Agenda item

The Resources Portfolio Holder, Councillor Lesley McKay, and the Corporate Director Resources (S151 Officer), Clare James, have submitted a report for the proposed fee and charges (draft) for the 2023/24 financial year.

Committee members will have the opportunity to comment and ask questions of the Portfolio Holder and Corporate Director.

The Resources Portfolio Holder, Councillor Lesley McKay, and the Corporate Director Resources (S151 Officer) submitted a report for the proposed fee and charges (draft) for the 2023/24 financial year.

The Corporate Director Resources (S151 Officer) and the Corporate Accountant attended the meeting to respond to comments and questions from members.

The Corporate Director explained to members that the draft fees and charges report is a consolidated report including changes from Portfolio Holders that is brought once a year to incorporate any changes into the budget setting process. Fees and charges were reactive, and portfolio holder reports could be brought at any time during the year, however they tried to consolidate this in one update.

She told members that all the fees and charges set out within the report would be effective from 1 April 2024. Sometimes changes would be effective from alternative times, however this was not the case for this update.

Highlighting paragraph 4.5 of the report, the Corporate Director explained that a number of fees and charges had been uplifted per consumer price inflation (CPI), which at September 2023 was 6.7%. This was common practice, to keep pace with inflation. However, this was not a blanket approach for all the fees and charges.

In response to a question on the review process of the report, the Corporate Director explained that feedback and comments from this meeting would be fed back to the portfolio holders and a determination would be made on any proposed changes prior to the report being published.

In response to a question on the rate of inflation used, the Corporate Director explained that using the September figure and not a more up to date one was the traditional approach and was the same used by government.

The following paragraphs of the report were raised to members:

·        5.1.1 Pest control 

·        5.1.7 and 5.1.8 Thornton Little Theatre, Marine Hall and Mount Pavilion 

·        5.1.9 Cemeteries 

·        5.2.2 Housing 

·        5.3.1 Development Control 

·        5.3.3 Markets 

·        5.4.3 Room hire (Civic Centre) 

·        5.5.3 Waste Management 

·        5.5.5 Leisure Development – Playing fields 

Members raised questions on the paragraphs highlighted and additional paragraphs not raised. These included:

5.1.1 

·        Questions over the benchmarking exercise and whether this was in line with other LAs 

·        Whether the council was subsidising this service because prices were too competitive 

·        One councillor asked that it be cascaded to officers to keep to scheduled appointments 

5.1.5 (private water supply) 

·        Does the council have a private water supply, what is the relation to this proposed fee

5.1.9 

·        Whether there were extra charges for those being buried from outside the borough 

·        Whether members of the public were willing to pay the £100 15 year lease fee and were any issues envisaged with this

5.3.3 

·        At the last meeting of the committee, a review topic was suggested to focus on Fleetwood Markets; how would this fit in with the fundamental review planned on this 

·        Requested an explanation for the VAT increases 

·        Members agreed for an evaluation on how the decarbonisation improvements would impact on the market 

·        What impact would there be on additional revenue from fee increases for Market House studios

·        Any connections/lessons learnt from Morecambe with regeneration through art 

·        Justification of increases in winter prices of market stalls 

·        Need more context for price increases generally – to ensure a percentage column is included and previous data on price increases to be included 

5.4.3 

·        Has the demand for room hire at the Civic Centre justified the fee increases 

5.5.3 

·        Concerns over increases in fly-tipping with increases in charges 

·        Need to monitor fly tipping following this increase – to be suggested when the project on this commences 

The Corporate Director responded to the questions raised by members.

·       5.1.1 – The council ought to be benchmarking against other local authorities as well as private providers, some might offer services cheaper. A review was needed to ensure prices were correct.

·       5.1.5 – the Environmental Health team at the council offered a service to test private water supplies

·       5.1.9 – it was confirmed that those living outside the borough would be charged more; the Corporate Director said she would raise the question over concerns over the 15 year lease

·       5.3.3 – a review of the market, its business management and in particular rental prices was needed and had been planned for the new year, a potential task group on this topic could coincide with this. In terms of the VAT increases, this had been identified through an external review and traders had been given a six month notice period of this, with payments starting in October 2023. The council had paid off the historic VAT payments. It would take around 12 months to review the impact of the improvements from the decarbonisation project but hoped the revamped market would be attractive to traders. Updates had been brought to the proposed fees and charges for Market House studios, any impact on additional revenue would be sought from officers and connections to Abingdon Street Market were being investigated. In terms of increasing the winter prices of the stalls, the justification was to bring these more in line with summer prices. The Corporate Director agreed to the suggestion for a column showing percentage increases as well as a column giving context to the last time a fee had been increased.

·       5.4.3 – the redecoration of the committee rooms and Members Lounge had made a difference, with wedding bookings already increased. More time was needed to review this impact.

·       5.5.3 – The Corporate Director acknowledged that BHW fees are sometimes linked to fly-tipping but no causal link has been established. The type of waste fly-tipped is not normally BHW that the paid for service would collect, they are very different in nature. The Corporate Director and members acknowledged that people not willing to pay the fee would not stop fly-tipping even if it was decreased.

The Chair thanked the Corporate Director Resources and Corporate Accountant for their attendance at the meeting.