The Buckinghamshire Council cabinet met to discuss the annual report, budget management, and quarterly performance, deciding to approve transfers to reserves and note the performance and budget reports. Councillor Steve Broadbent, Leader of the Council, commended the work of the previous cabinet, while also highlighting financial challenges and the need for government reform in adult social care and school funding. The cabinet also addressed a question about flooding issues in Buckingham and discussed updates on road programmes, housing targets, CCTV upgrades, and support for carers.

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Councillor Thomas Broom, Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Transport, reported that the £120 million road programme was in full swing, taking advantage of the good weather.

Councillor Peter Strachan, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning, updated the council on the government's intentions regarding development, saying that the council was required to plan over 90,000 new homes over the next 20 years and that the council would be working at pace to produce a local plan, with a consultation draft expected later in the year. He also mentioned the upcoming publication of the New Towns Commission's findings, which could include major development sites in Buckinghamshire. Councillor Broadbent stressed the importance of keeping the cabinet updated on these issues.

Councillor Steve Bowles, Cabinet member for Communities, reported on the progress of upgrading community safety CCTV systems, with phase one complete and phase two about to start. He noted that the new cameras are multi-sensor and cover a greater area than the old ones.

Councillor Peter Brazier, Cabinet member for Culture & Leisure, publicised the introduction of a library membership specifically for carers, which includes no overdue fees and an extended loan period. He said that carers can simply identify themselves as such when applying for a library card.

Councillor Robert Carington, Cabinet Member for Resources, highlighted successful partnership operations with the police to address the misuse of blue badges¹ in Aylesbury, Amersham, Chesham, and High Wycombe. He said that over 150 blue badges were inspected, and over 20 penalty charge notices were issued, and that this initiative would continue in the future.

Councillor Isobel Darby, Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing, reported on the Carers Week events held in libraries, showcasing available support for the 50,000 carers in the county. She also previewed the Princess Centre, a privately run centre in Bourne End.

Councillor Carl Jackson, Cabinet Member for Environment, Climate Change & Waste, announced that Buckinghamshire Council had issued its first three fines for littering from vehicles, thanks to new civil powers and dashcam footage provided by residents. He also congratulated Katie Hargrave-Smith from the project groundwater team for winning the early career professional award at the flood and coast awards.

Councillor Adekunle Osibogun, Cabinet Member for Education & Children's Services, reported on the completion of the first of ten children's homes, a safeguarding children's partnership conference on trauma-informed approaches, and the Bognam Share Adult Learning Service achieving matrix accreditation².

Councillor Mark Winn, Cabinet member for Housing & Regulatory Services, updated the council on assistance dogs, saying that the council had revoked driver's licences following prosecutions for failing to take assistance dogs. He also reported that Fairhive had completed 15 homes in Ellsbury, bringing the total to 31 homes for Ukrainian and Afghan refugees, representing a £12 million investment.

Councillor Broadbent expressed concern over the lack of detail in the government's spending review regarding adult social care and school funding, and reiterated the council's commitment to lobbying for the Aylesbury link to connect into East West Rail.

Question Time

Councillor Robin Stuchbury asked Councillor Jackson and Councillor Broom about flooding issues in Meadway, Buckingham, and the broken drain affecting residents in Mitre Street. Councillor Jackson responded that a meeting would be arranged to address these concerns, and that the Highways team were considering a resolution to the issues on Mitre Street as part of the Highways Capital Programme.

Buckinghamshire Council Annual Report 2024-25

Councillor Broadbent presented the Buckinghamshire Council Annual Report for 2024-2025, highlighting achievements in strengthening communities, protecting the vulnerable, improving the environment, and increasing prosperity. He noted that 71% of the council's budget is spent on critical statutory services, with the remaining 29% allocated to discretionary services. He also mentioned the Opportunity Bucks programme, support for domestic abuse victims, solar panel installations at leisure centres, and the economic impact of filming activity in the county, which brought in £8.8 million to local businesses.

Budget Management - Outturn 2024-25

Councillor Carington presented the budget management report for 2024-2025, noting that the council had finished the year with a balanced revenue budget, which he called a hugely significant achievement. He acknowledged the financial pressures faced by local authorities, particularly in high needs, children's social care, adult social care, home to school transport, and homelessness. He said that the dedicated schools grant was currently at a negative balance of around £24.5 million, which was concerning. He said that the end-of-year position on the general fund revenue budgets was an improvement of £6.2 million from the quarter-free forecast, due to actions implemented across cabinet portfolios to contain pressures. He said that the portfolio budgets themselves had finished the year with an adverse variance of £6.5 million, which was offset by favourable variances within corporate budgets. He said that the main adverse variances were a £5.2 million pressure in transport services, a £3 million pressure in education and children's services, and a £0.6 million one in climate change and environment.

