Agenda item

(To receive a report by Michelle Grady, Head of Finance (Communities), which describes the budget proposals arising from the Provisional Local Government Settlement, announced on 15 December 2016 and the implications for the commissioning strategy 'Protecting & Sustaining the Environment')

The Committee received a report which described the budget proposals arising from the Provisional Local Government Settlement, announced on 15 December 2016 and the implications for the commissioning strategy 'Protecting & Sustaining the Environment' which included the following activities:

·         Reducing Carbon Emissions

·         Flood Risk Management

·         Protecting & Enhancing the natural and built environment

·         Waste Management

·         Sustainable Planning

Members were guided through the report and were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report, and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was queried whether there had been any assessment of the impact of the closure of the two waste sites on the budget.  Was there evidence that a saving had been made, particularly in relation to whether there had been an increase in fly tipping.  Members were advised that districts had not noted any significant increase in fly-tipping since the closure of the sites.  The cost of disposal of the fly-tipped waste would be the responsibility of the county council.  The costs of maintaining these sites had been removed from the budget.  Members were advised that the closure of these sites did not affect the Council's policy.

·         The increase in budget costs was due to the amount of waste which was being presented for disposal.

·         It was queried why the council was only setting a one year budget, as some of the districts were putting in place medium term financial strategies.  Members were advised that the Council had been balancing its budget with the use of reserves, as the Executive did not want to make decisions about cutting services if they could find other ways to make savings.  The Council did have a model as it had signed up to a four year funding deal from government, and so knew what income would be coming into the authority.  However, there were still some very big unknowns, such as the Better Care Fund, which would not affect the districts.

·         It was clarified that the Street Cleaning teams in Lincoln were paid for by the City of Lincoln Council, but disposal of the waste collected was paid for by the County Council.

·         A large cost in terms of waste disposal was the haulage to transport the material to processing facilities.

·         Concerns were raised about the possibility of delays to the Boston Barrier project, as there was already a public inquiry scheduled.  It was clarified that the £11m the Council had set aside for this project was for improvements in addition to the Barrier itself, but the barrier itself had attracted 100% funding from the government due to the number of residents who would be affected by flooding.  It was also noted that the public inquiry should not affect the programme as it was in relation to how people use the river.

·         It was noted that the cost of non-pay inflation had not been applied as a cost pressure for a number of years, only pay inflation was being included in this budget.

·         Members commented that they would have liked to see another table alongside Table A that provided more information on the budget for each of the activities.  Members were advised that the budget book which would be prepared for Council on 24 February 2017 would be very detailed.

·         Members commented that there was a lot of good work going on, such as the Energy from Waste facility.  It was noted that in relation to the Energy from Waste Facility, at the end of the 25 year contract it would be completely refitted by the operators and so the Council would be handed back a new facility to contract again.

RESOLVED

            That the Environmental Scrutiny Committee supports the proposed             changes for the commissioning strategy 'Protecting and Sustaining the          Environment'.