Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received as listed above.

There were no declarations of interest stated.

To consider the minutes of a previous meeting.

Resolved:     That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 4^th December 2025 be agreed as a true and accurate record.

The Deputy Leader / Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth introduced the report on the Draft Revenue and Capital Budgets and Strategies for the upcoming financial year.

The Deputy Leader also welcomed the new Finance Manager (Deputy S151 Officer) who was taking over the role previously held by the Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer).

Cllr Stubbs referred to the current year adverse income variances for car parking, trade waste, bereavement and the temporary pool closure; and asked what analysis underpinned the 2026-27 fee uplifts as well as what would be the scenario if higher prices further depressed demand. Cllr Stubbs added that the Risk Register explicitly flagged that the fact that an increase in fees and charges did not result in a higher income was a high risk.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) responded that while there were shortfalls in some areas these were not as bad as they had been in previous years and there were also areas where income was performing over the budget, such as planning fees, which was enough to offset these. Efforts were put in to rebalance some of the budget in line with the Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

About the risks highlighted, it was the nature of having an income budget and fluctuations in it. The Risk Register fed into the general fund reserves which was wholly risk assessed and took into account potential shortfalls.

Cllr Stubbs wondered what were the quantified outputs that would reduce temporary accommodation spend and what tracking mechanisms were in place to ensure that the extra grant would be achieving what it was intended for.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) advised that the budget had been increased and that half a million would go towards temporary accommodations. This was consistent with the current forecasts for the year and corresponded to the amount expected to be spent.

The Temporary Accommodation Working Group was nonetheless working on trying to reduce the spending looking at a number of options liaising with housing providers. Capital fundings were also being sought from the government.

Cllr Stubbs noted that both the council tax and business rate collection funds were forecast to be in deficit at year end and asked how confident the Council was that the business rates reserve would absorb any further shocks in 2026-27 along with what additional measures were in place to reduce appeal related volatility before the authority commits to using one-off reserves to smooth the new three-year settlement reductions.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) stated being confident that the money in the business rate reserve was sufficient to meet any future volatilities with a balance of about 2 million pounds for the year ahead, which would likely increase by half a million the year after. The deficit that was being declared this year related essentially to the deficit of the previous year, bearing in mind that a surplus of about 3 million had been declared the year before leading to re-evaluations between  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Deputy Leader / Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth introduced the report on the review of the Council’s fees and charges made to keep them in line with the cost-of-service provision and ensure compliance with the Charging Policy.

Cllr Waring asked how common it was to receive fees for the exhumation of cremated remains as well as fines for littering and graffiti.

The Deputy Leader said the Council would prosecute every time they could identify the authors of vandalism.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) advised that there were litter enforcement procedures, which depended on somebody actually littering in front of the enforcement officer. People seemed to have gone wiser in recent years leading to a drop in related incomes.

Cllr Waring wondered who would exhume cremated remains as an act of vandalism and whether there were any statistics on this.

The Deputy Leader clarified that it related to cases where people would move house and wish for the remains to be buried at another location.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) said he would seek out the figures and provide them to Cllr Waring.

Cllr Stubbs asked for the evidence and cost recovery modelling used to justify service fees increases above inflation and if any assessment had been made on the impact for low-income residents.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) responded that on average fees had gone up by 3.8%, with some slightly more and some other slightly less. Lots of the fees and charges were about choices to use specific services and increasing those by only an inflationary amount helped keeping the Council tax at a £0.10 per week increase i.e. 1.99% per year for 95% of our residents.

Cllr Stubbs commented that using certain services like cemetery services was not always a choice and the increase of car parking fees would discourage low-income residents to come into the town centre.

Cllr Stubbs also wondered what the strategic rationale was for having different levels of variations between the fees and charges – some going up above the inflation and some other below – and whether these were driven by financial sustainability or regulatory costs.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) advised that the Charging Policy suggested that the Council should try and recover all costs of providing services. The fees and charges were designed to address the costs incurred in e.g. the provision and maintenance of car parks and associated buildings. There were also rounding differences.

The Service Director added that the fees were kept to a minimum compared to other areas of the Midlands.

Cllr Stubbs appreciated the response, meanwhile expressing his concern that the offer may not improve in future and people would not be willing to pay the difference to come to the town centre.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) said that the offer was likely to improve over the next couple of years with the regeneration projects coming together. Newcastle would be a town  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Chair commented that was only one remaining meeting before the end of the cycle and mayor’s election.

Resolved:     That the work programme be noted.

Watch the debate here

Any member of the public wishing to submit a question must serve two clear days’ notice, in writing, of any such question to the Borough Council

There were no questions received from members of the public.

To consider any business which is urgent within the meaning of Section 100B (4) of the Local Government Act 1972

There was no urgent business.

Thursday 26^th March 2026 (7:00pm)

Resolved:     That the next meeting be held on 26^th March 2026 at 7pm.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following reports, because it is likely that there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Chair asked members if they wished to discuss the confidential appendix. There were no requests to do so which concluded the meeting.

Resolved:     That the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following report because of the likelihood of disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Resolved:     That the confidential appendix be received.