The Committee is asked to note and comment on this report that details the proposed changes to fees and charges across the Council for the financial year 2021-22.

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v  Part of the budget making process, an annual review of fees and charges reflects on the challenges the Council faces and has potential impact on the budget proposal.

v  Fees and charges would be increased by rate of inflation with rounding, fees and charges come in different categories some are statutory set by government, majority is set locally and described as being discretionary e.g. parking and use of leisure centres and used to help balance the budget pressures faced by the Council.

v  Some fees and charges being more contentious e.g. parking control because of the supplementary charges on diesels vehicles and a proxy for emissions or three car households for additional third car or differential charge rate on engine sizes for a proxy for emissions from vehicles. Some of these are recent policies so may be above rate of inflation.

v  Charges have increased for street trader accounts (market traders) which is ringfenced account to pay for its own costs including cleansing and inspection.

v  Some of the charges will be subject to an equalities impact assessment decision will be delegated assessment in consultation with lead Members and vary these if they are in breach of the equality policies.

v  Council also benchmarks the fees and charges against other local authorities and are prepared to make adjustments if there are variation inconsistencies.

v  Committee questioned why fees and charges were showing significant increase above the inflation rate across the Council and further suggested rounding up to the nearest pound (£) or pence in the future.

v  Huge variations within a directorates and services that council offers so comparison for fees and charges is not like for like.   

v  Future interpretations of fees and charges should go back to Scrutiny (informally) to ensure clarity and avoid in accurate answers.  

v  Committee questioned the charges for resident permits parking (in Band ‘A’ being significantly high) and market traders pitch can be reconsidered because of the impact of the pandemic.

v  Committee asked if the situation with the pandemic remained the same or became worse, is there scope to freeze the parking charges and to qualify any projections that savings/ income generated will arise from fees and charges.

v  Committee questioned if the increases to the community hub space charges and rental (income source to the Council) will act as a deterrent to people using the assets including market trader fees.

v  To consider better ways of comparing rises in fees and charges e.g. market pitches and parking charges.

v  The policy on increasing parking charges assists in the reduction of unnecessary car use/ownership and aims to address the levels of congestion in what is one of the most densely populated local authorities in the country.

v  LBTH considers that their charges are comparable with or lower than those of other councils.

v  Increasing in parking charges is consistent with policy position agreed and outside of this increase would-be set-in line with CPI rate of inflation and is also influenced by policy drivers such as congestion and air pollution.

v  Estate Parking Charges are managed by a separate Tower Hamlets Homes Policy and are out of the fees and charges scope.

v  Vehicle pollution varies because of different reasons and those that are larger in size tend to be bigger polluters and are not eco-friendly. The larger vehicles use up more fuel and release a lot of pollutants into the ecosystem. Therefore, it made sense to consider proportionate charges for larger engine vehicles; for second and third vehicles per household.

v  Mayor indicated that he is open to representations from the Scrutiny Committee on particular circumstances where the charge is considered intolerable because of the pandemic.

v  Committee felt that the charges were going up parking charges were increasing yearly and that there were some inconsistencies, the Committee also indicated it would welcome examining (via a sub-Committee) some of the parking policies and charges. 

v  Committee queried the differential between some of the different charges in particular the significant increase in market pitch fees/ charges for fruit and veg (regular traders) and feasibility implications for fruit and veg market traders and asked for reflection on the 185% increase on charges.

v  Markets work under a ringfenced trading account and are meant to pay their own costs; fruit and veg stores create a lot of waste.

v  Mayor indicated that he would consider a scrutiny or examination of how the Council can make markets better in different parts of the borough.

v  The street trading account reports states it has a huge deficit and that waste costs are considerable and factors in employing market inspectors to regulate and issue and manage the licenses. 

v  If there are particular comments from scrutiny, the Mayor is happy to re-visit.

v  The proposed changes to fees and charges across the Council for the financial year 2021-22 will be deferred to Cabinet on 27^th January, 2021 to allow for further examination in detail.

v  On markets the fees and charges charging £1K per year for a Saturday pitch let alone what they would pay Monday to Friday would seem to be completely counterproductive.