Cabinet Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda. 

There were no declarations of interest made.

To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 31 March 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 31 March 2025 were agreed as a correct record.

To receive questions from the public in accordance with the Constitution.

Questions, of no longer than 50 words, can be submitted to the Democratic Support Unit, Plymouth City Council, Ballard House, Plymouth, PL1 3BJ, or email to democraticsupport@plymouth.gov.uk. Any questions must be received at least five clear working days before the date of the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public.

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) introduced the Provisional Revenue and Capital Outturn 2024/25.

Having considered the report  Cabinet agreed to:

1.    Note the Provisional Revenue Outturn position for the year to 31 March 2025, delivering a balanced budget despite the challenges faced

2.    Note the closing position included a release of £1.137m from the Collection Fund plus a draw down of £3.913m from other reserves to balance the outturn to the approved budget;

3.    Note the audit sign-off of the backlog of Statement of Accounts resulted in a reprofiling of the Minimum Revenue Provision charge which resulted in a release of £5.170m from the brought forward reserve;

4.    Note the Provisional Capital Outturn position for the year totals £109.309m, of which £72.997m(67%) was funded by grants or other external sources;

5. Recommend the Report to Full Council 2 June 2025.

Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) introduced the Provisional Revenue and Capital Outturn 2024/25, and discussed:

a)     The report was provisional, subject to external auditing as well as scrutiny at the Audit and Governance Committee;

b)    A balanced budget position had been achieved, maintaining working balances at 5% of the net Revenue Budget;

c)     The Council’s Revenue Budget was £241 million, with a gross budget of £625 million;

d)    Achieving a balanced budget was a significant achievement, particularly given the challenges faced this year which included inflation, the cost of living, national living wage increases and increased demand for services;

e)     Reserves had been drawn down for Children's Services, Adult Social Care, and Special Educational Needs;

f)      Directorate overspends had been addressed with other underspends, and use of corporate resources;

g)     83% of the Council’s net Revenue Budget was spent on the provision of care for children, adults and homelessness;

h)    The Capital Programme budget had been set at £120 million however, only £109 million had been spent (91%);

i)      £72.9 million of Capital Programme expenditure had been funded through grants and/or external funding;

j)      Key Capital projects included:

                         i.         Woolwell to the George

                       ii.         Railway Station Regeneration

                      iii.         Housing projects to tackle homelessness

                      iv.         Net Zero Ambitions

                       v.         Zero Emissions Busses

                      vi.         Freeport

                     vii.         Armada Way Regeneration

                   viii.         Highway Maintenance

                      ix.         Drainage

                       x.         National Marine Park

k)     Thanks were given to officers and members who had worked to achieve the balance budget position despite the significant challenges faced.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) added:

l)      It was important to promote a list of the many accomplishments achieved this year;

m)   There had been considerable negativity circulating regarding performance of the authority, which was undeserved;

n)    Some opposition members had claimed that the Council was close to bankruptcy, which was false;

o)    The Council was well financially managed despite many pressures and strains;

p)    The Leader challenged the opposition to ‘cease and desist’ with ‘talking the Council down’, which was dangerous and misleading.

Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) added:

q)    It was important and appropriate for the Council to borrow, in order to invest in projects within the City. This drove employment, growth, business rates, and infrastructure improvements;

r)     Interest rates and financing costs were transparently set out in the Treasury Management section of the report.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) added:

s)     The Council borrowed to provide investment in assets to drive growth, jobs, entertainment, housing and more;

t)     The Council’s borrowing was not an outlier in comparison to others, and was a sensible strategy which generated income;

u)    Borrowing was a responsible investment in the future, and was not utilised to offset the annual revenue budget;

v)     Thanks were expressed to the officers who had worked tirelessly and diligently to ensure a balanced budget was achieved.

The Cabinet agreed to:

1.     Note the Provisional Revenue Outturn position for the year to 31 March 2025, delivering a balanced budget  ...  view the full minutes text for item 140.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) introduced the Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) update, and discussed:

a)     The importance of LGR for the future of the Council.

