Contact: Nick Gibbins, ext 7544

1. Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

To earmark corporate resources, to underwrite up to 50% of Recreation and Heritage's anticipated overspending in 2001/02 arising from the impact of foot and mouth precautions, subject to a final decision on the allocation of additional resources being made on closure of the 2001/02 accounts.

2. Reason

2.1 To respond to the request made by the Recreation and Heritage Executive member.

3. Other options considered and rejected

3.1 To provide no additional corporate resources or to underwrite 100% of the estimated cost of foot and mouth precautions.

4. Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or a member or officer consulted

4.1 Not applicable.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee

5.1 Not applicable.

6. Reason for the matter being dealt with if urgent

6.1 Not applicable.

Approved by: (signature) Date: (date of decision)

............................................... ..............................................

Councillor T K Thornber

Contact: Nick Gibbins, ext 7544

1. Background

1.1 The Recreation and Heritage Executive member considered a 2001/02 budget monitoring report at his executive member meeting on 18 October 2001. The report identified that the cost of actions taken in response to the foot and mouth outbreak affecting the Countryside Service and Outdoor Centres, net of savings, was estimated at £376,000 in 2001/02. A decision was taken to request that this cost be met from corporate resources.

2. Budgetary implications

2.1 The County Council's policy is to operate with a relatively low level of balances, equivalent to 0.6% of the overall budget requirement. This policy ensures that within the constraints of the overall level of spending and council tax precept approved by the County Council, that services are given as a large share of the overall budget as possible in the initial cash limits set for services. However the corollary of this is that services are expected to absorb unforeseen expenditure within the approved budget except in exceptional circumstances, where to do so would have an unacceptable impact on the delivery of services.

2.2 Clearly the effect of foot and mouth precautions on Recreation and Heritage services has had a major impact on the 2001/02 budget. The table below summarises the estimated costs:

A net cost of £376,000 represents about 1.5% of the overall budget for Recreation and Heritage services.

3. Proposed approach

3.1 Given the scale of the impact of foot and mouth expenditure on Recreation and Heritage services, it is not realistic to expect compensatory savings to be achieved to cover the full cost without a significant impact on the delivery of services. However before taking any final decision on committing additional corporate resources, it would be reasonable to expect opportunities to be identified to make further savings across all Recreation and Heritage services to contribute towards meeting the cost. These savings could be sought both in 2001/02 and 2002/03.

3.2 For planning purposes, it is recommended that corporate resources to meet up to 50% of the estimated overspending (£188,000) be earmarked to support Recreation and Heritage, but that a final decision on the allocation of additional resources be deferred until the closure of the 2001/02 accounts.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

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