Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Councillor Aaron Shotton introduced the report which introduced Part 2 of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for the three year period 2015-2018 for the Council Fund.

He explained that Part 1 of the MTFS outlined the financial pressures faced by the Council over the three year period to 2018 because of reductions in funding and increases in pressures such as teacher pension costs.  Workshops had been held to help Members understand the areas of pressure.  The Council was facing a significant challenge on what to do to meet the gap to allow compliance with its statutory duty to provide a balanced budget. 

The Chief Executive provided a detailed presentation which highlighted the following key areas:

·         Our journey thus far

·         What do the next three years look like?

·         An efficient and innovative Council

·         Council Annual Efficiency Targets 2008/09 to 2015/16

·         A low funded Council

·         Our three part strategy

·         Business Plan Efficiency Targets 2015/16-2017/18

·         Corporate Finance Efficiency Proposals 2015/16

·         Funding Pressures for Support and Relief

·         Balancing ambition and risk

·         What next?

He spoke of the risks and explained that two of the three parts of the strategy could be undertaken locally but the third part required an open discussion with WG. 

            Councillor Shotton thanked the Chief Executive, Chief Officer team, Corporate Finance Team and Cabinet Members for their work on the strategy.  Page 22 of the strategy document reported a list of services that were under threat if support from WG was not forthcoming and a considerable amount of work had been undertaken on putting a case forward for consideration by WG.  Flintshire was a low funded Council and this had been acknowledged by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and because of the funding formula Flintshire was ranked at 19^th out of 22 authorities for the amount of funding received.  Despite the low funding, Flintshire was a high performing Council and even though Flintshire had areas of deprivation, other authorities in Wales had larger deprivation areas and the funding formula did not recognise that the Council did all it could with low funding to provide services to residents and perform well in the services it provided.  He suggested that an additional recommendation be included that the MTFS be referred to the County Council meeting on 24^th September 2015 to allow a debate with all Members to take place.  Councillor Shotton also spoke of the need to seek support from local Assembly Members and Members of Parliament to support Flintshire County Council in defending services from austerity cuts.  He spoke of ‘co-operative Councils’ and ‘enabling Councils’ and of the proactive work being undertaken on alternative delivery models and with community groups on Community Asset Transfers.  He reiterated earlier comments on the need for early discussions with WG to seek financial support to close the current budget gap. 

            In speaking of the importance of the MTFS, Councillor Attridge said that without help from WG, facilities such as care homes, leisure centres and Theatr Clwyd could be under  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66