Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided information to enable the Council to approve a revenue and capital budget for 2023/24, including setting of the rents and other charges on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for the financial year.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          approve the budget as attached in Appendix 1, pages 2 to 3, of the report;

(b)          approve the setting of the weekly unrebated rents for municipal houses taking account of proposals outlined for a fixed rent policy, as detailed in Appendix 1, pages 2 to 8 of the report, to take effect from Monday 1 May 2023;

(c)          approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2023/24 as well as note the provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Appendix 1, pages 11 to 13;

(d)          agree to maintain the working balances at 10% to meet future operational requirements and risks, noting that if the Housing Revenue Account recorded a deficit and had no reserves then the Council’s General Fund must make a contribution to balance the Account;

(e)          approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent as detailed in Appendix 1, pages 9 to 10 to take effect from Monday 1May 2023;

(f)           approve, based on a rental increase of 4% the Base Capital Programme for the financial year 2023/24 Appendix 1, pages 11 to 13;

(g)          note the indicative level of the Base Capital Programme for the financial years 2024/25 to 2024/28 Appendix 1, pages 11 to 13;

(h)          delegate authority to the Chief Officer - Capital, following consultation with the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement, to procure the necessary professional services and construction works referred to in Appendix 1 entitled ‘New Housing Capital Programme Budget’ without the need for further approval from any other committee of the Council subject to due diligence, consistency with the financial model and affordability;

(i)            note that the delivery and programme management of the new build project was being delivered with the use of frameworks for professional services contracts which included, programme and project management, technical support and quality assurance all of which was being delivered with the normal fee scales for Housing Projects. These services would continue across the programme as new projects were identified;

(j)            note that the current long term Council house rent policy runs out on the 31 March 2023, and instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to undertake a consultation on a further long term Council house rent policy for inclusion in the 2024/25 budget process;

(k)          note the recommendation in the Prevention and Early Intervention report also being considered at the Council meeting of 1 March 2023 to undertake tiered analysis of resource requirements in the refreshed Local Housing Strategy to be presented for approval to the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee, noting the significance of housing as one of the key determinants of population health;

(l)            instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, in consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance, to undertake a tiered trend analysis of the Housing Revenue Account Budget for inclusion in the 2024/25 budget process, ensuring an appropriate focus is placed on prevention and early intervention when investing tenant funds; and

(m)        in response to the instruction of the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee of 17 January 2023 to (iv) instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord, as part of the 2023/24 budget setting process, to consider the balance between pro-active preventative maintenance and replacement works with a view to reporting a more robust planned maintenance programme as part of the HRA Capital and Revenue budgets, reflecting all other budget pressures; agree that 10% of the HRA Repair and maintenance budget be ringfenced for planned maintenance works on the estate.

At this juncture, the Depute Provost advised that he had a connection in relation to the item by reason of being appointed by the Council to the Board of the Disabled Persons Housing Service, however having applied the objective test, he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

The Council resolved:-

(i)           to approve the budget as attached as Appendix 1;

(ii)          to approve the setting of the weekly unrebated rents for municipal houses taking account of proposals outlined for a fixed rent policy, as detailed in Appendix 1, pages 2 to 8, to take effect from 1 May 2023;

(iii)         to approve the level of revenue contribution to the Housing Capital budget for 2023/24 as well as to note the provisional contribution for the subsequent four financial years as detailed in Appendix 1, pages 11 to 13;

(iv)         to agree to maintain the working balances at 10% to meet future operational requirements and risks, noting that if the Housing Revenue Account recorded a deficit and had no reserves, then the Council’s General Fund must make a contribution to balance the Account;

(v)          to approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent as detailed in Appendix 1, pages 9 to 10, to take effect from 1 May 2023;

(vi)         to approve, based on a rental increase of 4%, the Base Capital Programme for the financial year 2023/24, Appendix 1, pages 11 to 13;

(vii)       to note the indicative level of the Base Capital Programme for the financial years 2024/25 to 2027/28, Appendix 1, pages 11 to 13;

(viii)      to delegate authority to the Chief Officer - Capital, following consultation with the Chief Officer - Commercial and Procurement, to procure the necessary professional services and construction works referred to in Appendix 1 entitled ‘New Housing Capital Programme Budget’ without the need for further approval from any other committee of the Council subject to due diligence, consistency with the financial model and affordability;

(ix)         to note that the delivery and programme management of the new build project was being delivered with the use of frameworks for professional services contracts which included programme and project management, technical support and quality assurance, all of which was being delivered with the normal fee scales for Housing Projects. These services would continue across the programme as new projects were identified;

(x)          to note that the current long term Council house rent policy ran out on 31 March 2023, and to instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to undertake a consultation on a further long term Council house rent policy for inclusion in the 2024/25 budget process;

(xi)         to note the recommendation in the Prevention and Early Intervention report also on the agenda, to undertake tiered analysis of resource requirements in the refreshed Local Housing Strategy to be presented for approval to the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee, noting the significance of housing as one of the key determinants of population health;

(xii)       to instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, in consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance, to undertake a tiered trend analysis of the Housing Revenue Account budget for inclusion in the 2024/25 budget process, ensuring an appropriate focus is placed on prevention and early intervention when investing in tenant funds; and

(xiii)      in response to the instruction of the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee of 17 January 2023, to (iv) instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord, as part of the 2023/24 budget setting process, to consider the balance between pro-active preventative maintenance and replacement works with a view to reporting a more robust planned maintenance programme as part of the HRA Capital and Revenue budgets, reflecting all other budget pressures; and to agree that 10% of the HRA repair and maintenance budget be ringfenced for planned maintenance works on the estate.

(The approved budget is available here)