Sarah Robinson
Council: Fareham
Committees:
Activity Timeline
Meetings Attended Note this may include planned future meetings.
52 meetings · Page 1 of 11
Appointments Sub-Committee - Wednesday, 17th September, 2025 9.00 am
7 attendees, 2 documents, 0 media files
Appointments Sub-Committee - Friday, 12th September, 2025 11.00 am
7 attendees, 8 documents, 0 media files
Audit and Governance Committee - Thursday, 31st July, 2025 6.00 pm
to 22 July 2025, Council - Thursday, 24th July, 2025 6.00 pm,
Decisions from Meetings
74 decisions · Page 2 of 15
Capital and Treasury Management Outturn
From: Executive - Monday, 7th July, 2025 6.00 pm - July 07, 2025
This report provides the Executive with details of the capital and treasury management outturn for 2024/25 to comply with the reporting requirements of the Code of Practice for Treasury Management. The report also seeks approval for the proposed methods of financing the General Fund capital programme. Executive summary: Actual capital expenditure on General Fund schemes in 2024/25 was £13,370,221 (£31.2 million in 2023/24) compared with the revised capital programme of £15,511,300. Overall the programme has been underspent by £2,141,079. A detailed analysis of the variations is given in Appendix A to this report. Total savings from individual projects of £263,245 were achieved, additional expenditure of £506,335 on others was incurred and a total of £2,384,169 will be carried forward into 2025/26. Details of the various methods used to finance this expenditure are set out in this report. Full details of Treasury Management investment and borrowing activity in 2024/25 are also set out in this report and is summarised below. This shows that there has been a slight decrease in the Council’s net borrowing position. 31 March 2024 Actual £’000 2024/25 Movement £’000 31 March 2025 Actual £’000 Total borrowing 64,589 (2,753) 61,836 Total investments (13,588) (3,915) (17,503) Net borrowing 51,001 (6,668) 44,333 Net interest received from investments in 2024/25 was £57,388 and net interest paid on borrowing for the HRA was £2,011,719 The overall investment property portfolio increased in value by £103,000 and contracted income was approximately £4,890,000. During 2024/25, the Council complied with its legislative and regulatory requirements of the Prudential Code.
Recommendations Approved
General Fund Revenue Outturn
From: Executive - Monday, 7th July, 2025 6.00 pm - July 07, 2025
This report provides the Executive with details of the actual revenue expenditure for 2024/25 for the General Fund. The revised revenue budget set by the Executive for the General Fund in February was predicting a contribution from reserves of £285,700 in order to balance the budget. Although budget monitoring had been indicating some pressure points during the year there have also been some positive outcomes within services such that the overall outturn position will be an underspend, of £437,893, after the proposed carry forwards, which will be added to the Council’s reserves. The main reasons for this were higher than expected income in some areas, such as shopping centre rents, car parking, and investment and commercial properties There was also lower than expected spend in some areas, particularly employee costs due to staff turnover, the local plan and for the homelessness service. However, there continues to be a pressure on the budgets in the year in particular for vehicle costs for the waste collection and street cleansing services. This contribution to reserves, rather than the expected draw down of reserves, will help towards the funding gap identified for 2026/27 in the Medium-Term Finance Strategy and will reduce the savings that need to be made from the Opportunities Plan. However, there remains a need to be cautious as the Council’s overall reserves position will not yet be sufficient to go through to the end of the Finance Strategy period. Contingencies are also needed the levels of Government’s financial support remain uncertain and it is likely that the Fair Funding Review will come into force during the 2026/27 financial year along with a business rate reset, both of which are not expected to have a favourable outcome for lower tier authorities.
Recommendations Approved
The Draft Fareham Housing Right-Sizing Policy
From: Executive - Monday, 7th July, 2025 6.00 pm - July 07, 2025
The new Policy provides comprehensive information on the Council’s ‘Right-Sizing’ Policy, outlines the structure and the main changes from the previous scheme. This will be published on the Council’s Housing webpages. The Policy is not required by statute, though it is a common feature of many local authorities’ housing management practices, and the primary aim is to ensure the policy is in line with current legislative ‘best practice’ and to ensure the fair and transparent application of it while enabling us to make the best use of available stock.
Recommendations Approved
Motion referred from Council - Protection of Disability Benefits and addressing tax burdens for Fareham Residents
From: from 2 June 2025, Executive - Tuesday, 3rd June, 2025 6.00 pm, - June 03, 2025
To consider the motion presented to Council at its meeting on 17 April 2025 by Councillor C Bainbridge in respect of protecting disability benefits and addressing tax burdens for Fareham residents. The detail of the motion is set out in full in the report, along with commentary provided as background.
Recommendations Approved
Corporate Peer Challenge Outcome
From: from 2 June 2025, Executive - Tuesday, 3rd June, 2025 6.00 pm, - June 03, 2025
To provide an update on the recent Corporate Peer Challenge and to seek approval to publish the Local Government Association’s (LGA) feedback report. As part of the Council’s commitment towards continuous improvement and to meet its Best Value Duty, the Council hosted the Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) Peer Team between 10-12 March 2025. The aim of the challenge was to provide assurance, share good practice with the wider sector, as well as receive valuable challenge and advice to support improved service provision. The draft feedback report produced by the Peer Team, presented in Appendix A, shared very positive findings about the Council. It also provided recommendations to help support continuous improvement at the Council If approved, the report will be published by the Council on the website and by the LGA on their own website.
Recommendations Approved
Summary
Meetings Attended: 52
Average per Month: 2.6
Decisions Recorded: 74