Published in Hereford Times News by Bill Tanner

Council tax rise expected with freeze grant rejected

 

Band D bill for 2015/16 could be £1,275 as services face further cuts

 

HEADING into an election year, Herefordshire Council is set to reject the government’s offer of a one-off grant to freeze council tax and instead plans an increase of 1.9 per cent – just short of a rise that would trigger a referendum.

 

The recommendation, which would see the average (Band D) bill up to  Â£1,275.10, is made in a cabinet report outlining the council’s budget plans for 2015/16.

 

Councillor Tony Johnson, leader of Herefordshire Council, defended the rejection of the grant saying the council would have to find a further £750,000 in savings if the grant was taken up.

 

“I’ve looked very closely at the offer but I’m afraid because of how the government grant allocation system works, Herefordshire and other rural authorities do not get the same level of grant as some other councils; particularly London boroughs,†said Cllr Johnson.

 

“This is despite the fact that in many instances our geography means some services, such as road maintenance and social care cost more to deliver. The scheme on offer doesn’t add up for Herefordshire so unfortunately we are recommending it’s rejected,†he said.

 

As proposed, spending on adult social services would be slashed  by £5.5 million over 2015/16, children’s wellbeing by £1.1 million and spending on other services by £3.6 million.

 

The council says the majority of the savings can be found through on-going “efficiency measures†such as the “improved†use of technology rather than cuts to frontline services.

 

To 2013/14 the council has saved £34m and is on target to save a further £15m in the current financial year against a background of reductions in grants from central government, increases in demand for council services and increasing costs to the council.

 

Spending would be increased in designated “priority†areas including £200,000 to re-introduce rural bus services that received significant local public support and have a potential longer term growth, £400,000 to maintain increased grass cutting in parks and verges and £100,000 – on recommendation – for the prevention of  child sexual exploitation.

 

The report makes clear that significant further savings will still have to be found over future financial years.

 

Cabinet holds the first budget debate next Thursday, but approval rests with full council on February 6.

 

If approved, the final rate will be set on March 6 to include the amount charged by parish councils, the Fire Authority and the Police and Crime Commissioner.

 

Initial proposals were put to the council’s two overview and scrutiny committees in November with neither proposing alternative options.

 

Although the council is on target to deliver within the overall budget in 2014/15 there is slippage in some savings and additional pressures in both 2015/16 and 2016/17 that have been mitigated by alternative savings and the use of contingencies.

 

Next month, the full council will be asked to approve the 2015/16 budget and a medium term financial plan with scope for “refreshment†by any new administration after the election in May.

 

At present, the medium term plan estimates a near £34 million funding gap arising from increased costs and reduced funding.

 

The latest 2014/15 forecast outturn shows an overall delivery of savings in the current year with an additional £18 million of savings required over 2015/16-2016/17, £10 million  2015/16 alone.

 

A total savings plan for the financial period 2011/12-2016/17 accounts for £67 million.

 

The council’s provisional spending settlement for 2015/16 was announced by the government last month and may change in the final settlement expected in February.

 

Behind the scenes at Shirehall, however, any change is not expected to be material enough to effect the budget.

 

The provisional settlement  did, however, confirm another year of funding reductions in 2015/16 - in line with the council’s expectations.

 

There was also an increase in rural funding that resulted in a net in overall funding compared to budget assumptions of £251,000k.

 

This will be used to fund transportation costs and specifically to improve public transport options for vulnerable groups and further feasibility work on the Rotherwas rail link.

 

A breakdown of current cost pressures across the council’s three directorates shows:

 

Adult and wellbeing

 

The 2014/15 savings target was £5.5 million of which 44 per cent has been delivered.

 

An overspend against budget of £974,000 by the year’s end is forecast.

 

This compares to a forecast overspend of £962k that was previously reported to Cabinet.

 

The forecast overspend within adult social care client groups continues to rise particularly in residential and nursing as a result of pressures in the hospital system.

 

But this has been partially offset by a continued reduction in the forecast spend on domiciliary care.

 

The client forecast assumes that any further demand pressures will be managed and that new services such as reablement and telecare that were introduced in July will have an impact on managing growth.

