Agenda and minutes

The Joint Executive Advisory Board (EAB)

RESOLVED

that Councillor Angela Gunning be elected as Chairman for this meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Paul Abbey, Andrew Gomm, Liz Hogger, Gordon Jackson and Steven Lee.  Councillor Tony Rooth was present as a substitute for Councillor Paul Abbey.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda. Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests or non-pecuniary interests.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Executive Advisory Board held on 10 January 2019.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint EAB held on 10 January 2019 were confirmed as a correct record, and signed by the Chairman.

The Director of Finance presented a report in respect of the General Fund outline budget 2020-21.  The presentation set out the Borough-wide policies and strategies that were incorporated into the Corporate Plan and informed the Council’s business planning, described the service and financial planning process, and highlighted factors which shaped the General Fund Revenue budget.  The report outlined the current position relating to the 2020-21 outline budget and invited the Executive to note the position.  The Board’s comments would be circulated as an addendum to the report as it had already been published.  The Joint EAB Budget Task Group had also considered the outline budget at its meeting held on 8 November 2019.

Section four of the report set out the budget parameters which included the assumptions that had been utilised to prepare the outline budget for 2020-21 and projections for the following three years.

The report explained that the Council had included government funding at a level based on the information contained in the 2020-21 local government technical consultation document issued on 3 October 2019, however, the amount of grant would not be known for certain until the Government released the provisional local government finance settlement which the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had provisionally indicated would be in December 2019.  The Fair Funding Review and implementation of the 75% business rate retention scheme, which would result in major changes to the local government funding system, had also been delayed.  A £5 (3.0%) increase in Council Tax was assumed.  The draft Council Tax base was 57,645.76, which was 1.5% higher than in 2019-20 and had increased the resources available by approximately £146,100.  There would be changes to the New Homes Bonus (NHB) reserve.

Section 7 set out the proposed Council Tax reduction pilot scheme for Surrey County Council care leavers for 2020-21.

Section 10 covered the present position of the 2020-21 outline budget, which currently showed a shortfall between the likely resources and the proposed net expenditure of £820,760.  The use of reserves for specific projects, namely, Future Guildford, the Town Centre Masterplan, Midleton Industrial Estate redevelopment, works to car parks and investment property voids were proposed.

The growth bids and savings outlined in Section 11 featured growth bids totalling £828,000 and Future Guildford savings of £2.5 million which were both included in the 2020-21 budget.  Future Guildford savings were expected to increase to £5.5 million by 2023-24 and there was a further sum of £3.8 million of Future Guildford savings still to be assessed.

The outline budget was the base budget for services based on last year’s budget uplifted for inflation factors and other minor movements.  The base budget was reviewed for comparison to last year actuals and reduced where possible.  The major reasons for movements between 2019-20 and 2020-21 were set out in the report and the variances at service level were shown in Appendix 2.  Revenue growth bids received for 2020-21 were set out in section 10.11 and included in the outline budget, however,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

A report updating the Executive in relation to the public realm improvement work undertaken to date and seeking its view on the preferred option for officers to pursue was before the Board for consideration.

A supporting presentation was given by the Project Manager which gave the background to the project and explained the partnership approach; achievements to date; the focus area of the study; consultation; results of the online survey; highway issues; options to improve Chapel Street, Castle Street east and west, and Swan Lane; place-making and information; existing bollards and barriers; proposed pedestrian safety gates; costed options comparison; programme based on option 1; risk and issues; and next steps.

At its meeting on 8 April 2019, the Executive had agreed to proceed with a public engagement exercise for Guildford town centre public realm improvements from which high-level feasibility design options were developed.  This report considered the outcome of this work and detailed the two available options.  The scheme focused on delivering public realm improvements to Chapel Street, Castle Street, Swan Lane, to pedestrian safety by upgrading existing facilities and introducing new vehicle restrictions to the High Street, and to signage and wayfinding to better connect the historic town centre and promote businesses and the cultural offer of Guildford.

The total budget available was £1.3 million which comprised £1.248 million approved capital budget, £49,300 of revenue budget and a £10,000 contribution from Experience Guildford.  Swan Lane was brought within the scope due to the offer of a financial contribution from a group of Swan Lane landlords.

The Council’s principal design consultants had developed a range of costed options, based on a feasibility study and informed by the consultation with residents, businesses, visitors, councillors and council officers.  The two options presented consisted of a core scheme (option 1) that included Chapel Street, Castle Street and Swan Lane and addressed the core elements of road surface treatments, street lighting, traffic control interventions but excluded architectural lighting, signage and wayfinding enhancements and could be delivered within budget at a cost of £1.3 million.  The second option was an enhanced scheme which would significantly improve the ‘look and feel’ of the public realm through integration of architectural lighting, street furniture, wayfinding, signage and a major transformation of Tunsgate junction with a large raised table that replicated the lost historic ‘square’.  This option would cost £1.67 million, requiring additional funding of £367,000 through a virement from the capital contingency fund.  Officers proposed that the full capital cost of the project was funded from the New Homes Bonus (NHB) reserve, in line with the NHB policy approved by Council in February 2016.  Funding the scheme from the NHB reserve would mitigate any on-going borrowing costs on the Council’s general fund revenue account from this scheme.  It was noted that both costed options included pedestrian safety barriers for the High Street including a new gated access for the west end of the High Street.

The report recommended that the Executive agreed that officers proceed with the detailed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.