The meeting covered a range of significant topics, including an upgrade to the City’s street lighting, a pre-budget report for 2025/26, a second quarter financial monitoring report for the current year, and the agreement and adoption of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2025–29.

Coventry’s Climate Change Strategy

The report pack included Coventry Council’s Climate Change Strategy for 2024–30. The Strategy seeks to reduce the causes and consequences of climate change through five main ways (or themes):

• Adaptation and resilience – adapting to weather changes caused by climate change and improving resilience in infrastructure, services, and systems
• Route to net zero – decarbonising the city including buildings, transport, and industry to create a green economy
• A circular economy – using resources more efficiently
• Fairer green future – tackling inequalities and delivering a just transition
• Nature – addressing the ecological emergency, reversing the decline in nature, and creating a greener city

PFI Street Lighting LED Upgrade

The report pack also contained proposals for an upgrade to the majority of Coventry's streetlights (29,500) to Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) at a cost of £10.28m.

The report pack highlighted that:

In 2023/24 the Authority spent £3.4m on energy for streetlights; based on 38p kwh. We have an opportunity to reduce revenue costs by investing in energy efficient LED street lighting technology, which use approximately 50% less energy than our current lights. LEDs also have a much lower maintenance requirement. Overall, this will result in savings of over £900k based on current consumption which will more than cover the borrowing cost as well as delivering all the other benefits.

Pre-Budget Report 2025/26

The report pack also included a pre-budget report for 2025/26 to 2027/28. The report highlighted a number of changes from the previously approved budget position, including:

The Autumn Statement gives an indication of some additional resources for local government, although the precise detail will not be known until publication of the Local Government Provisional Settlement.

Predicted share of the Extended Producer Responsibility Grant announced in the Autumn statement. This is a forecast only, pending the Governments Settlement announcement.

The report pack also contained proposals for a public consultation upon the proposed Council Tax Support Scheme. This proposed a reduction in maximum support for working-age households from 80% to 75%.

2024/25 Second Quarter Financial Monitoring Report (to September 2024)

The report pack also included a financial monitoring report which highlights that:

The net revenue forecast position after management action is for spend in 2024/25 of £10.2m over budget.

The report notes overspends in a number of service areas including Adult Social Care, Housing, Children’s services, Highways, Environmental services, Planning, Property services and Culture. It attributes these to the following:

by a combination of legacy inflation impacts, continued increases in service demand, complexity of cases and social care market conditions, income shortfalls due to reduced activity, and slippage in the delivery of some service savings.

Local Development Scheme update

Also included was an update to the Local Development Scheme. The report pack asked for the adoption of the Draft Local Development Scheme December 2024. This included an indicative timeline for the production of a number of planning documents and also a summary of progress on the Local Plan review.

Local Plan Review – Regulation 19 Stage

The report pack also included the Local Plan Review Regulation 19 Stage report, which included the Proposed Submission Version of the Local Plan (Regulation 19) and associated documents. The proposed development targets for the period 2021– 41 included in the Proposed Submission version are:

• 29,100 dwellings
• 60ha of employment land

Agreement and Adoption of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2025-29

Finally, the report pack included the proposed adoption of the new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy for 2025–29. The Strategy focuses on three themes:

• Early intervention and prevention
• Targeted and crisis support
• Move on and tenancy sustainment

It also includes four key principles:

• Partnership
• Intelligence led
• Improving life chances and health outcomes
• Maximising opportunities