Agenda item

Councillor Mrs Cowling, the Leader of the Council, presented the following statement:

 

“Perhaps the first things you will be waiting to hear about tonight are the implications of the recent spending review on Ryedale.

 

To date we know that we shall be approximately 10% worse off although the implications on Ryedale’s financial position will not be known in detail for some time.  However the bad news is that our New Homes Bonus (NHB) will be topsliced by 35% to fund our Local Economic Partnership (LEP) from 2015/16  which will be a loss of income to this council  of approximately £440k each year from then on.  So we need to work with the LEP to make sure that this money is not lost to Ryedale residents, but ends up being a benefit, perhaps linked to the schemes which will form part of our Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) program of work, or that the LEP must now do a lot more for housing in our district.  There is a meeting of our LEP tomorrow and I am attending that meeting as the substitute member representative for Scarborough and Ryedale.

 

Increasingly the disparity between the sparse and urban area spending is becoming a problem – as is the divide between North and South spending per head of population.  To some extent this is being addressed by the Rural Services Network and a Sparsity differential has been introduced.

 

Analysis by the Special Interest Group of Metropolitan Authorities (SIGOMA), for example, has shown that the cumulative pressures on local government funding between 2010 and 2012 has already amounted to a cut per person in Yorkshire and Humber of around £140; almost double the average cut per person across England of around £80; and even compares to an overall funding increase in London of around £45 per person.

 

SIGOMA is also forecasting that the cumulative impact by 2017-18, of all these various changes, shows a total funding reduction of £2.7billion across Yorkshire and Humber – or around £502 per head of population. This compares to an equivalent of only £352 per head in London and just £256 per head in the wider South East.

 

These increased cuts are bound to have the effect of bringing forward plans for collaborative working with existing and new partners and the voluntary and community sector.  We are going to have to focus on what is really important to Ryedale.  There is a direct link to this on our agenda tonight – the Council Plan which we shall be reaffirming or changing - as the case may be – tonight.  I am really pleased with the information in this plan – it is a strong reflection of what can be achieved with dedicated and loyal staff.  And they remain just that – dedicated, loyal and hard working – despite all that has been thrown at them and all the difficult times that they know are in front of us.  I think it says a lot for member/officer working relationships that we continue to maintain an optimistic outlook for the future for Ryedale.

 

This is reflected in the items that are on our agenda tonight

1.    Investment in our swimming pools

2.    Investment in the Tour de France

3.    Investment in schemes to support businesses – funded from The Ryedale Development Fund –

a.The Milton Rooms

b. The Livestock Market

c. Fera

 

At this point I would like to give you a brief update on where we are with some of our current schemes.

 

1.    Livestock Market – we have two organisations ready to continue the market when the current operation ceases in October – the last piece of the jigsaw is the decision by the Fitzwilliam Estate to grant a short term lease to one of these organisations

2.    Ryedale Indoor Bowls Club (RIBC) – the registration of the building as a community asset was completed on the 26^th June and we now await an application by a community group to register an interest in purchasing the building/site, that would put the sale on hold to next year.

3.    Wentworth Street Car Park (WSCP) – hopefully the re-submitted planning application from GMI Holbeck will be with us soon and we will be able to move on to the next stage

 

Looking ahead to the forward plan we shall be considering the adoption of our Local Plan, deciding if we want to continue to support our Local Communities through grants and last but not least continuing with our work on making ends meet with an ever decreasing budget!

 

Unfortunately the Local Plan process has been delayed because of the need to re-consult briefly because of the new statement on renewable energy.”

 

The following questions were received on the Leader’s Statement:

 

1.    From Councillor Clark

 

“Yes Chair I have one or two questions. Would you not agree with me, our Leader, that it is in fact, this document and statement, that it is facing in two directions at the same time? We have your penultimate paragraph on the first side - We need to focus on what is really important to Ryedale - yet we're putting money into the Tour de France.

 

You are saying we need an optimistic outlook for the future, at the same time as we have a government that is making massive cuts that you've laid out above. How can you be optimistic when the health and wellbeing of our people is being attacked?”

