Solihull Council

(i)            Agreed that the SCIP bids received from the December Decision Making Sessions now be subject to detailed project appraisal including outputs for consideration at the February Cabinet meeting;

(ii)           Noted  the request from Environment and Leisure Cabinet Portfolio that Cabinet looks sympathetically at the funding of the £0.120m towards the Leisure options bid from one off Corporate resources;

(iii)          Authorised officers to make representations appealing against the abolition of Supported Capital Expenditure for the Other Services block;

(iv)           Instructed officers to examine the impact of applying an inflation rate of 1.4% to their expenditure budgets;

(v)            Noted the comments of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board;

(vi)           Approved the Council Tax prompt payment discount at 1.5% for 2004/05;

(vii) Reaffirmed the Council Tax base of 76,444 for 2004/05;

(viii)         Noted the details of the level of Supported Borrowing under the Single Capital Pot for 2004/05;

(ix)           Subject to (ii) above approved the top slice of £0.120M from the £1m Single Capital Pot allocation for the Other Service block;

(x)            Approve the process for scoring capital bids made against the £1M project appraisal allocation; and

(xi) Formally invited the Opposition Group Leaders to submit their own budget proposals to Cabinet on 23 February 2004.     

Noted the Council's improved CPA rating – good, and the changes to the CPA Framework;

Agreed to proceed with a full Corporate Assessment sometime in 2005, at a time to be determined; and

Wished to record their thanks and appreciation to all Officers for achieving an improved rating, and in particular those Officers in Housing.

To note the changes to the CPA framework.

(i) Noted the LTP settlement, and that the final details will not be available until the West Midlands Planning and Transportation Sub-Committee have considered the relevant issues; and

(ii) subject to confirmation of funding by the West Midlands Joint Committee, approved the programme of local safety schemes and other improvement works for the year 2004/05, as detailed in the report.

The Cabinet: -

(i) Noted the publication and contents of the White Paper, The Future of Air Transport;

(ii) Agreed to receive more detailed reports, following   discussions with key interested parties; and

(iii) In light of Leading Counsel’s advice agreed to take no action on the question of judicial review;

(iv) Agreed to instruct Officers to enter into discussions with the Airport Operator and other stakeholders to ensure the interests of the Borough and its residents are taken into account in the development of future proposals under the framework set out in the White Paper; and

(v) Agreed to urge the airport to take action to resolve the uncertainty caused by potential blight at its earliest opportunity.

Councillor Richards declared an Interest and with drew from the meeting.

Councillor Hillas took the Chair.

This report was circulated at the meeting, with the Leaders permission.