Issue - meetings

The Leader’s Portfolio

To consider report CEX/59 of the Chief Executive, which was referred to the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission held on 3 October 2022.

RESOLVED

That Full Council be recommended to approve change in garage and storage cupboard fees, as detailed in Section 5 report CEX/59 and to:

a)            Increase rental fees with effect from 1 December 2022, with no further increase until April 2024 as follows:

i)       weekly garage rental costs for Crawley Homes tenants,

ii)      weekly garage rental cost for Private Tenants residing in Crawley

iii)     weekly rental costs of storage cupboards

b)            Introduce an additional charge for Crawley Homes tenants and Crawley resident private tenants with three or more garages.

c)            Introduce a new non-Crawley Borough resident weekly garage rental cost.

d)            Introduce an additional charge for non-Crawley Borough residents with two or more garages. 

e)            Remove the previous multi garage discount from any remaining accounts.

Reasons for the Recommendations

The Budget Strategy 2023/24 – 2027/28 (FIN/583) elsewhere on this agenda identifies in Table 3 an initial budget gap of £240,000 in 2023/24, this rises to £419,000 in 2024/25.  This assumes an increase in fees and charges of 5% on average, as financially modelled.  Table 9 in the same report identifies some sensitivity analysis and shows large increases in the gap should the pay award for Local Government employees be higher or inflation be higher, or further pressure on providing temporary accommodation for those we owe a duty - therefore additional income from garages would support meeting future gaps.

The Leader presented report CEX/59 of the Chief Executive.  The report sought approval for the mid-year increase as part of the budget setting strategy with reference to weekly rent to Council-owned garages and storage cupboards. It was acknowledged even with the proposed increase renting garages from the Council would still be of good valve for residents and much lower than alternative forms of storage and most other local similar local authorises. It was noted that the changes to multiple tenancies and to non-Crawley residents means that they would now be paying a premium for multi garages and if they are not prepared to then it would enable more residents on the waiting list to have the opportunity to be able to rent a garage sooner.

Councillor T Belben presented the Overview and Scrutiny Commission’s comments on the report to the Cabinet following consideration of the matter at its meeting on 3 October 2022.

Councillors Buck and S Mullins spoke as part of the discussion on the report. It was requested that a list of the exact number of Council-owned garages and storage cupboards and the wards be included in the Council’s information bulletin, so that Councillors were aware what was in their ward.

RESOLVED

That Full Council be recommended to approve change in garage and storage cupboard fees, as detailed in Section 5 report CEX/59 and to:

a)            Increase rental fees with effect from 1 December 2022, with no further increase until April 2024 as follows:

i)       weekly garage rental costs for Crawley Homes tenants,

ii)      weekly garage rental cost for Private Tenants residing in Crawley

iii)     weekly rental costs of storage cupboards

b)         Introduce an additional charge for Crawley Homes tenants and Crawley resident private tenants with three or more garages.

c)         Introduce a new non-Crawley Borough resident weekly garage rental cost.

d)         Introduce an additional charge for non-Crawley Borough residents with two or more garages. 

e)         Remove the previous multi garage discount from any remaining accounts.

Reasons for the Recommendations

The Budget Strategy 2023/24 – 2027/28 (FIN/583) elsewhere on this agenda identifies in Table 3 an initial budget gap of £240,000 in 2023/24, this rises to £419,000 in 2024/25.  This assumes an increase in fees and charges of 5% on average, as financially modelled.  Table 9 in the same report identifies some sensitivity analysis and shows large increases in the gap should the pay award for Local Government employees be higher or inflation be higher, or further pressure on providing temporary accommodation for those we owe a duty - therefore additional income from garages would support meeting future gaps.

To consider report CEX/59 of the Chief Executive.

The Commission considered report CEX/59 of the Chief Executive. The report sought approval for the mid-year increase as part of the budget setting strategy with reference to weekly rent to Council-owned garages.

During the discussion with the Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive and the Operations & Maintenance Manager, the following comments were made:

·         Recognition that increasing fees and charges at a time where residents and businesses were incurring other rising costs as a result of the cost-of-living crisis was understandably sensitive. It did however minimise the need for future reductions in services.  Additionally, the Council was charging at the lower end in comparison with other local authorities.

·         It was noted that the prices would still be competitive and garages rented to non-borough residents would pay a different rate to assist in ensuring garages met the demand of local residents as a priority. An additional charge for each subsequent garage would also be applicable for multiple garages.

·         It was commented that the use of garages had subsequently changed over the years and were now mainly used for storage. Additionally, it was added the use of enforcement where garage entrances were blocked needed to be addressed.

·         Acknowledgement that various options had been considered for administering the new procedure (including a sliding scale of implementation) but it was recognised any new process needed to be straight-forward to deploy and comprehend.

·         Confirmation was provided on the review process together with the number of voids, tenancy agreements and maintenance programme.  It was anticipated that marketing would take place once the new process was implemented.

·         Clarification was sought and obtained on the make-up of garage tenancies and whether business use could potentially be a (future) opportunity.

·         Concerns were raised that there was a higher charge adopted for Crawley resident private tenants than for Crawley Homes tenants.  Despite favourable costs with other local authorities and a vat element to consider, it was remarked that the cost differential between the two charges was significant.  It was therefore suggested that the pricing strategy (rental fees) for Crawley Homes tenants and Crawley resident private tenants was reviewed when the next increase was due.  It was important that the Council needed to obtain the best value from its assets with regards to its pricing strategy on garages.

 RESOLVED

That the Commission noted the report and requested that the views expressed and documented during the debate, were fed back to the Cabinet through the Commission’s Comment sheet.