Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

There were no disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests.

None.

To receive the minutes of the previous meeting(s) and agree as an accurate record.

Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.

Cllr Rob Stewart - Cabinet Member for Economy, Finance and Strategy

Ben Smith – Director of Finance / S.151 Officer

Cllr Rob Stewart Cabinet Member for Economy, Finance and Strategy and Ben Smith the Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer attended to give an overview which prompted discussion and questions on the following.

·       On 19 October Cabinet approved the recommendation to reinforce the need for all service directors to contain their spending this year.

·       Q1 shows an overspend with further actions to be confirmed in subsequent quarters.

·       There has been widescale reporting of financial pressures in other Councils. Risks are growing for the whole of local government.

·       The Contingency Fund budgeted contribution was set at £6m for 2023/24 as set out in the budget report approved by Council in March 2023. Contingency is anticipated to be fully allocated this year.

·       The 2023/24 budget includes a provision of £20m, mainly for inflation. This was increased specifically because of the levels of general inflation forecast for 2023/24 and the unprecedented energy price rises.

·       The savings tracker has been re instigated with a forecast currently at 70% to be achieved by the end of the year. There is expectation this will improve.

·       The residual shortfall will be met from a further draw from earmarked reserves of around £20m.

·       Housing Revenue Account is under greater pressure than in recent years which has led to the need to increase revenue budgets.

Questions can be submitted in writing to Scrutiny scrutiny@swansea.gov.uk up until noon on the working day prior to the meeting. Written questions take precedence. Public may attend and ask questions in person if time allows. Questions must relate to items on the open part of the agenda and will be dealt with in a 10 minute period.

Several public questions were received relating to Skyline. The Leader addressed the questions however on 13 November a planning application for Skyline was submitted and due to the formalities of the planning process this restricted the ability to comment.

Cllr Robert Francis-Davies – Cabinet Member for Investment, Regeneration, Events & Tourism

Phil Holmes – Head of Planning and City Regeneration

Lee Richards – City Centre Team Leader

Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Phil Holmes, Head of Planning and City Regeneration and Lee Richards, City Centre Team Leader attended to give an update on the Skyline development. Discussion centred around the following points.

·       Skyline has a UK based company, Skyline (Swansea) Limited, but its larger parent company, Skyline Enterprises Limited, will act as guarantor under the proposed lease.

·       The are no planned access restrictions to Kilvey Hill.

·       Later this month as part of its duties a public open space notice consultation period will commence which will be advertised in due course.

·       Skyline will now progress its planning application and develop the next phase of the scheme with work aiming to commence on site next year.

·       Skyline has advised the cost of the project has increased from £35m to £40m mainly due to inflation.

The work plan was noted.

The public were excluded from the meeting on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as set out in Paragraph 14 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.