Agenda and decisions

Salford City Council - Record of Decision

I, Councillor Tracy Kelly, Statutory Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Housing, Property & Regeneration, in exercise of the powers contained within the Council Constitution, do hereby approve:

(1)  Where pitch holders have agreed to vary the existing pitch agreements, through prior

consultation, to:

§  Implement any pitch fee changes in April each year; and

§  Implement a series of additional charges (service charges) for the site.

(2)  Where agreement is obtained these changes will be implemented from April 2022.

(3)  Where agreement is not given, the Council would need to apply to the First Tier Tribunal

(Property Chamber) at that stage for the relevant pitches.

(4)  The retrospective increase of rents by RPI year on year from 2011/12, where these

haven’t been applied.

The Reasons are:

In reviewing operational running costs for 2021/22, alongside budget setting for 2022/23, it has become apparent that the income alone for the site is insufficient to deliver a good standard of housing management, repairs and maintenance.

A number of the services that are provided at the Duchy site would be appropriate to be billed as service charges.  In addition, historically not all pitches have had their pitch fee increased year on year by RPI, resulting in low pitch fees.   

Options considered and rejected were:

Do nothing – rejected as the site is current unsustainable and operating at a significant loss to the Council.

Apply pitch increase for 2022/23 only – this was considered and rejected as applying RPI in retrospect would increase the income being received to mitigate the current financial loss to the council.

Assessment of Risk:

Medium – Without the ability to bring in additional income to cover the cost of services being received, the future sustainability of the site is at risk, as it is currently operating at a significant loss to the Council.

The source of funding is: Revenue Funding

Legal Advice obtained: Frances McBride, Principal Solicitor

The proposed variations to the pitch agreements will be implemented either by agreement or by way of prescribed legal procedure. This ensures statutory compliance, budgetary certainty and future sustainability of the site.

Financial Advice obtained: Gemma Singleton, Senior Accountant

In April 2021 management of the Duchy Caravan Park was brought back in-house.

The current forecast is £72k overspend, this is due to having no budget and the costs of the services being received not covered by any additional income.

This report outlines measures that could be put in place to give a more breakeven position.

Procurement Advice obtained: N/A

HR Advice obtained: N/A

Climate Change Advice obtained: N/A

The following documents have been used to assist the decision process:

Report to Lead Member Briefing for Housing.

Contact Officer: Jane Barlow                                   Tel. 0161 793 2372

• This decision is not subject to consideration by another Lead Member.

• The appropriate scrutiny panel to call-in the decision is the Growth & Prosperity Scrutiny Panel.

Salford City Council - Record of Decision

I, Councillor Tracy Kelly, Statutory Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Housing, Property & Regeneration, in exercise of the powers contained within the Council Constitution, do hereby:

Approve the change to Salford’s Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy (PSHAP) to increase maximum level of discretionary assistance to support a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) from £30,000 to £50,000.

The Reasons are: This approval will support the proposal to further enhance the benefits of the DFG.

Options considered and rejected were: Not to implement the changes.

Assessment of Risk:

The source of funding is:

Salford City Council’s Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG).

Legal Advice obtained: Hugo Hollingsworth, Shared Legal Services

Contained within the body of the report.

Financial Advice obtained: Stephen Thynne, Strategic Finance Manager

This paper sets out a number of proposals in relation to the application of the DFG.  Expenditure relating to the DFG is within the adult’s section of the Integrated Fund.  The first proposal is to increase staffing capacity to allow the service to maximise the benefits of the funding available – once fully recruited the cost of this will be in the region of £294K per annum – this has been approved by the Lead Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing. It is also proposed to increase the maximum contribution from Salford Council to £80K from the £30K mandatory DFG limit, this will enable greater support to individuals from the DFG grant. It is difficult to quantify the financial impact of this policy change, there are however underspends from previous financial years and a predicted underspend in the current financial year that can be applied non-recurrently to meet costs should they exceed the in-year DFG allocation to Salford Council. Future DFG allocations to Local Authorities (from 22/23) have not yet been confirmed but it is indicated there will be a £33m (6%) increase nationally covering 22/23 to 24/25 with a review of several areas including the

allocation basis to individual Local Authorities.

Procurement Advice obtained: N/A

HR Advice obtained: N/A

Climate Change Advice obtained: N/A

Contact Officer: Jessica Ta’ati                                             Tel: 0161 212 5635

§  This decision is not subject to consideration by another Lead Member.

§  The appropriate scrutiny panel to call-in the decision is the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel.        

No items.