Agenda and minutes

            No apologies were reported.

            No Declarations of Interest were reported.

            The information contained in the report associated with the following item was restricted in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

            Resolved – That the Committee agrees to exclude the members of the press and public from the meeting during discussion of the following item as, due to the nature of the item, there would be a disclosure of exempt information as described in Section 42(4) and Section 6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

            Members were also reminded that the content of ‘restricted’ reports and any discussion which took place during closed session must be treated as ‘confidential information’ and that no such information should be disclosed to the public as per Paragraph 4.15 of the Code of Conduct.  

            The Committee considered a report in relation to the establishment of the District Rate and the compilation of the Estimates of Revenue Expenditure for the year 2024/2025.

            The Director of Finance presented an overview of the budgetary pressures facing the Council in 2024/25 and outlined that the paper should not be subject to call-in as it would cause an unreasonable delay which would be prejudicial to the Council and the public’s interest in striking the district rate by the legislative deadline of 15th February, 2024.

            He reported the cash limit for the Committee for 2024/25 as recommended by the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee at its meeting on the 19th January, 2024 and outlined the next steps in the rate setting process leading to the setting of the rate by Council at its meeting in February 2024.

            Following consideration, the Committee noted the next steps in the rate setting process and: 

·        Agree the cash limit of £21,550,927 for the City Growth and Regeneration Committee for 2024/25 and the individual service estimates detailed in Table 4 of the report; and

·        Agreed that this decision would not be subject to call-in because it would cause an unreasonable delay which would be prejudicial to the Council’s and the public’s interests in striking the rate by the legislative deadline of 15th February, 2024.