Agenda item

To receive any questions submitted under Rule of Procedure 13. Any items received will be circulated on Monday 20 February 2023.

(Any questions must be submitted in writing to Democratic Services by, not later than, 10.00am on Monday 13 February 2023).

78.1           The following question was received from Councillor Cody to the Leader of the Council, Councillor Bird.  The answer was given by the Leader of the Council and was taken as read without discussion.

                  Question 1

At the Tewkesbury Borough Full Council meeting on the 6 December 2022, I voted in favour of webcasting as I believe in transparency and think the public have a right to view what we discuss on their behalf, without having to travel into Tewkesbury at a specific time to watch the meeting in person.

The meeting minutes state that, “Following a lengthy discussion as to the merits of webcasting, as well as concerns about the costs of the system at the time of a national cost of living emergency…it was agreed that webcasting would not be implemented at this time.”

                  Given their concerns, what has the Leader of the Council, who voted against webcasting, done to make sure that the specific amount of money saved has indeed been spent on the cost of living emergency?  Please can the Leader of the Council confirm when this money was spent, (or ring-fenced) and provide information on who is deciding what the money is used for?

                  Answer 1

                  The pressures on our finances mean that we must make careful choices when faced with a variety of competing demands. It is not always possible to fund everything we would like to support, as evidenced by the budget proposal tonight, where, in order to deliver a sound and balanced budget, we have been unable to include nearly half a million pounds of funding requests. The budget proposal does however provide funding and investment to ensure our Council continues to provide vital services to our expanding communities for the forthcoming year.

78.2           The Mayor invited supplementary questions and the Member asked the following which the Leader of the Council answered:

                  Q1 - Is the truth really that Councillors, including our Leader, who voted against webcasting just didn't want the transparency it brings and so they ’conveniently’ used the cost of living crisis as an excuse without any intention of the money actually helping our vulnerable residents instead?

                  A1 - No money was ringfenced. Various views were expressed during the debate both for and against webcasting for a variety of reasons. A majority of Councillors decided the implementation of webcasting was not a good use of Council tax payers’ money at this time.

78.3           The following question was received from Councillor Stanley to the Leader of the Council, Councillor Bird.  The answer was given by the Leader of the Council and was taken as read without discussion.

                  Question 2

Please may I have an updated figure of the costs to the Borough Council, since May 2019, of:

                             i.    all formal challenges to planning decisions where the challenge has been made by or against the Council including the (recently lost) Ashchurch Bridge.

                            ii.   costs incurred by the Council in defending lost planning appeals, including, but not limited to the lost appeal for 215 homes in Bishops Cleeve and 460 homes at Fiddington (as this case and other similar appeals were not included last time).

                           iii.   costs paid by the Council as a consequence of lost planning appeals.

Answer 2

The cost to the Council of formal challenges and lost appeals includes external costs for Counsel/Advocate’s fees together with the costs of appointing consultants as required to give evidence on behalf of the Council (e.g.  landscape evidence, planning evidence, arboricultural evidence).  In addition, there are significant amounts of work carried out by the Council officers to prepare for challenges / appeals including, where required, attendance at Public Inquiries.  Whilst those costs for which invoices are raised can be quantified, Council Officers do not routinely record their time against specific tasks/applications and it is therefore not practicably possible, over the period 2019 to date, to quantify the officer time spent on those matters. 

                             i.       The total external costs to the Council of formal challenges is £227,130.

                            ii.      The total costs to the Council in defending lost planning appeals is £288,124.

                           iii.      The costs paid to date amount to £14,610, but there is one cost award against the Council yet to be settled.

78.4           The following question was received from Councillor Stanley to the Lead Member for Clean and Green Environment, Councillor Mason.  The answer was given by the Lead Member for Clean and Green Environment and was taken as read without discussion.

                  Question 3

                  Please can Officers confirm the annual losses made by the Council’s trade waste service in 2022-2023 and the projected loss for 2023-24? What plans/steps have been taken to stop these losses and ensure a profitable service is provided?

