Report by the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive to the Strategy and Resources Committee on 5 February 2024 (attached).

Council considered a report by the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive on the Fees and Charges for 2024-25 to the Strategy and Resources Committee on 6 February 2024 (circulated previously).

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised that the report that had been presented to the Strategy and Resources Committee on 6 February 2024 had been amended and an updated report had been included on the agenda for Council.  The original report had omitted the Non-EU Certificate (£70) and Non-Standard applications (£35), both of which had now been included within Appendix E of the final version of the report for approval by Council.

The Committee considered a report by the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive (circulated previously) regarding the review of Charges and Fees for 2024/25 together with Minute Extract of Strategy and Resources on 5th February 2024.

The Finance Manager highlighted the following:

·       The change in fees charged for services provided by the Council was in line with the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

·       The charges for the provision of services were reviewed annually in the context of policy guidance within the Medium Term Financial Strategy, and the recommended levels of increase to produce a target income level.

·       This year the guidance was to increase fees and charges by 5%, although some fees were set by statute and these would be set nationally. Other variations to the 5% increase were set out in sections 4.3 to 4.11 of the report.

·       Building Control fees had been raised by an average of 6.7% and rounded to the nearest pound, this was to ensure that revenue income recouped the actual cost of providing the service and were competitive in the sector. Details of this could be seen in Appendix B of the report.

·       Land Charges fees had been set to recoup the cost of providing the service, the recommended fees for the land charges service was estimated to recover all the costs and break even, as detailed at Appendix D of the report.

·       There were two changes to the Environmental Health fees, as the majority of these were set by statute or set to recover costs. The introduction of a fee for “Film Classification Certificate” and variation to the “Export Health Certificate” fee to ensure the cost of providing the service is fully recovered, as detailed at Appendix E of the report.

·       Pannier Market (Venue hire) – Following the recent refurbishment and new facilities within the Pannier Market the Council now offered an enhanced look and feel to the market and had varied the prices to reflect the venue offer, the revised prices were now in line with other similar venues, as detailed in Appendix H (b) Venue of the report.

·       Bulky Waste Collections – To increase the fees as follows:

As detailed in Appendix I of the report:

Ø  Up to 2 items £30.00 (30.43% increase).

Ø  Up to 3 items £38.00 (22.58% increase).

Ø  Up to 4 items £45.00 (18.42% increase).

·       The proposed increases above brought the Council’s charges in line with our neighbouring authorities.

·       Garden Waste – Increase in fee of £5, this level of charge was similar to the charges made by other Devon councils and ensured the cost of providing the service was recovered by the income as seen at Appendix J of the report.

·       Estates Event Licence fee – The licence for both charity and Commercial events on the Council’s land had been set to recover the cost of administering the licence fee, as detailed in Appendix M of the report.

·       Estates Contractors Works licence - This was a new fee for 2024-25 and was set to recover  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31

Report by Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive (attached)

The Committee considered a report by the Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive (circulated previously) regarding the Review of Fees and Charges for services 2024-25.

The Finance Manager highlighted the following:

·         The change in fees charged for services provided by the Council was in line with the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

·         The charges for the provision of services were reviewed annually in the context of policy guidance within the Medium Term Financial Strategy, and the recommended levels of increase to produce a target income level.

·         This year the guidance was to increase fees and charges by 5%, although some fees were set by statute and these would be set nationally. Other variations to the 5% increase were set out in sections 4.3 to 4.11 of the report,

·         Building Control fees had been raised by an average of 6.7% and rounded to the nearest pound, this was to ensure that revenue income recouped the actual cost of providing the service and were competitive in the sector.  Details of this could be seen in Appendix B of the report.

·         Land Charges fees had been set to recoup the cost of providing the service, the recommended fees for the land charges service was estimated to recover all the costs and break even, as detailed at Appendix D of the report.

·         There were two changes to the Environmental Health fees, as the majority of these were set by statute or set to recover costs. The introduction of a fee for “Film Classification Certificate” and variation to the “Export Health Certificate” fee to ensure the cost of providing the service is fully recovered, as detailed at Appendix E of the report.

·         Pannier Market (Venue hire) – Following the recent refurbishment and new facilities within the Pannier Market the Council now offered an enhanced look and feel to the market and had varied the prices to reflect the venue offer, the revised prices were now in line with other similar venues, as detailed in Appendix H (b) Venue of the report.

·         Bulky Waste Collections – To increase the fees as follows: as detailed in Appendix I of the report.

Ø  Up to 2 items £30.00 (30.43% increase)

Ø  Up to 3 items £38.00 (22.58% increase)

Ø  Up to 4 items £45.00 (18.42% increase)

·         The proposed increases above brought the Council’s charges in line with our neighbouring authorities.

·         Garden Waste – Increase in fee of £5, this level of charge was similar to the charges made by other Devon councils and ensured the cost of providing the service was recovered by the income as seen at Appendix J of the report.

·         Estates Event Licence fee – The licence for both charity and Commercial events on the Council’s land had been set to recover the cost of administering the licence fee, as detailed in Appendix M of the report.

·         Estates Contractors Works licence - This was a new fee for 2024-25 and was set to recover the cost of administering the new licence fee, details  ...  view the full minutes text for item 89