Agenda and minutes

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

You are also invited to disclose any dispensation from the requirement to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

The Chair reminded all Members of the Council about the position with regard to interests in meetings of the Council that dealt with the Budget proposals.

In relation to a Registerable Personal Interest held where a Member has been appointed by the Authority to an outside body or bodies, dispensations had been granted to allow them to participate and vote in any meeting.

Where Members had been granted such dispensations, they were not required to declare these registerable personal interests or the grant of dispensations at this meeting.

A list of the appointments to the Authority’s Outside Bodies and dispensations grants to Members in respect to appointments was previously circulated to all members.

Members who had any further interests were invited to declare them.

The following additional declarations of interest were made in relation to the item below (minute C84/23):

Item 3 – 2024-2028 Financial Planning and Budget Process: Elected Mayor and Cabinet Budget and Council Tax Requirement Resolution 2024/25.

Councillor Liam Bones – non registerable personal interest – family member is employed by the Authority.

Councillor Tommy Mulvenna - non registerable personal interest – family members are employed by the Authority.

Councillor Martin Murphy - non registerable personal interest – family member is employed by the Authority.

Councillor Carl Johnson - non registerable personal interest – family member is employed by the Authority.

Councillor Frant Lott - non registerable personal interest – family member is employed by the Authority.

Councillor Wendy Lott - non registerable personal interest – family member is employed by the Authority.

Councillor Cath Davis - non registerable personal interest – family member is employed by the Authority.

Councillor Valerie Jamieson – Registerable Personal Interest – Trustee of Walking With

Councillor Jane Shaw – Registerable Personal Interest – family member (husband) works for Monkseaton High School

Councillor Debbie Cox – non registerable personal interest – a family member receives Adult Social Care

Councillor Steve Cox - non registerable personal interest – a family member receives Adult Social Care

Councillor Pat Oliver - non registerable personal interest – a family member receives Adult Social Care

Councillor Peter Earley – Registerable personal interest – Councillor Earley is a trustee of North Tyneside Carers Centre which has contracts with the Council.

Councillor Julie Cruddas – Registerable personal interest – Councillor Cruddas is a Director and Employee of Justice Prince CIC which has contract with the authority.

Councillor Julie Cruddas – non registerable personal interest – a family member works for the authority

Councillor Karen Clark - Registerable personal interest – Councillor Clark is a Director and Employee of Justice Prince CIC which has contract with the authority.

Councillor Matthew Thirlaway – non registerable personal interest – Councillor Thirlaway has a family member who works for the authority.

Councillor Matthew Thirlaway – Registerable personal interest – Councillor Thirlaway works for Parkside Care Ltd which has a tenancy agreement with the Authority and Provide Adult Social Care.

Councillor Matthew Thirlaway – Non-registerable personal interest – Councillor Thirlaway’s brother in law is  ...  view the full minutes text for item C83/23

To receive a report on the Elected Mayor and Cabinet’s recommendations for the 2024/25 General Fund Revenue Budget, Council Tax Requirement and Council Tax Level, the 2024-2029 Investment Plan and the Treasury Management Strategy, Annual Investment Statement for 2024/25 and to consider any objections.

(Councillors K Clark, J Cruddas, A McMullen, S Burtenshaw and M Thirlaway withdrew from the meeting and took no part in the discussion or voting on this item).

The Chair explained the procedure for the meeting and indicated that he would first request Councillor C Johnson to move the Elected Mayor and Cabinet proposals.  Once those proposals were seconded, Members would then have the opportunity to asked questions relating to matters of principle.

It was moved by Councillor C Johnson and seconded by Councillor H Johnson that Council:

(a)          Agree the recommendations and delegations set out in paragraph 1.5.27 of this report in relation to the 2024/25 General Fund Revenue Account Budget, the 2024/25 Council Tax Requirement and Council Tax Level for 2024/25, being the Elected Mayor and Cabinet’s Budget and Council Tax Requirement proposal.

(b)          Agree the Elected Mayor and Cabinet’s proposals for the 2024-2029 Investment Plan, including the Capital Investment Strategy and the proposed prudential indicators for 2024-2029, presented to Cabinet on 29 January 2024,set out in the General Fund Annex 1, Appendix D (i), (iii) and (iv) of Appendix A of the 29 January 2024 Cabinet report attached to this report at Appendix 1;

(c)      Agree the Elected Mayor and Cabinet’s proposals for the Treasury Management Strategy, Annual Investment Statement for 2024/25, attached in the General Fund Annex 1, Appendix E (i), (ii) of Appendix A of the 29 January 2024 Cabinet report attached to this report at Appendix 1.

2024/25 Council Tax Requirement Resolution

1.                 The recommended Budgets of the Authority be approved as noted below, subject to the variations listed in paragraphs 2 and 3 below and noting the estimated allocation of £219.359m in Dedicated Schools Grant, for 2024/25:

2.         The following levies be included in the Budget Requirement:

3.         The contingency be set as follows:

4.         Note that at its meeting held on 22 January 2024, Cabinet agreed the Council Tax base for 2024/25 for the whole Authority area as 64,471 (Item T), in the Formula in Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the “Act”) and the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012.

5.         Agree that the Council Tax Requirement for the Authority’s own purposes for 2024/25 is £125,300,843(as set down in paragraph 1.5.25, Table 4).

6.         Agrees that the following amounts now calculated by the Authority for the year 2024/25 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the Act):

(a)  £412,101,862         Being the aggregate of the amounts which the Authority estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2)of the Act.

(b)  £286,801,019        Being the aggregate of the amounts which the Authority estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3)  ...  view the full minutes text for item C84/23