The Council is asked to note any apologies for absence received from Members.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Davis, Ferguson, Harris, Kotz, Placey, Steady and White.

The Council is asked to approve, as a correct record, the minutes of the ordinary meeting of the Council held on Tuesday 27 January 2026.

It was moved by Councillor M E Stephenson, seconded by Councillor I J Henderson and:-

RESOLVED that the minutes of the ordinary meeting of the Council held on 27 January 2026 be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests of Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

Councillor Bray declared an Interest in relation to Agenda Item 9 (Report of the Cabinet – A.2 – Executive’s Proposals: Housing Revenue Account Budget 2026/2027) insofar as he was a housing tenant of Tendring District Council. He informed Council that he would not take part in the Council’s consideration of this item nor the voting thereon.

The Monitoring Officer reminded Members that she and the Section 151 Officer had circulated, by email on 9 February 2026, their annual joint guidance and advice on a number of matters relating to interests and voting on the annual budget and setting of Council Tax and, especially, the requirements of section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. The Monitoring Officer thereupon read out the following statement:-

“Tendring District Council adopted the LGA Model Members’ Code of Conduct which does not include the provisions confirming Members do not have a declarable interest which relates to the function of setting the Council Tax under the Local Government Act 1992.  Therefore, to enable you to debate and vote on the budget item to set the Council Tax, the email of 9 February 2026 provides all District Councillors with a dispensation under Section 33(2)(a) to (e) of the Localism Act 2011. Consequently, you will not be required to declare an interest based on the fact you live in the District and therefore have to pay Council Tax.

However, Members are importantly reminded of section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, which provides that any Member, who is in arrears by at least 2 months with their Council Tax payments cannot vote on matters concerning either the level of or administration of Council Tax.  It is important to note that this also covers Council Tax liabilities outside of the District and property which may not be your main residence.  If present at the meeting, a Member to whom this provision applies must disclose the fact and may speak on the item but cannot vote.  Non-compliance with this section is a criminal offence.  Therefore, should this provision apply to any Member, this should be declared at the Declarations of Interest agenda item.

In 2014, the Government passed The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 making it mandatory for councils to amend their Standing Orders so as to include provisions requiring recorded votes at budget meetings.  I can confirm that the Constitution reflects this requirement and the Council’s Procedure Rules state at 19.5:

“A recorded vote is mandatory on any decision relating to the budget or Council Tax.  This includes not only on the substantive budget motions agreeing the budget and setting Council taxes, but also on any amendments proposed at the meeting.”

I can inform Members that no budget amendments were submitted to the Council’s Section 151 Officer by the deadline set out in Council Procedure Rule 2.

For other types of Interests, which need to be considered, Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPIs), Other Registerable Interests (ORIs) or Non-Registerable Interests are defined  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

The Council is asked to note any announcements made by the Chairman of the Council.

There were no announcements made by the Chairman of the Council on this occasion other than to remind Members that the Pride of Tendring Awards evening would be held the following week.

The Council is asked to note any announcements made by the Chief Executive.

The Chief Executive informed Council that the Secretary of State had written to the affected councils on 16 February 2026 to inform them that the Government was withdrawing the secondary legislation that would have postponed 2026 local elections in 30 areas in England. Therefore, all local elections in May 2026 would now go ahead.

The Secretary of State’s letter had cited legal advice as the reason for reversing the previous decision to postpone local elections.

The Chief Executive contended that any subsequent changes to the LGR process in Greater Essex would not affect TDC’s current budget proposals as set forth for 2026/27 and 2027/28.

The Secretary of State had advised that Councils should not assume that their decision had any implications for timescales for Local Government Reorganisation. MHCLG had reiterated that the timetable for LGR remained unchanged unless the Government announced otherwise.

The Chief Executive would provide a further LGR update at next week’s All Members’ Briefing.

The Council is asked to note any statements made by the Leader of the Council. 

Councillors may then ask questions of the Leader on his statements.

There were no statements made by the Leader of the Council on this occasion.

The Council is asked to note any statements made by Members of the Cabinet (Portfolio Holders).

Councillors may then ask questions of the Portfolio Holders on their statements.

There were no statements made by members of the Cabinet on this occasion.

To present to Council, the Executive’s General Fund budget proposals for 2026/27.

Further to Minute 103 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 30 January 2026, the Council considered the Executive’s General Fund budget and Council Tax proposals for 2026/27.

It was reported that, at its meeting held on 30 January 2026, Cabinet had considered an updated position, that had remained based on the previously approved approach, which had reflected several changes due to additional information becoming available or where associated work had been finalised for inclusion within the budget. The same report had also acknowledged that there were several outstanding items at that time, including the outcome from the Government’s business rate reforms / ‘reset’.

