Minutes:
Councillor Hebb introduced the
report and stated that the Council currently faced a choice to
either increase taxation for residents in
future, or reform services and reduce the size of the
Council. Councillor Hebb explained that reform of services would
bring about a larger change, as council tax receipts would reduce
due to the impact of COVID, and the outstanding tax bill would be
rolled forward into the next financial year. He added that
currently a number of services would not earn due to the pandemic,
and therefore numerous difficult decisions had to be made. He
mentioned that in previous years £100m earned in investments
would have helped to balance the budgets, but due to new rules
against Council investments, Thurrock could no longer undertake
this approach.
Councillor Hebb explained that the future plan would be to reform
services and change delivery, for example by focussing on the core
services offered by the Council. He stated that Thurrock would look
into the sale of assets, and how some services could be undertaken
in different surroundings. He added that some services offered by
the Council were discretionary and could not be offered post-COVID,
and this would mean some non-critical posts, particularly relating
to capital projects, could not be maintained. He explained that
staff structures would therefore be reformed and projects would not
be taken forward. He explained that these proposals would be put to
the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee for their comments and
feedback, to promote openness and authenticity. He added that
officers would also be looking to income generation, for example
through house building. Councillor Hebb summarised and stated that
tough decisions would need to be made, but it would produce a more
sustainable council, and would reduce the deficit to approximately
£3.7m.
Councillor Spillman felt that the poor narrative surrounding the
investment approach had not helped confidence in the scheme, and
this had reduced the Council’s income by £100m. He felt
that officers had done a good job on the investment strategy, and
Thurrock had not made the same mistakes as other councils who had
invested in property. He thanked the Corporate Director of Resource
and Place Delivery for his hard work on the budget and the
investment strategy, and added that it would be good to see future
income from the Freeport, which would benefit both the Council and
residents. Councillor Hebb echoed Councillor Spillman’s comments and added that the
investment strategy had also helped Thurrock work towards their
carbon neutral goal. He felt that the investment strategy had also
made Thurrock more entrepreneurial, and although investments could
no longer continue, Thurrock would continue to look at all income
options.
The Leader stated that Thurrock would need to embrace change in the
future and become smarter in regards to ways of working. He felt
that lots of tough decisions would need to be made in the future,
particularly surrounding reshaping services. He stated that the
Freeport would help improve tax receipts in future, and would
increase confidence in Thurrock.
RESOLVED: That Cabinet:
1. Noted and commented on the financial forests included within the
report.
2. Noted the ongoing work of officers and will receive a further
report in September.
3. Recommended that the proposals set out in Appendix 1 be
considered by the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and be
referred back to Cabinet in September 2021.
Reason for decision: as outlined in the
report
This decision is subject to
call-in
Supporting documents: