Agenda item

Mr A Wilson introduced the item to Members. He advised Members that the report had been discussed at the Leicestershire Treasurers’ Association and felt that County did not understand the process. He stated that the forecasting was being dealt with incorrectly.

There had been surprise at the lack of engagement from the County. For example the final report had been circulated to districts extremely late. He expressed an underlying concern that County felt the need to review the practices, but had not requested information or engagement from the Partnership, controlled by the Management Board and Joint Committee.

Councillor M Hall advised the Committee that the Leader of the County Council had contacted all district and borough leaders and that he had two concerns over the proposals. Firstly the partnership and partner authorities were constantly reviewing collections at all levels and is happy to share especially the figure used for in year collection, and secondly that it appeared that the County was doing its own forecasting on housing growth, which was difficult as each authority could never predict when development was coming forward. He informed Members that he had responded to the County with these points.

Councillor T J Pendleton stated that the County had taken the in-year figure and not considered recovered arrears.

Councillor P King stated that he had met with his Head of Finance and that he was not adverse to any review on collection if it was to be paid for by someone else, but was mindful that if the County wanted to work with the districts then the partnership need to be clear on the terms of any review.

Councillor M Hall stated that it would be an item on the agenda for the District Leaders’ meeting. He stated that he was happy for the Partnership to provide information on how it collects and what has been collected rather than using in-year figures.

Mr S Riley advised the Members that all districts and boroughs had looked at the exemptions and passed them to County.

Mrs S O’Hanlon advised that all 3 partner authorities had improved on the previous year’s rates and that only 25 Councils had achieved 98.85%. She expressed concern over the impact any review would have on the day to day work.

Mr S Riley highlighted that the papers for the County report did not explore anything other than new houses and that County received forecasts from authorities on a regular basis.

Councillor T J Pendleton made it clear that he was considering the report as a District Councillor and not in his role as a County Councillor.

Councillor P King stated that a joint response should be drafted from the partnership, agreed by Members and sent to County, making clear that there is a management board that reviews all process of the partnership and monthly forecasting is provided.

By affirmation of the meeting it was

RESOLVED THAT:

A joint response from the Partnership, as agreed by Members, be sent to Leicestershire County Council.