Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance & Core Services presented a report providing an update on the Investment and Acquisition Strategy. The Strategy was adopted in September 2017 (and updated in October 2018) in response to the Council’s challenge to deliver services with limited resources and recognising that this could not be achieved by continually cutting services and reducing staffing levels. The Council was on track to achieve the key objective of the Strategy which was to generate a net income of £5.12m by 2020/21, which would support the Council to continue to provide services.

The Cabinet Member referred to the investment made in the affordable rent sector as part of the Strategy, stating that the Council should take pride in having created affordable, high quality homes for local people.

The Cabinet Member referred to the Council’s bold approach to growth and the range of opportunities this presented to it, for example, its investments in in two ‘lease and lease back’ arrangements. He acknowledged that each type of investment involved a level of risk, but assured Members that risks and the opportunity for returns were balanced and carefully reviewed against good investment principles.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the progress being made in meeting the Investment and Acquisition (IAS) income target;

(ii)  Note the governance and controls that were in place to management the IAS;

(iii)  Note the addition of a Lease and Lease Back asset class to the IAS;

(iv)  Note the limitations that impact the IAS through the net interest requirement; and

(v)  Approve the updated IAS contained in Appendix 1 to the report.