Agenda, decisions and minutes

None.

No declarations of interest were made.

That the presentation be noted.

The Chairman welcomed the contributors to the meeting.

The Leader outlined the budget consultation process to date, which included briefing meetings with Group Leaders and Chairs of Overview & Scrutiny Committees, culminating with the Overview & Scrutiny mop-up session scheduled to be held on Friday, 30^th January, 2015, prior to the final budget proposals being presented to County Council on the 17^th February, 2015.  Regular updates had been given to Members over recent months and the Leader commented on the unprecedented financial challenges facing all Councils across Wales.  The draft budget report, presented to Cabinet on 16^th December, 2015 highlighted a £16.4m budget gap for 2015/16.  Following intensive work a balanced budget had been achieved.  The risk to frontline services was a unique challenge with no magic formula and no additional money available.

The Leader commented on the consequential revenue provision and briefed Members on his lobbying of Ministers and the Welsh Government (WG).  He expressed his disappointment following the Autumn Statement that no additional funding for service protection was being allocated to Local Government.

The Chief Executive and Corporate Finance Manager gave a detailed presentation which covered the following areas:-

·               National Position

·               Revised Local Position

·               Strategy to close the extended gap

·               Up to date Strategy position

·               Remaining Strategy Actions

·               Big Budget Conversation

·               Member Involvement

·               Final Steps in the Budget

The Chief Officer (Community & Enterprise), Chief Officer (Planning and Environment) and Chief Officer (Streetscene and Transportation) each gave a detailed presentation on budget proposals within their respective portfolios.

The comments and questions which were raised by Members of the Committee on the presentations, together with the responses given, are detailed in Appendix 1 (attached).

During discussion, the Chair thanked Officers for the openness in which the workshops and verbal updates had been delivered to Members and felt members of the public were better prepared for the year ahead.

            RESOLVED:

That the presentation be noted.

There were no members of the public and one member of the press in attendance.