Agenda and minutes

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 November 2024

It was proposed by Councillor C. Parker, seconded by Councillor James and

RESOLVED   The Minutes of the meeting held on 12 November 2024 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

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Members of the public may ask questions of the Chair. A maximum period of 15 minutes will be allowed with a maximum period of three minutes per questioner. The deadline for questions is no later than three working days before the date of the meeting i.e. should the meeting be on a Thursday the deadline would be the Friday before at 5pm.

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Members of the Council may ask questions of the Chair of the Committee subject to procedural rules. The deadline for questions is no later than three clear working days before the meeting.

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To note forthcoming issues anticipated to be considered by the Executive over the next 12 months. The Executive Forward Plan can be found here.

There were no questions asked or comments raised by members of the Committee or the Executive members who were present on the Executive Forward Plan

To review the Committee’s forward plan which can be found here

The Overview & Scrutiny Forward Plan (Work Programme) was attached and the meeting asked to note that it was in the process of being updated.

In response to a question about what we were doing about the Housing Crisis in Teignbridge, the Chair referred to a presentation given at the previous days Executive meeting where a representative from Exeter University gave an informative presentation on the housing data for Teignbridge and the whole of Devon which members may find helpful and assurances were given that this would be pursued in future.

Members were reminded that if they had any items they would like to be considered in future they could complete a Proposal form or email the Democratic Services Team

To receive updates from Executive Members for Corporate and Strategic Areas (Cllr Keeling the Leader) and Corporate Resources (Cllr Parrott)

As Cllr Keeling had given his apologies for this meeting, it had been agreed to defer the update on Corporate & Strategic Areas until he was available.

Cllr Parrott was present at the meeting to present the Budget report and would report on Corporate Resources at a future meeting

To consider the attached report

The Committee considered the draft revenue and capital budget proposals for the three years 2025/26 to 2027/28 presented by Cllr Parrott. He thanked officers for their hard work recognising that there were a number of difficulties, challenges and uncertainties – not least the recent announcement about Devolution but stressed that we must act in the best interest of residents.  To address the uncertainties in many areas, it would be necessary to identify further efficiencies.

The main issues taken into account in the Budget are:

• The level of council tax and the proposal to increase it by £5.87 (2.99%).

• Reducing central funding and the need to make ongoing efficiencies using invest to save where possible.

• Maintaining 100% council tax support

• The ongoing impact of post pandemic activity and economic conditions on income streams and changing Government funding.

• Continuing to react to the climate change emergency by maintaining ongoing budgets for a climate change officer and associated spending in revenue and provision in the capital programme, including ongoing provisions for corporate decarbonisation schemes as per 5.5.

• A £2 million provision for employment sites funded by borrowing.

• Continuing funding for a Scrutiny Officer to assist Members with the Scrutiny function and working groups and other temporary resources for facilitating the Modern 25 work.

• Authority for Executive to exceed the approved overall revenue budget by up to £200,000 per 4.25.

• Support for housing including the Teignbridge 100 (see 5.3) whilst backing business and bringing people and organisations together for local neighbourhood planning.

• Infrastructure delivery plan investment funded by community infrastructure levy (CIL) and external sources where available (see 5.4); continuation of grant-funded South West Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme as per 5.6.

• Town centre investment in infrastructure and employment as per 5.7

• Revenue contributions to capital being increased from £500,000 to £1,500,000 per annum

• Increasing the ‘invest to save’ reserve to £500,000

• Councillors community fund set at £1,000 each with a £150 minimum award

• Paying a further £1,000,000 off our pension deficit liability in 2024/25 to reduce on going contributions and reduce the budget gap year on year from the ‘in year’ surplus reported to Executive in November 2024 – in the light of the uncertainties, this proposal will be withdrawn in the final budget proposals

• Providing additional 5% funding to voluntary group grants

• The level of general reserves necessary for the council as per 4.22 – recommended at £2.5 million for 2025/26.

• Estimated revenue budget gap of £3.6 million in 2026/27 and £3.5 million in 2027/28 and ongoing gaps (before use of remaining earmarked reserves) and action required to address this from established working groups informing Overview & Scrutiny on work to reduce the gap (see 4.26).

It was noted that the council tax base 2025/26 approved by Audit Scrutiny Committee on 18 December 2024 (as shown at appendix 2) is £51,562

A number of questions and comments were raised:

·       Concern raised that the budget was profligate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

To scrutinise the Executive decisions of the meetings held on:

3 December 2024 Agenda for Executive on Tuesday, 3rd December, 2024, 10.00 am - Teignbridge District Council and

6 January 2025 Agenda for Executive on Monday, 6th January, 2025, 10.00 am - Teignbridge District Council

A question was raised regarding a ‘Judicial Review’. relating to Bradley Lane.  This wording was not correct as the Council had actually received a pre-action protocol letter and there is no Judicial Review in progress.  The Monitoring Officer has responded to the letter and has received no further response.

The Council’s outside organisations representatives to report on any meetings of the appointed outside organisation in the past few months, whether they  attended, a report on the meeting if they did so, the role the outside organisation(s) they represent plays in promoting and aligning with the Council's priorities, policies and strategies, and advising on partnership discussions which are open and in the public domain

Cllr Clarance to update on:

·         Teign Estuary and Coastal Partnership

·         Teignmouth Town Centre Partnership

As Cllr Clarence was unable to be present, these items would be deferred to a future meeting

The recently formed Task & Finish Groups (Leisure, Housing and Planning) and the ongoing MTFP group will be scheduling meetings to progress these areas.

The NOM referred by Full Council will be considered when dates of Counsel are available as his advice will be necessary to move it forward.