Council was informed that the outstanding items referred to above had now been completed with the latest forecast for 2026/27, as set out in Appendix A to the report of the Cabinet (A.1). The forecast ‘gap’ for 2026/27 of £0.995m, that had been reported to Cabinet in January, had been revised down to £0.370m.This change was largely due to finalising figures associated with the changes to business rates along with adjustments to the use of the Corporate Investment Fund – Revenue as part of the ongoing approach of balancing the use of this fund with the Forecast Risk Fund.

Members were made aware that Appendices B and C set out the Net Savings and Cost Pressures respectively. Those remained unchanged from the same appendices considered by Cabinet on 30 January 2026.

As recommended by Cabinet on 30 January 2026, the Executive’s budget proposals set out a Band D Council Tax of £205.48 in 2026/27, an increase of 2.99% (£5.96), with a Council Tax requirement of£11.244m.

Taking into account the changes to the budget required since Cabinet met on 30 January 2026, the total net General Fund revenue budget for 2026/27 was £25.852m, along with a General Fund capital programme totalling £1.570m.

Members were reminded that the budget recommended by Cabinet for consideration by Full Council included only the District and Parish elements of the Council Tax rather than those from the major precepting authorities. The formal approval of the ‘full’ Council Tax levy for the year, including the precepts from Essex County Council, Police and Fire, was delegated to the Human Resources and Council Tax Committee which was due to meet on 2 March 2026.

Council was cognisant that, at the time of publishing the agenda for this meeting, the Final Local Government Finance Settlement had been still awaited. A recommendation had therefore been included within report (A.1) to enable the budget to be updated accordingly once confirmation was received.

Council was advised that, as introduced as part of the report to Cabinet on 19 December 2025 and further developed within the report to Cabinet on 30 January 2026, a number of obligations had been placed on the Council and its Statutory Officers as part of the Government’s on-going Local Government Reorganisation reforms for Greater Essex. Although subject to further review over the year, the initial in-principal approach proposed was set out within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 108.

To present to Council, the Executive’s Housing Revenue Account budget proposals for 2026/27 (including fees and charges, capital programme and movement in HRA Balances).

Earlier on in the meeting, as detailed under Minute 103 above, Councillor Bray had declared an Interest in relation to this item insofar as he was a housing tenant of Tendring District Council. He thereupon withdrew from the meeting whilst Council considered this item and reached its decision thereon.

Further to Minute 104 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 30 January 2026, the Council considered the Executive’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget proposals for 2026/27 (including fees and charges, capital programme and movement in HRA balances).

It was reported that there had only been a very limited number of changes since Cabinet met on 30 January 2026, which had been reflected in Appendices A to E to report A.2, as necessary. The outcome of the changes required was a reduced deficit of £0.540m in 2026/27 compared with the figure of £0.650m reported to Cabinet in January. It was proposed to fund this estimated deficit by calling money from HRA balances as an alternative to potentially reducing expenditure.

Members were reminded that this approach continued to form part of a managed approach with the use of reserves seeking to maintain the necessary balance of ‘protecting’ the investment in tenants’ homes whilst recognising the need to use reserves to respond to the on-going financial challenges that the HRA continued to face. It was however recognised that this was not a sustainable long-term solution, but it enabled the Council to continue to meet its key priorities in the immediate term whilst acknowledging that future years of the forecast were expected to deliver offsetting annual surpluses from as early as 2028/29. Those future forecast surpluses were primarily achievable via the planned reduction in debt and interest costs, as outstanding loans were repaid and the longer-term certainty provided by the Government’s commitment to a ten-year rent setting policy of CPI + 1%.

Council was informed that, for 2026/27, the Executive’s budget proposals set out an increase in dwelling rents of 4.8% along with a total HRA expenditure budget of £18.883m (net of indirect income / expenditure)and a capital programme totalling £6.900m. The 4.8% increase in dwelling rents resulted in an average weekly rent of £108.46 in 2026/27 (£103.49 in 2025/26).

Appendix C to report A.2 set out the proposed fees and charges for 2026/27, which broadly reflected inflationary uplifts of 4.8% where relevant, or other inflationary changes to better reflect the cost of providing the associated service.

Members were cognisant that the proposed budget reflected the continued repayment of debt, with the total level of existing debt falling from £31.120m to £29.706m at the end of 2026/27.

The HRA general balance was forecast to total £2.234m at the end of 2026/27, which retained a strong financial position against which the associated HRA 30 Year Business Plan could continue to be delivered / developed.

Members were aware that the HRA balances, together with the proposed rent increase for 2026/27 were important elements of delivering a financially sustainable HRA in the longer term. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 109.

The Council will consider any urgent matters submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 2(viii).

No urgent matters had been submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 2(viii) for this meeting.