Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Finance

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder and Housing Portfolio Holder

The Housing Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members.

He advised Members that that following recent statements from the Government the report contained a revised approach to the four year rent reduction regime and as such a number of savings need to be made to compensate. He further advised that changing the post 2020 future rental inflation assumption in the business plan from 2.5% to 1.5% would impact on future income, therefore requiring further savings and efficiencies, and that work on this was ongoing, the details of which would be incorporated into a later version of the report.

He informed Members that currently half the Council properties were paying rent at the converged rate and due to the rent reduction scheme the budgeted income would be less than previously thought.

He highlighted that on a positive note the business plan had been re-written to weather the storm, further work on the plan was ongoing and advised that the budget would follow the same consultation process as the General Fund.

Councillor R Blunt advised that the Council needed to heed the direction from Central Government as it had a new agenda and that the Authority needed to be able to respond quickly, which would be a challenge that the Housing Service would be up to.

It was moved by Councillor R D Bayliss, seconded by Councillor N J Rushton and

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    The assurance statement by the Section151 Officer be noted,

2. The draft HRA budget proposal as detailed in this report and associated appendices for consultation be approved.

3.    The transfer of HRA balances to a savings reserve for the purposes of repayment of loans be approved.

Reason for decision: To enable the Council to set a balanced Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2016/17.