Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:   That Councillor J Collop be appointed as Vice-Chairman for the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from the Chairman, Councillor Tyler and Councillor G McGuinness.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 September 2018 were agreed as a correct record.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposes to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

There was no urgent business to consider.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before the meeting commences.  Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman.

There were no Members present pursuant to Standing Order 34.

There was no Chairman’s correspondence to report.

The Assistant Director explained that one of the Committee’s Terms of Reference was ‘to act as a consultative forum on the funding raised by, and utilisation of the King’s Lynn Special Expenses, and to offer input on priorities for this expenditure and if appropriate the level of funds to be raised’.

It was reported that the Local Government Finance Act 1992 defined a Local Authority’s Special Expenses.  It stated that Special Expenses were any expenses incurred by the authority in performing in a part of its area, a function performed elsewhere by a Parish Council.

The Assistant Director drew the Committee’s attention to the Special Expenses which were currently charged for:

·        Footway Lighting

·        Play areas

·        Community Centres

·        Closed Churchyards

·        Allotments

·        Pavilions

·        Dog bins

·        Open spaces

·        Bus shelters

·        Public conveniences (80% of costs of Walks Broadwalk and Management Building facilities)

·        Parish Partnership Traffic Calming

It was explained that the total cost of Special Expenses was met by Council tax payers of King’s Lynn.  The annual charge to the residents was made through an addition to the Council Tax bill. 

At the meeting held on 20 September 2018, the Committee considered the feedback from the Informal Working Group on Special Expenses.  It was agreed:

(1)        That the Committee request that any Environment & Community Informal Working Group looking into grounds maintenance (including grass cutting) should include at least one member of KLACC.

(2)        That at its September meeting going forward, the Committee receives a monitoring report on expenditure within special expenses.

(3)        That a budget of £1,000 be set aside for ways of promoting community centres, to be spent this financial year, given the current underspend in the community centres budget.  In the event of a continued underspend, at the end of the financial year, the remainder of the monies be available to the Committee for a future marketing campaign.

(4)        That in the event that (3) above is agreed, the Informal Working Group meet with officers to agree ways of spending the marking budget.

The Assistant Director explained that the Council Tax Base for King’s Lynn for 2019/2020 was 10,190.4 and this was an increase of 142.6 from 2018/2019.

This meant that the Band D charge for 2019/2020 would be £46.79.

The main movements between the special expenses charge for 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 were explained to the Committee, namely:

·        Footway lighting increased by £8,980 as a result of higher electricity costs.

·        Pavilion costs had increased by £4,150.  This was mainly due to increased charges for business rates at the Dutton Pavilion.

·        Open spaces costs had been reduced by £5,240 to reflect the current schedule of actual work being undertaken.

It was reported that the total council tax support grant available would reduce in 2019/2020 by 52% in line with the reduction in the Council’s overall revenue support grant.  The amount of Council Tax support grant allocated to King’s Lynn Special Expenses depends on the number of council tax payers receiving the discount and in 2019/2020 the grant was £7,390, a reduction of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Committee is asked to consider items for a future Work Programme for

The Committee is also asked to consider the Cabinet’s Forward Decision List.

The Committee’s Work Programme and Cabinet’s Forward Decision List was noted.

It was explained that the detailed review of Special Expenses topics would start in March 2019.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on Thursday 17 January 2019 at 6pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, King’s Lynn.

The next meeting of the Committee was scheduled to take place on Thursday, 17 January 2019 at 6pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.