Appendix 1
Part A: Executive Summary & Overview Page 2
Part B: Revenue Budget Q3 2021/22
B1) Revenue Budget Page 5
Part C: Capital Budget Q3 2021/22
C1) Capital Budget Page 9
Part
B
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Members will be aware of the significant uncertainty in the 2021/22 budget estimates arising from the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, both in relation to demands on the Council to respond and the speed of local economic recovery. Financial support from central government received during 2020/21 continues to support specific activities, and the unringfenced Covid-19 grant of £860,000 will be used to support recovery and renewal activities.
The headlines for Quarter 3 are as follows:
Part B: Revenue budget – Q3 2021/22
· Overall net expenditure at the end of Quarter 3 for the services reporting to this committee is -£0.513m, compared to the approved profiled budget of -£0.069m, representing an underspend of £0.445m.
Part C: Capital budget – Q3 2021/22
· Capital expenditure at the end of Quarter 3 was £0.007m against a total budget of £0.086m. Forecast spend for the year is £0.032m.
The budgets in this report are the revised estimates for 2021/22.
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B2) Revenue Budget
B1.1 The table below provides a detailed summary on the budgeted net income position for SPI services at the end of Quarter 3. The financial figures are presented on an accruals basis (e.g. expenditure for goods and services received, but not yet paid for, is included).
SPI Revenue Budget & Outturn – Quarter 3
Planning Services
Parking Services
B1.2 The table shows that at the end of the third quarter overall net expenditure for the services reporting to SPI is -£0.513m, compared to the approved profiled budget of -£0.069m, representing an underspend of £0.445m.
B1.3 The table indicates that in certain areas, significant variances to the budgeted income levels have emerged during the third quarter of the year. The reasons for the more significant variances are explored in section B2 below.
B2) Variances
B2.1 The most significant variances for this Committee are as follows:
|
|
Positive Variance Q3 |
Adverse Variance Q3 |
Year End Forecast Variance |
|
Strategic Planning & Infrastructure Committee |
£000 |
||
|
PLANNING SERVICES |
|
|
|
|
Building Regulations Chargeable - The budget figure was reduced by 10% for this year, and income has been higher than expected so far, and is forecast to continue to be for the rest of the year. |
69 |
|
83 |
|
Development Control (Majors) - The number of major applications remains low and is not expected to improve significantly for the remainder of the year. |
|
-88 |
-120 |
|
Development Control (Minors) - The positive variance is due to a high level of income being generated coupled with the 10% decrease in income budget. The excess in income is due to a substantial increase in principally householder applications. |
171 |
|
223 |
Local Plan Review
The Local Plan Review (LPR) process is an important, high profile and continuous task
undertaken by the Planning Services team. The associated revenue spending profile however
is cyclical and does not fit the conventional 12-month financial planning process for general
revenue expenditure. Instead, spending tends to follow the five-year production period of
each Local Plan with various peaks and troughs over that time period.
The LPR process is therefore funded through an annual £200,000 revenue contribution, in
addition to the existing service budget, with any remaining unspent balances at year end
automatically rolled forward into the following financial year. The table below shows the
available revenue resources currently allocated to fund LPR activities, and the spend as at 31st December 2021.
|
Opening Balance 01/04/2021 |
Spending April - December 2021 |
Forecast Spending January - March 2022 |
Forecast Spending Balance 31/03/2022 |
|
£'s |
£'s |
£'s |
£'s |
|
416,912 |
445,627 |
326,120 |
-354,836 |
The above forecast excludes expenditure on the Town Centre Strategy, which was covered by a previous separate report to this committee.
The residual overspend, currently estimated to be £355,000 will be funded from corporate contingency budgets, as agreed by Policy and Resources Committee on 24 March 2021.
In addition to the resources and planned expenditure outlined above, £140,000 was allocated from the 2020/21 underspend for non-spatial planning policy development. This will be overseen by the Interim Local Plan Review Director in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee. Planned expenditure on these activities has not been included within the table above.
|
|
Positive Variance Q3 |
Adverse Variance Q3 |
Year End Forecast Variance |
|
Strategic Planning & Infrastructure Committee |
£000 |
||
|
PARKING SERVICES |
|
|
|
|
On Street Parking – Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) income is higher than forecast, and there are also reduced running costs, although spend is expected to increase for the remainder of the year. |
76 |
|
80 |
|
Pay & Display Car Parks - The adverse variance is due to a continuing reduction from income. Short Stay car parks are over budget for the Q3 with Long Stay and Lockmeadow under budget, although Lockmeadow income has improved slightly at the end of Q3. There is no evidence that long stay income will improve with the continuation of home working. Season ticket income has also been affected. |
|
-50 |
-75 |
|
Off Street Parking (Enforcement) - PCN income is higher than forecast due to a higher number of notices that have been issued. |
67 |
|
75 |
B1) Capital Budget: Strategic Planning & Infrastructure Committee (CHE)
B1.1 The position of the 2021/22 SPI element of the Capital Programme at the Quarter 3 stage is presented in Table 3 below. The budget for 2021/22 includes resources brought forward from 2020/21.
Capital Programme 2021/22 (@ Quarter 3)
