Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services introduced the Treasury Management Annual Report for 2017/18 which set out the key areas of performance during the year. 

Investment income for the year was £4.1m compared to the budget of £2.6m, while the Council’s average interest return of 1.22% was 0.51% higher than the average London Peer Group return and 0.61% higher than the Local Authority average return.  The Cabinet Member also referred to the investment priorities and borrowing strategy that supported the Council’s Investment and Acquisition Strategy.  The point was made that the £89m loan secured from the European Investment Bank in January 2015 at just 2.2% over the 30-year term had funded the recent Weaver’s Quarter development as part of the regeneration of the Gascoigne Estate.  The revenue from the new development was now fully covering the interest payments on the loan while providing genuinely affordable new homes for the local community, including those on the London Living Wage.

The Cabinet resolved to recommend the Assembly to:

(i)  Note the Treasury Management Annual Report for 2017/18;

(ii)  Note that the Council complied with all 2017/18 treasury management indicators;

(iii)  Approve the actual Prudential and Treasury Indicators for 2017/18;

(iv)  Note that the Council borrowed £119.6m from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) in 2017/18 to fund the Council’s regeneration strategy and borrowed a further £15m from other local authorities to fund the Council’s land acquisition strategy; and

(v)  Maintain the delegated authority to the Chief Financial Officer, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services, to continue to proportionally amend the counterparty lending limits agreed within the Treasury Management Strategy Statement to reflect the additional cash holdings resulting from borrowing from the European Investment Bank and the PWLB.