Agenda item

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

The Senior Finance Business Partner presented the Q3 financial monitoring for 2025/26 and advised the Group that the Council continues to to face significant challenges including rising costs, increased demands for services and the need to balance its budgets while maintaining service quality. In addition, policy changes and Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), has added further cost pressures and demands on officer resources.

The Group were informed of the projected net revenue efficiencies and the significant variances arising from additional investment interest, unallocated contingency budget, additional grants and savings in Neighbourhoods and Streetwise. It was noted that any savings were offset by a reduction in planning income resulting from a reduced demand. Appendix A of the report provided the proposals to carry budget forward into 2026/27 and to earmark funding for additional cost pressures and the financial challenges around LGR and Simpler Recycling as previously reported.

The Group were informed of a projected capital underspend the majority of which is due to capital budget programme reprofiling and will be requested to be carried forward at the year end. The significant underspends highlighted in the report related to land acquisition for carbon offsetting, Rushcliffe Oaks PV works, highways and verge enhancements and Edwalton Golf Course enhancements following flood mitigation works.

The Senior Finance Business Partner informed the Group that the Q3 position of the Special expenses budget provides a projected expenditure of £1.7k above budget, however at Q2 this was reported as a £19k overspend, works to Bridgfield fencing have been capitalised and the saving against this budget has offset the previously reported overspends.

In concluding the Senior Finance Business Partner advised the Group the revenue position remains relatively healthy and the position on capital is positive and while long term capital resources are diminishing, it is anticipated that there will be no need to externally borrow this financial year. However, it was noted that existing budgets are under pressure from inflation and rising costs of labour and resources. The focus remains on delivering the capital programme alongside the demands of LGR.

The Assistant Director for Corporate Services presented the Q3 performance monitoring of the Corporate Strategy 2024-27, advising the Group that four of the fourteen strategic tasks are compete and the majority of the remainder have reached 50% progress, indicating they are on target for completion by the end of the strategic period. A full corporate scorecard was provided at Appendix G of the report.

The Group were advised that 9 of the performance indicators had missed their targets as follows:

·       Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting

·       Number of fly tipping cases

·       Percentage of recycling contamination rate

·       Cumulative number of successful homelessness prevention outcomes

·       Number of leisure centre users – public

·       Level of income generated through letting property owned by the Council but not occupied by the Council

·       Percentage of expected Cuncillors attending in-person training events this year

·       Income generated from community buildings

·       Number of missed bins (residual dry recycling, glass and garden waste0 reported

The Assistant Director for Corporate Services advised the Group that overall performance was satisfactory and there are no real concerns.

Councillor Combellack commented on the capital contingency budget position and the assumption that LGR will go ahead and questioned if for any reason it wasn’t to go ahead will the Council’s capital resources remain efficient enough to continue to invest in its assets without having to externally borrow. The Senior Finance Business Partner explained that to continue with the Capital Programme the Council would potentially need to borrow in the future. With regards to the Capital Programme and LGR, this would merge into the new authority which for it to continue would likely need to borrow.

Councillor Plant commented on the Asylum Dispersal Grant and whether this funding was ring fenced just for Asylum Dispersal. The Senior Finance Business Partner advised that this grant was not ring fenced.

Councillor Plant asked a specific question relating to Special Expenses and asked if the original overspend was due to the new barrier put in place on Bridgford Field. She was advised that the overspend was to cover increased security from anti-social behaviour and the new barrier.

Councillor Plant commented on the performance of Rushcliffe Oaks and was pleased to see the facilities potential to out-perform its target this year.

The Chair asked a specific question relating to salary savings at Streetwise and whether this was due to using less agency staff. The Senior Finance Business Partner explained that there had been savings on salaries following the insourcing of the business back in the Council’s control, however due to staff absence there is still a requirement to use agency staff.

The Chair commented on the performance indicators relating to household waste recycling percentages being down and whether this was a reflection of the new government legislation around simpler recycling and whether an increase in contamination was due to these changes and changes to resident’s behaviours around recycling. The Chair suggested simpler recycling as a potential item for future scrutiny.

The Chair also commented on the reduction of leisure centre users and whether the figures provided in this report included the post-Christmas influx. He also asked whether the refurbishment and subsequent temporary closures at Cotgrave and Keyworth leisure centre had any influence on the decline in usage. The Chair also suggested leisure centre usage as a potential item for future scrutiny.

With regards to recycling the Assistant Director for Corporate Services explained that the contamination rate of 12.7% was below the national average of 17% and that Rushcliffe was one of the best within Nottinghamshire. She also explained that there were more recycling changes to come in April 2026 which our investigations have shown will effectively eliminate much of this contamination. With further changes in 2027 including food waste and that the new simpler recycling practices will be heavily prescribed by central government and that it would take 2 to 3 years before it makes any significant difference therefore to scrutinise it before then would not be advised. The Group also noted that the Council has provided much communication on its website and social media platforms around simpler recycling and the upcoming edition of Rushcliffe Reports will provide residents with lots of information about the changes.

With regards to leisure centre usage the Assistant Director for Corporate Services advised that this is a good topic for scrutiny, however, perhaps wait until the Q4 report to see if figures have improved from the post-Christmas influx and leisure facilities at Cotgrave and Keyworth working at full capacity after their recent refurbishments.

Councillor Gaunt commented on the reduction of green bin recycling and whether the dry summer of 2025 had any influence on the volume of green waste. He also asked whether there was an option for residents to pay for the removal of green waste half yearly instead of subscribing to a full year. The Assistant Director for Corporate Services advised that it is an annual fixed fee for a green waste bin no matter when you pay into the scheme.

Councillor Williams suggested that recycling percentages be separated for future reporting purposes i.e. Blue, Green and Glass.

Cllr Plant commented on the East Leake Leisure Centre contract coming to an end in 2027 and what was the safeguard that the centre will be left in a suitable state for handover to the next contractor. The Assistant Director for Corporate Services explained that it was in their contract to and their responsibility to handover the centre in a good state and that this was being monitored by officers.

Councillor Plant asked if East Leake Leisure Centre was busy and could data around its usage be provided for the Group to compare with the Council’s other centres.

Councillor Plant also asked if information could be provided on the Warm Homes grants around how many homes have benefited from it and at what cost.

It was RESOLVED that the Corporate Overview Group considered:

a)    The projected revenue budget efficiency for the year of £1.304m and proposals to earmark this for cost pressures given in Appendix A and paragraph 4.1

b)    The projected capital budget efficiencies of £2.043m including the budget changes in Appendix D

c)     The projected overspend on Special Expenses of £1.7k (paragraph 4.7)

d)    For performance exceptions to judge whether further information is required