Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance Decision Meeting - Thursday 7 November 2024, 2:00pm - Cotswold District Council Webcasting

Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance Decision Meeting
Thursday, 7th November 2024 at 2:00pm 

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  1. Councillor Mike Evemy
  2. Public Speaker
  3. Officer
  4. Caleb Harris, Officer
  5. Councillor Mike Evemy
  6. Officer
  7. Councillor Mike Evemy
  8. Officer
  9. Councillor Mike Evemy
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  2. Councillor Mike Evemy
  3. Public Speaker
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1 Declarations of Interest

Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:00:13
Good afternoon colleagues. Welcome to this individual cabinet decision -maker meeting.
I'm Mike Ebony, deputy leading cabinet member for finance at the Cotswold District Council.
I'll just ask colleagues in the meeting to introduce themselves one by one.
Looking to my left first, David.
Public Speaker - 0:00:39
David Stanley, Deputy Chief Executive and the Council's Chief Finance Officer.
Good afternoon.
Officer - 0:00:48
I'm John Deering, Assistant Director for Resident Services.
Caleb Harris, Officer - 0:00:55
Caleb Harris, Senior Democratic Services Officer here at
Cotswold District Council.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:01:00
Thank you very much, gentlemen.
So, the first item is declarations of interest.
Do any of you, or myself indeed, have any interest
that you want to declare?
You're all shaking your heads, so that's no.
So we move on to the second item, which is the tourism levy paper on page 3, agenda item
2.
John, do you just want to introduce that briefly?
Officer - 0:01:30
Yes, thank you.
So we've got two reports on the agenda today.
So the first one is the general annual approval of expenditure on the tourism levy.
We've got three things that have become standard items, so the provision of the village warden
and a small project budget, and then 50 % of the cost of additional park enforcement and
50 % of the cost of the refresh of the village green.
All three of those things have been funded annually since the introduction of the levy.
and the remainder or part of the remainder there's a recommendation
around a 12 ,000 pounds allocation to block pave the central area in the
village where where the notice boards are right in the center of the village.
In addition to that it's recommended or the the parish council have requested
that an underspend on previously allocated funds for dropping curbs we
allocated 12 ,000 pounds a couple of years ago 7 ,000 of that remains unspent
and so they've requested that they utilize that funding to drop some further
curbs that were recommended in their access report three or four years ago.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:03:08
Thank you John for that and obviously as you're aware but for colleagues and for
those of you watching this either either on live or on catch -up as they call it
now this is a levy that we introduced just in 2021 on people parking at the
Rislington Road car park and the purposes of the levy is to support
activities in the locality to help them manage the large volumes of visitors that do come
to Borton on the water.
And yeah, obviously that's been running.
This is the fourth year that it's been running.
And you can see in the report in Annex A how those funds have been spent in previous years.
I just wanted to flag, I think we've identified that in 2021,
the expenditure that's shown under against the village warden
is for the full year,
but actually the warden came in partway through the year.
So the figure should be 6 ,834,
and we're going to get that changed on the papers
that are then subsequently published after this meeting.
But as you can see, obviously, on that rip annex there as well,
the underspend, I think that you were just referring to, John,
on the drop curbs that was part of the 22 -23 allocations.
And also that there are some ongoing ones which we allocated
funds for which haven't as yet been spent.
So that funding is still there, John, isn't it?
Officer - 0:04:55
That's correct, yeah, keep regular updates from the parish clerk.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:05:01
Brilliant, thanks so that just for clarification is the traffic
regulation order £15 ,000 was allocated that out of the 22 -23 budget and the
high street regeneration from last year's budget as well as the planting
around the edge of Clapton Row so look forward to those projects being
delivered for the benefit of the residents and the visitors to Borton on
the water. So coming back to the recommendations for this year I'm very

