The meeting report pack included for discussion the financial status of the Council, the Council's plan for managing waste in the borough, and proposals to renew two Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs).

HRA Business Plan

The report pack contained a proposal for a new Housing Revenue Account (HRA) business plan¹.

The proposed plan projects that £979m will be invested in the Council's existing homes over the next 30 years. This is an increase of £121m compared with the previous year's plan.

The report pack includes a plan to increase spending on responsive repairs, planned repairs, minor works to empty properties, damp and mould works, and gas servicing and other cyclical maintenance to £27.6m in 2025/26. This is an increase of £3m compared to the previous year.

The report pack stated that £151m has been allocated for new Council housing. This includes an additional £37m to begin to build the pipeline of schemes beyond 2027.

The report pack states that this investment will support the continuation of the Housing Delivery Programme, which has seen 620 new affordable homes added to Rotherham Council's housing stock since 2018. The plan includes provision for the delivery of a further 576 new homes.

The report pack contains a plan for a 2.7% increase in council dwelling rents in 2025/26 in line with Government legislation. This would generate £2.5m of additional income compared to the previous year, and £337m over the life of the plan.

The plan also contains proposals to increase shared ownership rents by 3.2% in line with the formula of RPI + 0.5%. The report pack projects that this will generate an average rent increase of £8.09 per month.

The report pack states that garage rents are proposed to rise by 10% in 2025/26, which would generate an increase in income of £57,070 compared to the previous year.

The report pack also states that an additional £2m is to be invested in 2026/27 and 2027/28 to support the digital transformation of the housing service.

Waste Collections Policy

The report pack included a proposal to refresh the Council's waste collection policy.

The Council currently provides a weekly or fortnightly waste and recycling collection service to approximately 121,800 properties in the borough.

The report pack stated that the current waste policy, which consists of over 30 separate documents, is out of date in relation to legislation and terminology. In particular, the current policy leads to a high rate of contamination of the recyclable waste streams, which leads to the council incurring fines from its disposal partners, and losing income from uncollected recyclables.

The report pack stated that:

The current process is leading to an estimated cost to the Council of £300,373 in additional disposal costs because of contamination of recyclables, as well as an estimated loss of income of £886,299 from recyclables being placed in general waste.

The report pack included a new Kerbside Residential Waste Collection Policy. It proposes a new “traffic light” system for managing contamination. Under this new system, residents will have their bin tagged with a yellow tag the first time it is found to contain contaminants, an orange tag on the second occasion, and a red tag, accompanied by a fixed penalty notice if a third contamination occurs. In addition, the policy contains a commitment to improve communication and engagement with residents to help them reduce waste and improve recycling rates.

The policy proposes two pilot schemes to test the new approach to contamination, and the report pack recommends that the pilots run concurrently with a public consultation on the new policy.

Borough wide and Town Centre Public Space Protection Orders

The report pack included proposals to renew the Town Centre and Clifton Park Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) and the Borough-wide Dog Fouling PSPO².

Both Orders were last renewed in January 2022 and are due to expire in January 2025. The Council conducted a six week consultation on whether to extend, vary or discharge the two Orders.

In summary, the consultation responses showed that there is strong support for extending the existing orders. Over half of the respondents to both consultations stated that they felt that a future order would be effective in reducing anti-social behaviour.

The report pack recommends extending the Orders in their current form for the maximum period of three years.

The report pack also stated that a dashboard of performance information across the two organisations will be developed in order to support enhanced robust oversight of the Orders.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Sufficiency Planning

The report pack included plans for additional capital investment at Newman School in order to increase the number of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) places available in the borough.

Newman School became an academy in September 2024 and joined the TEAM Multi-Academy Trust.

The report pack states that:

TEAM were notified by the DfE that an in principle SSICB grant offer had been made to support the re-development of the school site.

As part of this grant offer, the Council is required to provide a financial contribution.

The report pack recommends investing £2.5m in improvements to the Dinnington Campus to support the growth of the school to 195 pupils. This investment will support an increase of 35 places at the school.

Medium Term Financial Strategy

The report pack included a proposal for a new Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). The proposed MTFS covers the period from 2025/26 to 2027/28.

The report pack states that the Council's expenditure on services is likely to exceed its income in the coming years, partly as a result of demand led pressures on children’s residential placements, adults social care packages, home to school transport and the expected impact of the Local Government Pay Award. In addition, the report pack states that the Council was still impacted by the inflationary pressures in the economy.

The report pack states that:

Even though inflation had fallen to 1.7%, the Council’s base costs had significantly increased across the recent high inflation period by well in excess of 20%.

The report pack recommends that the MTFS be noted and recommends that the Council note that:

the potential requirement to use reserves in order to balance the Council’s outturn position for 2024/25.

Preparation for Adulthood

The report pack contained a response to recommendations that were made by the Improving Lives Select Commission following its review of Preparation for Adulthood for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

The recommendations are centred around improving support for school leavers with SEND to enable a smooth transition into adulthood. They focus on the role of mainstream education in supporting Preparation for Adulthood; improving access to support within communities and improving communication with parents, carers and young people with SEND.

The report pack recommends that the proposed response to the recommendations be approved.

Community Recovery Fund Allocation

The report pack contained a proposal for how to allocate £600,000 of funding that Rotherham Council has received from the Government's Community Recovery Fund.

The funding was awarded to Rotherham Council to support residents and communities that were impacted by the violence and vandalism that occurred at the Holiday Inn Express at Manvers on 4 August 2024.

The report pack proposes allocating the funding to the following four areas:

• Projects or initiatives that seek to restore civic pride in the Manvers area.
• Projects that support or promote intra-community relations in priority areas.
• Educational initiatives and youth outreach with children, young people, and schools.
• Community safety-related projects and investments.

The report pack lists a number of schemes that the Council is proposing to fund under these headings. For example, the Council is proposing to provide £180,000 for a new community cohesion Rotherham Together fund, £57,000 to appoint a new strategic cohesion co-ordinator and £45,000 to invest in hostile vehicle mitigation.

The report pack recommends:

Approve the indicative programme and provisional allocations of the Community Recovery Fund Grant of £600,000 as follows.

The report pack also recommends delegating authority to the Assistant Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to determine the final allocation of the funding.

New Application for Business Rates Discretionary Relief

The report pack contains an application from Arc Church for Discretionary Business Rates Relief.

The report pack states that the application is being made because Arc Church is a registered charity that is not established or conducted for profit.

Arc Church is based at the Drop-In Centre on Harding Avenue in Rawmarsh. It uses a storage container at the site to store food prior to distributing it to clients of the Rawmarsh Foodbank.

The application is in relation to the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 financial years. If granted, it would save Arc Church £88.82 and £127.25 in those years, costing the Council £43.52 and £62.35 respectively.

The report pack recommends that the application be approved.

Refreshing the Health and Safety Policy

The report pack included a proposal to refresh the Council's Health and Safety Policy. The Council's current policy is due to be reviewed in 2024.

The report pack recommends that a new policy be approved. It lists a number of changes that have been made to the existing policy, including strengthening emphasis throughout the policy document to not only the production and development of risk assessment but the communication of key findings, control measures etc to all relevant stakeholders.

In addition, the new policy includes expanded sections on asbestos, working at height, the use of contractors, and hazardous substances.

Building Compliance Policies

The report pack included proposals for three new building compliance policies, covering Legionella, Fire Safety and Asbestos.

The report pack states that the policies set out the Council’s approach to delivering a compliant and well managed portfolio which meets the needs of service users & building occupiers.

It recommends that the three policies be approved and that responsibility for updating them be delegated to the Head of FM and Compliance, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy.