Agenda and draft minutes

To approve and sign the minutes of the Customer Focus Scrutiny Committees held on 22 January 2026 and 19 March 2026.

The minutes of the meetings held on the 22 January 2026 and 19 March 2026 were taken as read and signed by the Chair as correct.

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests that relate to business on the agenda and which have not already been included in the register of interests, before any discussion takes place on the item. Unless the interest is sensitive, you must also disclose the nature of the interest. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, you must then leave the room and must not participate in any further discussion of the item. Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made by Members.

The Head of Service – Customers and Communities presented a brief update making the following points:

• that he wanted to clarify what the committee wanted from the report later in the year;
• in March 2026 Council agreed the consultation and engagement strategy which included provision for an annual report which would include information from surveys;
• Engage Exeter went live in 2023 since which nine surveys had been carried out, two were live now regarding the city centre and cultural strategies. Over 3000 responses from residents had been received with the top surveys being Wild Exeter, the current Cultural with over 500 responses and the Neighbourhood CIL survey with over 300 responses; and
• levels of reach and participation, accessibility, inclusivity and how consultation has informed decision making would all be included in the annual report.

The Head of Service – Customers and Communities responded to a question from a member stating that co-creation would take place for future surveys.

The Chair stated that the annual report would provide a good overview and members’ could look before the next meeting and clarify any further detail required.

Details of questions should be notified to the Democratic Services Manager via the democratic.services@exeter.gov.uk email by at least three clear working days prior to the meeting. For this meeting any questions must be submitted by on Friday 12 June 2026.

For details about how to speak at Committee, please use the following link: https://exeter.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/councillors-and-meetings/public-speaking-at-meetings/overview/

There were no questions submitted by members of the public.

To receive questions from Members of the Council to the relevant Portfolio Holders for this Scrutiny Committee. The Portfolio Holders reporting to this Scrutiny Committee are:

Councillor Bialyk – Leader of the Council

Councillor R. Williams – Deputy Leader and Support Services and City Management

Councillor Atkinson – Housing and Homelessness Prevention

Councillor Wood – Leisure Services, Healthy Living and Public Realm Management

Advance questions from Members relating to the Portfolio Holders above should be notified to Democratic Services via democratic.services@exeter.gov.uk

In accordance with Standing Order No. 20, the following question was submitted by Councillor Terry in relation to the Portfolio of Councillor Ruth Williams who attended the meeting. The question was circulated at the meeting to Members of the Committee. The response of the Portfolio Holder is set out below:

Question: Brown bin collections contribute well to out waste income stream and contribute to our recycling rates. Could we increase the use of this service? What barriers deter residents subscribing to brown bins?

Response: The garden waste service has been actively promoted over recent years, rising from 8,238 taking up the service in 2022/23 to 12,381 customers being part of the service as of the 31 March 2026. The service in their presentation to Customer Scrutiny in March 2026 set out their communications plans which needs to cover all waste streams that contribute to Exeter’s recycling rate. In line with this plan, promotion of the garden waste service took place at the start of the garden waste season with a press release issued on 6 March 2026, an e bulleting circulated to subscribers on 14 March 2026 and a prominent article in the spring edition of the Exeter Citizen informing residents of the service. In addition to this, social media channels including the service’s own Denis the Dustcart are used to promote the garden waste service. 

Exeter, being an urban area, means that a significant percentage of its 61,810 properties do not have gardens unlike our rural neighbours. In addition, we are a city that can pride itself in producing one of the lowest amounts of waste per head of the household than other parts of England. Those residents who choose not to take up the service can be for a variety of reasons including having effective home composters, wormeries or preferring to take their waste to one of the two household waste recycling centres as and when they produce garden waste. However, our cost-effective garden waste collection service provides a reliable collection service for the keen gardeners of the city that take up the service between February and November each year. 

In a supplementary question Councillor Terry ask if a concession might be offered where the cost of a brown bin was prohibitive and Councillor Ruth Williams responded stating that the cost was at the lower end of what was charged by others and a smaller bin was available as well as disposable sacks which worked out at £3.50 each as well as the free option for residents to take their garden waste to one of the two centres and this was working well currently.

