City of York Council

                             Committee Minutes

Meeting

Executive

Date

15 December 2020

Present

Councillors Aspden (Chair), Ayre, Craghill, Cuthbertson, D'Agorne, Orrell, Runciman, Smalley, Waller and Widdowson

In Attendance

Councillor Myers

 

 

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Part B - Matters Referred to Council

 

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79.         New Stadium Leisure Complex Commercial Proposal on Restaurant Units

 

[See also under Part A]

 

The Finance Manager and the Head of Asset & Property Management presented a report which provided an update on the Commercial Deal agreed by Executive on 19 October 2017 regarding disposal and development of land adjoining the new Community Stadium, and set out options for the way forward.

 

The update focused on the three Commercial Units included in the deal, which had been leased to Legal & General (L&G).  The terms of the lease obliged L&G to use reasonable endeavours to secure tenants for the units, but reduced the amount payable by £1.375m should none of the units be let by completion of the build.  None of the units had been let.

 

Three options were available, as detailed in paragraphs 18-51 of the report:

Option 1 – accept that the units are not let and £1.375m will not not be received from L&G.

Option 2 – take a 25-year lease of the units from L&G, on the terms set out in exempt Annex 2. 

Option 3 – accept full ownership of the units, with no further financial contribution from L&G.

Analysis of the options had identified Option 1 as the recommended option, in terms of providing the greatest financial certainty to the council and limiting future liabilities.  Officers confirmed that the Customer & Corporate Services Scrutiny Management Committee, having considered the report at their meeting on 7 December, were broadly supportive of Option 1.

 

Recommended:  That a further £1.375m prudential borrowing be applied to the Community Stadium project to offset the loss of commercial investment in the project.

 

Reason:              To ensure the stadium project is fully funded at the lowest risk to council finances going forward.

 

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80.         Amendment to Council Tax Support Scheme

 

The Assistant Director of Customers & Digital Services presented a report which recommended an amendment to the council’s Council Tax Support (CTS) scheme, following consultation on implementing a De Minimis limit in respect of any change to a CTS customer’s personal income before issuing them with a revised bill.

 

The amendment was proposed to prevent customers from receiving multiple council tax bills resulting from the fluctuation of levels of Universal Credit with every change in income, however small.  As required by law, a consultation had been carried out, via the questionnaire attached as Annex A to the report.  Responses, as shown in Annex B, had been positive, with over 75% of respondents in favour of the proposals.  Support would be made available through the Discretionary Council Tax Reduction scheme to those customers negatively affected by income changes within the tolerance limit.

 

Recommended:  That Council approve an amendment to the CTS scheme to implement a De Minimis limit of £2.50 before a council tax support customer is required to receive a revised council tax bill.

 

Reason:              To support financial inclusion and protect financially vulnerable customers from confusing and unnecessary multiple bills.

 

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Cllr K Aspden, Chair

[The meeting started at 5.32 pm and finished at 7.12 pm].

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