Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance introduced a report on the proposal to make an application to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) for Barking and Dagenham, Basildon, Havering and Thurrock Councils to enter into a business rates pool.

The Cabinet Member explained that pooling arrangements between ‘top-up’ authorities and ‘tariff’ authorities could generate significant financial benefits and a recent review concluded that a pool between the four authorities could generate an additional £13.2m over the four year period 2014/15 to 2017/18.  Thurrock Council had been nominated as Lead Authority for the pool and a Memorandum of Understanding had been drafted, as part of the DCLG’s application criteria, which contained provisions to ensure that the additional funding generated via the pool was shared appropriately and that none of the participating authorities would be worse off than if they were outside the pool.

The Cabinet congratulated all those involved in the project and asked officers to ensure that the project received appropriate publicity.

Cabinet resolved:

(i)  To approve the creation of a business rates pool with the London Borough of Havering, Thurrock Council and Basildon District Council from 1 April 2014;

(ii)  To delegate authority to the Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, to agree the operational details of the pooling arrangements with the participating councils; and

(iii)  To authorise the Chief Finance Officer, in consultation with the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, to make any amendments to the draft Memorandum of Understanding, attached at Appendix A to the report, as may be required by the Secretary of State, and to enter into the final Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the Council.