Issue - meetings

To submit the report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

It was resolved to note the Treasury Management Strategy Statement 2026/27 and to forward the statement to the Full Council without further comment.

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer incorporating the Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS) for 2026/27 was presented for the Executive’s consideration. The statement set out how the Council will manage its borrowing, investments and cash flow in the coming year in line with CIPFA’s Prudential and Treasury Management Codes.

Councillor Gary Pritchard, Leader introduced the TMSS report for 2026/27.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer provided an overview of the report noting that it had been scrutinised by the Governance and Audit Committee which did not propose any amendments. The strategy contains no significant changes from the previous year’s version, but it aligns with the Capital Strategy and sets out three capital spending  scenarios – base, ambitious  and ideal, together with the borrowing implications of each as shown in Table 6 of the report . Tables 7a and 7B outline the revenue implications for the General Fund and HRA respectively with revenue costs significantly higher under the ideal scenario.

In recent years, the Council has utilised internal borrowing, but falling reserves mean that external borrowing will be required by the end of the year or the beginning of the next. The Council will not borrow more than or in advance of its needs purely to profit from investing  the extra sums borrowed. It will also avoid rescheduling existing borrowing, as PWLB redemption rates remain high and exceed any potential savings. Instead, the Council will seek to time external borrowing to coincide with reductions in interest rates.

The Council’s investment strategy continues to prioritise security and liquidity of funds over yield, using only highly creditworthy counterparties and ensuring that day to day cashflow requirements are met. The strategy also sets out the governance and reporting arrangements.

The Prudential and Treasury indicators are provided in Appendix 10 to the report. These cover affordability, prudence and set limits for capital expenditure, external debt, the liability benchmark and the maturity structure of borrowing.

It was resolved to note the Treasury Management Strategy Statement 2026/27 and to forward the statement to the Full Council without further comment.