Agenda item

Report CSD24022

 

The Director of Finance had circulated the following changes to the Council Tax Resolution -

 

“There were no changes to the final Mayoral precept accepted by the London Assembly on 22nd February 2024. 

 

Since the last meeting of the Executive there have been further changes on levies and the final position is shown in recommendation 2.1 (f) below.

 

Members are requested to note that the 2024/25 Budget includes the impact of the recommended 2024/25 pay award that is subject to Full Council approval (agenda item 7).

 

The above change will require the following proposed amendments to be made to the recommendations of the Executive:

 

Amended Recommendation (2.1)

 

(e)  approves a revised Central Contingency sum to reflect the allocation of the pay award, movement of levies and final local government settlement, resulting in a sum of £9,829k;

 

(f)  approves the following provisions for levies to include in the budget for 2024/25:

 

	£’000
London Pension Fund Authority	448
London Boroughs Grant Committee	248
Environment Agency (Flood defence etc.)	270
Lee Valley Regional Park	350
Total	1,316

 

(g)  notes the final position on the GLA precept, as accepted by the London   Assembly on 22^nd February 2024; and

 

(h)  Sets a 2% increase in Adult Social Care Precept with a 2.99% increase in Bromley’s General Council Tax, compared with 2023/24 (2% increase in Adult Social Care Precept and 2.99% increase in Bromley’s General Council Tax) and 8.58% increase in the GLA precept.”

 

The recommendations as amended above were moved by Councillor Christopher Marlow and seconded by Councillor Colin Smith.

 

The following amendments were moved by Councillor Simon Jeal and seconded by Councillor Jeremy Adams –

 

“After allowing for the report from the Director of Finance the following amendments are proposed to the recommendations of the Executive set out in the Blue Book on pages 27-134. 

 

The following changes be made to the recommended budget for 2024/25:

 

Additional recommendations:

 

1. Council be recommended to:

(k) Approve the proposed changes to the revenue budget as detailed in Appendix 1

 

Subject to the approval of (k) above: 

(l) Approve the following changes to the Capital Programme (agenda item 5):

i) The addition of £3,150k for a Children’s Home, funded from the Invest to Save earmarked reserve;

ii) The addition of £3,150k for a care home for Adults, funded from the Invest to Save earmarked reserve;

iii) The addition of £123.2m for a social housing scheme on the current Civic Centre site, funded by GLA Grant (£54m), external borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board (£58m) and the Invest to Save earmarked reserve (£11.2m);

iv) To not proceed with the planned disposal of the Civic Centre site;

v) The disposal of former ‘Top Shop’ building;

vi) The drawdown of £8m from the Growth Fund earmarked reserve to cover the net impact on capital financing arising from the change in capital receipts in iv) and v) above;

  (m) The detailed proposals relating to the changes in (l) will be reported back to Executive prior to final release of capital resources identified above. 

 

Amended recommendations:

 

 4. Council is recommended to formally resolve as follows:

 

(3) That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2024/25 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the Act):

(a) £663,215k being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act.

(b) £463,199k being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates or the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.”

 

The following Members voted for the amendment –

 

Councillors Jeremy Adams, Jessica Arnold, Kathy Bance, Graeme Casey, Will Connolly, Alisa Igoe, Julie Ireland, Simon Jeal, Kevin Kennedy-Brooks, Josh King, Ruth McGregor, Tony McPartlan, Chris Price, Chloe-Jane Ross, Ryan Thomson, Sam Webber and Rebecca Wiffen (17)

 

 

The following Members voted against the amendment –

 

Councillors Jonathan Andrews, Felicity Bainbridge, Yvonne Bear, Nicholas Bennett, Kim Botting, Mark Brock, David Cartwright, Josh Coldspring-White, Aisha Cuthbert, Sophie Dunbar, Robert Evans, Simon Fawthrop, Adam Grant, Hannah Gray, Sunil Gupta, Christine Harris, Colin Hitchins, Mike Jack, David Jefferys, Charles Joel, Jonathan Laidlaw, Kate Lymer, Christopher Marlow, Alexa Michael, Tony Owen, Angela Page, Will Rowlands, Colin Smith, Diane Smith, Mark Smith, Alison Stammers, Melanie Stevens, Harry Stranger, Michael Tickner, Pauline Tunnicliffe and Thomas Turrell (36)

 

The following Members abstained –

 

Councillors Mike Botting and Keith Onslow (2)

 

The amendment was LOST.

