COVID EMERGENCY COMMITTEE 6 August 2020 Subject: Options for Parish Council Concurrent Functions Funding (CFF) for 2021/22 onwards Director/Head of Service: David Ford, Director of Commissioned Services Caroline Cooper Head of Commercial and Cultural Development Decision Issues: These matters are within the authority of the Covid Emergency Committee and are subject to the council’s budget setting process. Classification: This report is open to the public CCC Ward(s): Barton, Blean Forest, Chartham & Stone Street, Herne & Broomfield, Little Stour & Adisham, Nailbourne, Reculver, Sturry, Westgate; the whole district if the option of exploring special expenses is pursued. The current four year Concurrent Functions Funding Summary: agreements with parish councils end on 31 March 2021. This report provides options relating to CFF funding for 2021/22 onwards following formal consultation with parish councils. Recommendation 1: To reduce the budget over a To Resolve: four year period from 2021/22 to 2024/25, to £0 from 2025/26 onwards. A flat rate reduction would be made to parish council applications agreed for 2020/21 Recommendation 2: to remove the £20,000 annual contingency fund from 2021/22. Any underspend from the 2020/21 contingency fund will roll over and remain available until 31 March 2022. Recommendation 3: to transfer the maintenance of CCC-owned parcels of land where no lease agreement is in place into the Council’s grounds maintenance contract from April 2021 (currently only Garlinge Green Village Green). Next stage in process: The committee’s decision will be considered as part of the council’s budget setting process during Autumn 2020. SUPPORTING INFORMATION 1. Introduction The current 4-year Concurrent Functions Funding (CFF) arrangements with the district’s 24 Parish Councils ends on 31 March 2021. The total budget for 2020/21 is £134,500. The potential reduction or removal of CFF was identified as part of the budget process in 2019. The Council committed to explore the withdrawal of funding for concurrent functions where they fall outside the parameters funded for urban areas, for example, where there is over provision of facilities in an area or on land not owned by Canterbury City Council. In order to inform a decision regarding this, formal consultation with Parish Councils took place between March and May of this year. At that time, the Council was reviewing its services and funding streams in order to find ongoing savings of £5m by 2023/24. Since the consultation was launched, the Council’s circumstances have changed significantly following the impact of COVID-19 and is facing significantly greater financial pressures that need to be considered as part of the decision making process regarding CFF. This report presents the options for CFF for 2021/22 onwards in the context of the consultation feedback and the Council’s current financial position. 2. Detail The parish council CFF scheme is set up to: ● fund expenses incurred by parish councils for the delivery of services, which are provided by the city council in urban areas. ● support the maintenance costs of parcels of land not owned or managed by the city council to help safeguard their provision, up to the current level of the budget. Core items within these functions: ● Bus shelter maintenance ● Recreational grounds; litter picking and rubbish clearing, grounds and tree/shrub maintenance, grass cutting, fencing repairs, repairs to car parks, access and play equipment, safety inspections and insurance ● Closed burial grounds; grounds and tree/shrub maintenance, grass cutting and fencing repairs ● Cemeteries; grounds and tree/shrub maintenance, grass cutting, wages/rent for cemetery workers, repairs to car parks and access, safety equipment, burglar alarm maintenance, and insurance. The annual budget is £134,500 allocated to 24 parish councils. The parish councils currently receive allocations ranging between £677 and £26,858 per annum. There is also an annual contingency fund of £20,000 available for parish councils to apply for to help deal with any unforeseen works that arise. The land eligible to be maintained by CFF includes land owned by parish councils, church and privately owned land and a small number of CCC-owned parcels of land that are listed in the table below: Parish Land parcel (owned by Canterbury City Council) Chartham Chartham Hatch Recreational ground, Bigberry Road Harbledown & Rough Common Neals Place Meadow, paths through it Herne & Broomfield Cherry Orchard Ball Court (MUGA), Cherry Orchard Herne Petham Garlinge Green Village Green, Garlinge Green Road Hersden Hersden Play Area, The Sycamores Sturry Forge Gardens, Mill Road (opp Sturry Station) Bakery Green, Mill Road A full list of the parcels of land and items currently eligible for funding is attached at Appendix 1. The Council only has a statutory duty to maintain or finance the maintenance of land that it owns, excluding where lease agreements are in place and the obligation sits with the leaseholder. This funding arrangement is not now common in Kent with only Maidstone Borough Council allocating funding to parish councils for concurrent functions. Any reduction in funding for parish councils would mean that they would need to become more self-reliant and review minimum service levels in the same way that the Council is currently reviewing its own service levels. Additionally, parish councils will need to explore alternative sources of funding such as increasing the precept or increasing hire or lease fees for sports clubs that use the facilities. 