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Consideration was given to recommendation FRP 23/28 of the
Finance, Regeneration and Property Scrutiny Select Committee of 14
November 2023 in respect of proposed fees and charges for the
provision of services related to legal fees, photocopying, Street
Name and Numbering, local land charge searches and enquiries,
Tonbridge Castle and recovering unpaid Council Tax debts from 1
April 2024.
 
Cabinet had due regard to the views of the Scrutiny Select
Committee, the financial and value for money considerations and
legal implications and recognised that in bringing forward the
charging proposals for 2024/25 consideration had been given to a
range of factors including the Borough Council’s overall
financial position, market position, trading patterns and the
current rate of inflation and customer feedback.
 
RESOLVED: 
That
 
(1)            
the proposed charges for legal costs, as set out in
1.2 of the report, be adopted with effect from 1 April
2024;
 
(2)            
the current photocopying charges of £0.10
(inclusive of VAT) for each page of the same document or additional
copies of the same page plus postage as appropriate, as set out in
1.3.4 of the report, be retained;
 
(3)            
the proposed fee schedules for Street Naming and
Numbering, as set out in 1.4 of the report, be adopted with effect
from 1 April 2024, subject to noting that, following clarification
requested by the Finance, Regeneration and Scrutiny Select
Committee, the percentage fee increases set out in the table were
correct and paragraph 1.4.4 should indicate that ‘… as
a starting point of 7%’;
 
(4)            
the proposed scale of fees for local land charges
searches and enquiries, as set out in Annex 1 and 1.5 of the
report, be adopted with effect from 1 April 2024;
 
(5)            
the proposed fees and charges for 2024/25 related to
Tonbridge Castle, as set out in 1.6 of the report, be adopted with
effect from 1 April 2024; and
 
(6)            
the amount of costs charged in 2024/25 to recover
unpaid Council Tax debts be increased from £100 to
£110, as set out in 1.7 of the report, with effect from 1
April 2024.