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Agenda and minutes
Venue: Muriel Matters House, Breeds Place, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 3UY
Contact: Deniz Musa on 01424 451486 email dmusa@hastings.gov.uk
Items No. Item Declaration of Interests
Minutes:
Councillor
Minute Number
Interest
Lee
100 – Site at West Marina
Prejudicial – He is good friends with one of the developers.
Forward
100 – Site at West Marina
Personal – She has a beach hut near this site.
Minutes of the Special Cabinet Meeting held on 23 July 2018 PDF 59 KB
Minutes:
RESOLVED that the minutes of the Special Cabinet meeting held on 23 July 2018 be approved as a correct record.
RESOLVED the chair called over all items on the agenda. No items were agreed without discussion under Rule 13..
Medium Term Financial Strategy PDF 246 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Peter Grace, Assistant Director, Financial Services and Revenues, presented a report on the Medium Term Financial Strategy. This report came to cabinet as the council looks to forecast its financial position over the medium term in order to ensure it can align corporate objectives with available resources. The Medium Term Financial Strategy seeks to identify the financial risks that will affect the annual budgets for each of the next 4 years (2019/20 to 2022/23) in order that key priorities can be matched to expected funding.
The Assistant Director, Financial Services and Revenues stated that the Council accepted the government’s offer for a four year settlement in order to provide some certainty on part of the Council’s funding stream – 2019/20 being the final year. The government’s Spending Review is due to take place in 2019 (SR2019) and as such in the meantime there is very significant uncertainty on what the future holds for local government funding as a whole and for borough and district councils in particular.
In readiness for 2020/21 the results of the Fair Funding Review and retention 75% of business rates should be announced by December 2019. There may well be impacts on other income streams, such as New Homes Bonus and Discretionary Housing Payments. The retention of more business rates transfers added risk and volatility to Council income streams in the future.
He advised that government funding reductions continue in 2019/20 - a £650,000 reduction being predicted. Costs of Waste Collection and Street Cleaning look set to increase by potentially £1million p.a. from 2019/20. Income generation projections, whilst providing very significant additional resources, are having to be revised downwards over the period of the strategy. The projected budget deficits as a result are £1.1m in 2018/19, £2.1m in 2019/20, £2.9m in 2020/21, £3.2m in 2021/22, £3.3m in 2022/23.
He stated that the Council has had a very good record of making budget savings since 2010/11 but strongly advised that it now needs to take further robust action to identify efficiencies, income generation opportunities and service cuts as part of the 2019/20 and 2020/21 budget processes. He advised that the Transition Reserve was insufficient to meet the budget deficit now predicted for 2019/20 unless budget savings were identified and implemented.Councillor Chowney proposed approval of the recommendations which was seconded by Councillor Fitzgerald.
RESOLVED (by 6 votes for, 2 against) that:
1. Approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy.
2. The Council take the robust actions necessary in this financial year and throughout the 2019/20 and 2020/21 budget processes to achieve a sustainable budget.
Reasons for Recommendations:
The council matches its available resources to its priorities across the medium term.
The report provides the opportunity to assess the council's resources to assist the review of corporate priorities given the continued reductions in funding and the need to continually ensure limited resources are properly aligned to targets.
Site at West Marina PDF 217 KB
Minutes:
Peter Grace, Assistant Director, Financial Services & Revenues presented a report on the site at west Marina. This was to determine a preferred bidder and agree the way forward in order to make a recommendation to cabinet in the autumn to accept or reject a developer for the site.
He stated that at Cabinet on 2 November 2015 it was agreed to add the site to the Land and Property Disposal Programme and to appoint agents to market the site.
Full marketing commenced in June 2017 and the deadline for the first round of informal tenders was 2 March 2018. A total of four bids from three developers/joint developers were received by the required deadline.
After analysing the bids it was agreed to proceed to a second and final round of bidding with Charterhouse and Countygate/Sunley. The bidders were invited to submit bids on the basis of a Capital sum or alternatively revenue streams based upon the Council retaining ownership of some parts of the development. The option remaining that the Council further invests its own monies for housing acquisitions as identified in the current Capital programme.
Councillor Chowney proposed approval of the recommendations which was seconded by Councillor Fitzgerald.
RESOLVED (by 6 votes for, 1 against) that:
1. To reject the offer from Charterhouse; and
2. To agree County Gate/Sunley are the preferred bidder and to instruct our agents to negotiate further to agree Heads of Terms in order to make a recommendation to Cabinet.
The reasons for these recommendations were:
The site has been vacant for some 30 years and the Council has looked to develop the site a number of times over the period. In the last few years, with changing economic circumstances, improvements to property values, and a number of reports and investigations to de-risk the site, the opportunity is available to develop the site and provide a mixed development including 152 residential units (25% affordable) as identified in the local plan.
The actions taken over the last three years have managed to identify, engage and retain the interest of major development companies resulting in a viable and attractive proposition to transform the West Marina site into a destination point in line with the objectives of the seafront strategy, provide enhanced leisure opportunities and see much needed investment in the area. The Council’s agent, Carter Jonas, recommends proceeding with the offer from County Gate/Sunley.
Confidential Business
Councillor Fitzgerald proposed a motion for the exclusion of the public from the meeting, seconded by Councillor Rogers.
Unit 1 Bexhill Road Retail Park
Minutes:
Peter Grace, Assistant Director, Financial Services & Revenues presented a report on Unit 1 Bexhill Road Retail Park. The purpose of this report was to advise Cabinet on the outcome of the rent review.
There was urgency in doing this as otherwise it could have been referred to third party determination which would have incurred costs and the outcome may not have been as positive. The decision was made in accordance with the Council’s Special Urgency Provisions.
This is an increase in annual revenue to the Council. The new rent is backdated to March 2018.
Councillor Chowney proposed approval of the recommendations which was seconded by Councillor Lee.
RESOLVED (unanimously) that:
1. To note the rent review has been settled at the sum as detailed in the part two report.
The reason for this recommendation was:The Council’s Financial Rules require Cabinet to determine rent reviews over £100,000. In this instance a decision was taken under Special Urgency Provisions in conjunction with the Leader of the Council and is being reported to Cabinet as required.
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