Decision details

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report asking Members to agree the draft revenue budget for 2024/25, for consideration as Special Policy and Finance Committee.

The Council’s three-year budget forecast had been presented to Policy and Finance Committee in September 2023 when it predicted that there would be the following budget gaps: £877k in 2024/25, £2.261m in 2025/26 and £2.740m in 2026/27, after allowing for use of general fund balances.  The biggest factors affecting the forecast were the:

-        threat of losing the New Homes Bonus

-        assumption that the ‘One-off Funding Guarantee’ was indeed a one-off for 2023/24

-        Level of interest rates and inflation

The key updates to the September 2023 forecast were summarised as follows:

-        The continuation of the ‘One-off Funding Guarantee’ where required

-        The New Homes Bonus and the Rural Delivery Grant will both continue for 2024/25

-        The Revenue Support Grant will increase in line with CPI with no negative RSG

-        Business rates will not be reset and Business Rate Pooling will continue

-        A council tax referendum principle of up to 3% or £5 for district councils

-        Ribble Valley’s Core Spending Power is set to increase by 4.7%

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive highlighted some of the main variations to net expenditure for this Committee, which included inflationary increases and the 25% national increase in planning fees.  However planning fee income was expected to be lower than the inflated base mainly due to a reduction in the number of major planning applications being received.

The total movement from the Original Estimate in 2023/34 to the Original Estimate 2024/25 was an increase of £93,880, or £41,680 after movements to and from earmarked reserves.