Minutes:
The Chair confirmed that a deputation had been received and invited Mr N Clarke to address Council.
Mr Clarke presented the following deputation to Council:
“Good morning councillors on behalf of the Deputation I am their spokesperson. We are aware that the Council is currently formulating its budget and will soon also set the level of council tax to be paid for the forthcoming year. We feel that it is a pertinent time to remind the council that it is our best interests those of the people of this district that should always be at the forefront of the Council’s financial planning. With Local Government Reform looming we believe that this council should be concentrating solely on what is best for the people of Bolsover namely protecting, improving and safeguarding our assets along with ensuring that the money paid to this authority via our council tax are used for the benefit of the people of Bolsover and not gift wrapped for a newly created authority at which point we will have much less local representation. We understand that this Council is preparing a budget which will protect its financial position until 2030 by which point it will no longer in fact exist. It is therefore absolutely impossible to comprehend why the Council is proposing to increase Council Tax rates and charges by the maximum amount Government allows and furthermore why the Council is proposing to increase Council House tenants rents bills by an amount way in excess of inflation when their household budgets are being ever squeezed and there is no comparative increase in the services they receive.
Just before Christmas the audited accounts of Dragonfly Development, the Council’s own company which was building fabulous, high quality homes for the people of this District were published on Companies House. The accounts show that the company made post tax profits of just under £3m in its three years of operation. We believe that these profits should now be used for the Council’s budget and to offset any increase in the Council Tax charged by BDC therefore keeping to a minimum the financial impact on the council tax payers of this District.
Had the Council not taken the decision to disestablish Dragonfly Development which in our opinion was based on deliberately misleading information presented to the council members and public designed to deceive those in attendance in July last year they may have been looking at profits well in excess of the aforementioned £3m that they did achieve money which could have been utilised to benefit the people of Bolsover. I have a quote her from another resident of Bolsover Mrs Godfrey, a former business woman who herself says, ‘I cannot understand the reasoning for the disestablishment any income that reduces the reliance on the Council Tax must surely be welcomed by the residents of Bolsover District.’ As this authority will cease to exist in just over 2 years due to the upcoming Local Government Reforms it would be sensible to insure that the reserves held by Bolsover District Council should be used for the benefit of the public in either implementing improvements to local facilities throughout the district or to offset any potential increase in the level of council tax rather than allow those reserves to be subsumed in to a replacement unitary authority with the risk that that money would not be used for the people of Bolsover District. It is their money, paid by them through their council tax during the existence of this authority over the last 50 plus years.” The role of the responsible authority is to ensure that residents of this District are provided with accessible services and facilities and that council tenants are provided high quality housing and where possible protected from the financial burdens of the current cost of living crisis and not to add to those costs by unnecessarily increasing housing costs through unjustified increased rents and an increase in the council tax by the maximum amount allowed by Government legislation.
We would like to ask the Leader of the Council what action she has taken to ensure that the people of this District their assets and their money is protected prior to Local Government Reform?”
A number of comments were made relating to the accuracy of the information provided and considered at the meeting where the decision to disestablish the Dragonfly Companies had been taken, to which Mr Clarke added his opinions.
Councillor Moesby Portfolio Holder for Resources thanked Mr Clarke and residents for submitting the deputation stating that it was reassuring that members and members of the public were trying to seek an understanding of the financial implications faced by this Council.
He confirmed that it was a balancing act between what needs to be done and to ensure that the Council has sufficient finances to deliver its services to the public that all Members were elected to represent. This Council has been financially stable over the years and been a leading light locally with regards to managing its finances and delivering its services. The Council had an excellent S151 Officer and Finance team who were the cornerstone of brining the financial stability and delivery of services to residents.
To some extent, due to its financial stability, the Council was able to control its own destiny but as mentioned there was some unknowns due to Local Government Reorganisation and waiting for this year’s Government settlement to be confirmed.
The Council had a duty to produce a plan as normal until otherwise advised and under the obligation set by Government to ensure that the reserves were not wasted. There would be financial issues to be faced in the future which meant the Council had to be sensible and prudent with the Council’s funds and finances.
Councillor Bennett arrived at the meeting at 10.25 am and declared an interest in the Medium-Term Financial Plan 2025/26 to 2029/30 as a council tenant.