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A proposed amendment from the Conservative
Group was presented and debated. 
Members cast a recorded vote that did not accept the proposed
amendment by a majority vote.
 
Resolved: 
 
That Borough Council did not accept the
proposed amendment from the Conservative Group.
 
Resolved: 
 
That Borough Council agreed the following
recommendations made by Cabinet at the meeting on 11 February
2025: 
 
a) The General Fund revenue budget for the
2025/26 financial year as detailed in the attached Cabinet report
and itemised in Appendix A thereof, resulting in a 4.99% increase
in the council’s element of the Council Tax;
 
b) That the 4.99% increase in the
council’s element of the Council Tax comprises of the 2%
Adult Social Care precept and a 2.99% general increase;
 
c) The savings proposals for the General Fund
and the Housing Revenue Account in Appendix B of the attached
report;
 
d) The fees and charges schedule in Appendix C
of the attached report;
 
e) The Housing Revenue Account budget for the
2025/26 financial year as detailed in paragraphs 8.1 to 8.18 of the
attached report;
 
f) The capital programme for 2025/26 to
2028/289 as detailed in paragraphs 9.1 to 9.13 of the attached
report and in Appendix D thereof;
 
g) The Capital Strategy in Appendix E of the
attached report;
 
h) The Treasury Management Strategy 2025/26,
Annual Investment Strategy, Statement on Minimum Revenue Provision
and Prudential and Treasury Indicators and Approved Countries for
Investment as detailed in paragraphs 12.1 to 12.7 of the attached
report and in Appendix F thereof;
 
i) That the
Executive Director of Finance and Resources be authorised to
undertake the operational activity required to manage cashflows
including: 
 

·      
authority during 2025/26 to make amendments to borrowing and
investment limits provided they are consistent with the strategy
and there is no change to the authorised limit for borrowing;

·      
authority to borrow as per the approved borrowing requirements set
out in the Prudential and Treasury Indicators without the
additional requirement for a formal Chief Officer Decision;

·      
authority to invest with institutions that meet the
creditworthiness criteria within the Annual Investment
Strategy;
 
 j) That Borough
Council will receive a mid-year report and an outturn report on the
implementation of the Treasury Management Strategy 2025/26, and
that Cabinet will receive a quarterly update on treasury management
performance for borrowing and investments within the financial
monitoring update reports;
 
Borough Council:
 
k) Noted the Climate Budget Statement 2025/26
at section 21 of the attached report;
 
l) Noted that under delegated authority given
by Cabinet at its meeting on 21 January 2025, the Executive
Director of Finance and Resources approved the Council Tax Base for
2025/26 for the whole council area as 94,102.6 [Item T in the
formula in Section 31B of Local Government Finance Act 1992, as
amended (the “Act”)];
 
m) Agreed the Council Tax Requirement arising
from Cabinet’s proposed budget for 2025/26 at
£150,135,000 [Item R in the formula in Section 31B of the
Act];
 
n) Agreed that the following amounts be
calculated for the year 2025/26 in accordance with Sections 31 to
36 of the Act: 
(i)
£804,341,486 being the aggregate of the amounts which the
Council estimates for its total expenditure in accordance with the
items set out in Section 31A (2) of the Act;
(ii) £654,206,486 being the aggregate of
the amounts which the Council estimates for its total income in
accordance with the items set out in Section 31A (3) of the
Act;
(iii) £150,1350,000 being the amount by
which the aggregate (n)(i) above
exceeds the aggregate at (n)(ii) above, calculated by the Council
in accordance with Section 31A (4) of the Act as its Council Tax
Requirement for the year (Item R in the formula in Section 31B of
the Act);
(iv) £1,595.44 being the amount at
(n)(iii) above (Item R), all divided by Item T at (l) above,
calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the
Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the
year; 
 
o) Noted that for the year 2025/26 the Mayor
of London has issued a Greater London Authority (GLA) draft
consolidated budget setting out his proposed precept on the Council
Tax in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance
Act 1992 for each category of dwellings in the Council’s area
as indicated in the table in recommendation (p) below;
 
p) Agree that, in accordance with Sections 30
and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, Cabinet hereby
calculates the aggregate amounts shown in the table below as the
amounts of Council Tax for 2025/26 for each part of its area and
for each of the categories of dwellings; 
 

Valuation Band

A

B

C

D

Banding Factor

6/9

7/9

8/9

9/9

Hounslow Council Tax (£)

1,063.63

1,240.90

1,418.17

1,595.44

GLA Precept (£)

326.92

381.41

435.89

490.38

Total Council Tax
(£)

1,390.55

1,622.31

1,854.06

2,085.82

Valuation Band

E

F

G

H

Banding Factor

11/9

13/9

15/9

18/9

Hounslow Council Tax (£)

1,949.98

2,304.52

2,659.07

3,190.88

GLA Precept (£)

599.35

708.33

817.30

980.76

Total Council Tax
(£)

2,549.33

3,012.85

3,476.37

4,171.64

 
 
q) Determined that the council’s basic
amount of Council Tax for 2025/26 is not excessive in accordance
with principles approved under Section 52ZB of the Local Government
Finance Act 1992;
 
r) The proposed re-alignment of earmarked
reserves in 2024/25 as set out in paragraphs 12.7 and 12.8 of the
attached report, specifically: 
 

·      
the contribution of £4.2m to Unallocated General
Balances;

·      
the transfer of £23.5m from Operational Reserves to Risk
Reserves and Unallocated General Balances as set out in Table 13 of
the attached report, to offset forecast overspending in the 2024/25
financial year; 
 
s) The proposed drawings from earmarked
reserves to fund the 2025/26 budget as set out in section 12 of the
attached report;
 
t) Noted the Chief Financial Officer’s
Section 25 Statement and comments on the adequacy of reserves and
the robustness of the estimates underpinning the budget contained
at paragraph 16.1 of the report;
 
u) agreed the capitalisation strategy at Annex
A for submission to the Secretary of State to allow the council the
freedoms to use capital receipts from the sale of its assets
(excluding right-to-buy receipts) to fund permitted revenue
expenditure in accordance with a direction given by the Secretary
of State under Section 16 and 20 of the Local Government Act
2003.