Cabinet gave consideration to the report of the Head of Housing and Community that detailed the latest review of the Council’s fees and charges for 2021/22 and the proposed recommended increases.  Fees and charges were reviewed each year taking into account the increased need to recover the total cost of the services provided and the cost of inflation, assumed at 0.5%.  The anticipated income from these charges was built into the draft Revenue Budget for 2021/22.  Charges were rounded to the nearest 25p if under £50.00 or the nearest £1.00 if over £50.00.

The majority of the fees and charges within the appendices were recommended to increase at 0.5% with the following exceptions:

Allotments (Appendix 1): Following the establishment of the Bexhill-on-Sea Parish (Town) Council, responsibility and legalities of the allotments would transfer and the new rates would be set and agreed by the new Parish (Town) Council. Therefore, it was recommended that the allotment charges remained unchanged for 2021/22.

Beach and Foreshore (Appendix 3): As beach huts remained in high demand, it was recommended that the fees be increased by £9 per licence to £530 per annum at 1.7% for 2021/22.  It was also recommended that charges for Seasonal Tent sites increased by 1.7% to £368 for the six months season.  Other foreshore services e.g. winch and boat licences would increase at 0.5%.

Car Parking (Appendix 4): As a result of the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE), the Council had introduced car parking charges to car parks that were previously free, changed some existing charges and aligned some charges with equivalent areas in the district.  In October 2020, an Off-Street Car Parks Task and Finish Group had been established to consider the impact of CPE on the Council’s off-street car parks.  Therefore, it was recommended that the car parking charges remained unchanged for 2021/22 until the Task and Finish Group had concluded their investigations.  Due to significant increase in costs to manage Camber Western Car park during 2020, it was recommended that the summer season tariffs (from 1 April to 30 September) be increased in all Camber Sands car parks.  The charges would be as follows: £6 (1 to 3 hours); £12 (3 to 6 hours); and £15 (for 6 hours +).

Bulky Waste Collection (Appendix 5a): It was recommended that the fee for the Council collecting one to three bulky waste items increased to £40.00.  Clarity was sought on whether the income achieved justified the costs of clearing up fly-tipping.  Members were advised that the cost to clear up one illegal waste deposit was approximately £70 per fly-tip.  Fly-tipping was an additional cost for the Council and appeared to be an increasing illegal activity across the District.  Officers were asked to closely monitor the income achieved against the cost of the service.

Garden Waste Collections (Appendix 5b): The charge for garden waste had been increased from 15 July 2020 to £40 for all new customers subscribing to the service.  As a result  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66