To receive a report from the Leader of the Council and other members of the Cabinet on the conduct of Cabinet business since the last Council Meeting.
Minutes:
The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Policy, Finance and Devolution (Councillor Alex Ganotis), further to the earlier comments made by the Mayor, paid tribute to Councillor Kieran Quinn who passed away on 25 December 2017. Councillor Ganotis stated that Councillor Quinn had been deeply committed to Tameside and the wider Greater Manchester area and that Councillor Quinn was proud of the role that he played in making the Combined Authority what it was today.
Councillor Ganotis then reported that the Cabinet had given its approval to the non-pooled budget proposals December 2017, save for that element which related to changes to parking charges which would be subject to further discussion with councillors and the public. Councillor Ganotis stated that the Cabinet was determined to come up with a proposal which was both fair, stood up to scrutiny and could command wide support whilst still meeting the objective of increase the level of income into the Council whilst not hampering the economic viability of the town centre and district centres.
It was further reported that there was a deficit in the Children and Family Services budget which was largely due to the increasing numbers of children who were being looked after by the local authority and associated significant increases in the price of residential care. Current forecasts suggested that there would be an outturn deficit of approximately £4 million for the portfolio by the end of the financial year. Work was ongoing to eliminate that deficit through the use of one-off resources, however it was likely that there would need to be an increase in the revenue budget for the Children and Family Services portfolio in order that there could be greater confidence that the Council could meet the ongoing challenges in this area.
Councillor Ganotis announced that local government employers had outlined a proposed two-year pay deal for council and school support staff which proposed a 2% rise in April 2018 for the majority of staff currently earning more than £19,430, and a further 2% in April 2019. Although the trade unions had not yet confirmed their agreement to the offer, in order to ensure that the Council was prepared for the next financial year, financial modelling was being undertaken which incorporated the proposed 2% increase. Councillor Ganotis stated that the offer was good news for Council employees and was something many members had been campaigning for, however the increase would not be funded by the government and would need to be funded from within existing Council resources which would amount to a further circa £1 million pressure on the Council’s budget.
Finally, Councillor Ganotis reported that the Provisional Local Government Settlement announced just before Christmas made provision for increases in Council Tax by a further 1%, up to 5.99%, without the requirement for a referendum which indicated that the government was increasingly expecting shortfalls in local government spending to be made up by residents themselves through Council Tax. Councillor Ganotis confirmed, however, that work was taking place to try and accommodate the extra financial pressures the Council was under within the previously announced 4.99% increase without the need to use the additional tax raising powers proposed in the Settlement.
The Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration (Councillor Kate Butler) reported on the opening of the Redrock development in November 2017 and confirmed that the development was now 90% let with tenants reporting better than expected trading figures. It was confirmed that Berretto Lounge was due to open on 24 January 2018 which would be shortly followed by the Gym Group.
Councillor Butler then reported that the Holiday Inn at the Stockport Exchange development had celebrated its first year of trading and had been performing extremely well. It was stated that customer feedback ranked the hotel as one of the best rated hotels in Europe.
It was further reported that the nominees for the City Life Food and Drink Awards had been announced and of the five shortlisted restaurants in the ‘best restaurant’ category, two of them were from Stockport; specifically, ‘Where the Light Gets In’ and ‘The Allotment’.
The Cabinet Member for Reform and Governance (Councillor David Sedgwick) reported on the well-publicised difficulties faced by Carillion, the national and international facilities management and construction services company which had culminated in the liquidators being called in on Monday, 15 January 2018. Councillor Sedgwick stated that the Council had a number of contracts with Carillion, but that there had not been any interruption to services delivered to the Council by Carillion staff, however there were concerns about consequential impact that Carillion’s liquidation would have on the many small businesses that supplied Carillion. The Council had a contingency plan that focussed on a number of key areas including urgent actions that may need to be taken by the Council to be in a state of readiness to ensure the continuation of services.
Councillor Sedgwick then provided an update on the library service, and referred to the commitment by the Executive in March 2017 to provide a capital programme of £0.5 million for libraries. It was stated that three libraries were currently closed to allow for essential maintenance relating to electrical and structural issues. The capital programme aimed to address the longstanding backlog of repairs in libraries and to take them to the next level which included the replacement of the self-service kiosks and upgrades to the public computers and the provision of wireless printing.