Agenda item

Decision

RESOLVED to:

Recommend to Full Council that under Section 11A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Finance Act 2012 and other enabling powers that:

1)    The discounts for the year 2023-24 and beyond are set at the levels indicated in the table at paragraph 2.1

2)    The existing 100% council tax hardship discount and associated policy (see Appendix B) remains in place for 2023-24

3)    That an exception to the levy charges may be made by the Revenues Manager in the circumstances laid out in section 2.2 of this report

4)    The premiums for the year 2023-24 and beyond are set at the levels indicated in the table at paragraph 2.3

5)    A new second homes premium of 100% as detailed in paragraph 2.4 is applied from April 2024, subject to the necessary legislation.

6)    To continue to award a local discount of 100% for eligible cases of care leavers under Section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended)

7)    Those dwellings that are specifically identified under regulation 6 of the Council Tax (Prescribed Classes of Dwellings) (England) Regulations 2003 will retain the 50% discount as set out in paragraph 1.2 of this report.

8)    Those dwellings described or geographically defined at Appendix A which in the reasonable opinion of the Revenues Manager are judged not to be structurally capable of occupation all year round and were built before the restrictions of seasonal usage were introduced by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, will be entitled to a 35% discount

Reason for the decision:

To set appropriate council tax discounts and premiums which will apply in 2023-24 and to raise council tax revenue.

In accordance with the relevant legislation these determinations shall be published in at least one newspaper circulating in North Norfolk before the end of the period of 21 days beginning with the date of the determinations.

Cllr E Seward, Portfolio for Finance, introduced this item. He said that there were two recommendations that he would like to draw Cabinet’s attention to. The first would come into effect from April 2023 and related to properties which were uninhabitable and were being repaired. It would provide a 50% discount for a period of 9 months, meaning a £700 Council Tax reduction for a Band D property. He explained that the offering of such discounts sat with the District Council. This particular discount had been removed in 2017 by the previous Administration and since then, the number of properties being repaired for re-use had fallen. The proposal was therefore to reintroduce the discount. Cllr Seward then spoke about recommendation 5, which proposed the introduction of a new second homes premium of 100%. The proposal relied on legislation being laid and Royal Assent before billing authorities could introduce it and any such premium must be agreed one year in advance of its introduction. So, if supported, it would come into effect from April 2024. He said that there were currently 4,500 second homes in North Norfolk and although they could bring benefits to the local economy, it was accepted that many local families could no longer afford to buy or rent properties in the District. A council tax premium on second homes could raise income by ring-fencing funds for affordable homes. Cllr Seward added that council tax retention continued to be an issue. Currently, only 10% was retained by the District Council. A full levy of 100% council tax imposed on second homes would result in raising £8.2m a year. Even half of this amount would go a long way towards the provision of affordable housing in North Norfolk.

The Chairman said that he welcomed both of the proposals outlined by Cllr Seward. As it currently stood an increase in the second homes council tax premium would benefit the County Council and it made sense to push for the District Council to retain the larger share.

Cllr L Shires said that she supported the retention of second homes council tax income by the housing authority, which was the District Council. She said that housing was a huge concern of residents and many of the discussions that she had been involved in recently, at all levels, had related to housing.  It was key to providing stability and enabling families to flourish. In addition, at County Council level, many of the recent policies that had been introduced, such as providing additional support for domestic abuse victims and the provision of social care in a home setting, required more housing. This would fall to the District Council as the responsible authority for housing, to provide.

Cllr N Dixon commented that regarding the 100% premium, there seemed to be two possible objectives – the exercising of some kind of control or intervention over the number of second homes and holiday lets and then the fate of the money collected. He said that there should be more thought given as to the purpose of the proposal and whether, if both objectives couldn’t be achieved, the achievement of one objective merited the premium being levied. He suggested that the proposals should be considered in the context of Professor Hilber’s comments and there should be clarity about what the Council wanted to achieve and how this would be done.

The Chairman asked whether the town and parish councils would benefit from any increase in revenue and that some thought should be given to this in the future. He said that he could understand why the County Council would want to increase their access to additional funding given current resourcing pressures.

Cllr C Cushing asked what would happen if the Government did not agree to District Councils levying 100% premium on second homes. Cllr Seward replied that until the final legislation was published it was hard to see how it would pan out. It was possible that there could be a legislative change ring-fencing the income to the housing authority, or alternatively, there could be negotiations between the County and District councils – as had happened previously. Regarding Cllr Dixon’s point on clarity, he said that levying a council tax premium could slow the growth of the number of second homes. He added if the premium was ring-fenced for affordable housing it could be used to purchase land for housing association and trusts to use for affordable and social housing.

Cllr W Fredericks said that she echoed Cllr Seward’s comments about the purchasing of land and how challenging it was to develop and build housing in the District at the moment. Due to the impact of nutrient neutrality, house building had effectively ground to a halt since mid-March and during the intervening months costs had risen hugely. Developers were also understandably wary of committing to building homes when residents may not be able to secure a mortgage. She concluded by saying that many second home owners contributed positively to their local community but they did reduce the availability of homes for local people and new ones could not be replaced quickly enough.

The Chief Executive reminded members that Cabinet were recommending the proposals to Full Council and that there would be a further opportunity for debate on 16^th November.

It was proposed by Cllr E Seward, seconded by Cllr A Brown and

RESOLVED to:

Recommend to Full Council that under Section 11A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Finance Act 2012 and other enabling powers that:

1)    The discounts for the year 2023-24 and beyond are set at the levels indicated in the table at paragraph 2.1

2)    The existing 100% council tax hardship discount and associated policy (see Appendix B) remains in place for 2023-24

3)    That an exception to the levy charges may be made by the Revenues Manager in the circumstances laid out in section 2.2 of this report

4)    The premiums for the year 2023-24 and beyond are set at the levels indicated in the table at paragraph 2.3

5)    A new second homes premium of 100% as detailed in paragraph 2.4 is applied from April 2024, subject to the necessary legislation.

6)    To continue to award a local discount of 100% for eligible cases of care leavers under Section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended)

7)    Those dwellings that are specifically identified under regulation 6 of the Council Tax (Prescribed Classes of Dwellings) (England) Regulations 2003 will retain the 50% discount as set out in paragraph 1.2 of this report.

8)    Those dwellings described or geographically defined at Appendix A which in the reasonable opinion of the Revenues Manager are judged not to be structurally capable of occupation all year round and were built before the restrictions of seasonal usage were introduced by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, will be entitled to a 35% discount

Reason for the decision:

To set appropriate council tax discounts and premiums which will apply in 2023-24 and to raise council tax revenue.

In accordance with the relevant legislation these determinations shall be published in at least one newspaper circulating in North Norfolk before the end of the period of 21 days beginning with the date of the determinations.