Agenda item

The following recommendations were made by Cabinet at the meeting held on 2^nd February:

1.    Cabinet Agenda item 8: Capital Strategy 2026 -2027

RESOLVED

To recommend to Full Council that the Capital Strategy 2026/27 is approved

2.    Cabinet Agenda item 9: Treasury Management Strategy 2-26 – 2027

RESOLVED

To recommend to Full Council that the Treasury Management Strategy 2026/27 is approved

3.    Cabinet Agenda item 10: Non-Domestic Rates Policy 2026 - 2027

RESOLVED to recommend to Full Council:

a)    That the Revenues Manager continues to have delegated authority to make decisions up to the NNDC cost value of £4k as indicated in Appendix A.

b)    That the Revenues Manager continues to have delegated authority to make Hardship Relief decisions up to the NNDC cost value of £4k as indicated in Appendix C.

c)    That the Rate Relief Policy is revised as indicated in Appendix A, B and C.

4.    Cabinet Agenda item 12: Medium Term Financial Strategy 2026/27 – 2029/30

RESOLVED

To recommend that Full Council approves the Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2026/27 – 2029/30

Cllr L Shires introduced this item. She said that the reports had all been to Cabinet and Overview & Scrutiny Committee, where the recommendations had been supported. The Treasury management Strategy had been reviewed by the Governance, Risk & Audit Committee (GRAC). She did not intend to present them in detail but  said that she wanted to provide an update on the Non-Domestic Rates Policy 2026 – 2027, as the Government had recently introduced some changes.

Cllr Shires explained that if an organisation occupied a property on which it paid National Non-Domestic (Business) Rates (NDR) it may be eligible for up to 100% Discretionary Rate Relief if it was operated within some or all of the guidelines shown in the policy. She added that the guidelines for determining relief were not intended to be a rigid set of rules and neither were all the guidelines applicable to every organisation. Each case would be judged on its merits taking into account the contribution which each organisation/business made to the district’s amenities and its resident’s lifestyles and wellbeing.

The government had announced a new ten-year 100% relief for eligible electronic vehicle charging points and electric vehicle only forecourts to start from 1 April 2026/27. These properties would be identified by the VOA and would be fully funded by Section 13 grants.

Cllr Shires then talked through the rest of the key changes:

The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief scheme provided eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with 40% relief which previously was 50% and 75%. From 1 April 2026 this would be replaced by two lower multipliers.

The new mandatory RHL multipliers were based on occupation of the business not the VOA description and would enable NNDC to provide government updates throughout the 2026/27 year to fully compensate for the loss of income as a result of these changes. In line with the government, NNDC had updated the discretionary rate relief policy to end this relief from 1 April 2026.

Supporting Small Businesses relief was government funded to local authorities so that they could provide relief for businesses that had a Rateable Value (RV) increase from 1 April 2026 caused by the 2026 NDR revaluation and as a consequence lost Small Business Rates Relief, Rural Rate Relief or RHL relief. This relief would be capped at the higher of £800 or the relevant transitional relief caps from 1 April 2026 and would apply for three years. The previous scheme was due to end on 31 March 2026 however has been extended for another year. The relief would be delivered through local authority discretionary discount powers (under section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 as amended).

Cllr Shires then explained that the discretionary government scheme for Film Studios relief which started on 1 April 2025 at 40% relief would continue until 2034. There were no such studios in the district currently.

She then spoke about recent changes to pubs and live music venues relief, explaining that the government had announced on 27 January 2026 that in 2026-27, eligible pubs and live music venues would benefit from a 15% business rates relief on top of the support announced at the Budget in 2025. Their bills would then be frozen in real terms for a further 2 years.

Local authorities were due to complete their NNDR1 for 2026-27 shortly, so it is not expected that authorities would have forecast the value of the relief, however, NNDC has estimated that there are approximately 100 eligible properties and the total relief would be about £161k for the 2026/27 year. The figures will be confirmed in the outturn data on the actual total cost for providing the relief, as per the usual process, via the NNDR3 process.

Local authorities would be fully compensated for the loss of income associated with granting the pubs and live music venues relief and the government will fund the associated new burdens, including the administrative and software costs of implementation.

She concluded by thanking the Revenues Team for their hard work, especially in exceeding their collection rates targets for both council tax and business rates.

The Chair asked members if they were content to take the recommendations en bloc.

It was RESOLVED unanimously to approve the following recommendations from Cabinet:

1. Capital Strategy 2026 -2027

To approve the Capital Strategy 2026/27.

2.     Treasury Management Strategy 2026 – 2027

To approve the Treasury Management Strategy 2026/27.

3.     Non-Domestic Rates Policy 2026 - 2027

To approve:

a)    That the Revenues Manager continues to have delegated authority to make decisions up to the NNDC cost value of £4k as indicated in Appendix A.

b)    That the Revenues Manager continues to have delegated authority to make Hardship Relief decisions up to the NNDC cost value of £4k as indicated in Appendix C.

c)     That the Rate Relief Policy is revised as indicated in Appendix A, B and C.

4.     Medium Term Financial Strategy 2026/27 – 2029/30

RESOLVED

To appove the Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2026/27 – 2029/30