Issue - meetings

That the contents of the attached report and appendices be noted and the Council’s service and financial performance for this period be continually monitored and challenged.

The Service Director – Finance/Section 151 Officer presented the financial aspect of the report which provided figures for  the fourth quarter of 2025/26.

The Council ended 2025/26 an a stable financial position, achieving £115,000 revenue surplus against a £19.7m balanced budget. Strong planning income, investment interest and reduced borrowing costs had helped to offset income pressures in leisure, parking and bereavement services.

Capital investment had remained a major focus, with over £27m spent on regeneration, town deals and community projects.  Whilst capital expenditure was below the planned £36m most of the variance reflected projects being reprofiled into 2026/27.

The Audit and Standards Committee would be presented with the Council’s draft Statement of Accounts at its next meeting on 29 June for review and publication approval.

Overall, sound financial management was demonstrated and there had been compliance with all statutory deadlines and there was continued momentum on key regeneration priorities.

The Service Director  - Strategy, People and Performance presented the performance figures for the fourth quarter.  Forty nine indicators had been measured and 70% of those were on target.  For the 30% that were not on target the report contained narrative as to the reasons for that.

There was consistently good performance across the services and the purpose of the report was to see where improvements could be made.

The Cabinet Member for Legal, Governance and Organisational Performance stated that he would rather see actual figures rather than percentages for the performance figures. 

Referring back to the finance figures, the Leader asked for clarification that there were changes to pension contributions and also interest secured from Town Deal investment which had aided  the Council’s finances.

The Service Director – Finance/Section 151 Officer confirmed that pension contributions would have help to bridge the gap in 2026/27 and the receipt of Town Deal monies in advance of spend had generated interest which had also helped to offset some income shortfalls throughout the year.

The Leader ask what the plan with the finances where Town Deal money was starting to be spent and would therefore no longer be in the accounts – how would potential shortfalls be dealt with, going forward.

The Service Director advised that the Council had not relied on any of the interest for the budgets, so for 2026/27 the budget for interest receivable would be nil.  In terms of income areas where losses had been experienced going back to Covid, in each year of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), the Council had had a reduction in terms of income levels.  By the end of the current financial year it was hoped that the Council would be in a much better position in terms of income.

The Leader referred back to fly tipping, the Council had averaged 4.77 days which was within target but enforcement was not.

The Service Director - Neighbourhood Delivery advised that enforcement had previously been measured in such a way that it looked like action was not being taken in relation to every single fly-tip.  Going  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11