Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Councillor Johnson introduced the report which presented the proposed Capital Programme for the period 2022/23 – 2024/25 for recommendation to Council.

The Council’s Capital Programme covered investment in assets for the long term to enable the delivery of high quality and value for money public services.  Assets included buildings (such as schools, care homes and day centres), infrastructure (such as highways, IT networks, and waste transfer stations) and assets not owned by the Council (such as works to improve and adapt private sector homes).  The proposed capital investments outlined within the report were closely aligned to portfolio service business plans and the Council Plan.

The report divided the Council Fund Capital Programme into three sections:

1. Statutory / Regulatory – allocations to cover regulatory and statutory works
2. Retained Assets – allocations to fund infrastructure works necessary to ensure service and business continuity
3. Investment – allocations to fund works necessary to remodel services to deliver efficiencies outlines in the portfolio business plans and invest in services as outlined in the Council Plan

Historically much of the Council’s programme had been funded from capital receipts and grants.  The Council’s ability to generate significant capital receipts was challenging as the assets the Council had available for disposal diminished.  Wherever possible every opportunity to identify assets for sale and other sources of funding such as specific grants and revenue contributions would be explored.  However, the Council would need to use prudential borrowing to finance more of the programme going forward, in particular, the 21^st Century Schools Band B programme, and other schemes included within the investment programme would need to be funded through prudential borrowing.

Given the current position in setting the Capital Programme for the next three years 2022/23 – 2024/25, careful consideration had been given to new schemes proposed for inclusion as, should other sources of funding not materialise, the Council would need to use prudential borrowing to finance the remainder of the programme going forward.

He added that Welsh Government (WG) had set out its legal commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and work towards a net zero public sector in Wales by 2030.  One of the Council’s key priorities within the Council Plan was to become a net zero council by 2030 and to support wider decarbonisation actions across the County.  The capital works programme played a vital role in accelerating the shift towards achieving the target.   Inclusion of that priority within the programme reinforces the commitment to tackling climate change.

The Corporate Finance Manager provided full details of the tables in the report, particulary table 4 which provided details of the proposed allocation 2022/23 – 2024/25.  He explained that the annual allocation for the Highways Asset Management Plan (HAMP) had been increased from £600k to £1m.  Table 5 provided a summary of the capital programme, detailing how schemes would be funded.

Councillor Roberts welcomed the report, citing schemes such as the provision for leisure and libraries, CCTV replacement, adaptations to foster homes, the joint archieve facility, Standard  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63