Issue - meetings

Report number:     CAB/WS/22/066

Portfolio holder: Councillor Sarah Broughton

Chair of the Committee: Councillor Ian Houlder

Lead officer: Rachael Mann

Recommended to Council:

(13 December 2022)

That the proposals as detailed in Section 2 and Table 1 at Paragraph 3.2 of report number PAS/WS/22/021, be included in the medium-term financial plans to 2027.

Noted:

The Cabinet noted the concerns raised by some members of the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee of the absence of specific funding for street lighting in the former Forest Heath area.

(Report number CAB/WS/22/066)

The Cabinet considered this report, which was recommending to Council, approval of proposals for inclusion in the medium-term financial plans.

On 17 November 2022, the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee (PASC) considered proposals for delivering a sustainable balanced budget for 2023 to 2024 and for developing the medium term plans.  This included a number of key budget assumptions proposed and the rational behind those assumptions, as set out in Section 2 and Table 1 of paragraph 3.2 of Report number PAS/WS/22/021.

Councillor Sarah Broughton, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Property, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Cabinet.

Having considered the process and approach to setting the Council’s 2023 to 2024 budget and the principles and challenges faced in achieving this, the Cabinet supported the recommendation of the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee.

Recommended to Council (13 December 2022):

That the proposals as detailed in Section 2 and Table 1 at Paragraph 3.2 of report number PAS/WS/22/021, be included in the medium-term financial plans to 2027.

The Cabinet also noted the detailed discussions held by the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee on 17 November 2022 on street lighting.  Some of the Committee members had raised concerns that there was no financial provision made in the budget for the street lighting disparity and felt there was no definitive move to resolve the issue and were sceptical that Cabinet would look at this further in 2023. They considered that unless financial provision was made for street lighting for the medium-term, then it would slip again. 

On 8 November 2022, the Cabinet had agreed to the recommendations on street lighting, as set out in Report number CAB/WS/22/058, including the timescales and the process for taking this matter forward, which would include Town/Parish Councils and Suffolk County Council. 

In terms of the budget, there was provision for street lighting for those currently in the Council’s ownership.  The Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee had been informed that when Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury Councils joined up, street lighting had not been highlighted as an issue, and asked Members to bear with Cabinet and Officers given the focus over the last few years, since becoming a single council, had been in supporting the West Suffolk businesses and communities through a pandemic.

Resolved:

The Cabinet noted and acknowledged the concerns raised by some members of the Performance and Audit Scrutiny Committee of the absence of specific funding for street lighting in the former Forest Heath area.