Decision Maker: Borough Council

Outcome: Recommendations Approved

Is Key Decision?: No

Is Callable In?: No

Date of Decision: February 25, 2025

Purpose:

Content: A proposed amendment from the Conservative Group was presented and debated.  Members cast a recorded vote that did not accept the proposed amendment by a majority vote.   Resolved:    That Borough Council did not accept the proposed amendment from the Conservative Group.   Resolved:    That Borough Council agreed the following recommendations made by Cabinet at the meeting on 11 February 2025:    a) The General Fund revenue budget for the 2025/26 financial year as detailed in the attached Cabinet report and itemised in Appendix A thereof, resulting in a 4.99% increase in the council’s element of the Council Tax;   b) That the 4.99% increase in the council’s element of the Council Tax comprises of the 2% Adult Social Care precept and a 2.99% general increase;   c) The savings proposals for the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account in Appendix B of the attached report;   d) The fees and charges schedule in Appendix C of the attached report;   e) The Housing Revenue Account budget for the 2025/26 financial year as detailed in paragraphs 8.1 to 8.18 of the attached report;   f) The capital programme for 2025/26 to 2028/289 as detailed in paragraphs 9.1 to 9.13 of the attached report and in Appendix D thereof;   g) The Capital Strategy in Appendix E of the attached report;   h) The Treasury Management Strategy 2025/26, Annual Investment Strategy, Statement on Minimum Revenue Provision and Prudential and Treasury Indicators and Approved Countries for Investment as detailed in paragraphs 12.1 to 12.7 of the attached report and in Appendix F thereof;   i) That the Executive Director of Finance and Resources be authorised to undertake the operational activity required to manage cashflows including:    ·       authority during 2025/26 to make amendments to borrowing and investment limits provided they are consistent with the strategy and there is no change to the authorised limit for borrowing; ·       authority to borrow as per the approved borrowing requirements set out in the Prudential and Treasury Indicators without the additional requirement for a formal Chief Officer Decision; ·       authority to invest with institutions that meet the creditworthiness criteria within the Annual Investment Strategy;    j) That Borough Council will receive a mid-year report and an outturn report on the implementation of the Treasury Management Strategy 2025/26, and that Cabinet will receive a quarterly update on treasury management performance for borrowing and investments within the financial monitoring update reports;   Borough Council:   k) Noted the Climate Budget Statement 2025/26 at section 21 of the attached report;   l) Noted that under delegated authority given by Cabinet at its meeting on 21 January 2025, the Executive Director of Finance and Resources approved the Council Tax Base for 2025/26 for the whole council area as 94,102.6 [Item T in the formula in Section 31B of Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the “Act”)];   m) Agreed the Council Tax Requirement arising from Cabinet’s proposed budget for 2025/26 at £150,135,000 [Item R in the formula in Section 31B of the Act];   n) Agreed that the following amounts be calculated for the year 2025/26 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:  (i) £804,341,486 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for its total expenditure in accordance with the items set out in Section 31A (2) of the Act; (ii) £654,206,486 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for its total income in accordance with the items set out in Section 31A (3) of the Act; (iii) £150,1350,000 being the amount by which the aggregate (n)(i) above exceeds the aggregate at (n)(ii) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A (4) of the Act as its Council Tax Requirement for the year (Item R in the formula in Section 31B of the Act); (iv) £1,595.44 being the amount at (n)(iii) above (Item R), all divided by Item T at (l) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year;    o) Noted that for the year 2025/26 the Mayor of London has issued a Greater London Authority (GLA) draft consolidated budget setting out his proposed precept on the Council Tax 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 in recommendation (p) below;   p) Agree that, in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, Cabinet hereby calculates the aggregate amounts shown in the table below as the amounts of Council Tax for 2025/26 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings;    Valuation Band A B C D Banding Factor 6/9 7/9 8/9 9/9 Hounslow Council Tax (£) 1,063.63 1,240.90 1,418.17 1,595.44 GLA Precept (£) 326.92 381.41 435.89 490.38 Total Council Tax (£) 1,390.55 1,622.31 1,854.06 2,085.82 Valuation Band E F G H Banding Factor 11/9 13/9 15/9 18/9 Hounslow Council Tax (£) 1,949.98 2,304.52 2,659.07 3,190.88 GLA Precept (£) 599.35 708.33 817.30 980.76 Total Council Tax (£) 2,549.33 3,012.85 3,476.37 4,171.64     q) Determined that the council’s basic amount of Council Tax for 2025/26 is not excessive in accordance with principles approved under Section 52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992;   r) The proposed re-alignment of earmarked reserves in 2024/25 as set out in paragraphs 12.7 and 12.8 of the attached report, specifically:    ·       the contribution of £4.2m to Unallocated General Balances; ·       the transfer of £23.5m from Operational Reserves to Risk Reserves and Unallocated General Balances as set out in Table 13 of the attached report, to offset forecast overspending in the 2024/25 financial year;    s) The proposed drawings from earmarked reserves to fund the 2025/26 budget as set out in section 12 of the attached report;   t) Noted the Chief Financial Officer’s Section 25 Statement and comments on the adequacy of reserves and the robustness of the estimates underpinning the budget contained at paragraph 16.1 of the report;   u) agreed the capitalisation strategy at Annex A for submission to the Secretary of State to allow the council the freedoms to use capital receipts from the sale of its assets (excluding right-to-buy receipts) to fund permitted revenue expenditure in accordance with a direction given by the Secretary of State under Section 16 and 20 of the Local Government Act 2003.