Agenda item

The Council considered the report of the Leader of the Council relating to the Revenue Budget and Council Tax Setting for 2026/27.

The report indicated that, in setting the level of Council Tax for 2026/2027, it was necessary to consider the requirements of the Council Tax Collection Fund for 2026/2027.  This incorporated the District Council’s Council Tax Requirement, Parish Council Precepts and the Council Tax requirements of Nottinghamshire County Council, the Nottinghamshire Police & Crime Commissioner and the Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service.

The Cabinet, at its meeting held on 24 February 2026, recommended that the District Council’s Net Budget Requirement for 2026/27, should be £20,700,110.

It was reported that all Parish Council precepts had been received and totalled £4,330,013.90.  The individual Parish Council precepts were set out in the report.

Nottinghamshire County Council had set a precept on Newark & Sherwood District Council’s Collection fund for 2026/2027 of £85,252,352.00. The Nottinghamshire Police & Crime Commissioner had set a precept on Newark & Sherwood District Council's Collection fund for 2026/2027 of £13,462,059.20 and the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service had set a precept on Newark & Sherwood District Council’s Collection fund for 2026/2027 of £4,422,877.13.

In accordance with Rule 3.4.3 (b) written notice had been received that an amendment would be proposed and seconded. Councillor J Kellas accordingly proposed and Councillor T Wendels seconded that:

“Recommendation (b) be amended to approve the proposals under section 3 of the report with the inclusion of a Members’ Ward Fund, added to the base budget for 2026/27, whereby each individual member is allocated a sum of £1,000 (£39,000 in total) to support charities, community groups and public bodies working within their wards for the benefit of residents; and that the Council Tax for 2026/27 is reduced by 1.12% rather than frozen. This would amend the recommendations within the report to:

3.1    The revenue estimates for 2026/2027 and schedule of fees and charges, as submitted in the Council's Budget book be approved; with an additional row added to the table at point 3.37 on page 10 of the budget book under the section ‘Requested Changes by Members’, as below:

3.2    That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2026/2027 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, based on a 1.12% council tax reduction:

(a)     £57,948,340           being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) to (4) of the Act;

(b)     £37,209,230.00      being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3)(a) to (d) of the Act;

(c)     £20,739,110           being the amount by which the aggregate at 3(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 3(b) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with section 31A(4) of the Act, as its Council Tax requirement for the year;

(d)     £12,845,000.00      being the amount of Government Grants (£7,827,000) and net retained Business Rates (£5,018,000) which the Council estimates will be payable for the year into its general fund;

(e)     £0.00                      being the amount which the Council has estimated in accordance with regulations issued under Section 97(3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 as its proportion of the surplus/deficit on the Council Tax Collection Fund;

(f)      £603,740                being the amount that the Council has determined to contribute to usable    reserves;

(g)     £8,497,850.00        being the amount at 3(c) above less the amount at 3(d) above plus the amount at    3(e) above less the amount at 3(f) above calculated by the Council as its’ net Council Tax requirement for the year.

(h)     £196.38                  being the amount at 3(g) divided by the amount at 2(a), calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no special item relates.

(i)       £4,330,014.00        being the aggregate amount of all special items referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act, the Council resolves there being no other special items;

(j)       £296.44                  being the amount at 3(g) above plus the amount at 3(i) above divided by the amount at 2(a) above calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31B(1) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year;

Recommendations a, c and e remain unchanged, with updated recommendation d being noted subject to the approval of the amendment as described above”.

Members debated the proposed amendment and on being put to the meeting it was lost with 11 votes for, 20 against and 1 abstention. However, during the debate Councillor P Peacock indicated his support for a Members’ Ward Fund which should be considered by a working group of the Policy & Performance Improvement Committee.

In accordance with Rule No. 5.6.1, a recorded vote was taken as follows:

The Council considered the substantive motion proposed by Councillor P Peacock and seconded by Councillor R Cozens and it was AGREED (unanimously) that Council:

(a)         note the proposals under section 2 of the report;

(b)        approve the proposals under section 3 of the report;

(c)         note section 4, 5 and 6 of the report;

(d)        note the proposal in section 7 of the report; and

(e)         note the determination in section 8 of the report.

(The full recommendations are set out as Appendix B to these minutes).

In accordance with Procedure Rule No. 5.6.1, a recorded vote was taken as follows:

Meeting adjourned at 8.42pm and recommenced at 9.05pm (within the adjournment the Vice-Chair, Councillor R Jackson left the meeting).

The Chair indicated that the meeting duration had expired. Therefore, in accordance with Rule 2.7.2 a motion to continue for a further hour was put to the meeting and agreed with 30 votes for and 1 against.