Agenda item

To present the report of the Scrutiny Manager and the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

The report of the Scrutiny Manager incorporating the report  of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer on the initial proposals for the 2020/21 Capital Budget was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Office in highlighting the main points and elaborating thereon –

•           Referred to the limited scope to consider various options for the Capital Budget in comparison with the Revenue Budget.

•           Outlined the principles of the Capital Strategy approved by the Executive in February, 2019 on which the draft Capital Budget for 2020/21 is based (paragraph 2.2 of the report refers).

•           Clarified with regard to funding the capital programme (Table 1 of the report) that the draft Local Government settlement figures encompass the General Capital Grant and Supported Borrowing; whilst capital grants for specific purposes have increased, the level of funding under both these headings has remained fairly constant over a number of years thereby limiting the Council’s options in terms of capital expenditure.

•           Confirmed a £500k allocation from the Capital Reserve (leaving a forecast balance of £640k) to meet any emergency capital works required during the year and/or provide match funding should the need arise.

•           Provided a rundown of the existing assets to be refurbished and/or replaced in line with the capital strategy approach, and the sums allocated thereto as per section 4.2 and Table 3 of the report adding that unless the Capital Grant is increased in future, the Council will find it difficult to achieve even the minimum of maintaining current assets.

•           Summarised the other one-off bids for additional funding approved by the Senior Leadership Team for inclusion in the 2020/21 capital programme after assessment by the Finance Team using the Capital Strategy scoring mechanism (Table 4 of the report refers – total recommended allocation £2.174m)

•           Referred to a number of other projects identified by the bidding process which do not require funding in 2020/21 but may need to be funded in 2021/22 or beyond as itemised in section 5.4 of the report.

•           Clarified the position with regard to 21st Century Schools’ capital programme and the Housing Revenue Account capital programme.

Councillor Dafydd Roberts, Chair of the Finance Scrutiny Panel reported from the Panel’s meeting of the 9 January, 2020 where it had given detailed consideration to the initial 2020/21 capital budget proposals. The Panel had recommended that the following proposals for the 2020/21 Capital Budget be supported –

•           Refurbishment/Replacement of assets £5.158m

•           New one off capital projects £1.924m

•           Leisure Facilities Improvement Fund £0.250m

•           21st Century Schools £9.039m

•           Housing Revenue Account £17.138m

Total New Expenditure £33.609m together with slippage of £3.294m from 2019/20 bringing the total Capital Budget for 2020/21 to £36.903m.

Having considered the report and the information presented verbally at the meeting, the Committee resolved to recommend the Capital Programme of £36.903m for 2020/21 as outlined, to the Executive.