Agenda item

To support the establishment of a new Borough Growth reserve, including funding for that reserve, to help facilitate and support the growth in the Joint Core Strategy and accelerate development in line with the trajectory.

1.      That, subject to confirmation of windfall receipts from the 100% Business Rates Retention Pilot, £500,000 be allocated to form a new Borough Growth Reserve.

2.      That, subject to the successful completion of the required business case and reimbursement of expenditure from grant funding, £100,000 of the A40 Innsworth Gateway Reserve be reallocated to the Borough Growth Reserve.

3.      That any expenditure in excess of £50,000, or of abnormal risk, is undertaken by the Chief Executive in consultation with the relevant Member Panel.  

86.1           The joint report of the Head of Finance and Asset Management and Head of Development Services, circulated at Pages No. 80-85, sought to ensure the Council was in a position to act to accelerate the progression of growth delivery to bring about benefits in community and infrastructure development as necessary. Members were asked to approve the allocation of £500,000 to form a new Borough Growth Reserve, subject to confirmation of windfall receipts from the 100% business rates retention pilot; to reallocate the £100,000 A40 Innsworth Gateway Reserve to the Borough Growth Reserve, subject to successful completion of the required business case and reimbursement of expenditure from grant funding; and that, any expenditure in excess of £50,000, or of abnormal risk, be undertaken by the Chief Executive in consultation with the relevant Member Panel.

86.2           The Head of Development Services explained that growth in the Joint Core Strategy (JCS) was fundamental to the Borough and bringing sites forward at pace was necessary. To secure growth and benefits on some sites required intervention and the report before the Committee set out one way in which Officers felt this could be addressed. The government was explicit in how the windfall from the 100% retention of business rates should be used: to promote financial stability and sustainability and, in particular, that some of the retained income should be invested to encourage further growth across an area – the proposed use of the monies to support the delivery of the strategic allocations and growth in homes and jobs would therefore meet that definition. The pilot was operating well and a windfall of £700,000 was expected as at the end of quarter two; however, the full year outturn would not be known until mid-May and, as business rates income could be volatile, it could not be guaranteed to remain at that level.

86.3           In response to a query regarding what the funding would be used for, the Deputy Chief Executive indicated that it was impossible to say exactly as it was a ‘facilitating pot’, for example, at some point there would be a need for money to be made available to fund ongoing work for the rail strategy at Ashchurch and, in order to attract investment to the area for that work, the Council would have to ensure the money was available to get to that point. The money could also be used as a rolling reserve to enable the Council to ‘lend’ money to a project to move it forward with the reserve being replenished when external funding was received. The Head of Development Services expressed the view that the Council was at a significant disadvantage without having a fund like this available. In addition, it showed the Council’s ambitions in terms of contributing to growth.

86.4           A Member questioned whether the Committee would be advised of the windfall receipt once it was confirmed and, in response, the Head of Finance and Asset Management advised that the final outturn figures would be reported to the Executive Committee as usual in June. In terms of the spending of the Reserve, the Chief Executive advised that any decisions for Executive Committee and/or Council would be brought forward as necessary but, within the Reserve, the spending decisions would be made by the Chief Executive in conjunction with the appropriate Member Panel, e.g. the J9 Area Member Reference Panel or the Planning Policy Reference Panel etc.

86.5           It was felt the report offered a prudent and sensible way forward and accordingly, it was