Council and democracy
Home > Council and Democracy > Decision details
Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Housing
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: No
· To review and update the financial assumptions being made for the future of the HRA.
· To agree the budget strategy and approach to delivering savings for the HRA for 2017/18 and beyond.
Matter for
Decision
The Housing Revenue Account Budget Setting Report,
considered and approved in January / February of each year was the long-term
strategic planning document for housing landlord services provided by Cambridge
City Council.
The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Medium Term Financial Strategy
provides an opportunity to review the assumptions incorporated as part of the
longer-term financial planning process, recommending any changes in response to
new legislative requirements, variations in external economic factors and
amendments to service delivery methods, allowing incorporation into budgets and
financial forecasts at the earliest opportunity.
Decision
of Executive Councillor for Housing
i.
(Recommendation 2a) Approve the Housing Revenue
Account Medium Term Financial Strategy attached, to include all proposals for
change in:
· Financial
assumptions as detailed in Appendix B of the Officer’s report.
· 2016/17 revenue budgets as
introduced in Section 5, resulting from changes in financial assumptions and
the financial consequences of change, as introduced in Section 5, detailed in
Appendix D of the Officer’s report and summarised in Appendix G.
ii.
(Recommendation 2b) Approved proposals for changes
in existing housing capital budgets, as introduced in Sections 6 and 7 of the
Officer’s report and detailed in Appendix E of the document, with the resulting
position summarised in Appendix H, for decision at Council on 20th
October 2016.
Reason for the Decision
As set out in the Officer’s report.
Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected
Not applicable.
Scrutiny
Considerations
The Committee received a report from the Business Manager/Principal
Accountant.
The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:
i.
Sought clarification regarding the expected policy
revisions regarding the sale of high value stock. Officers confirmed that this
was not yet available.
ii.
Expressed concerns that completed, new build
properties had been left empty due to technical difficulties with the
developer.
The Business Manager/Principal Accountant stated the following in
response to Members’ questions:
i.
It was hoped that the, now vacant, South Area
Office would realise the anticipated savings. The property was being actively
marketed but to date a sub-let of the lease had not been agreed.
ii.
Agreed with the Committee that tenants needed to be
keep informed of developments regarding Universal Credit.
iii.
Confirmed the approach being taken regarding annual
valuation of the housing stock.
iv.
It was anticipated that the valuation formulas
would change to reflect the impact of new policies such as: Pay to Stay, fixed
term or short term tenancies.
The Strategic Advisor - Housing and Welfare Reform stated that the
development of Anstey Way was currently delayed. Rent reduction had impacted on
the development programme. It was hoped that devolution funding, which came
with less constraints, would allow this project to be completed. ‘Right to Buy’
receipts could not be used for this project.
In response to questions from the Committee
the Executive Councillor Housing stated the following:
i.
A joint approach with other authorities was being pursued to push for a
deferral of ‘Pay to Stay’ and for an assurance
regarding future administration costs of applying the charges.
ii.
Whilst no firm commitment had been received, the Executive Councillor
was quietly confident that the devolution deal would give a five year boost to
the construction of new council housing.
The Committee resolved by 12 votes to 0 with 2 abstentions to endorse
the recommendation 2a (i)
The Committee resolved by 6 votes to 0 with 2 abstentions to endorse the
recommendation 2b (ii)
The Executive Councillor approved
the recommendation.
Publication date: 27/10/2016
Date of decision: 22/09/2016