The Cabinet approved for consultation a draft Climate Change Strategy covering the period 2024-2028 and a delivery plan for 2025/26. It approved for consultation a capital programme of £14.386m, including £8.388m to be funded by the Council. It approved for consultation a draft revenue budget showing a potential overspend of around £3.111m, and recommended that the Council approve a supplementary capital approval of £2.2m. It approved the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area Supplementary Planning Document (SPA SPD) for consultation. It approved revised all age multi agency safeguarding arrangements. It approved the direct award of a contract for a Microsoft Azure hosting service through the Crown Commercial Services G-Cloud 14 framework, and the sale of land at South Road to the developer of a proposed housing development at Beaufort Park.

Climate Change Strategy

Councillor Mary Temperton, the Leader of Bracknell Forest Council, introduced the report, highlighting its importance in delivering on a key Council priority. The draft strategy, accompanying delivery plan and report set out the Council's intention to reach net zero emissions by 2030 or as soon as possible. The report proposed a capital investment of £1,005,000 and revenue investment of £250,000 in 2025/26. It was agreed that a public consultation should be held between 11 December 2024 and 12 January 2025, with final approval being sought at the Council meeting in March 2025.

Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area Supplementary Planning Document

Councillor Guy Gillbe, the Cabinet Member for Planning, Transport and Countryside, introduced the report. The Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (SPA) is an area of heathland designated for its importance as a habitat for three bird species: the Dartford Warbler, Nightjar and Woodlark. These species are particularly sensitive to disturbance from people, meaning that new housing developments in the area require mitigation. Bracknell Forest Council mitigates the impact of new housing on the SPA through two key mechanisms: Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspaces (SANG) and Strategic Access Management and Monitoring (SAMM).

SANGs are areas of greenspace provided by developers which are designed to be attractive to people, meaning they are less likely to visit the SPA instead. SAMM is a scheme which manages access to the SPA, aiming to reduce the impact of people visiting it. The report identified a number of reasons for updating the SPA SPD, including the need to align it with the recently adopted Bracknell Forest Local Plan (March 2024) and to reflect updates to SANG capacity, new SANG sites, SAMM costs and air quality guidance. The proposed changes included an increase in financial contributions from developers for SANG and SAMM. It was agreed that the SPD should be consulted on between 15 January 2025 and 12 February 2025, with adoption being sought at a future Cabinet meeting.

The assignment of council owned land to the delivery of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

Councillor Gillbe also introduced this report. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is a requirement for new development which aims to ensure that the development leaves the natural environment in a measurably better state than before the development took place. Developers must identify and quantify the ecological value of a site before development, and then ensure that the post-development biodiversity value of the site (measured using a standard metric) is at least 10% higher than the pre-development value.

This can be achieved by creating or enhancing habitats on-site or off-site. To support developers in meeting this requirement, local authorities are able to use their own land to offer biodiversity units to developers. The units are generated by quantifying the ecological value of habitat creation and enhancement. The report proposed that Bracknell Forest Council offer biodiversity units from three areas of council-owned land. It was agreed to authorise the Executive Director: Place to finalise agreements with a Responsible Body, legally secure the land for use as a habitat bank and to register the habitat banks on the national Biodiversity Gain Site Register.

Capital Programme 2025/26

Councillor Paul Bidwell, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Improvement, introduced the report. It set out proposals for a Council funded capital programme of £8.388m in 2025/26, including schemes that will straddle multiple financial years, rolling programmes of expenditure and individual projects. It also included £5.998m of schemes funded by the government, S106 contributions from developers and other sources. Schemes to be funded by the Council included £3,638,000 on school maintenance, £8,135,000 on corporate property maintenance, £1.5m on highways maintenance, £500,000 on housing maintenance and a range of one-off projects. It was agreed to approve the proposals for consultation alongside the revenue budget proposals.

Revenue Budget 2025/26

Councillor Bidwell also introduced this report, which set out draft budget proposals for 2025/26. The report explained that, in the absence of information on the Provisional Local Government Financial Settlement announcement (expected to be announced in the week commencing 16 December), the figures in the report could only be based on assumptions. The proposals showed a potential overspend of £3.111m in 2025/26, which it was proposed to fund using a combination of increases in council tax, contributions from the council's revenue reserves and additional savings proposals. It was agreed to approve the draft proposals for consultation.

Revised All Age Multi Agency Safeguarding Arrangements

Councillor Roy Bailey, the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, introduced the report, alongside Councillor Megan Wright, the Cabinet Member for Adults and Public Health. The report set out proposals for revised safeguarding arrangements, in line with new statutory guidance. It was agreed to approve the proposals.

Core Azure Hosting Procurement

Councillor Iskander Jefferies, the Cabinet Member for Transformation and Digital Technology, introduced the report. It set out a proposal to procure a Microsoft Azure hosting service for the Council's IT infrastructure, with management and support to be delivered in-house by council ICT teams. It was agreed to award a contract through the Crown Commercial Services G-Cloud 14 framework.

Sale of Land

Councillor Paul Bidwell introduced the report. Planning permission was granted in March 2024 for a new housing development at Beaufort Park. The development will provide 226 homes, 50% of which will be affordable housing. The proposed layout of the development, which includes 66 homes accessed via a secondary access road from South Road, requires the developer to purchase a small area of council-owned land at South Road.

The report set out the terms under which the land will be sold to the developer. These were agreed after the appointment of an independent surveyor to provide a valuation of the land. The surveyor's valuation was based on the negligible amenity value of the land, which is currently used for informal recreation by residents. The surveyor also considered that if the land was not sold to the developer it would be forced to revise the layout of the development. This would result in delays to the delivery of the 226 homes, including the affordable homes. It was agreed to authorise the Assistant Director Property to complete the sale, in consultation with the Executive Director: Resources and the Monitoring Officer.