Issue - meetings

Matter for Decision

The Officer’s report presented a summary of the 2014/15 outturn position (actual income and expenditure) for services within the Planning Policy and Transport portfolio, compared to the final budget for the year. The position for revenue and capital was reported and variances from budgets highlighted, together with explanations. Requests to carry forward funding arising from certain budget underspends into 2015/16 and future years where relevant were identified.

Decision of Executive Councillor for Environment and Waste

     i.        Agreed the carry forward requests totalling £81,500 as detailed in Appendix C, to be recommended to Council for approval.

    ii.        Agreed to seek approval from Council to carry forward capital resources to fund rephased net capital spending of £6,414,000 from 2014/15 into 2015/16, as detailed in Appendix D.

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 Head of Finance which noted that the outturn reports presented to the Committee cycle reflected the reporting structures in place prior to the recent changes in Executive portfolios.

In light of these changes (together with the requirement to report outturn on the basis of portfolios in place during 2014/15) members of this committee were asked to consider the proposals to carry forward budgets and make their views known to The Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources, for consideration at Strategy & Resources Scrutiny Committee prior to the recommendations to Council.

In response to the Committee’s comments Officers and the Director of Environment and the Executive Councillor for Planning Policy and Transport made the following statements:

     i.        Agreed that all abbreviations in future documents would be written in full in the first instance.

    ii.        Confirmed there had been an increase in the number of cars in the city which had brought a rise in the income collected from parking. However this meant an increase in traffic pollution which needed to be addressed.

   iii.        Work to the 20mph City Zones should be completed by July 2016. With all of the statutory obligations needing to be met and the desire to consult properly the overall process had been slower than expected.  

  iv.        Advised that a report would be made to the Cambridge City Joint Area Committee to consider the increase of traffic into the City, the impact in the rise of the park and ride charges, flow of traffic movement and parking. 

   v.        The end date for the Green Deal had been extended to March 2016. 

The Committee resolved (6 votes to 0) to endorse the recommendations.

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.