Issue - meetings

Further to Minute 96 (13 February 2017), the Cabinet Member for Community Leadership and Engagement presented an update report on the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2018/19 to 2020/21.

The budget gap for 2018/19 stood at £15.79m after factoring in the latest known pressures and mitigating measures.  To close that gap, the performance targets of the three main commissioning functions under the Council’s Transformation Programme would be stretched and it was noted that a report on the detailed proposals would be presented to Cabinet in November prior to public consultation. 

The Cabinet Member also referred to proposals in respect of the commencement of a street property purchasing programme in advance of a detailed report to the Cabinet in September on the Council’s Investment and Acquisition Strategy, as well as new loan arrangements with the Council’s recently-appointed Leisure Service provider, Sports and Leisure Management Limited, to progress the new demountable swimming pool project at the Becontree Heath Leisure Centre site and support investment in buildings and equipment.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the budget gap between 2018/19 to 2020/21 which increased from £22.167m, as reported in February 2017, to £23.003m at July 2017;

(ii)  Note the budget gap of £15.79m for 2018/19 the process for closing that gap, as outlined in section 8 of the report;

(iii)  Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Growth and Homes, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Investment, the Chief Operating Officer and the Director of Law and Governance, to commence the purchasing of street properties which would form part of the Council’s overall Investment Strategy, as outlined in section 5 of the report;

(iv)  Approve additional capital spend on the Council’s leisure services of £1,694,075; as outlined in section 6 of the report;

(v)  Approve a loan of up to £3,394,075 to Sports and Leisure Management Ltd, who have been appointed to manage the Borough's leisure centres and athletics stadium, including Becontree Heath Leisure Centre, in accordance with the loan schedule at Appendix C to the report; and

(vi)  Delegate authority to the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Investment, to agree contractual terms, including the rate, duration and security as part of the loan agreement with Sports and Leisure Management Ltd.