Agenda item

To consider the Motion (proposed by Councillor N J Swindle and seconded by Councillor P L Spenceley) and the report of the Director of Service Delivery, (copy enclosed).

The Committee considered the following Motion proposed by Councillor N J Swindle and seconded by Councillor P L Spenceley referred to the Committee by the Council. Further consideration was given to the report of the Director of Service Delivery which provided information regarding the Motion and set out a number of recommendations for Members consideration.

Motion:

“That the Council rescind the resolution to charge for energy use to tenants at Brickhouse Farm until 1st April 2025 due to the following reasons:

When council determined its strategy in March, no consultation with tenants had occurred as required by the strategy. Therefore, the council had not met its own requirement to work with partners who are using council-owned assets at discounted rates and who would be asked to evidence how they contribute to the council’s corporate goals on an annual basis. In turn, this evidence was to be considered by the Strategic Assets Working Group which would then make recommendations to the Strategy and Resources Committee as appropriate.

No such consultation or recommendations have been undertaken and therefore none of the councils’ partners have had the opportunity to provide such information to determine the benefits that they bring the council and the wider community so as to seek support from the council.

The current proposal of charging for energy by the square meter is also unfair as not all of the charities/users operate the same hours and therefore this is deemed as inequitable and has resulted in some of the partners being faced with large additional costs that cannot be budgeted for. In reality, this puts vital community services at risk. To make the use of energy exactly proportioned to each partner, individual circuit breaker meters should be installed (or similar technology) to meter the exact usage and therefore identify the exact use by each partner organisation.”

With permission of the Chairperson, Councillor P L Spenceley advised that she had seconded this Motion and outlined the important work carried out by Action for Family Carers and how the bill they had recently received from the Council without any prior warning had left them in a compromised financial situation. She then provided further insight into the valuable work of Action for Family Carers.

The Chairperson drew Members’ attention to the report of the Director of Service Delivery which included two recommendations for Members’ consideration. One of the recommendations proposed a transitional arrangement to help all tenants at Brickhouse Farm.

A number of Members supported the Motion and the comments of Councillor Spenceley. In response to questions raised, the following information was provided by Officers:

·                The principle of charging for utilities had been agreed in the previous financial year as part of savings discussions. This had been communicated to organisations at the time, however Officers accepted that final formal notification had not gone out until after the formal Strategy had been approved. For any similar changes in the future Officers would ensure that a transitional period was included.

·                The indication of costs was based on the bill for the previous financial year, and this was used to set an estimate for the forthcoming year.

·                With the Asset Management Strategy, the Council was proposing to have a consistent approach with all tenants. Whilst appropriate to charge for utilities there would be opportunity to come back to Members where an organisations objectives were aligned with the Councils.

It was suggested that the Council’s Climate Action Officer or other appropriate Officer spend some time with the tenants of Brickhouse Farm to offer guidance and help to optimise their energy. In response, Officers advised that this could be done and would be part of discussions with Action for Family Carers taking place the following week.

The Chairperson moved the recommendations set out in the Offices’ report. These were duly seconded and agreed. It was noted that these would be a recommendation to the Council for approval.

RECOMMENDED

(i)             That the principle of tenants paying for their utility costs in full remains within the Asset Management Strategy;

(ii)            That the Council offers a 12-month transitional arrangement for any non- rent paying tenants of Brickhouse Farm affected by the new Asset Management Strategy, with full payment of utility costs commencing in April 2025.