Agenda item

(Director of Resources) To consider the attached report (FPM-017-2014/15).

The Director of Resources presented a report on the net saving suggestions and overall saving targets for 2015/16 and subsequent years, allowing Members to evaluate the various ideas, determine which they would like to take forward and make other suggestions.

 

The Director Resources stated that given the greater financial challenge in 2015/16, the budget process had been started two months earlier in July 2014. The net Continuing Service Budget (CSB) target for 2015/16 in the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) was £13.15 million and included a target for additional net savings of £0.5 million. In total the MTFS included net savings of £1.5 million over the four years with £0.5 million in both 2015/16 and 2016/14, £0.3 million in 2017/18 and £0.2 million in 2018/19. Furthermore this year the North Weald Market had a probable reduction in income of approximately £0.3 million per annum and there had been an increase in staffing in Economic Development, which had added an additional £125,000 to the budget. Consequently, if the CSB target were to remain at £13.15 million then the savings required for 2015/16 would increase to £0.93 million.

 

The Director of Resources advised that the Leadership Team had discussed a number of saving opportunities and they were presented to Members for consideration.

 

The Businesses cases were set out for the following areas;

 

·         Community Safety Work and HRA – This involved the work of the Community Safety Team undertaken on behalf of Housing being paid from the Housing Revenue Account.

 

·         Review of Councillors – To reduce the number of Councillors within the Council, this would require an Electoral Review by the Local Government Boundary Commission.

 

·         The Forester Magazine – To discontinue with the production and distribution of the Forester Magazine.

 

·         Review of Discretionary Business Rate Relief – To remove or vary the level of relief provided or amend the policy to further restrict who received the relief.

 

·         Increase in Fees and Charges – To raise additional income from Communities for Arts, the Museum and Sports development, lettings at Limes Farm Hall, increase of charges for document copying and General Fund increases in Fees and Charges.

 

·         Development Management Income and Savings – Reductions in Planning Applications advertisements in Newspapers, ending On-Line Planning Law annual subscription, reduction in costs associated to paper documents to Parish and Town Councils, charging for pre-application services, charging for paper copies of planning and building control information.

 

·         Improving Cost Recovery – Charging Parish Councils for services such as information or assistance given and enforcement services.

 

·         New Hangar at North Weald – To build a new hangar to generate income.

 

·         Flexible Working/Accommodation Review – To review working practises and space utilisation across the whole Council.

 

·         Leisure Management Contract – To procure the new Leisure Management Contract by Competitive dialogue, increase income and reduce costs.

 

·         Reduction in Facilities Management (FM) Spend – To reduce the underspend within the FM budget and improve procurement and contract management processes.

 

·         Car parking income – To increase car parking charges.

 

·         Grants to Voluntary Organisations – To reduce the grant budget.

 

The Cabinet Committee advised that instead of just focusing on non-statutory services that the residents value, officers needed to look at the basic services

 and consideration should be given to shared services. Increasing the reserves should not be a priority for the Council.

 

The Cabinet Committee considered the individual business cases and determined which of the saving suggestions should be progressed as follows;

 

·         Community Safety Work and HRA- The Cabinet Committee confirmed that this should be pursued;

 

·         Review of Councillors – The Cabinet Committee were informed that this should not be considered just for financial reasons because it involved an Electoral Review by the Local Government Boundary Commission. The review aimed to ensure a better electoral representation in the local community and could result in an increase of members. The review would also take around 18 months to complete and a whole Council election would have to follow. The Portfolio Holder for Governance and Development Management commented on the consideration of the Local Plan and how that could affect the future number of residents in the District and how this could affect the number of Councillors as well. The Housing Portfolio Holder advised that a lot of work had been involved in the last review in 2002 and this had to be taken into account. The Cabinet Committee concluded that this could be reconsidered once the Local Plan was in place and officers should look into the all out elections as considered by the neighbouring authority Brentwood Borough Council.

 

·         Forester Magazine – The Cabinet Committee were in general agreement that that the publication should cease in it’s current form and that there had been problems over the distribution, general knowledge of it’s existence and high expense involved in production. The Committee concluded officers needed to consider other ways of communicating with the residents such as including information with the Council Tax notification;

 

·         Review of Discretionary Business Rate Relief – The Cabinet Committee considered this not to be an option;

 

·         Increase of Fees and Charges – The Cabinet Committee had discussed the increase in charges previously in the agenda (item 9 Fees and Charges) and agreed that the increase in charges were a step in the right direction. The Director of Communities advised that although a suggestion had been put forward for the potential lettings at Limes Farm for £5,000, this may not actually be achieved as it depended on the demand and it was agreed to delete this element from the proposal;

 

·         Development Management Income & Savings - Th

e Cabinet Committee agreed with the intended savings and the reduction in paper copies of documents. Officers informed the Committee that they were waiting for the law to change in relation to electronic agenda distribution and would keep this under review. Members commented on further investigation on outside work for the print section;

 

·         Improving Cost Recovery and Charging Parish Councils - The Cabinet Committee considered and agreed with recovering costs for the more time consuming elements of work which the Town and Parish Councils contact the District about. The Director of Resources also advised that the Council intended to recover charges in relation to Direct Debit and Cheques that bounced and caused a financial implication to the Council.

