Sarah Robinson
Council: Fareham
Committees:
Activity Timeline
Meetings Attended Note this may include planned future meetings.
52 meetings · Page 1 of 11
Appointments Sub-Committee - Wednesday, 17th September, 2025 9.00 am
7 attendees, 2 documents, 0 media files
Appointments Sub-Committee - Friday, 12th September, 2025 11.00 am
7 attendees, 8 documents, 0 media files
Audit and Governance Committee - Thursday, 31st July, 2025 6.00 pm
to 22 July 2025, Council - Thursday, 24th July, 2025 6.00 pm,
Decisions from Meetings
74 decisions · Page 10 of 15
Capital Programme & Capital Strategy 2025/26
From: Executive - Monday, 13th January, 2025 6.00 pm, NEW - January 13, 2025
The report considers the Capital Strategy for 2025/26, prior to its submission to Council for approval. Regulations require the Council to prepare and formally approve a Capital Strategy. The document for 2025/26 is attached as Appendix A to this report for consideration by the Executive before being submitted to Council for approval. The Capital Strategy gives a high-level overview of how capital expenditure, capital financing , asset management and treasury management activity contribute to the provision of services along with an overview of how associated risk is managed and the implications for future financial sustainability. The main highlights in the Capital Strategy are: i) The 5-year programme contains capital expenditure of £85.9 million (compared to £82.3million in the previous Strategy). Kay points included are: · Completion of Fareham Live and demolition of Osborn Road car park · Construction of Assheton Court sheltered housing apartments · Holly Hill Woodland Park Restoration · Fareham Park Vision · Aeronautical Ground Lighting at Daedalus · Land purchase for Nutrient Mitigation in Stubbington · Vehicle purchases for the introduction of Simpler recycling ii) New Schemes that are proposed since the 2024/25 Capital Strategy are listed at paragraph 30. There is currently no provision in the programme for the Town Centre Regeneration requirements which will be subject to a separate report. iii) The revised level of capital expenditure estimated for 2024/25 is £30 million (previously £16.4 million). This significant increase reflects streams of external funding that the Council has been successful in attracting, such as from Homes England for Assheton Court housing, or is pursuing , such as Lottery Grant funding for Holly Hill Woodland Park. The current estimate is that only £2.3 million of the spend will need to be met by new borrowing. iv) However, there are a number of pressures highlighted in the Capital Strategy, not least for the General Fund asset management and replacement plans. In particular, the estimated provisions for vehicle replacement and ICT development are such that it is proposed that Revenue Contributions to Capital are now increased by £225,000 to £1.3 million a year. This is covered by the Revenue Budget report at the same meeting. v) There are also a number of pressures on the HRA element of the Capital Strategy. In particular, the value of the planned maintenance of the stock has been increase from £3million to £4million and is one of the reasons that no further funds are being put aside the HRA debt at this moment. This will be covered further in the HRA budget to the February Committee. vi) The funding of the 5-year Strategy relies on forecasts of resources that are not yet in place. These total £64 million (75% of the programme). vii) A high-level review of future funding requirements has also identified a capital funding requirement of £229 million over the next 30 years. viii) The Strategy proposes some policy clarifications. This includes expanding the capitalisation of officer salary costs that are directly attributable to capital schemes, to now be considered as part of the total project costs. A separate report proposing the Treasury Management Strategy and Investment Strategy for 2025/26 will be presented at the February meeting of the Executive. The value of the Council’s investment property portfolio is covered in the Capital Strategy and is estimated to have a value of £66 million.
Recommendations Approved
Review of Statement of Gambling Principles
From: Executive - Monday, 13th January, 2025 6.00 pm, NEW - January 13, 2025
Under the Gambling Act 2005 the Council is required to have in place a Statement of Gambling Principles (Gambling Policy) that details the Council’s approach to the provision of Gambling in the Borough, which must be approved by Full Council. The Gambling Statement of Principles must be reviewed every three years and the current three-year period ends in January 2025. The report introduces a revised Gambling Policy. The revised Policy is attached as Appendix A to the report and is being presented to the Executive for recommendation to Full Council for adoption. The Council has an existing Gambling Policy, there have not been any substantiative policy changes. The Policy sets out the standards and criteria for applications received according to the Gambling Act and how those applications will be determined, and the licensing objectives promoted.
Recommendations Approved
Trade Waste Service Review
From: Executive - Monday, 13th January, 2025 6.00 pm, NEW - January 13, 2025
To set out how the Council’s trade waste service offer will balance competitive service provision with financial sustainability. Waste Savers is Fareham Borough Council’s waste service to businesses and other non-domestic premises. From 31 March 2025, as part of wider statutory changes known collectively as Simpler Recycling, most non-domestic premises in England will be required to separate recyclable waste from the residual refuse. The requirement will extend to micro businesses on 31 March 2027. Businesses are seeking reliable, trusted, comprehensive waste management services to comply with these requirements and this report sets out how Wate Savers will offer this to its customers from 31 March 2025. New objectives have been developed to ensure that our commercial waste service continues to offset the growing external cost pressures on the service, ensure internal overheads are covered and enable the service to continue to contribute to the Council’s wider waste and environment functions.
Recommendations Approved
Capital Investment at Solent Airport - PVC aeroplane storage units
From: Executive - Monday, 13th January, 2025 6.00 pm, NEW - January 13, 2025
To seek approval to provide PVC Aeroplane Storage Units at Solent Airport to support General Aviation. To provide a self-sustaining solution to the shortage of aeroplane storage space at Solent Airport, Daedalus. This will also in turn support the future delivery of Swordfish Business Park by relocating tenants from existing hangars which are likely to need to be demolished.
Recommendations Approved
General Fund Revenue Budgets & Finance Strategy 2025/26
From: Executive - Monday, 13th January, 2025 6.00 pm, NEW - January 13, 2025
The report provides an update on the Council’s 5-year financial forecasts and makes recommendations regarding the revised revenue budget for 2024/25 and base budget for 2025/26. The Executive recommended, and the Council approve, in February 2023, the base budget for 2024/25, for the General Fund Revenue Account services. The report sets out some revisions to the budget for 2024/25 and proposes a base budget for 2025/26 for the Executive’s agreement and submission to Council. The report also gives the context to these budgets in the form of the latest five-year projections from the Medium-Term Financial Strategy. Revised General Fund Revenue Budget 2024/25 The original general fund revenue budget for 2024/25 set, for £14,883,100, required a funding shortfall of £404,200 to be met from unallocated general reserves. The projected shortfall has now dropped to £285,700, with the revised budget of £14,410,200. This is mainly dure to the savings that have been made through the Opportunities Plan and wider work in the year such as reducing the cost of Homelessness provision. Base General Fund Revenue Budget 2025/26 The proposed general fund revenue budget for 2025/26 totals £14,839,100 which is a decrease of £43,900 against the original budget for 2024/25. There is a funding shortfall of £62,600 which will need to be met from unallocated reserves. 5-Year Financial Forecasts The 5-year financial forecasts for 2024/25 to 2028/29 is predicting future funding shortfalls, each year rising to £1.3million by 2026/27, which will be the last year that the shortfall can be met from unallocated General Reserves. The Opportunities Plan work recommenced in 2023/24 and has served to delay the funding shortfall problem each year. Work will need to continue to expand and deliver the Opportunities Plan to help manage the Council’s financial pressures and remain resilient. As the easier projects have now been delivered, there may be a need to make increasingly difficult decisions. Members have already started this work which will be built into the next Opportunities Plan.
Recommendations Approved
Summary
Meetings Attended: 52
Average per Month: 2.6
Decisions Recorded: 74