25 (as shown in Appendix A);

b)  The transfers to and from reserves as detailed within the report (and Appendix C);

c) The surplus of £0.622m be transferred to the General reserve to mitigate future funding shortfalls.

d) The balance on the General Reserve of £2.825m following the transfer outlined above.

e) The surplus of £0.384m relating to retained business rates be transferred to the Business Rates reserve.

f) The financing of the 2024/25 capital programme as detailed within the report and at Appendix D.

g) The updated capital programme for 2025/26 to 2030/31 and scheme financing as outlined within the report and detailed at Appendix E;

h) Approval of additional funding to cover capital project overspends of £10,816 as detailed in paragraph 5.7.

i) The roll-forward of existing capital project funding from 2024/25 into 2025/26 as detailed in paragraph 5.9.

j). To note the addition of £55,000 towards the New Play Area (Sheringham, The Lees) to be funded from the Asset Management Reserve in 2025/26 for a total project budget of £120,000

k) The addition of £6,081 towards the Cromer Offices LED Lighting in the Capital Programme to be funded from Capital Receipts in 2025/26 for a total project budget of £178,796.

l) The addition of £20,000 towards the Public Conveniences (Sheringham & North Walsham) project in the Capital Programme to be funded from Capital Receipts in 2025/26 for a total project budget of £565,514.

m) The addition of the Holt Eco Learning Space scheme for £100,000 into the 2025/26 Capital Programme to be funded by an external contribution.

Reasons for the decision:

To provide a draft outturn position for the General Fund, Capital Accounts and Reserves which will form the basis to produce statutory accounts for 2024/25. Also to provide a draft opening position for the financial year 2025/26