Ross Jago (Head of Devolution and LGR) added:

b)    Since the submission of the Interim Plan in March 2025, the LGR team had established the work programme required to deliver a detailed proposal submission in November 2025;

c)     The detailed proposal would extend Plymouth City Council’s boundaries to include 13 neighbouring parishes, as part of the ‘Plymouth Growth Area’;

d)    The Government had indicated that feedback on interim proposals would be provided in early May 2025, which would help shape the detailed proposal;

e)     The Council were working with neighbouring local authorities to share data and understand finances, service delivery costs and savings opportunities across the expanded area;

f)      An engagement programme would be launched shortly to ensure that local voices were heard throughout the process;

g)     Community meetings were ongoing and an online platform established to gather feedback. This would enable the creation of a detailed proposal which reflected  the needs of all communities and demonstrated how Plymouth’s growth plans would deliver better services and greater financial sustainability for existing and potentially new residents;

h)    Engagement events with various other authorities and parishes had been undertaken by the team, with attendance from Cabinet Members;

i)      Meetings had been positive, and had identified shared topics of concern across Plymouth and neighbouring parishes. These included affordable housing, potholes, traffic and bus timetables;

j)      It was important to protect local identities, and the team would continue to work with parish councils to deliver a programme of meaningful engagement events;

k)     While the impact of the local elections was not yet clear, they would likely have a significant impact for Devon’s proposal.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) added:

l)      There would be significant political change across Devon and Cornwall, with new administrations established. This would affect the proposals put forward.

In response to questions, the Cabinet discussed:

m)   Devon County Council did not have the authority to veto the proposals put forward to Government by Plymouth. It remained a Government decision as to which proposal they wished to take forward, and how consultation would be undertaken;

n)    It was anticipated that a draft formal proposal would be available to the Cabinet in October 2025, in advance of the November 2025 submission. Council endorsement would also be sought before submission to Government;

o)    The Government had issued desires for county areas to agree on a common proposal however, this remained a challenge. Nationally, other areas had struggled to reach a consensus.

The Cabinet agreed to:

1.     Note the update report;

2.     Thank Ross Jago and the LRG team for their ongoing work.

Councillor Chris Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) introduced the item and highlighted:

a)     The programme aimed to improve the lives of 20% of the population in Plymouth who were identified as being in poverty;

b)    The ambition was to reduce the number of people who entered poverty, and to alleviate the impact on those who were living in poverty;

c)     The programme was linked to the Plymouth Plan;

d)    It was important to link with partners across the city to work together;

e)     It was important that this work was informed by lived experiences;

f)      Rather than focusing on small projects, the focus would be on the impact Plymouth City Council (PCC) and partners had on children and young people when tackling poverty, aiming to stop children and young people from suffering through poverty.

Nick Shaw (Public Health Registrar) added:

g)     It was important to create an environment where people:

                         i.         Didn’t fall into poverty;

                       ii.         Could lift themselves out of poverty;

                      iii.         Could experience less harm through poverty;

h)    It was also important to look at strategies, plans and initiatives through these ‘lenses’;

i)      The team had worked with partners across the system to gather ideas on how to reduce poverty in Plymouth, as well as using previous work and data to influence future projects;

j)      The  guiding principles for the programme were:

                         i.         A whole system approach;

                       ii.         For life course;

                      iii.         Trauma informed;

                      iv.         Co-produced;

                       v.         Linked to Thrive Plymouth;

k)     Emerging themes included:

                         i.         Maximising of income for local people;

                       ii.         Community strengthening;

                      iii.         Optimising transport links;

                      iv.         Optimising the local economy;

                       v.         Improving access to and quality of homes and housing;

l)      Moving forward, the team would work with some smaller groups of system representatives to make sense of the data through the three poverty ‘lenses’ and to generate themes to develop the framework;

m)   The team would map existing plans, strategies and services against the themes to highlight strengths and weaknesses within the system;

n)    An appropriate set of metrics for each theme would be developed and work would also be measured against UK Government Child Poverty strategy;

o)    There would be formal recognition of the Child Poverty Cabinet Advisory Group role in this programme from the perspective of the impact of poverty on children.

Councillor Chris Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) added:

p)    This work would be carried out in line with the new economic plan;

q)     The average wage for men was higher than that for women in Plymouth, by about 21%, which would have knock-on short and long term negative effects on women;

r)     With regards to the national median wage, 50% of men in Plymouth earnt more, and 50% earnt less, whereas 20% of women earnt more and 80% of women early less in Plymouth;

s)     50% of women working in Plymouth earnt less that the FTE (full time equivalent) of the National Living Wage;

t)     Skills development and community development was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 142.

