Agenda and minutes

Apologies for inability to attend were reported for Councillors Doherty and Groogan.

No declarations of interest were reported.

Restricted Items

            The information contained in the reports associated with the following item is 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 Committee meeting during discussion on the following item as, due to its nature, 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.  

(Mr. T. Wallace, Director of Finance, attended in connection with this item).

            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 outlined that the decision 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 Planning Committee for 2024/25 as recommended by the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee at its meeting on 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: 

·        agreed a cash limit for the Planning Committee for 2024/25 of £2,344,219 and the individual service cash limits;

·        noted the next steps in the rate setting process; and

·        agreed that the decision would not be subject to call-in, given that it would cause 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.