In accordance with Standing Order No. 20, the following question was submitted by Councillor Terry in relation to the Portfolio of Councillor Ruth Williams who attended the meeting. The question was circulated at the meeting to Members of the Committee. The response of the Portfolio Holder is set out below:

Question: I welcome the promise of Cllr Williams (in the minutes from last meeting)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To receive the report of the Strategic Director for Corporate Resources.

The Head of Service – Finance presented the reports making the following points:

• that there had been a late revision to the Overview of the General Fund report ahead of its presentation to Council on 16 June, due to the Business Rates Pool;
• the reason for the changes had been that a schedule had been received from Plymouth regarding the Business Rate Pool, which materially affected the figures for closing 2025/26 but was mitigated in 2027/28 due to the way the Business Rates Pool operated;
• the section 151 officer was comfortable that the changes posed no issues to the Council’s overall Medium Term Financial Plan;
• this was a report brought on behalf of all services across the council so it may be necessary to refer questions back to the relevant head of service;

• the Capital Monitoring report highlighted the challenges of spending in the capital programme as £5.5million had been spent rather than the planned £40million but the Strategic Asset Management Board were now actively reviewing the programme and there had been increased spend already in this financial year with the acquisition of the new recycling facility; and
• the outturn of the Housing revenue Account(HRA) was broadly in line with the in-year forecast with only two year-end variances to draw to Members attention; an underspend in respect of repairs and maintenance due to the time required to mobilise a new contract, which is requested to be carried forward as a supplementary budget in 2026/27 and there had been additional income from rental of housing stock due to a reduction in voids, in number and duration as well as a reduction in rent arrears.

The Head of Service – Finance responded to Members’ questions in the following terms:

• the spend detailed on page 45 to bring an asset back to a serviceable condition was required under the original lease but she would feed back the suggestion that lease clauses were reviewed in relation to reinstatement; and
• an update on the restructure of the assets team and any tangible benefits would be obtained from the relevant Head of Service and reported back to Members.

In response to a question the Chair advised the committee that the Strategic Director for Corporate Resources had advised on the best time to schedule scrutiny of the budget.

Following a unanimous vote the Customer Focus Scrutiny Committee noted the Quarter 4 Budget reports.

To receive an update from the Head of Service Finance.

The Head of Service – Finance presented the report making the following points:

• the Medium Term Financial Plan was last presented to Council in February as part of approving the 2026/27 budget and covered up to 2028/9 due to the three-year settlement from government;
• the outcome of the fair funding review meant a balanced budget could be set but a saving would be required next year;
• a pay award indication had been received which was 0.8% higher than that budgeted for, an extra £0.25million;
• the year end position had been finalised for the General Fund which was set to benefit from additional business rate income however, this would not be received until the next financial year but was within the Medium Term Financial Plan(MTFP);
• it was possible to set aside funds to support Local Government Reorganisation transition and negate the need to find £1million in savings as well as mitigate the higher pay award; and
• the MTFP was in a healthy position and the section 151 officer was comfortable with the position as Exeter City Council came to an end and a new authority began.

The Head of Service – Finance responded to questions in the following terms:

• any over or underspends in 2025/26 were reflected in the latest MTFP; and
• there would be movement to and from the Council’s reserves but the General Fund working balance would not fall below that which was prudent. A risk-based method of calculation was used to inform the minimum level of reserves; and
• if Members subsequently made decisions to spend additional monies identify compensating savings would need to be identified.

Following a unanimous vote the Customer Focus Scrutiny Committee noted the report.

To receive the report of the Scrutiny Programme Board.

The report of the Scrutiny Programme Board was deferred as the Chair, Councillor Matthew Williams was not present.

The Chair informed the committee that the petitioner had chosen not to present their petition to the committee as a similar business was due to open in the unit vacated by Little Exeter.

A member commented that it was a shame that Little Exeter wasn’t able to continue but was happy to see that a similar facility would soon open.

The committee noted that the petition had been received.

Please see for noting a link to the schedule of future business proposed for the Council which can be viewed on the Council's web site. This on-line document is a source for Members to raise issues at Scrutiny on forthcoming Executive agenda items:

https://exeter.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/councillors-and-meetings/forward-plan-of-executive-decisions/

Also attached is a draft work plan of future scrutiny items.

Should Members wish to raise issues in respect of future business please notify Liz Smith in advance of the meeting.

Following a unanimous vote the plan as amended was AGREED.