3. Relevant Council Policy/Strategies/Budgetary Documents Corporate Plan - by encouraging greater involvement for local people, keeping our district a safe place to live, making our district cleaner and greener, supporting facilities and activities for children and young people. Local Plan and Open Spaces Strategy - The parcels of land eligible for concurrent functions funding contribute towards the Council’s Local Plan target to ensure there is sufficient open space in the right places and to ensure they are of high quality, attractive to users and well managed and maintained. 4. Consultation planned or undertaken An early engagement stakeholder event took place on 27 February. The event was attended by clerks and councillors from 15 of the 24 parish councils currently in receipt of concurrent functions funding. Formal consultation took place with the 24 parish councils between 23 March to 7 May 2020. The Council received 24 responses from 18 different parish councils (75% of parish councils) and their comments have shaped the options in this report. It should be noted that since the consultation was launched, the Council’s circumstances have changed significantly following the impact or COVID-19 and is facing significant financial pressures that need to be considered as part of the decision making process regarding CFF. Appendix 2 is a summary of the consultations responses received. 5. Options available with reasons for suitability Recommendation 1: CFF Budget The budget options proposed as part of the consultation were as follows: Option 1: Reduce the budget over a four year period from 2021/22 to 2024/25, to £0 from 2025/26 onwards. A flat rate reduction would be made to parish council applications agreed for 2020/21 67% of parish councils responding to the consultation stated that Option 1 is their preferred option as it sees a phased decrease over four years. This will minimise the impact on parish councils and give them time to plan and prepare for the change. There is no statutory duty for the Council to fund the maintenance of the grounds and facilities currently being funded and this is therefore the Council’s recommended option. Under this option, the total CFF budget would reduce as follows: Budget agreed for 2020/21: £134,500 Year 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 Total Annual Budget to £107,600 £80,700 £53,800 £26,900 £0 be allocated Appendix 3 outlines the funding allocations that the 24 parish councils would receive over the next four years should option 1 be agreed. Option 2: Reduce the budget over a two year period between 2021/22 and 2022/23, to £0 from 2023/24 onwards. Funding would be allocated according to prioritisation of need via an application process. Only 4% of parish councils responding to the consultation cited option 2 as their preference stating that the impact of such a reduction over two years would be too great. Under this option, the total CFF budget would reduce as follows: Year 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Total Annual Budget to be allocated £89,667 £44,833 £0 Option 3: Reduce the budget to £0 from 2021/22 onwards. No parish council supported this option given the immediate impact it would have for parish councils as well as their residents. Alternative options Not to make any changes to the current CFF - It should be noted that 25% of parish councils responding to the consultation stated that they didn’t support any of the options proposed as part of the consultation and that the budget of £134,500 should remain for the next four year period of 2021/22 to 2024/25 or even be increased. However, this option is unrealistic given that the Council does not have the budget to support this option, it does not relate to a statutory service and the Council is reviewing the minimum service levels in its own grounds maintenance contract for urban areas in order to make savings. To introduce a special expenses scheme alongside the removal of CFF - If there are concerns about possible inequities between parished and non-parished parts of the District following the removal of CFF, councillors could consider introducing special expenses alongside the removal of CFF. This would deliver savings to the Council but would affect council tax bills across the District.