 

Children’s wellbeing

 

The savings target for 2014/15 was £2.5 million, 60 per cent has been delivered.

 

The latest forecast predicts an overspend against budget of £472,000 by the year’s end, an improvement of £12,000 since August.

 

Continuing cost pressures presented by children in care and the use of agency staff costs means that mitigating savings have stopped any further overspend.

 

Though there are no new residential placements, there is little spare capacity within the council’s in-house fostering service.

 

Despite significant efforts to reduce the use of independent foster agency placements there has been an increase of seven placements with independent agencies since August costing an additional £139,000.

 

The Herefordshire Intensive Placement Support Service has now been commissioned with a specific remit to reduce costs and improve outcomes in this area.

 

The first intake of newly qualified social workers have completed their initial 12 months and moved into posts.

 

But the commitment to keep caseloads at a manageable level has meant that there is still a reliance on long term agency staff with a number being extended until the end of the financial year.

 

However, the recruitment of permanent staff continues and a new regional approach to agency recruitment should start in January.

 

Economy, communities and corporate

 

The savings target for 2014/15 was £7.3 million, 89 per cent has been delivered.

 

The projected underspend is £242,000, a minor improvement on the August position of £17,000.

 

Fourteen major planning applications brought £747,000 in fees in excess of the income budget, an increase of £237,000 from the August position.

 

There is a net revenue pressure of £174,000 in relation to the Master’s House project in Ledbury.

 

This spend is required to meet grant conditions of the Heritage Lottery funding for the project.

 

Outstanding insurance liabilities have been externally re-assessed with a recommendation that the council increases the sum set aside in its insurance reserve.

 

This, as well as costs associated with the re-tender of the contract, gives an overspend of  Â£250,000 built into the base 2015/16 budget.

 

There are risks emerging in the property maintenance budgets marked for management within the overall directorate budget.

 

Earmarked reserves and contingency budgets have been set aside for in-year pressures.

 

The £2 million budgeted for â€change management†is forecast to underspend by £1 million due to less than forecast redundancy costs falling in year.

 

In October, the revenue contingency budget  of £700,000 was committed to additional grass cutting, Colwall Primary School’s temporary accommodation and  adults transitions.

 

 

The £5.5 million green project starts in Whitecross, Hereford and will be rolled out across the whole county over the coming months.

 

Herefordshire Council’s public realm contractor, Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP), is replacing all 9,000 street lights with LEDs.

 

LEDs are expected to save the council £13.3 million over the next 20 years.

 

Cllr Philip Price, Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member infrastructure, said: “This is our largest-ever carbon reduction project.”

 

He added: “Not only is it good for the environment, but it will bring us substantial savings through lower energy costs and maintenance bills and will reduce light pollution, too.”

 

The final, and largest, phase of LED street lighting is expected to take a year to complete. This includes replacing about a quarter of all lampposts.

 

A third of Herefordshire’s street lights have already been replaced at a cost of £1.5 million.

 

BBLPs principal lighting engineer, Mark Tidswell, said: “Upon completion, the energy consumption of street lighting in Herefordshire will be vastly reduced, as will the ongoing future maintenance burden. 

 

“As well as the work on site, much will be going on behind the scenes updating the council’s systems and inventories to ensure the financial savings are realised as early as possible”.

 

The new LEDs will be dimmed to save money and reduce light pollution. Approximate times are:

 

Dusk to 10pm (100% of full power)

10pm to midnight (80% of full power)

5.30am to dawn (100% of full power)

 

 

My concerns are some of the local taxi drivers refusing to take shorter trips and now with dimmed lights from midnight until 5am this emphasises this issue even more!  People being refused a cab during the early hours to then having to walk home with 50% less light is a possible recipe for additional crime.

Herefordshire Council opts in to Joint Property Vehicle http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/11631303.Mass_public_sector_buildings__merger__plan_backed_by_Worcester_councillors/?ref=twtrec â€¦

 

Herefordshire’s bus services will reduce from 31 August 2014 as part of the council’s aim to save £33m by 2017. Following the public consultation our priority is to retain support for the core network and rural lifeline services.