 

The following amendments were moved by Councillor Chloe-Jane Ross and seconded by Councillor Julie Ireland –

 

“After allowing for the report from the Director of Finance the following amendments are proposed to the recommendations of the Executive set out in the Blue Book on pages 27-134. 

The following changes be made to the recommended budget for 2024/25:

 

Additional recommendations:

(k) Approve the proposed changes to the revenue budget as detailed in appendix 1 including the following:

i) carry forward of the £411k business rate levy adjustment for 2023/24

ii) contribution from Invest to Save earmarked reserve of £900k

iii) the implementation of the 100% Council Tax second home premium from 2025/26

 

Amended recommendations:

 4. Council is recommended to formally resolve as follows:

(3) That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2024/25 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the Act):

(a) £664,466k being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act.

(b) £464,450k being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates or the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.”

 

The following Members voted for the amendment –

 

Councillors Graeme Casey, Will Connolly, Julie Ireland, Chloe-Jane Ross and Sam Webber (5)

 

The following Members voted against the amendment –

 

Councillors Jonathan Andrews, Felicity Bainbridge, Yvonne Bear, Nicholas Bennett, Kim Botting, Mark Brock, David Cartwright, Josh Coldspring-White, Aisha Cuthbert, Sophie Dunbar, Robert Evans, Simon Fawthrop, Adam Grant, Hannah Gray, Sunil Gupta, Christine Harris, Colin Hitchins, David Jefferys, Charles Joel, Jonathan Laidlaw, Kate Lymer, Christopher Marlow, Alexa Michael, Tony Owen, Angela Page, Will Rowlands, Colin Smith, Diane Smith, Melanie Stevens, Harry Stranger, Michael Tickner, Pauline Tunnicliffe and Thomas Turrell (33)

 

The following Members abstained –

 

Councillors Jeremy Adams, Jessica Arnold, Kathy Bance, Mike Botting, Alisa Igoe, Mike Jack, Simon Jeal, Kevin Kennedy-Brooks, Josh King, Ruth McGregor, Tony McPartlan, Keith Onslow, Chris Price, Mark Smith, Alison Stammers, Ryan Thomson and Rebecca Wiffen (17)

 

The amendment was LOST.

 

Accordingly, as proposed by Councillor Christopher Marlow and seconded by Councillor Colin Smith, the following recommendations of the Executive, with the changes proposed by the Director of Finance, were put to the vote -

 

Council resolves to:

 

(1)  (a) Note the following recent changes including the outcome of the Final Local Government Settlement 2024/25 announced by DLUHC on 6^th February:

 

i)  additional Services Grant funding of £24k;

ii)  final allocation of Public Health Grant which represents a 2.1% increase in funding (£64k); and

iii)  one-off funding of £411k in 2023/24 only, mainly relating to the government’s business rates safety net and levy account.

 

(b)  Approve the schools’ budget of £116.453m which matches the estimated level of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) after academy recoupment;

 

(c)  Approve the draft revenue budgets (as detailed in the revised Appendix 2) for 2024/25;

 

(d)  Agree that Chief Officers identify alternative savings/mitigation within their departmental budgets where it is not possible to realise any savings/mitigation reported to the previous meeting of the Executive held on 17^th January 2024;

 

(e)  approve a revised Central Contingency sum to reflect the allocation of the pay award, movement of levies and final local government settlement, resulting in a sum of £9,829k;

 

(f)  approve the following provisions for levies to include in the budget for 2024/25:

 

	£’000
London Pension Fund Authority	448
London Boroughs Grant Committee	248
Environment Agency (Flood defence etc.)	270
Lee Valley Regional Park	350
Total	1,316

 

(g)  note the final position on the GLA precept, as accepted by the London Assembly on 22^nd February 2024; and

 

(h)  Set a 2% increase in Adult Social Care Precept with a 2.99% increase in Bromley’s General Council Tax, compared with 2023/24 (2% increase in Adult Social Care Precept and 2.99% increase in Bromley’s General Council Tax) and 8.58% increase in the GLA precept.