 

The Leader replied:

 

“You said that the document is facing in two directions, well of course I wouldn't agree with that would I. I think it is an optimistic document and we have to focus on what is important to Ryedale and I happen to think that the Tour de France is important to Ryedale. We're not an island, we're not here in isolation, we are part of Yorkshire and the Tour de France is a massive chance for the whole of Yorkshire. The amount of money is, I think, fairly well published - I think it's running in the order of £20 million that we're expected to benefit from it and I'm quite sure that some of that will end up in Ryedale.

 

Yes there are massive cuts coming and there have been massive cuts and this Council is coping with them very well.”

 

2.    From Councillor Ward

 

“As the Conservative Leader of a Conservative controlled Council and the Conservative Group, could you please tell the Council what you are doing to lobby the Conservative Government about making these cuts, which are going to impact on our services and our staff, or whether you are just accepting the top-slicing of our New Homes Bonus (NHB) and the scale of the cuts as something that's perfectly OK?”

 

The Leader replied:

 

“Thank you for that question. Yes I absolutely agree with you Sarah. Yes we do need to do something and I don't think we can do it in isolation. I think that the top-slicing of the NHB, what we've got to do is make sure that the money that we put into the LEP comes back into Ryedale and comes back with extra cash with it. The LEP has quite a large budget and, again, I hope I shall find out more about that tomorrow and have good news to report back.

 

As for lobbying, it's something we've talked about as a group recently and yes, I do agree with you but the thing that I'm particularly interested in lobbying on is the disparity in the funding that the South of England gets and that we get. Nothing can convince me that that disparity is correct.”

 

3.    From Councillor Richardson

 

“Just two questions on this. With regard to the NHB - when was this agreed and who agreed it for Ryedale? I'm unaware of that one and, ahead of the curve, on the new statement on renewable energy, could you clarify what that's about? Is it to do with 10% that we had binned in the local plan originally or is it something else?”

 

The Leader replied:

 

“The top slicing of the NHB was part of the recent spending review (26 June) and we are still working through the effects that will have on the Council. The statement on renewable energy, I will get Jill to send you a copy of why we had to..... It was to do wind farms, I'm pretty sure...?”

 

4.    From Councillor Clark

 

“You've reassured us that this document doesn't face in two directions, yet you say in the penultimate paragraph that we want to continue to support our local communities through grants. I wonder if you could explain to me how, if that is the case, the grants budget was shoved into the slush fund? Or, as you call it, the unallocated, which means slush to everyone else.”

 

The Leader replied:

 

“The money that was remaining in the Community Investment Fund was moved to the “slush fund” for future allocation and this Council is going to consider whether or not it wishes to continue with community grants or not - as the decision may come from the Council. I can't make that decision.”

 

Councillor Clark then asked the following supplementary question:

 

“Is there not an area of inaccuracy in there? It wasn't just the money from the CIF fund - I think we're all agreed that the CIF money had to go somewhere - but wasn't it other grants money as well, because I think it was Cllr Ives that moved this and he moved it down to that last tuppence ha'penny because we had a joyful thing of quoting how many single pounds it was, £49,049.02 or whatever? That is the money I'm asking about, not the money from the CIF fund. I might be wrong but I don't think so.”

 

The Leader then replied:

 

“That was exactly the amount of money that was in the CIF fund.”

 

5.    From Councillor Woodward

 

“Going back to doing things that are important to the people of Ryedale - focussing I think was the word - focussing on what is really important to the people of Ryedale. Cllr Cowling referred to £20 million of investment coming because of the Tour de France. Is this extra investment? Where are those figures from? How much of that is going to be spent in Ryedale? She says she hopes that some of it is but how much of it? Where is the proof of how much of it's going to be spent in Ryedale? Is that extra money that again would be spent on top of a normal July weekend in Ryedale? Could we have a few more figures than plucking £20 million from somewhere, that she can't remember where and she doesn't know how much of it's going to come to Ryedale?”

 

The Leader replied:

 

“You know very well that I can't answer those questions. How can I say how much will be spent in Ryedale, how much we shall benefit from the Tour de France?”

 

Councillor Woodward then asked the following supplementary question:

 

“Where did you get those figures from?”

 

The Leader then replied:

 

“I believe the £20 million was in the Yorkshire Post.”