Agenda item

Members asked questions of Portfolio Holders in accordance with Procedure Rules 8.1 and 8.2 as follows:

·       Councillor Mockett referred to the Cabinet meeting earlier in Agenda Item 6 where it was reported that the £1.85 million liability this Council had with the Department of Transport towards the cost of the A14 improvements was eliminated during March this year and cost the revenue budget just £600, asking Councillor Boden to explain how this has occurred? Councillor Boden responded that the finances of the Council are fastidiously looked after by officers and members of the Cabinet, with him being the Portfolio Holder for Finance so it is always being looked at carefully to ensure the Council gets best value for money and sometimes that involves how money is managed itself.  He stated that members will be aware that going back to Councillor Clark’s time as Leader the Council was strong-armed and persuaded by the authorities that it needed to make a contribution towards the building of the new A14 of £800,000, being given 25 years to pay that contribution off working out at £32,000 per year. Councillor Boden added that in March 2019 he worked very hard to obtain monies from Cambridgeshire Horizons and also received an additional £1.05 million from Cambridgeshire Horizons which represented a portion of their liability towards the A14 improvements so the Council ended up with a liability of £1.85 million in the Council’s balance sheet at the end of 2021-22 to make payment over to the Department of Transport and that £1.05 million was also able to be paid over 25 years representing £42,000 per year. He made the point that the £42,000 was fully funded as the money was received to meet the liability, however, the £800,000 that had been agreed was entirely unfunded and once the Department of Transport woke up and started asking the Council for the money it was known that each year for 25 years £32,000 would need to be paid out of the budget but the Department of Transport did not start asking the Council for money and year after year went by without any request and being an optimistic person he thought that the Council were not going to be asked for this money at all. Councillor Boden stated that he was wrong and earlier this year the Department of Transport asked for the money or wanted the Council to start making payments before the end of the financial year of 31 March 2023 and then the Treasury came up with an idea that if they allowed the Council to commute its payment to make a one-off payment to meet the liability over the next 25 years at 20 basis points below what the Public Works Loan Board lent money out at they would make a nice return and from the Treasury point of view that made a great deal of sense. He made the point that instead of the liability being £1.85 million once that was commuted at a discount rate of 4.86%, the Council had to pay £1,114,600.00, which was a saving of £735,400. Councillor Boden reiterated that the Council has some very prudent finance officers so what they had assured was that the £32,000 had been in the budget for the last two years and last year provision was made for the money to be paid out of the Cambridgeshire Horizons money of £42,000 so by the start of this calendar year the Council had already made provision of £106,000 against the final liability so when this is taken off the £1,114,600.00  this left the Council having to only find £1,008,600.00 to pay and the amount of cash the Council had available from Cambridgeshire Horizons was £1,008,000.00 which left a revenue charge of £600 to remove the liability. He stated that this process has been simplified and he could talk about the time value of money and the loss of potential interest.

·       Councillor Booth asked Councillor Mrs Laws what is the position and progress with recruiting new Planning personnel, both in the Planning and Policy Teams? Councillor Mrs Laws stated in relation to Planning Policy staff to further develop the Local Plan a report is going to the next Employment Committee, which if agreed will lead to the advertisement of staff in this area. She added that in the Planning Team the Council has advertised for a Principal Planning Officer and two Senior posts for some time and has received no interest, with these roles being covered by agency staff at present and officers and herself continue to give thought to how those roles can be made more attractive in a very competitive market but filling the positions in this area is a national issue and the Council is not alone in trying to recruit planning staff. Councillor Mrs Laws made the point that the Council had a positive track record of growing its own in this area and this will be continued. Councillor Booth stated that he understands the issue is a national issue but the concern he has is performance with particularly the minor applications and also the cost with using agency staff so wondered if there were any other alternatives that the Council could look at that will encourage more people to come to work at Fenland planning. Councillor Mrs Laws responded that no stone is being left unturned and the Council is in a position where it has to employ quality agency staff, which is an important factor and at the moment headway is being made with the applications but members have to understand in the last 3 years the increase in applications has been incredible and it is being managed by the staff the Council has with the support of agency staff. She assured members that they are looking at alternatives but the disappointment was losing the contract with Peterborough City Council in March and that is not something that can easily be made up.

(Councillor Marks left the meeting following this item and was not present for the remaining agenda items)