Agenda and draft minutes

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct.  In making their decision councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

Business of extraordinary meetings of the Full Council – Procedure Rule 3.2 states:

“Unless the Chairman is of the opinion that an item should be considered as a matter of urgency, Full Council will only consider the business which is specified in the notice of the extraordinary meeting. Petitions, questions, deputations and statements will be accepted only if they relate to the business for which the extraordinary meeting has been arranged”.

A period of 30 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to questions and statements on the business of the Council in the following order:

(a) Questions and statements from Town and Parish Councils;

(b) Questions and statements from those living or working in the Dorset Council area;

A person or organisation can submit either 1 question or 1 statement at each meeting. 

You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.  If you submit a statement for Full Council this will be circulated to all members of the council in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes of the meeting for the formal record, but it will not be read out at the meeting.  The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received by Democratic Services will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline below:  

The full text of the question or statement must be received by 8.30am on Thursday 20^th March 2025. All submissions must be emailed to susan.dallison@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk 

When submitting your question or statement please note that:

·       You can submit 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting;

·       A question may include a pre-amble to set the context, each question, including the pre-amble can consist of up to 450 words and you will be given up to 3 minutes to read out your question;

·       Sub-divided questions will not be accepted;

·       When submitting a question please indicate who the question is for, i.e. the name of the Cabinet member;

·       You will need to include your full name, address and contact details;

·       All questions and statements will be published with the minutes of the meeting as a matter of public record.

Before submitting your question or statement please read the Council’s Procedure Rules paragraphs 9.1 – 9.12 to ensure that your question/statement is compliant.

Part 2 Rules of Procedure - Council and Committee Procedure Rules.pdf

No questions or statements from the public had been submitted.

Business of extraordinary meetings of the Full Council – Procedure Rule 3.2 states:

“Unless the Chairman is of the opinion that an item should be considered as a matter of urgency, Full Council will only consider the business which is specified in the notice of the extraordinary meeting. Petitions, questions, deputations and statements will be accepted only if they relate to the business for which the extraordinary meeting has been arranged”.

A period of 15 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to petitions in accordance with the council’s petitions scheme.

A period of 15 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to deputations in accordance with the council’s constitution.

The petitions scheme and procedures relating to deputations can be viewed at:

Council Procedure Rules

No petitions or deputations had been received.

Business of extraordinary meetings of the Full Council – Procedure Rule 3.2 states:

“Unless the Chairman is of the opinion that an item should be considered as a matter of urgency, Full Council will only consider the business which is specified in the notice of the extraordinary meeting. Petitions, questions, deputations and statements will be accepted only if they relate to the business for which the extraordinary meeting has been arranged”.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  The deadline for receipt of questions is 8.30am on Thursday 20^th March 2025.

No questions had been submitted by councillors in advance of the meeting.

To consider a recommendation from the Place & Resources Scrutiny Committee. (Recommendation to be published as a supplement to this agenda after the meeting on 20^th March).

Cllr Simon Clifford, Cabinet Member for Finance & Capital Strategy introduced the report which sought approval to change the council’s approach to the Minimum Revenue Provision as set out in Annex 2 of Appendix 1.   Although the report was technical in nature the Cabinet Member for Finance & Capital Strategy stated that the proposal was a sensible approach and justifiable to council taxpayers.  The reasons for the proposed change were set out in detail in the report and the council had received professional advice from the council’s treasury advisers, Arlinglose Ltd. that the current approach to the Minimum Revenue Provision was ultra prudent and that a prudent provision would still be compliant with current and new statutory guidance.  The council had sought legal advice on the proposal and had also shared the proposal with external auditors Grant Thornton.

Cllr Simon Clifford proposed recommendations (a) and (b) and Cllr Nick Ireland seconded the recommendations.

Members debated the proposals with some members expressing concern that that the decision was being rushed through due to an imminent change in legislation and that the council should remain ultra prudent and not be exposed to unnecessary risk.  Some concern was also raised in respect of what would happen as a result of this decision in 25 years’ time.  In response to the concerns raised, Cllr Simon Clifford assured the chamber that the initial £6 million received as a result of the change in policy would be held in reserves until a full audit had been undertaken by Grant Thornton and that the policy was reversible at any time.

In accordance with procedure rule 19.6 (recorded votes at budget meetings) a recorded vote was taken (see table below).

Decision

(a) That the Council approved the Treasury Management Strategy and accompanying MRP statement for 2024/25 and the charging methodology for pre-2008 capital financing requirement moving to a 40-year period on a straight line basis, and for post-2008 capital financing requirement moving to a 40-year period on an annuity basis.

In accordance with procedure rule 19.6 (recorded votes at budget meetings) a recorded vote was taken (see table below).

Decision

(b) That the Council approves the Treasury Management Strategy and accompanying MRP statement for 2025-26 and the changing methodology for pre-2008 capital financing requirement moving to a 40-year period on a straight line basis, and for post-2008 capital financing requirement moving to a 40-year period on an annuity basis.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph x of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.

There is no exempt business scheduled for this meeting.

There was no exempt business.