                  Answer 3

                  Please see the table below which shows the deficit in the years referred to in the question.  We have had a project running for a number of years to attempt to get the service to a position where it is breaking even and possibly delivering a surplus, however the gap between the costs of delivering the service and income generated is widening.  Therefore, the Head of Community Services is working on an alternative proposal which would reduce the deficit and he will present that proposal to the Executive Committee in March.

78.5           The following questions were received from Councillor Munro to the Lead Member for Built Environment, Councillor Gore.  The answers were given by the Lead Member for Built Environment and were taken as read without discussion.

                  Question 4

                  At the meeting of Full Council in December 2022, it was reported that the amount of S106 monies held by Tewkesbury Borough Council was just under £9m as at the end of March 2022. As it is understood that since that meeting a S106 officer has been recruited and is in post, please can Councillors be given a summary of what infrastructure this considerable sum of money is to be used for or if this is not possible, a date when a report will be available.

                  Answer 4

                  Question 5

                  Please can Councillors be advised of the interest earned on S106 monies in 2021/22 (the balance given as at the start of April 2021 was c£9.6m and as above as at end March 2022) and the first six months of 2022/23 and be assured that this interest is being used for community infrastructure. 

                  Answer 5

                  The balance of s106 monies is combined with the rest of the cashflow of the Council and managed through our treasury activities as a whole. It is therefore not possible to be specific as to how much that particular balance has earned in interest but, if we take the average balance held for s106 during the periods identified and apply the average combined interest rate received for all investments in the same period, the interest earned for s106 balances would be £120,615 and £85,536 respectively.

                  The treasury activities of the Council support the overall position of the Council’s budget and therefore sums earned provide funding for all of our services including community infrastructure related activities such as the s106 officer, grounds maintenance and asset maintenance such as parks and watercourses.

                  Question 6

                  Please can Councillors be advised of any S106 trigger points due in 2023/24 and any S106 monies with a time limit which will run out in 2023/24. Please can Councillors be advised how these and any trigger points which are dependent on for example x houses being built are being monitored. 

                  Answer 6

                  The majority of trigger points for S106 agreements are based on build out rates or for land to be transferred at a certain point as development is being built out. They are not all date triggers. Consequently, it is not possible to confirm all of the trigger points due in 2023/4.

                  Regarding any S106 monies with a time limit running out in 2023/4, the majority of the money is committed. Work is progressing on a specific project which it is anticipated will result in all monies being committed. 

                  In terms of how trigger points are being monitored, there is, in most cases, an obligation placed on the developer to inform the Council when trigger points are being met. We also use existing monitoring of completions and contact is made directly with developers. 

                  Question 7

                  It is understood that a sum in the order of c£64k was returned to developers in 2022/3 as the time period for the monies to be spent in expired. As a consequence, residents of Stoke Orchard did not get the upgrade to their MUGA that it is understood the money was for.  Please can Councillors be advised what measures have been put in place to ensure that this does not happen again and what assistance the Council could provide to secure alternative funding for upgrades to the MUGA.

                  Answer 7

                  A corporate group has been set up to provide oversight of the process of spending and monitoring S106 monies.

                  The Parish Council has been offered pro-active support through the Community Funding Officer to identify and secure alternative funding.

78.6           The Mayor invited supplementary questions and the Member asked the following which the Lead Member for Built Environment advised would be answered in writing:

                  Q4 – Please can Councillors be told, for the £2.4m reserved for pitches and changing rooms, whether sites have been identified, is there a plan to spend the monies and, if so, where are the pitches and when will the monies be spent?  

                  Q6 -   Please can Councillors be told the details of S106 monies with a time limit running out in 2023/24, what is the money committed for and what is the specific project referred to that will result in all monies being committed?

                  Q7 - Please can all Councillors have the details of the membership of the corporate group set up to provide S106 oversight, who Chairs the group, are Members invited and when is the next meeting?