Agenda item

To submit the report of the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

The report of the Head of Resources and Section 151 Officer incorporating a schedule of capital bids proposed by departments for inclusion in the 2016/17 to 2020/21 Capital Programme was presents for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Finance reported as follows –

•  That the items shaded on Appendix A to the report to the value of £26.301m are recommended  for inclusion in the Capital Programme for 2016/17 to 2020/21.Whilst the programme is an ambitious one, capital resources are shrinking partly because of the year on year reduction in the Council’s revenue stream.

•  An estimate of capital resources was prepared (Appendix C) against which the schedule of bids was compared.

•  To fund the proposed Capital Programme for 2016/17, it is recommended that the Authority undertake Unsupported Borrowing of £4.497m; Appendix D shows the cost of borrowing this amount over a number of years and, in the event that it is determined an alternative amount needs to be borrowed to fund more schemes, the cost of borrowing £1m, £5m and £10m over a 30 year period also shown.

•  To reduce the costs that come with borrowing, the Council needs to ensure that it is maximising capital receipts and as part of that endeavour, it will need to examine its portfolio of assets and their use for the future. There is a challenge for the Council in managing borrowing and generating a greater level of income.

The Head of Resources and Section 151 Officer said that although unsupported borrowing is higher than in previous years, it is linked to the two new 21st Century schools in Holyhead and Y Llannau and that process brings savings on the revenue side. The Officer said that the list of capital bids has been generated by a scoring matrix and he referred to two specific schemes in this context – the bid for a new waste collection system (weighted rank 33) which is included because of the revenue savings it will produce per annum and the Amlwch Extra Care Housing scheme which although it has scored highly is omitted because if it was to be included, due to its scale a number of other schemes would then have to be taken out of the programme and also because it has not attracted external investment to date. In response to a question by the Executive, the Officer confirmed that the capital programme as presented remains comfortably within the Authority’s borrowing limits. A formal report in confirmation of this will be presented to the Executive in the next two months in accordance with the normal timetable.

It was resolved –

•  That the items shaded on Appendix A to the report (to the value of up to £26.301m) be included in the Capital Programme for 2016/17 to 2020/21.

•  That the items for the HRA shaded in the second table on Appendix A to the report (to the value of up to £11.636m) be referred to the Housing Services Board for consideration for the Capital Programme 2016/17 to 2020/21.