 

The table below shows those services which will be affected by the changes. For more information on individual services, please:

 

 

Whilst every care has been taken to ensure accuracy , this is a first draft of the August 2014 timetable and is indicative of the new services and may therefore be subject to change. We will update our website with any changes as soon as we can.

71/71A Hereford - Credenhill 

Revised timetable, evening journeys Mondays to Thursdays withdrawn but provided without subsidy by First on Friday and Saturday evenings. Revised Sunday service provided without subsidy by First. Most journeys will terminate at Hereford City Bus Station

 

72 Hereford - Bobblestock 

Revised timetable, evening journeys Mondays to Thursdays withdrawn but provided without subsidy by First on Friday and Saturday evenings

 

74/74A Hereford - Newton Farm 

Revised timetable, late evening journeys Mondays to Thursdays withdrawn but provided without subsidy by First on Fridays and Saturdays. Revised Sunday service provided without subsidy by First

 

75/75B Hapton Park - Hereford 

Revised timetable. One early Saturday morning journey, evenings and Sunday service withdrawn

 

78 Rotherwas - Hereford 

Off peak service withdrawn. Alternative journeys provided by revised 454 service

 

79A Hereford - Putson - Redhill 

Revised Sunday service provided without subsidy by First

 

88/88A Hereford - The Pastures/Saxon Gate 

Minor revision to timetable

 

The 74/74A service I use has the following last daily buses scheduled to run at:

 

UKIP hope it's second time lucky for North Herefordshire candidate

 

UKIP has announced its 2015 candidate for North Herefordshire, their unsuccessful 2010 runner Jonathan Oakton

 

Campaigning on a platform of increasing pensions and doubling the territorial army Mr Oakton won 2, 701 votes, good for fourth place in the constituency at the last general election.

 

Finishing behind the 'big three' traditional parties, he saw off Green Party candidate Felicity Norman (1,533) who last month announced that she would be passing the torch to her 27-year-old daughter Daisy Blench ahead of next year’s election.

 

However with UKIP enjoying a surge in popularity since 2010, Mr Oakton will be hoping to mount a serious challenge to unseat Conservative incumbent Bill Wiggin.

 

The 56-year-old hopeful will be meeting and greeting at Kington Show tomorrow, where UKIP have a stand.

 

WD Wiggin (Conservative Party) 24,631 votes - 51.8% votes won

LA Hurds (Liberal Democrat) 14,744 votes - 31.0% votes won

N Sabharwal (Labour Party) 3,373 votes - 7.1% votes won

JP Oakton (United Kingdom Independence Party) 2,701 votes - 5.7% votes won

FM Norman (Green Party) 1,533 votes - 3.2% votes won

EJ King (Independent) 586 votes - 1.2% votes won

 

Looks like a tall order with all the votes split between other parties.

 

The number of local authority staff with the power to enter your home or workplace.

 

 

A Freedom of Information Request was sent to all UK local authorities on the 25th

January 2013. We asked how many officers had the power to enter a home, and

also how many had been disciplined in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.

 

Of the 433 local authorities in the UK we received a 99% response rate. Only

Hackney did not respond fully. A further 22 could not provide usable information,

generally for lack of information recorded, or the request potentially exceeding the

standard cost and time limits for an FOI. 

 

All results are for the years 2009 to 2012 unless otherwise indicated. A full list of local

authorities is available in table 2 and 3.

* There are more than 19,375 local authority officials with powers of entry, in 429

local authorities.

* This is an average of 45 local authority officials with powers of entry in all 433

local authorities.

* 2 local authorities have more than 500 officials with powers of entry

* Northumberland (541)

* Leeds (527) 

 

 

 

The cabinet members will decide the process for seeking a new football tenant for the pitch and ancillary sports facilities as are considered appropriate. The tenancy at the Edgar Street facility will be advertised through an open public advertisement process and expressions of interest sought. This will be done with transparency and full public consultation with stakeholders.

 

Cllr Tony Johnson, leader of Herefordshire Council said, “We are very keen to ensure that football continues at the site as quickly as possible. It has been a long and arduous journey for the fans of Hereford United and we seek to bring some stability back to the ground as soon as we can.

 

We will seek expressions of interest from all interested parties and will aim to have a new tenant for the ground by the beginning of March 2015.”