The Full Council of the Isles of Scilly is scheduled to meet on 16 December 2025 to discuss financial performance, council performance, land disposal, biodiversity, climate adaptation, civil enforcement, post-16 funding, and housing for homeless young people.

Financial Performance

The council is scheduled to review the 2nd Quarter 2025/26 - Financial Performance Report. The report highlights the revenue budget monitoring by service, savings risk monitoring, capital programme monitoring, major project monitoring, council tax collection performance, business rates collection performance, water rates collection performance, housing rent collection performance, sundry debt position, payment performance and a treasury management update. The report indicates a forecast overspend of £849,186, which is an increase from Quarter 1. A significant portion of this overspend is attributed to pressures within Adult Services, with agency staffing costs likely to exceed £700,000 for the year. The report recommends that the council initiate an action plan to reduce net expenditure on Adult Social Care, review housing rent collection performance, and address issues causing poor rental collection levels. The report also includes an update on the Culture Centre and Museum Project, noting programme slippage with a revised planned completion date of 30 June 2026, though the contractual date remains 25 June 2026.

Council Performance and Risk

The council is scheduled to discuss the Council performance summary and corporate risk register: quarter 2 2025/26. The performance summary includes updates to the tables since Quarter 1, with each risk now including a line for current year actual performance, the target for the year, and last year's actuals. The report notes that further work is needed on agreeing the methodology for calculating some of the targets, and that work is still required around the children service indicators. The corporate risk register includes narrative relating to each risk, completed by the identified owner of that risk. An additional column has been added to link the risks to the Council's Corporate Plan. The register identifies several risks, including:

• Ofsted rating of Isles of Scilly Children's Services
• Insufficient affordable housing for local permanent residents
• Failure to deliver an integrated health and social care system
• Inability to recruit and retain staff
• Failure to meet carbon neutral ambition by 2030
• Inability to maintain financial sustainability
• Cyber-attack
• Ineffective business continuity planning arrangements
• Insufficient capacity and expertise to deliver on commitments to capital projects
• Failure to establish adequate competence and co-operation for civil protection and emergency planning duties
• Transport links to the Isles of Scilly becoming unaffordable and unreliable
• Failure to meet regulatory requirements for the council's corporate estate
• Failure to create the right organisational conditions and culture to work together effectively and efficiently
• Cornwall Council becoming less willing and able to provide support contained within the collaboration agreements

Biodiversity Reporting Duty

The council is scheduled to discuss the Biodiversity Reporting Duty report. The report sets out how the Council of the Isles of Scilly has met its statutory obligations during the reporting period and outlines future actions to embed biodiversity across council functions. The report notes that the Isles of Scilly benefits from extensive natural designations, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)¹, Special Protection Areas (SPA)², and Special Area of Conservation (SAC)³, covering over 80% of the land area. The report details measures taken, including integration of biodiversity into planning policy, adoption of digital tools, and partnership work through the Joint Local Nature Recovery Strategy. During the reporting period, 6 planning applications triggered the statutory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) duty, and officers have considered one application to deliver an on-island Habitat Bank. Once implemented, these applications and habitat bank combined, have the potential to deliver 8.7 hectares of new area-habitat and 2.7 hectares of hedgerow-habitat. Planned actions include developing local BNG guidance and confirming the first habitat bank, embedding Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) priorities into the Local Plan review, and commissioning a Landscape Character and Recreational Pressure Assessment.

Proposed Disposal of Land at Porthcressa

The council is scheduled to discuss the Proposed disposal of land at Porthcressa report. The report relates to the proposed disposal of land at Porthcressa to National Grid to enable the development of a new electrical substation to serve the Town Hall redevelopment and improve supply resilience in Hugh Town. The works will require the partial removal of the embankment created as part of the Porthcressa regeneration works. The land transfer will be for a nominal cost of £1, and the council will be expected to pay the legal fees in relation to the transfer as part of the Capital costs for the Town Hall redevelopment.

Other Matters

The agenda for the meeting also includes the following items:

• Climate Adaptation Scilly - Phase 2
• Civil Enforcement and On Street Parking
• Post 16 - Residue Funding and an Open Letter to DFE
• Housing Protocol for homeless Young People
• Declarations of Interest
• Minutes of Previous Meeting
• Chairman's Announcements
• Consideration of any questions received under Standing Order 14
• Consideration of any Motions received in accordance with Standing Order 12
• To receive draft minutes from committees for information only
• Urgent Items