Agenda item

This report summarises the proposed 2018/19 capital programme and seeks the Panel’s approval for it to be submitted to Council in February 2018.

A report was presented to the Panel summarising the proposed 2018/19 Capital Programme, seeking the Panel’s guidance prior to its submission to Council in February 2018.

The Chairman highlighted that the Capital Programme had been the subject of intense scrutiny by members on the Capital Member Group which had resulted in the proposals before the Panel.

The report highlighted that the following schemes, totalling £1,225,000 in 2018/19 and £250,000 in 2019/20, were proposed for inclusion in the capital programme to be funded from capital reserves, subject to the relevant policy committee receiving and approving project appraisals:

The report also highlighted that the Council received a fixed government grant allocation for disabled facilities grants via the Better Care Fund to the tune of £588,000.

Capital reserves were considered the appropriate funding stream for the ICT work programme.  Senior management were well aware of the risks and challenges in this area and members were assured that reports on individual elements of various work streams, particularly the Customer Relationship Management System and Data Warehouse, would be reported to committee as appropriate.

The Chief Finance Officer highlighted the risks of sustaining the capital programme going forward as capital reserves depleted and that should any surplus revenue funds arise following the Council’s recent purchases of investment property, consideration could be given to applying such funds to supplement the capital programme.  This approach would enable earmarked capital receipts to be returned to the capital reserve, thereby mitigating the risk of capital reserves falling below the minimum threshold in future years.  The Panel noted this as an option.  The report highlighted that, currently, if all schemes were progressed between 2018 and 2020, the estimated level of reserves would fall from £3.1m at 1 April 2018 to £1.6m at 31 March 2020.  This was before any use of CIL, S106 or revenue funding was taken into account.

In regard to the use of CIL, all parties needed to be mindful of the agreed process: in particular, the County Council had a call on these receipts.

Accordingly, the Panel agreed with the advice of the Capital Member Group and submitted the following 2018/19 Capital Programme to Council for approval in February 2018, subject to the relevant policy committees first approving project appraisals:

(1)          Prioritised schemes totalling £1,225,000, funded from capital receipts of £1,225,000, less any S106, CIL or revenue reserves subsequently identified with a further commitment of £250,000 for 2019/20;

(2)          An additional scheme totalling £588,000 subject to external funding sources.