Agenda item

The report was considered by the Financial Planning Task Group on 9 July 2024 and Cabinet on 15 July 2024. A report of the Financial Planning Task Group’s discussions is also attached later within the agenda.

The Chairman noted that on page 57 of the agenda pack was a report setting out the year end position of the Capital Programme for the council for the financial year 2023/24. The report included the movements from the original budget, final scheme slippage and how the programme has been funded. The report provided an update on the significant programmes that had been delivered and those that had been reprogrammed into future years. The report was considered by Financial Planning on 9th July and Cabinet on 15th July.

Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Finance, Development Management and Strategic Planning outlined that in the previous year £163million had been spent on capital projects, which was £30million more than the previous years. This had previously presented a challenge of starting with a large capital programme and only spending a small percentage of the budget. It was stated that this had not been the case this year with demonstrable progress made in the ability to forecast and then spend and that though some projects had been moved to the subsequent year, some projects had also been brought forward.

It was outlined that 82% of the overall projected spend had been spent, with such areas as Housing Revenue spending 93% of its original projected spend as well as People spending 94%. It was also noted that no additional borrowing or debt had been taken out within the last year with a lot of projects not requiring net resource to be put in. Furthermore, it was outlined that a lot of the projects proposed would save revenue in the future.

Cllr Pip Ridout, Chairman of the Financial Planning Task Group raised that on 10 September a training session would take place for all Committee Members, if not all Councillors regarding HRA. Additionally, it was stated that the capital programme had been refined and adapted to provide the best possible reports and that it was positive that no borrowing had taken place given the current costs.

The following comments were received by Members of the Committee including a discussion on the use of internal borrowing and the costs involved when going to market to borrow. The importance of conducting medium to long term assessments on cash balances was noted, with there being may interlinking features between capital investment and treasury management. The importance of profiling was stressed when making decisions and how there was a desire not to borrow early and incur costs.

Regarding Ageing and Living Well, it was questioned why £0.601million had been moved to future years, with clarity provided that the Council had received a Disabled Facilities Grant from government to aid adaptions to homes and that there had been an underspend due to the identification of areas and people who would benefit from the work. The balance had been accrued to make sure that it could be used to ensure the best outcomes with the Council pushing boundaries to ensure that the maximum benefit was achieved.

Detail was sought regarding the Council House Build programme, with 44 out of the 77 planned homes completed in 2023/24, therefore posing the question whether this was indicative of the level of delivery. Clarity was provided that this contributed to the wider housing acquisition taking place and that there was an ambition for 1,000 homes to be acquired. Regarding the House Build programme, it was noted that due to the modern methods of construction there had been complexity, therefore meaning that construction had not been to the pace of delivery desired. It was outlined that there was a desire to have sufficient housing stock, predominantly in the south and that officers were considering how this could be expanded across the county at a staged process to manage revenue cost; for example, purchasing homes on block from developers.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee agreed:

1. To note the capital programme end of year spend position of £163.421m for financial year 2023/24.