Agenda and minutes

We elected County Councillor S.G. M. Howarth as Chairman.

We received declarations of interest from the following Members:

County Councillor P. Farley declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest as a Chepstow Town Councillor.

County Councillor P. Jones declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest as a member of the Raglan Village Hall Association.

County Councillor D. Dovey declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest.

County Councillor D. Dovey declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest.

Any further declarations would be made under the relevant item.

·         Revised Mandates:  B5, B11, B20 and B23

·         Remaining mandates attached for information

The Chairman welcomed Members and Officers to the Joint Special Meeting of the 4 Select Committees, convened to engage with Scrutiny Members on the final budget mandates that would be presented to Cabinet on 6^th January 2016.

We were advised by the Chairman that individual Select Committees had previously scrutinised budget mandates relevant to their remit and that the purpose of the meeting today was:

·         To update Members on the budget position and the updated settlement.

·         To provide an overview of budget mandated that had been revised since the initial scrutiny.

We were advised that the Committee would be scrutinising, in particular, the following mandates:

B5, B11, B12, B14, B15, B20 and B21.

The Chairman invited the Leader to introduce the Cabinet’s budget and to outline their priorities for delivering services in the difficult financial climate.

The Leader expressed thanks to Officers for work done to date, and Members who had met with members of the public during consultations, particularly noting County Councillor V. Smith who had attended every function.  

To provide context we were informed that the Authority had consulted on a budget with a £6.7 million gap, and there were difficult mandates in place to aim to cover that gap. It was expected that there would be a gap of £1.7 – £3 million with additional pressures being identified.

We heard that the expected settlement from Welsh Government would be a 1.4% cut, but there were thought that there may be a 3.1% cut.  It was agreed that conversations were needed regarding the discrimination against rural authorities.

Members were advised to take time to read the Continuance Agreement, which outlines how we see us going forward to 2017.

The Chairman invited the Cabinet Member for Resources to update Members on the budget process undertaken this year to engage with the public in producing the budget mandates.

Members received a presentation from both the Cabinet Member and the Head of Finance, to outline the steps taken.

Members were taken through the revised mandates, and were invited to ask questions following each mandate.  We were advised that Cabinet Members were present to answer questions on policy and the proposed budget, while officers were present to answer any detailed questions on the mandates.

Mandate B5 Community Asset Transfer - The savings have increased as income generation targets as we plan to enter into a competitive process to identify suitable partners that may wish to work with us to optimise use of our prime assets for community large scale events and other income generation activities.

Concerns were raised that more work had been carried out regarding Melville Theatre rather than Chepstow Drill Hall.  We were advised that the Drill Hall would not been neglected.  The Cabinet Member expressed that he was keen to ensure that officers would take deep interest to facilitate the transfer.  Officers confirmed that a formal process had not been embarked upon regarding either building.  Members would look forward to formal consultations.

A Member raised a question regarding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.