Agenda item

To consider the Council’s general fund outturn for 2022/23, the financing of the capital programme and the annual treasury management report and performance and to approve the transfers to and from earmarked reserves.

1. That the General Fund outturn for 2022/23, the financing of the capital programme and the annual treasury management report and performance be NOTED.
2. That the transfers to and from earmarked reserves be APPROVED. 

20.1           The report of the Executive Director: Resources, circulated at Pages No. 83-107, highlighted the Council’s financial performance for the previous year, setting out the General Fund and capital outturn positions.  Members were asked to consider the General Fund outturn for 2022/23, the financing of the capital programme and the annual treasury management report and performance and to approve the transfers to and from earmarked reserves.

20.2           In introducing the report, the Associate Director: Finance advised that the final revenue outturn position for the financial year 2022/23 showed a £1m surplus.  In terms of service expenditure, employee costs were £389,343 underspent, largely as a result of high staff turnover and vacancies in a number of departments.  Payments to third parties included £138,000 on various planning appeals as well as additional provisions being made for planning appeals that were currently being challenged which amounted to £330,000; in addition, £140,000 of planning appeals had been funded from reserves, therefore, the total cost of planning appeals for 2022/23 was £608,000.  Additional income had been generated, particularly within planning and licensing, and external grant funding was also received through the year as well as a £300,000 planning software grant to be used in the coming financial year.  The treasury outturn for 2022/23 was positive due to rising interest rates and assurance was provided that the Prudential indicators were monitored regularly with no deviations during the year.  In terms of the Council’s commercial premises, a gross rental income of £3.19m had been produced, a yield of 5%.  This was approximately £178,000 less than budget due to a vacant unit; however, all units were now fully tenanted.  Business rates showed a £448,000 surplus against budget and Tewkesbury Borough Council benefited from being in the Gloucestershire Business Rates Pool which had generated a further £380,000.    A full explanation of all variances exceeding £25,000 at group subjective level was attached at Appendix A to the report which also contained an explanation of the variance on the corporate codes.  A breakdown of the Council’s reserves as at 31 March 2023 was attached at Appendix B to the report which included a breakdown of the previous year’s reserves.  Total revenue reserves stood at £28.42m which included earmarked reserves, planning obligations and the general fund working balance.  Whilst the Council’s planned capital programme for 2022/23 was £3.03m, £2.6m had been spent on capital projects during the year utilising £162,000 of capital reserves, £1.9m of capital grants and £587,000 from revenue.  Following the allocation of capital receipts, the balance on capital reserves had increased to £2.1m as at 31 March 2023.  In terms of treasury management, this was governed by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Code of Practice which the Council had adopted and included a requirement for Members to receive an annual review report after the financial year end, accordingly, a detailed treasury report was attached at Appendix D and included a summary of activity and the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) the Council was required to report on.  Table 1 summarised the Council’s Capital Financing Requirement (CFR) and the usable reserves and working capital available for investment; Table 2 set out the Council’s treasury management position as at 31 March 2023 and the change during the year; Tables 3a and 6 provided details of borrowing; Table 4 showed the treasury investment position; and Table 5 set out in-house performance against external funds which, at 3.46%, was slightly less than the local authority average but external funds had performed well with an average total income return of 4.19%.  The Council also held £59.3m in investment properties and had generated £3.05m of investment income for the authority. 

20.3           It was proposed, seconded and