The Place and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the budget scrutiny process for 2025/26, receive updates on budget monitoring and the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP), and review the waste collection and cleansing services. The committee agreed to its budget scrutiny process for the upcoming year and received feedback on the consultation of the Local Plan for West Northamptonshire. The committee also reviewed and noted its work programme.

Budget Scrutiny

The committee agreed to its budget scrutiny process for 2025/2026. The committee will agree to a timetable for budget scrutiny at its next meeting on 15 October 2025, and budget scrutiny will continue over a number of meetings. The Budget Scrutiny Task and Finish Group will meet on 7 January 2026 to decide on the key issues for budget scrutiny, and again on 14 January 2026. A report of the Budget Scrutiny Task and Finish Group will then be considered by the Place and Resources Committee on 26 January 2026.

Waste Collections & Cleansing Review

The committee received an update on the review of waste collections and cleansing services. A Task and Finish Group has been established to provide member insight during the review of West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) waste collection and cleansing services, which will inform future waste collection and cleansing services. The Task and Finish Group will represent residents and take into account available evidence, the council's statutory duties, the council's financial position and best practice elsewhere. The outcome of this review will be a recommendation to Cabinet early in 2026 regarding the specification for future waste services and how they will be delivered.

The draft terms of reference for the Task and Finish Group state that the services within the scope of this review are set out in Appendix 1, and the timescales for this review are set out in Appendix 2; in summary it is anticipated that monthly meetings will be required with a recommendation made to Cabinet early in 2026.

The membership of the Task and Finish Group is as follows:

• Councillor Stansfield (Reform, Northampton)
• Councillor Ashraf (Labour, Northampton)
• Councillor Firman (Reform, Northampton)
• Councillor Lock (Reform, Daventry)
• Councillor Hastie (Reform, Daventry)
• Councillor Humphreys (Lib Dem, Daventry)
• Councillor Baker (Conservative, South)
• Councillor Dabbs (Reform, South)
• Councillor Ian McCord (Independent, South)

Local Plan for West Northamptonshire

The committee received feedback from the informal meeting of the committee regarding the consultation process of the Local Plan for West Northamptonshire. The committee will consider and provide scrutiny input into the consultation process of the Local Plan for West Northamptonshire at various stages.

Review of Committee Work Programme

The committee reviewed and noted the committee work programme.

The work programme includes the following topics:

• Budget Scrutiny
• Waste Collections & Cleansing Review
• Regeneration and Asset Management, including events and community areas
• Quarterly Budget Monitoring Reports
• Quarterly reports on the MTFP
• Section 106 Agreements¹ (and CIL²)
• Performance Monitoring Report
• Flood Risk Management Strategy
• Local Plan for West Northamptonshire
• Place and Resources Annual Report 2025/26

The committee has established a Task and Finish Group for Section 106 Agreements and CIL to provide scrutiny input into performance and priorities going forward. The Task and Finish Group will comprise members of this committee and other non-executives from the geographical areas.

The committee also discussed potential cross-cutting themes for the Scrutiny Committees, including:

• Costs and value for money of Placements (Childrens)
• Perfect Day

DOGE Activity

Councillor Jonathan Harris, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group proposed a scrutiny review relating to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) activity. The scrutiny review proposal form states that the administration has engaged external resource to explore efficiencies and cost savings, and that several councillors and many members of the public have raised serious concerns about what this process entails, what data will be accessed, and whether it will be fully GDPR compliant³.