This meeting was scheduled to discuss the financial performance of the Council, including an update to the Medium Term Financial Plan and details of budget savings, changes to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, the strategy for housing regeneration in Inner Blackpool, an update on the Blackpool Central leisure development and proposals for a revised Greening Blackpool Supplementary Planning Document.

Inner Blackpool Housing Intervention

The report pack includes a request for the Executive to approve the Central Housing Regeneration Area Framework. The Framework sets out a high-level vision and rationale for transforming an area of Inner Blackpool that includes Foxhall Village and Revoe. It outlines the need for change, describes the key features of the area, and proposes a number of design principles to guide regeneration.

The report pack also proposes an initial programme of works, including land and property assembly, masterplanning, and community engagement and consultation. A Grant Funding Agreement is in place with Homes England to fund this initial activity.

The area being proposed for intervention is broadly bounded to the north by the Blackpool Central leisure development, by Central Pier and the Promenade to the west, by Park Road to the east, and by Blackpool Football Club and Foxhall Village to the south. It is being proposed for intervention because:

A detailed assessment of socio-economic and environmental vulnerability (drawing upon a mixture of current primary and secondary data) was undertaken across the Inner Area, being divided into sub-character areas. This assessment showed an area within central inner Blackpool as having the worst combination of social, economic and demographic deprivation. Added to this the results to-date of the Housing Enforcement Pilot have shown a concentration of physical urban environmental challenges in the form of poor quality housing - with pronounced levels of properties not meeting Decent Homes Standards and / or containing high numbers of Category 1 safety hazards.

Financial Performance Monitoring as at Month 7 2024/25

The report pack includes a financial update, including a summary of revenue expenditure and income, updates on the Medium Term Financial Plan and a summary of progress with budget savings. It also includes a schedule of capital expenditure.

The report pack reports a forecasted revenue overspend of £7,074,000 as at Month 7. The report pack attributes this largely to overspending by the Children’s Services and Adult Services Directorates, which are reporting forecast overspends of £5,081,000 and £3,522,000 respectively, largely as a result of pressures relating to residential placements and homecare, which the report pack attributes in part to:

increasing acuity and complexity, and meeting greater needs.

The Growth and Prosperity Directorate is reporting a forecast overspend of £5,183,000 in respect of income not meeting business cases, but the report pack states that:

the team are currently working on reducing this figure to ensure that losses are recovered in future years and reserves replenished with an Asset Disposal Strategy, now in a mature form, integral to this.

The report pack also forecasts that the Council’s target working balance of £8m will reduce to £30,000 by the end of the year, and includes the following recommendation in light of this:

To require the respective directors, Chief Executive and Director of Resources to continue to closely monitor and manage service financial and operational performances, specifically the social care services and Growth and Prosperity

The report pack reports that 47% of the £16,258,000 target for budget savings has been delivered as at the end of October, and forecasts that 80% will be delivered by the end of the year.

Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2025/2026

The report pack includes a report on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS), summarising the impact of the scheme since its introduction in 2013/14 and proposing the following amendments to the scheme for 2025/26:

• Introduction of a tolerance level for CTRS customers in receipt of Universal Credit. Where an award of Universal Credit increases or decreases by +/-£65 per month (+/-£15 per week) there would be no amendment to the Universal Credit income on the CTRS claim.

  The report pack recommends this change in order to reduce disruption for Council Tax payers, stating that:

  Universal Credit payments can change monthly. The Council must recalculate Council Tax Reduction Scheme awards every time Universal Credit payments change, which then change the Council Tax Reduction Scheme award and so the amount of council tax owed, producing a revised council tax bill and amended payments. This can be disruptive for council tax payers, as their payment are constantly changing, and for the Council and is likely to get worse as more customers are moved to Universal Credit.

• Continuation of a discretionary discount scheme in cases of exceptional hardship The report pack also includes a summary of the results of a public consultation on the proposed introduction of a tolerance level, reporting that 72.5% of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed with the proposal.

Blackpool Central : Next Steps

The report pack includes a report on the Blackpool Central leisure development, recommending the termination of the sale agreement with Nikal Ltd, who went into administration in October 2024. The report pack states that:

The consequence of this notice and procedure to put Nikal and other Nikal subsidiary companies into administration, effectively means that Nikal will no longer be an extant entity and therefore unable to take forward the delivery of the Blackpool Central scheme.

The report pack goes on to recommend the appointment of commercial leisure marketing agents to begin remarketing the site.

Revised Greening Blackpool Supplementary Planning Document

The report pack includes a proposal to revise the Greening Blackpool SPD. The report pack identifies a number of problems with the existing SPD, adopted in May 2022, stating that it:

"is presenting continual challenges to implementation due to issues of financial viability in relation to its tree-planting requirements. Demonstrating the viability challenges is costly and time-consuming for applicants, and verifying viability is equally time consuming and costly for the Council. This has resulted in:

• significant delays to the determination of planning applications
• limited financial contributions being received towards off site tree planting"

The report pack also reports that:

Since 1 June 2022, some 54 applications have been identified that should have been liable for tree contributions. However, to date just 6% of required tree-planting contributions have been secured. This is overwhelmingly due to viability issues.

The report pack recommends that the revised SPD include the following changes:

• Change of use applications would not be expected to contribute towards off-site tree-planting. The report pack proposes this change because change of use applications frequently lack opportunities for tree-planting on-site, arguing that: > maximising green provision in the form of hedgerow or shrub planting on-site would actually have a greater positive impact on local greening and the quality of the immediate environment than off-site tree planting.
• The introduction of a requirement for all proposals to contribute towards biodiversity net gain where reasonable and practicable
• The introduction of a requirement for all proposals to take advantage of any opportunities to provide green infrastructure where reasonable and practicable
• Requirement for all new-build residential developments and all new-build commercial developments exceeding 100sqm to provide tree planting.
• Continuation of the existing requirement for permanent residential developments of 3+ units to contribute towards off-site POS provision, and continuation of the exemption from this requirement for holiday accommodation.

The report pack recommends a six-week consultation on the proposed revised SPD.