Councillor Broadbent recommended that £11.2 million be put into the mitigating future financial risk reserve, £1.4 million into planning appeals, and £3.6 million into the Buckinghamshire Development Fund. He said that the total reserves in the general fund fund just over four weeks of operational activity of the council.

Councillor Broom said that there had been some quite significant pressure in the transport budget, particularly in homeschool transport, and that the council was working cross-portfolio to make the service as efficient as possible. He also mentioned spending on securing parking areas and reactive tree work.

Councillor Darby reported a positive variance in her portfolio, due to staffing vacancies, filling block contract beds, and reducing debt. She said that the risks that were anticipated did not materialise in 24-5, but they're still a threat in 25-6.

Councillor Jackson said that there was always a pressure on waste, partly because you get new houses, and that the energy from waste plant was affected by energy prices. He said that the council would need to up its game on recycling rates to meet the government's target of 65% household waste recycled by 2035.

Councillor Winn said that the biggest cost risk was temporary accommodation, and that the council had created the Housing Improvement Board to address this. He said that the big issue was increasing the number of affordable homes, and that the council had invested in dedicated move-on officers to try and move people into ongoing accommodation.

Councillor Osibogun said that there was an adverse variance of £3.3 million from children's social care, and that the education budget was reporting an outturn of £300,000 on the spend, which left a £3 million net adverse variance. She said that the main factor and key pressures were around looked-after children and their associated placement costs. She said that the number of children currently, the statistics show that we have a higher demand on EHC plans, which has increased by 140% between 2015 and 2024.

The cabinet agreed to note the report and success in achieving the balanced revenue outturn, approve the transfers to the reserves, note the capital outturn position of under £47.1 million, approve the carry forward of capital budgets, and delegate to the Section 151 officer in consultation with the leader any amendments required to finalize the outturn position.

Q4 Performance Report 2024-25

The cabinet reviewed the Q4 performance report, which included 113 indicators, 69% of which were green, 11% amber, and 20% red.

Councillor Broadbent noted three red indicators in the leader's portfolio: sealer expenditure, new business registrations, and the unemployment rate in Buckinghamshire. He expressed concern about the latter two and said that the council would continue to work with the business community to boost prosperity.

Councillor Carington addressed the customer call centre's average wait time being too long, explaining that calls typically follow a cyclical pattern over the quarters, with Q4 being particularly busy due to council tax billing. He said that the customer service centre has an annual calendar of high-demand events and is deploying artificial intelligence to help improve website content and reduce overall calls.

Councillor Jackson said that the fly tipping reports showed a significant difference in performance between the north and the south of the county, and that this was being addressed.

Councillor Bowles highlighted the good work being done on the household support fund, which has issued digital food vouchers and supported voluntary and community sector initiatives.

Councillor Brazier discussed the red indicator on the number of library information queries, explaining that the form was being redesigned to record the quality of success rates, and that libraries were being used as customer access points.

Councillor Osibogun addressed the red indicators in the education and children's services portfolio, including the percentage of children looked after where their visits are in the right timescale, the EHCPs, and the percentage of initial family support plans completed within 31 days. She said that the care team had staff pressures, and that steps were being taken to increase capacity with educational psychologists and review overdue assessments.

Councillor Darby discussed the red indicators in the health and wellbeing portfolio, including people who use services who found it easy to find information, and the percentage of successful alcohol treatment completions. She said that improvement actions were in place, including working with residents to co-produce and relaunch the Care Advice Bucks web pages, launching a new Care Finder directory, and introducing a chat bot on the Buckinghamshire website.

Councillor Winn addressed the red indicator on temporary accommodation numbers, saying that the council was continuing to try and press down on numbers despite an overall increase, and that there was good news in 184 households moved out of accommodation. He also discussed the Disabled Facilities Grant, saying that there had been some staffing issues, which have now been resolved.

Councillor Strachan discussed the red indicators in the planning portfolio, including planning enforcement notice appeals that have been successfully defended and Section 106 contributions. He said that the planning teams work very hard to learn lessons from appeals, and that the teams were working very hard to bring forward all of the Section 106 projects.

Councillor Broom discussed the red indicators within the transport portfolio, including the cyclical gully programme and public satisfaction on condition of the roads. He said that the gully programme was actually attending 98% of all gullies in the county, and that the council was working to improve public perception of the roads.

The cabinet agreed to note the council’s performance for the quarter four period 2024-25 and the actions being taken to improve performance where required.

Other Business

The cabinet agreed the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 11 March 2025 and noted that the next meeting would be held on 8 July 2025.