Councillor Chris Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) introduced the report and highlighted:

a)     He had committed to taking a homelessness update to the Housing and Community Services Scrutiny Panel every six months;

b)    Levels of homelessness had significantly increased, putting a substantial pressure on the Council’s budget;

c)     Before the COVID19 pandemic, Bed and Breakfast and temporary accommodation cost £800,000 per year, the current cost was £4.6 million;

d)    The increase in homelessness was not caused by any failing of the Council, however, the Council had legal responsibilities to provide homelessness services, and was under immense pressure;

e)     The private rented sector was reducing as many people no longer wanted to be landlords;

f)      Affordable housing was being put into the market, but people were moving less often than in the past meaning less was available, and some affordable housing was being allocated to relieve homelessness, which removed more from the system for people who wanted to move for other reasons;

g)     The lead in time build more homes were long, resource to get houses built was low and viability issues were getting worse;

h)    PCC was working with partners to prevent people from becoming homelessness;

i)      The sooner people informed the Council that they might be at risk of becoming homeless, the sooner the Council might be able to find a solution, preventing someone from becoming homeless;

j)      The team were also looking at how to stop people from becoming ‘stuck’ in the system and finding people permanent accommodation;

k)     There was a successful and supportive multi-agency system in place for homeless people;

l)      PCC was working with partners to use Local Authority Housing Funds (LAHF) to purchase houses for temporary accommodation, as well as to support the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS);

m)   It was especially important that children were in longer-term, better equipped and better supported temporary accommodation if it was required, rather than being in B&B’s;

n)    Expressed his thanks to the Bournemouth Church Housing Association (BCHA) and Plymouth Access to Housing (PATH) for working with the Council on accommodation based solutions;

o)    A Plan for Homes 1 Year review would go to Scrutiny and Cabinet later in 2025;

p)    Expressed his thanks to everyone involved in improvising homelessness in the city who were all doing amazing work across the Council and partners.

Matt Garrett (Service Director for Community Connections) added:

q)    The teams were working very hard to improve homelessness rates across the city, and the report included some positive feedback received.

In response to questions the following was discussed:

r)     In future reports both the capital and revenue costs of the service would be included;

s)     Not all people who were homeless were rough sleepers, and homelessness was a very complex issue.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) asked:

t)     Thanks be given to the team for the hard work they did every day to support people across the city, from the Cabinet;

u)    New opportunities with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 143.

The Cabinet agreed a change to the order of business, to consider items in the following order:

1.     Item 12, LGA Update

2.     Item 11, Cabinet Member Updates

3.     Item 10, Leader’s Announcements

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) delivered the Local Government Reorganisation (LGA) update and discussed:

a)     As a result of recent local elections in various authorities across the country, there had been some changes to the proportionality of the LGA;

b)    Nationally, Labour remained the largest party in local government, with 6,122 Labour councillors. There were 4,400 Conservative Councillors, 3,197 Liberal Democrat councillors, 895 Green Party councillors, 812 Reform councillors, 480 SNP councillors, 201 Plaid Cymru councillors and 2,546 other councillors. There remained 49 vacancies, with 18645 councillors in total;

c)     Of 370 councils, 153 were led by Labour (either in full control or as the largest party in no overall control). Conservatives led 65 councils, Liberal Democrats 72, Green Party 12, Reform 9, SNP 13, Plaid Cymru 4, and 34 councils were led by ‘others’;

d)    The LGA had recently published a report regarding Local Government Reorganisation and the application of cyber, digital and technology considerations;

e)     As of the 23 April 2025, the LGA had signed a memorandum of understanding with  Tech UK, presenting a step forward to advancing digital transformation across the local government sector;

f)      The LGA had recently created a Cyber Incident Grab Bag for local authorities, providing a resource for responding to cyber incidents. Councils were under constant threat of cyber attacks and it was important to deliver training to staff and members;

g)     Delt Shared Services had significantly increased cyber investment in recent years from £50 thousand to £500 thousand, reflecting the constant threat. The Council had invested in greater technical controls in line with national Cyber Security Centre recommendations.

The Cabinet agreed to note the update.

Councillor Jemima Laing (Deputy Leader of the Council, and Cabinet Member for Children's Social Care, Culture and Communications) delivered the following updates:

a)     Congratulations were offered on behalf of the Cabinet to the staff at Downham House, a Plymouth City Council registered children’s home, which had been judged as ‘good’ in all areas of inspection by Ofsted;

b)    A new exhibition, “Forbidden Territories”, would be opening at The Box towards the end of May 2025;

c)     Work on three youth centres in Plymouth was progressing as part of the Youth Investment Fund programme. The main building works at Frederick Street were due for completion by the end of May 2025, and the building works at Efford and Honicknowle would be completed towards the end of June 2025. Services would then be slowly re-introduced, and test events held. The buildings would be formally unveiled in September 2025;

d)    The new services offered at Efford and Honicknowle would include:

                          i.         A brand new Williams F1 e-sports hub, the first of its kind in the Southwest;

                         ii.         High-spec gaming PC’s, where young people could develop basic computing, programming and gaming skills;

                        iii.         Five racing simulators allowing competition in global events.

e)     The project hoped to introduce digital courses, school trips, and work experiences opportunities through the Williams partnership;

f)      The project was expanding partnerships with the University of Plymouth and  Foulston Park, to progress developments.

