COUNCIL
28 JULY 2014
Report of: The Cabinet
Date:16 June 2014
Chairman: Councillor C Saint
A meeting of The Cabinet was held on 16 June 2014 at which the following item had been considered and referred to the Council for determination.
Copies of the relevant report are available from Committee Services (telephone 01789 260245; email ).
Minute 29 -Notice of Motion - Review of Potential Savings arising from Warwickshire County Council Public Interest Debate - Unitary Local Government for Warwickshire
Councillor Saint – Leader of the Council
Consideration was given to the following Notice of Motion in the names of Councillors Cheney and Moorse that the Council, at its meeting on 24 February 2014 had referred to The Cabinet:
‘Council notes that the Medium Term Financial Plan shows that on current projections this Council will face a serious and increasing financial shortfall from 2016/17 onwards and that significant further cuts in services may be necessary.
Council also notes that in a number of areas where the Unitary model has been adopted there have been major cost savings.
Council therefore requests The Cabinet to approach the County Council, to jointly identify the level of cost savings that could be made were Warwickshire to move to a Unitary system.’
By Minute 763 (2013/14) The Cabinet had concluded that it would be beneficial to receive a detailed report from the officers before the Motion could be debated.
The options open to The Cabinet were to:
1.To fully engage with the County Council in relation to the development of proposals for Unitary government within Warwickshire in line with the Notice of Motion;
2.To continue working to deliver financial and organisational benefits with other partners specifically Cherwell and South Northamptonshire Councils;
3.To continue working to deliver financial and organisational benefits with other partners specifically Cherwell and South Northamptonshire Councils, and also engage on options with Warwickshire County Council; and,
4.To take no further action on the Notice of Motion.
In receiving the report The Cabinet acknowledged:
The County Council had already voted in favour of further engagement with other public sector bodies including SDC on developing these proposals further;
There had already been significant negative reaction from a number of other local authorities within the County and there had been no tangible work in taking these proposals further forward;
Discussions had taken place between the Assistant Chief Executive and the County Council on better understanding of the assumptions which were made in relation to the savings which could be achieved from such a proposal, and specifically the impact for SDC and the report provided further detail of these assumptions;
The principle of shared working with South Northamptonshire Council and Cherwell District Council as part of the adopted policy framework had been confirmed by the Council;
WCC currently provided both payroll and internal audit functions to the Council.
There was currently no legislative power to create a unitary government within Warwickshire. Any decision would need to be taken by the Government with support of all potential members.
Following discussion and in respect of the foregoing, it was
RECOMMENDED:
That this Council continues to work to deliver financial and organisational benefits with other partners specifically Cherwell and South Northamptonshire Councils and also to engage on options with Warwickshire County Council.