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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors Liam Fitzpatrick, Kath Roberts-Jones and Timothy Van-Rees. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest reported. |
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Chair's Announcements To receive any announcements from the Chair of Council. Minutes: The Chair and County Councillor Aled Davies paid tribute to Mr Harry Hughes who had passed away. Mr Hughes had been County Councillor for the Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant / Llansilin ward from 1995 to 2008. He was a past Chair of Montgomeryshire and of the Montgomeryshire Planning Committee. Prior to local government reorganisation in 1996 he had been a member of Glyndwr District Council. He was also clerk to Llangedwyn Community Council for over 60 years.
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Leader's Announcements To receive any announcements from the Leader. Minutes: The Leader advised that Covid cases continued to fall in the county and that over 55,000 people had been vaccinated which was the best rate in Wales. All primary school children had returned to school with pupils at Welshpool Church in Wales Primary School moving into a new building. She asked colleagues to remind 16 and 17 year olds to register to vote for the forthcoming elections. She advised that the WLGA had launched its Rural Vision with a focus on housing and broadband connectivity and the Minister for Housing and Local Government had offered to work with local authorities. The Leader also advised that she had met the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State to discuss Pillar 2 rural development funding. |
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Chief Executive's Briefing To receive a briefing from the Chief Executive. Minutes: The Chief Executive noted that whilst there had been a significant improvement in the Covid 19 figures there were worrying trends in neighbouring authorities. Good progress was being made with the return of pupils to schools and preparations were underway for the opening of libraries on 29th March. The Senior Leadership Team had been tasked with planning the reopening of services and the Council would be working with the WLGA who were offering support to local authorities. The Chief Executive reminded Members that the pre-election period for the Senedd and Police and Crime Commissioner elections started on 22 March and she urged them to refer to the protocol issued by the Returning Officers for the region. |
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Minimum Revenue Provision Policy Revision PDF 783 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Transport. Additional documents: Minutes: Council considered a revision to the Council’s Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) Policy to ensure that the MRP and interest on borrowing were charged to the revenue budget equally over the life of the asset on which the borrowing was required.
The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Transport explained that Link Group had been asked to carry out a review of the MRP methodology which offered alternative options for determining MRP which align with regulatory opinion. In response to the review, a revised policy was proposed for 2020/21 and future years which sought to address the profiling of the MRP and ensure that the charges were more evenly distributed over the life of the assets involved. The proposed change in policy would result in a reduction of MRP and interest charges to revenue budget of £3.65m in 2020/21, £3.40m in 2021/22 and £3.33m in 2022/23. It would also result in a reduction in the HRA charges of £1.50m in 2020/21, £1.55m in 2021/22 and £1.57m in 2022/23.
The Chair of the Finance Panel advised that the Panel supported the proposal as the effects of inflation would reduce the impact of the change and any benefits of the changes would be ringfenced to the capital programme. He looked forward to working with the Cabinet on a thorough appraisal of projects and longer term financing arrangements.
The Chair did not allow amendments moved by County Councillors James Gibson-Watt and Pete Roberts on the grounds that they were not minor amendments and should therefore been submitted by 5.00 pm the evening before.
The recommendation in the report was moved by the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Transport and seconded by the Leader and by 52 votes to 14 it was
RESOLVED
1. That the revised Minimum Revenue Provision Policy outlined in paragraph 3.8 of the reported is adopted for 2020/21 and future financial years.
2. That the savings identified are ringfenced to support the funding arrangements for the Council’s Capital Programme.
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