Councillor Sally Haydon (Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Libraries, Events, Cemeteries and Crematoria) delivered the following updates:

g)     In relation to Bereavement Services, the Park had recently held its second open day, attracting approximately 400 visitors, despite having only opened nine months ago;

h)    The team received overwhelmingly positive comments regarding the building, surroundings and friendly/approachable staff, on social media;

i)      A ballerina from Birmingham Royal Ballet had performed at local libraries, enabling engagement with individuals who would not usually be able to attend or afford Ballet shows;

j)      Staff at Plympton Library had completed a successful partnership with Libraries Connected and Natural England by delivering bird watching walks at Haywood Park, combating loneliness within the community;

k)     The community garden at St Budeaux Library had opened on 01 May 2025, with funding from local councillors and grants. This provided a valuable community space, which would be utilised for events and community cohesion.

Councillor Tom Briars Delve (Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change) delivered the following updates:

l)      Over 35,000 trees had been planted across Plymouth last year, a significant increase from 4,000 the year before;

m)   A Ministry of Defence (MoD) scheme near Ernesettle had utilised over £300,000 of grant funding for the cultivation a new woodland, which overlooked the Tamar Bridge;

n)    In 2024/25, 658 standard and fruit trees had been established, which was nearly double that of the previous year;

o)    Thanks were expressed to staff, community groups and landowners for enabling the success of an unprecedented planting year. Particular mentions included the Plymouth Tree People, Headway, SocieTree, the Ho Gardening Group, Plymouth  ...  view the full minutes text for item 145.

Councillor Tudor Evans OBE (The Leader of the Council) delivered the following updates:

a)    There had been considerable misinformation within the Directly Elected Mayor Campaign however, under guidance, the Council was largely prevented from correcting misinformation;

b)    The ‘Yes’ campaign had suggested that there were over two dozen mayors in the country, implying that Directly Elected Mayors were commonplace. Of 370 councils nationwide, only 13 of those had Directly Elected Mayors;

c)    Combined Authority Mayors differed to Directly Elected Mayors, and held different powers and did not hold any greater powers than that of the current governance system;

d)    The existing mayors were located in:

                  i.        Bedford Borough Council

                 ii.        The London Borough of Croydon Council

                iii.        Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council

                iv.        Leicester City Council

                 v.        The London Borough of Hackney Council

                vi.        The London Borough of Lewisham Council

               vii.        The London Borough of Newham Council

              viii.        The London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council

                ix.        Mansfield District Council

                 x.        Middlesborough Borough Council

                xi.        North Townside Metropolitan Council

              xii.        Salford City Council

             xiii.        Watford Borough Council

e)    None of the ten largest cities in the country had a Directly Elected Mayor;

f)     All of the Directly Elected Mayors were affiliated to political parties, and it would not be true to say that these mayors were ‘unaligned’;

g)    This meeting would be Councillor Coker’s last meeting as a Cabinet Member. Councillor Coker had served as a councillor since 2012, during which time he secured record investment for the City, and attained many awards as the portfolio holder for transport;

h)    Cabinet passed on their tremendous thanks to Councillor Coker for his hard work and dedication to the Council and the residents of Plymouth;

i)     Councillor Coker’s accomplishments included:

                      i.        the relocation of Plymouth Coach Station, facilitating development of the Barcode

                     ii.        the Marjon Link Road Bus Priority scheme

                    iii.        the Derriford Hospital Bus Interchange

                    iv.        the Derriford Road Improvement scheme

                     v.        the Northern Corridor Junction Improvement scheme, tackling bottlenecks

                    vi.        the Charles Cross scheme, tackling the most congested junction in the city

                  vii.        the Plymouth Road scheme,

                 viii.        the Morlaix Drive Bus Priority scheme

                   ix.        the Forder Valley Link Road and Forder Valley Interchange schemes, which opened up great opportunities in the Northern Corridor

j)     Future schemes for delivery included the Woolwell to the George scheme, the Major Road Network Road Improvement scheme between Marshmills and Camels Head, and the Manadon Junction reconfiguration;

k)    81% of the funding for the improvement schemes came from outside sources, and success was due to the tireless work of Councillor Coker and Officers to attract funding;

l)     The Sustainable Transport program had seen £38.4 million of investment in walking and cycling measures, as well as bus infrastructure measures;

m)  Throughout May 2025, over 50 electric buses were introduced in the city;

n)    As part of the Transforming Cities Fund, over £149 million of investment had been undertaken in the City, including:

                  i.        the installation of 50 mobility hubs across the city

                 ii.        the provision of walking  ...  view the full minutes text for item 146.