 

2.  Council Tax 2024/25 – Statutory Calculations and Resolutions (as amended by the Localism Act 2011).

 

  Subject to 1. (a) to (h) above, if the formal Council Tax Resolution as detailed below is approved, the total Band D Council Tax will be as follows:

 

	2023/24 £	2024/25 £	Increase £	Increase % (note #)
Bromley (general)	1,218.25	1,260.35	42.10	2.99
Bromley (ASC precept)	189.80	217.96	28.16	2.00
Bromley (total)	1,408.05	1,478.31	70.26	4.99
GLA *	434.14	471.40	37.26	8.58
Total	1,842.19	1,949.71	107.52	5.84

* The GLA Precept may need to be amended once the actual GLA budget is set.

 

(#)  in line with the 2024/25 Council Tax Referendum Principles, the % increase applied is based on an authority’s “relevant basic amount of Council Tax” (£1,478.31 for Bromley) – see paragraph 6 below.  Any further changes arising from these Principles will be reported directly to Council on 26^th February 2024.

 

3.  Council is formally resolves as follows:

 

(1)  It be noted that the Council Tax Base for 2024/25 is 135,300 ‘Band D’ equivalent properties.

 

(2)  Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2024/25 is £200,016k.

 

(3)  That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2024/25 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the Act):

 

(a)  £663,110k being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act.

 

(b)  £463,094k being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates or the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.

 

(c)  £200,016k being the amount by which the aggregate at 3(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 3(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year.

 

(d)  £1,478.31 being the amount at 3(c) above, divided by (1) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year. 

 

(4)  To note that the Greater London Authority (GLA) has issued a precept to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for each category of dwellings in the Council’s area as indicated in the table below (NB. the GLA precept figure may need to be amended once the actual GLA budget is set).

 

(5)  That the Council, in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the aggregate amounts shown in the table below as the amounts of Council Tax for 2024/25 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings.

 

Valuation Bands	London Borough of Bromley £	Greater London Authority £	Aggregate of Council Tax Requirements £
A	985.54	314.27	1,299.81
B	1,149.80	366.64	1,516.44
C	1,314.05	419.02	1,733.07
D	1,478.31	471.40	1,949.71
E	1,806.82	576.16	2,382.98
F	2,135.34	680.91	2,816.25
G	2,463.85	785.67	3,249.52
H	2,956.62	942.80	3,899.42

 

(6)  That the Council hereby determines that its relevant basic amount of council tax for the financial year 2024/25, which reflects a 4.99% increase (Adult Social Care Precept increase of 2%), is not excessive.  The Referendums Relating to Council Tax Increases (Principles) (England) Report 2024/25 sets out the principles which the Secretary of State has determined will apply to local authorities in England from 2024/25. Any further changes arising from these Principles will be reported directly to Council on 26^th February 2024. The Council is required to determine whether its relevant basic amount of Council Tax is excessive in accordance with the principles approved under Section 52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

 

The following Members voted for the motion –

 

Councillors Jonathan Andrews, Felicity Bainbridge, Yvonne Bear, Nicholas Bennett, Kim Botting, Mark Brock, David Cartwright, Josh Coldspring-White, Aisha Cuthbert, Sophie Dunbar, Robert Evans, Simon Fawthrop, Adam Grant, Hannah Gray, Sunil Gupta, Christine Harris, Colin Hitchins, Mike Jack, David Jefferys, Charles Joel, Jonathan Laidlaw, Kate Lymer, Christopher Marlow, Alexa Michael, Tony Owen, Angela Page, Will Rowlands, Colin Smith, Diane Smith, Mark Smith, Alison Stammers, Melanie Stevens, Harry Stranger, Michael Tickner, Pauline Tunnicliffe and Thomas Turrell (36)

 

The following Members voted against the motion –

 

Councillors Jeremy Adams, Jessica Arnold, Kathy Bance, Alisa Igoe, Simon Jeal, Kevin Kennedy-Brooks, Josh King, Ruth McGregor, Tony McPartlan, Chris Price, Ryan Thomson and Rebecca Wiffen (12)

 

The following Members abstained –

Councillors Mike Botting, Graeme Casey, Will Connolly, Julie Ireland, Keith Onslow, Chloe-Jane Ross and Sam Webber (7)

 

The amendment was CARRIED.