2 Bourton-on-the-Water Tourism Levy

content with obviously continuing the funding for the village warden and the
work that he does in the village and noting that we've allocated a small
amount of money and it hasn't been used so far I think was used in the 22 -23
year but wasn't used at all last year so hopefully we're gonna get can you just
Officer - 0:06:05
give us a bit more information about that John? Yeah I've spoke to the
parish council I think I think there's a little bit of confusion between the two
about what what items that can be utilized for so I think it's it's as
simple as having a myself having a conversation with Stephen just to give
him the guidance on what that could be spent on so so we've I've recommended
that we allocate that 500 pounds again this year but if it's not being spent
we'll probably adjust that next year thank you John and I'll just raise it
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:06:41
here because we weren't probably subsequently discuss it but there was a
further request from the parish council
and it's referenced in 3 .4 .5 about title of land
and I think we had a conversation about that
and it was my view that essentially
that wouldn't have benefit to the visitors
so it wasn't something
that I think we would use these funds for
but clearly that's a matter
if the parish wanted to use their funds to gain title
then obviously they can go ahead and do that.
Before I make my decision,
I don't have any more questions.
I think, David, do you have anything
that you wanted to add or say?
Public Speaker - 0:07:23
No, I'm content with the figures
that have been provided in the report
and the updates that have been given,
so I've got nothing to add.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:07:31
Thanks, David.
So, moving on to the substantive
of the recommendations then.
So, I'm happy to confirm the agreement
with the recommendations as shown on page 3 of the report and those are to
approve the funding for the village warden which is identified in paragraph
3 .3 which includes the cost of the post and the 500 pounds budget for small
projects which we've just talked about to approve the expenditure proposals
shown in para three point within 3 .4 so that's in the report it's listed 3 .4 .1
to 3 .4 .4 so as well as the village warden that's half of the cost of parking
enforcement so we essentially share that additional cost with the parish council
on a 50 % contributions each similarly with the refresh of the village green
and the project that we're adding to it this year is the resurfacing of the area
around the notice boards to a cost of 12 ,000 pounds,
as John has just outlined.
And then I'm also agreeing to the proposal
to carry forward the underspend on the curbs,
which is detailed in paragraph 3 .5,
so that they can do more drop curb work.
Obviously, they've identified more curbs that need to be,
that can be dropped and enable people to get around
the village for those people who need to use drop curbs.
And then finally to delegate the authority
to prove any additional expenditure
in line with the conditions around this shutout
there in paragraph 4 .2 to the deputy chief executive,
David, in consultation with myself.
So I'm agreeing with those recommendations and the reason for my decision is that these
contributions will support the work that is done in Borton on the water for the parish
council in terms to support them dealing with the number of visitors, the large number of
visitors that they receive in the village and to generally benefit the visitors to the
in terms of the facilities and support that's available to them.
Okay, all right. Thank you very much on that one.

3 Bourton-on-the-Water Tourism Levy Increase

So we'll move on to the second item, agenda item three, tourism levy increase.
John, do you want to just briefly talk about this?
Officer - 0:10:27
Yeah, a very straightforward report. Basically going back to what you said, Councillor Overme,
about the scheme being in place for four years now, but there's never been any increase to
the levy during that time. There have been significant increases around salaries, services
and materials, all adding to the cost of the projects that are undertaken. So there's a
50p per session to 60p per session, taking effect from the 1st of April 2025, which would
then, as stated in paragraph 4 .2, would need to go into the general budget -setting process.
Thank you, John.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:11:14
I'm obviously aware, obviously you look at the figure that we put on and we've had significant
significant inflation since that period.
So, absolutely, I think, you know, it's interesting
that we're obviously generating about 55 ,000
pounds a year to support these activities important
on the water.
And clearly, as you said, you know, projects cost
more, you know, salaries go up.
So, the value, the real terms value of that clearly
is dropping.
So, yeah, I'm very minded to support an increase to 60 pence a session.
We'll see if we all need to work that through.
As you said in the car park fees and charges work that I'm looking to David, but I'm sure
I know that officers are working on in terms of looking at what the car parking charges
will be for next year from next April.
David, have you got anything you wanted to say on this one?
Public Speaker - 0:12:18
No, I agree with the recommendations within the report and the financial implications
and inclusion within the Council's budget plans for 2025 -26 which will come forward
in February.
Thank you David.
Councillor Mike Evemy - 0:12:33
So I'm going to approve as per the recommendations an increase in the tourism levy of the Rissington
road stays at Rissington Road car park from 50 pence to 60 pence per session
with effect from the first of April next year and approve that the work necessary
work is done to vary the parking order say that will require further work as we
said with regards to looking at charges overall and the reason that I'm making
that decision is in order to maintain the real terms level of support that the
levy is providing for visitors to the village. Okay brilliant I think that
brings the end of the agenda so thank you very much for all the work that
you've done on this particularly John and through the
So, through the meeting, thank you to the work that I know that the Boulton Parish Council
do to support this activity and to make their village an even better place to visit.
So thank you, thank you everyone.
Good afternoon.