Issue - meetings

The report provides a review of the 2016/17 budget for the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account against the forecast to 31 March 2017, based on the latest information available. 

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Executive:

1.            approves the rescheduling of £40,000 for the Replacement of the Property Terrier Database system into 2017/18;

2.            approves the rescheduling of £20,000 for the Call Management System Technology into 2017/18;

3.            approves a virement of £50,000 from the Void repairs budget, a virement of £60,000 from the Cyclical repairs budget and a virement of £140,000 from the Redecoration budget into the Responsive repairs budget;

4.            recommends to Council to approve the rescheduling of £290,000 for Windows & Doors into 2017/18;

5.            recommends to Council to approve the rescheduling of £205,000 for Health & Safety into 2017/18;

6.            recommends to Council to approve the rescheduling of £800,000 for Building Services into 2017/18;

7.            approves the rescheduling of £80,000 for Communal & Estate works into 2017/18;

8.            approves the rescheduling of £20,000 of the Professional Fees & Miscellaneous budget into 2017/18;

9.            recommends to Council to approve the rescheduling of £700,000 for Weyhill, Haslemere into 2017/18; and

10.         approves Officers applying for Planning permission to undertake window replacement works at Hillcroft, Shepherds Hill, Halsmere.

152.1       The Executive considered and noted the report reviewing the 2016/17 budget for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account against the forecast to 31 March 2017 and

                 RESOLVED to approve

1.      the rescheduling of £40,000 for the Replacement of the Property Terrier Database system into 2017/18;

2.      the rescheduling of £20,000 for the Call Management System Technology into 2017/18;

3.      a virement of £50,000 from the Void repairs budget, a virement of £60,000 from the Cyclical repairs budget and a virement of £140,000 from the Redecoration budget into the Responsive repairs budget;

4.      the rescheduling of £80,000 for Communal & Estate works into 2017/18;

5.      the rescheduling of £20,000 of the Professional Fees & Miscellaneous budget into 2017/18;

6.      Officers applying for Planning permission to undertake window replacement works at Hillcroft, Shepherds Hill, Halsmere.

152.2       A summary of progress against revenue budget for the HRA is given in the table below. The HRA contains the day to day running cost of managing the Housing Service such as staff costs and repairs, contributions to the capital programmes and financing costs.The forecast outturn on the HRA is £93,000 overspend against budget and represents less than 0.6% of the net HRA budget of £13.6m. This is detailed in the table below.

152.3       The interest on investments has been positive so far and the expectation is that the budget will be exceeded by at least £30,000.

       i.       Responsive Repairs budget continues to come under considerable pressure this year with a potential projected overspend of £250,000. The budget is demand led and the pressure comes from a combination of additional orders from tenants as well as responding to new requests for repairs in a much more timely way. Given this pressure and the need to contain expenditure within overall budgets, officers have been actively refocusing expenditure on the highest priority repair activities while at the same time creating capacity in other non-urgent revenue and capital maintenance budgets during the year to offset this pressure.

      ii.       The void, cyclical repairs and redecoration budgets now forecast an underspend of £50,000, £60,000 and £140,000 respectively. This is partially due to reduced void properties in December, and reduced spend due to additional controls on costs being put into place. It is therefore requested that £250,000 from these budgets is vired to the responsive repairs budget to ensure repairs can continue to be carried out where required.

    iii.       Executive approval is sought to apply for Planning permission to undertake window replacement and associated works at Nos 5-12 Hillcroft, Shepherds Hill, Haslemere. GU27 2JL

152.4             As previously reported there has been less take up than planned for the EasyMove service. There is an allowance of £40,000 in the budget for EasyMove grant payments to enable residents to move into smaller, more suitable, homes. A saving of £10,000 has been previously forecast and a further £10,000 saving is estimated this financial year.

152.5             The total capital programme approved budget for 2016/17 is made up as follows:

152.6                          The table below summarises current  ...  view the full minutes text for item 152