Agenda item

[Report of the Director for Finance. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Finance]

The Council’s income policy requires an annual review of the level of the fees and charges levied upon service users This report considers the relevant factors affecting the review of fees and charges, identifies those services where an increase is being proposed and seeks:
- Approval to increase the fee or charge rate to those services where an - increase is proposed in line with inflation.

Member’s agreement where an alternative approach is being proposed.

The Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the report which set out the Fees & Charges that are proposed to be applied to services from the start of 2019/20. This report considered the relevant factors affecting the review of fees and charges, identified those services where an increase was being proposed and sought approval to increase the fee or charge rate to those services where an increase is proposed in line with inflation and agreement where an alternative approach is being proposed.

In response to a question on the reasons for increasing fees for users of parks which were running physical activities and not increasing the commercial fees for events at Parks, the Cabinet Member’s initial observation was that this may be connected to  maintaining the competiveness of Council facilities use for events ,in a  competitive market for events, but would provide a written response on this.

RESOLVED

a)    To agree the proposed fees and charges to be levied by the Council with effect from 1 April 2019, unless otherwise stated, and as detailed in Section 8 and Appendices I – XII d taking into account the findings of equalities assessments as set out in section 8 of the report, save as provided at (b) below;

b)    To note that this meeting will also consider proposals to introduce Additional Licensing schemes for private rented properties which are detailed at Appendix X b ‘HMO Licensing’ of this report, and subject to approval by the Cabinet of this proposal, to agree the proposed fees and charges as set out in said Appendix X b;

c)    To note that the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2019/20-2023/24 assumes that the changes to Fees & Charges set out in this report are agreed.

Reasons for Decision

It is a requirement to review fees and charges as a minimum annually. The financial position of the Council supports the view that levels of fees and charges should be maximised where possible taking into account all relevant factors including the effect on service users and any consequent demand for services.

Alternative options considered

This report summarises the conclusions after consideration of a range of alternative approaches dependent on particular services and relevant factors. As such a range of alternative options ranging from no increase to differentiated rates of increases have been considered and reflected in this report.