Agenda item

Thomas Hall, Head of Community Engagement gave the Forum members a presentation on the Budget Consultation process 2012/13.

The main points of the discussion were as follows; -

The budget will be considered by Cabinet on 22^nd February and then at Council on 29^th February. There have been several ways that people could submit the comments on the budget proposals. Consultation questionnaires have been sent out to forums. They are available for completion on line and there is a public question time meeting on 26^th January.

The net budget is reducing. There will be no increase in Council Tax but there will be a decrease in the grant from Central Government. This means that there will need to be savings .The Government is changing the way in which Local Government is financed so it is not certain of the exact amounts however indications are that the formula grant for 2011/12 will be £14.2 million, dropping to £13.3 million in 2012/13, £12.5 million in 2013/14 and £11.7 million in 2014/15.

 The key aim of the budget is to deliver savings through efficiencies rather than cut services.

There are a number of key pieces of legislation, which may affect budgets that it is not possible to quantify. For example the impact on the Government Welfare reforms for example potential numbers of those made homeless because of housing benefit changes.

Comments from Forum members included: -

Rat Service- hardship fund – This should be a completely free public service and people should not have to be subject to a means tested assessment.

Stop Funding PCSO’s – the Police should be responsible for providing an effective service independent of requiring grants from the Borough Council. Money currently used to support PCSO’s should be spent on more Community and park wardens.

Bus Interchange- funding should be available from private companies who have an interest in the development.

CCTV- is only as effective as the support package. There are many types of property i.e. flats, commercial premises that are not covered. The usefulness of CCTV was called into question if there is inadequate street lighting. It was accepted that this Council budget could not be seen in isolation. The proposals made by this Council may impact on County Council budget decisions and vice versa.

Social Lettings agency- there would be concern if private landlords and agencies were able to set rent levels. There was a reassurance that it was meant to deliver a common access framework only.

Homeless people in council housing not B&B- whilst considering that it was preferable for people to be housed in Council homes rather than B&B’s there was concern as to how the housing would be identified and allocated. There was some concern that more than 10 years ago money had been spent converting accommodation for use by the homeless at Spencer barracks and Cliftonville was this still being used?

Review policy on allotments – Members believed that there had already been 2 reviews in 5 years and were suspicious that another one may be attempting to identify land for sale to developers.

Investment in Enterprise Zone- there were questions as to how the value of the Enterprise Zone could be measured. How would it be known if it had resulted in an increased numbers of jobs?

Overall – some members felt that there wasn’t enough detail in the consultation. They wanted to know detailed figures for the budgets. These are contained in the Cabinet report of 22^nd December. It was also commented that there were now a number of key services which have been contracted out and that there needed to be reassurances that these were good value.