 

·         New Hangar at North Weald – The Cabinet Committee agreed that this type of development on the Airfield should be encouraged although with progress of the Local Plan and the recent decision to develop aviation projects, this would become a future  consideration when an appropriate location was identified;

 

·         Flexible Working/Accommodation Review – The Cabinet Committee thought that this review should progress more quickly. The Chief Executive advised that a change in culture was required by staff. There were examples of this type of working which had been achieved in the Debt Recovery Team. The possibility of pursuing the purchase of office space immediately above the Epping Forest District Museum, Waltham Abbey also could enable some of the Community Services staff based at Hemnall Street, Epping to be relocated as a first phase to vacant the whole of the Hemnall Street Offices was welcomed.

 

·         Leisure Management Contract – The Cabinet Committee agreed that savings should be pursued through the new Leisure Management Contract and that this was a valuable service for the District;

 

·         Reduction in Facilities Management Spend – The Cabinet Committee confirmed that this should be pursued;

 

·         Car Parking Income – The Cabinet Committee considered the options given to increase the income from the car parking fees and bringing them into line with residents needs and the tube station car parks, to prevent commuters from using the car parks and increase parking for shoppers. The Committee were in agreement with Option 4, which included charges for all day parking on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays and the introduction for short stay tariff in the Civic Offices. The Committee felt that 30 minutes free parking should be included in the option and that all day parking should be inline with Tube Station prices. Councillor J H Whitehouse commented on increasing the long stay car park charges without having an impact on staff who work in the local businesses. The Cabinet Committee agreed that long stay parking could increase inline with other authorities. Members decided that an increase in income of £100,000 should be targeted.

 

·         Grants to Voluntary Organisations – The Cabinet Committee considered the proposals to reduce the subsidies to the VAEF for office and accommodation, which were subject to further investigation by officers and not to reallocate the subsidy agreed by the District Council for Homestart due to its closure in August 2014. The reduction in the overall grant budget could be re-visited if other savings were not achieved.

 

Recommended:

 

(1)          That the savings target for 2015/16 be increased from £0.5million to £0.75million; and

 

(2)          That the following saving suggestions be progressed;

 

(a)          That the funding of Community Safety Work in relation to the Housing Service from the HRA, resulting in potential savings to the General Fund of £64,000 in 2015/16, £20,000 in 2016/17 and future savings of £6,000 be pursued;

 

(b)          That the Review of Councillors would not be pursued until the Local Plan had been completed and the Constitutional and Member Services Panel considered the option of all out elections;  

 

(c)          That the Forester Magazine cease publication with the effect from April 2015 with a potential saving of £44,000 in 2015/16 and information to be disseminated to residences with other correspondence such as Council Tax Bills;

 

(d)          That the Review of Discretionary Business Rate Relief would not be pursued;

 

(e)          That the Increase in Fees and Charges for £12,000 in 2015/16 be pursued;

 

(f)           That the Improving Cost Recovery  and Charging Parish Councils would be pursued;

 

(g)           That a New Hangar at North Weald would be pursued;

 

(h)          That the Flexible working and Accommodation Review should be pursued with a potential saving of £100,000 in 2016/17;

 

(i)            That the Leisure Management Contract with potential savings of £250,000 in 2016/17 and beyond be pursued;

 

(j)            That the reduction in Facilities Management with potential savings of £50,000 in 2015/16 be pursued;

 

(k)          That the Car parking income include pursuing weekend parking charges, commuter rates for parking over 2 hours, charging for the Civic office Car park over 30 minutes and that an income target of £100,000 should be set; and

 

(l)            That subject to further investigation by officers into the practicalities, the VAEF subsidies of £16,680 be reduced and the £7,550 for Homestart not be re-allocated from the Grant Aid Budget.

 

Reasons for the Decisions:

 

To confirm the net CSB target for 2015/16 and determine which business cases should be pursed to achieve the necessary level of savings.

 

Other Options Considered or Rejected:

 

Members could decide to leave the net CSB target as it currently was or indeed reduce it further.

 

Members could decide to pursue any mixture of the various business cases together with any other new ideas.