West Bridgford Special Expenses

Contents

West Bridgford Special Expenses 2025-26

Constitution - West Bridgford Special Expenses

West Bridgford Special Expenses Meetings

West Bridgford Special Expenses 2025-26

On Tuesday 11 February 2025, the 2025/26 Budget and Financial Strategy was presented to Cabinet. Details of the West Bridgford Special Expenses for the coming year were contained within this report and are as follows:

2. Recommendations

It is recommended that Cabinet RECOMMENDS to Council that it:

e. sets the Special Expenses for 2025/26 for West Bridgford, Appendix 1, resulting in the following Band D Council Tax levels for the West Bridgford Special Expense Area:

i) West Bridgford £64.84 (£59.44 in 2024/25)

4.2 The salient points within the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) are as follows (MTFS report (Annex) references in parenthesis):

b. Special Expenses increasing to £1.012m (£0.928m 2024/25) and taking into effect tax base changes, this results in Band D charges for West Bridgford increasing by £5.40 to £64.84 (£59.44 in 2024/25).

Funding Analysis for Special Expenses Areas

Funding Analysis for Special Expenses Areas
Category	2024/25 £	2025/26 £	Change %
West Bridgford	-	-	-
Parks and Playing Fields	486,700.00	496,000.00	-
West Bridgford Town Centre	115,100.00	117,400.00	-
Community Halls	101,300.00	131,300.00	-
Repayment of revenue deficit	7,300.00	16,000.00	-
Revenue contribution to capital outlay	75,000.00	100,000.00	-
Annuity charges	98,000.00	110,400.00	-
Sinking Fund	20,000.00	20,000.00
Total	903,400	991,100.00	-
Tax Base	15,199.40	15,285.10	-
Special Expense Tax	59.44	64.84	9.08%

More information can be found in the 2025/26 Budget and Financial Strategy report.

Background to Special Expenses

The concept of ‘special expenses’ dates back to the Local Government Act (LGA) 1933. Further provision was made in the LGA 1972. Section 147 of that Act deemed all expenses to be general unless the district council, by resolution, declared any expenses to be special expenses only chargeable on part of their area.

The current provisions are set out in S35 of the LGFA 1992 which lists limited categories of expense which may be treated by a billing authority as ‘special expenses’. These restrictions first appeared in the LGFA 1988 (S33).

The categories of special expense provided for in S35 of the 1992 Act are:

The expenses of meeting a levy or special levy issued to the billing authority;
Relate to expenses arising in respect of property held in trust for part of the area;
Any expenses incurred by the billing authority in performing in part of its area a function performed elsewhere in its area by a parish council;
Any expenses incurred in performing in part of its area a function performed elsewhere in its area by a body with a power to issue a levy or special levy to it.

The categories of special expense provided for in S35 of the 1992 Act are:

The expenses of meeting a levy or special levy issued to the billing authority;
Relate to expenses arising in respect of property held in trust for part of the area;
Any expenses incurred by the billing authority in performing in part of its area a function performed elsewhere in its area by a parish council;
Any expenses incurred in performing in part of its area a function performed elsewhere in its area by a body with a power to issue a levy or special levy to it.

For Rushcliffe Borough Council the following have been deemed special expenses:

Parks and Playing fields:
1. Bridgford Park
2. West Park (including Julien Cahn)
3. Abbey Park
4. Alford Road
5. Bridge Field
6. The Hook
7. Boundary Road
Children’s Play Areas:
1. Adbolton Lane
2. Oaktree Close
3. Carnarvon Road
4. Denton Drive
5. Greythorn Drive
6. Boundary Road
Allotments
Community Halls – Lutterell and Gamston
Christmas Illuminations in West Bridgford
West Bridgford market and other events (e.g. outdoor Cinema)
Musters Road Memorial Gardens
Provision of seats, litter bins, and notice boards in West Bridgford
Annuity Charges for capital projects for assets listed above. For these, the initial outlay is met by capital receipts and it is recharged to West Bridgford Tax Payers through an annuity.
Revenue contribution to capital outlay for capital works to play areas.

Constitution (extract) - West Bridgford Special Expenses Group

Membership

Chair of the Group to be the Finance Portfolio Holder
Group to comprise of nine Councillors, the Chair as detailed above, and eight other councillors allocated according to the principles of proportionality across the council. Members will be West Bridgford ward members, subject to proportionality across all committees and groups being maintained.
Substitutes are permitted.

Terms of Reference

Group Purpose

The purpose of this Group is to make recommendations in relation to both Special Expenses and the neighbourhood portion of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) in relation to the non-parished West Bridgford area, that are forwarded to both Cabinet and/or Full Council for approval.

The Group will achieve this by:

Recommending a draft budget for approval by Full Council (to work within the parameters of the existing MTFS, for example council tax referendum limits)
Reviewing the progress of the budget
Approving the actual allocation of the neighbourhood portion of CIL relating to West Bridgford – which will be subject to public consultation.

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