Agenda item

This report presents the current position of the 2010/11–2014/15 capital programme, highlights the existing funding position and associated pressures, considers the bids received as part of this year’s Capital Resource Allocation Model (CRAM) process, and asks the Executive to recommend the revised programme to Council.

A copy of this report will be sent to all Members.

RECOMMENDED:That Council:

(i)Agree to the revised capital programme of £175.318m, that reflects a net overall increase of £18.891m (as set out in the ‘growth’ column of Annex A with the amendments totalling £2.616m set out in (d) and (e) below).  Key elements of this include:

a)the bids recommended in paragraph 114 (table 5) totalling £7.205m, subject to the following amendment:

·        the timing of Yearsley Pool energy solution moved to 2012/13 from 2011/12 to permit thorough investigation of necessity and appropriate technology;

b)     the schemes funded from external resources in paragraph 122 (table 8) totalling £3.629m;

c)      the revised prudential borrowing profile for the IT development plan in paragraph 126 (table 9) totalling £3.750m that shows a decrease of £250k per annum in years 11/12 - 14/15 and an extension of the programme by £750k in 2015/16 containing specific schemes;

d)     the use of HRA balances to fund HRA capital schemes as set out in paragraph 130 (table 10) totalling £5.691m subject to the following amendment:

·        the inclusion of £700k (including work at The Glebe) towards a building insulation programme, including the fitting of double glazed windows, to commence in 2011/12 to bring the increase in the HRA capital programme to £6.391m;

e)      the inclusion of the following new/amended schemes totalling £1.916m with a revenue implication of £29k in 2011/12:

·        £1.000m in 2012/13 to be utilised in conjunction with the Environment Agency for the provision of the Leeman Road flood defences

·        an additional £50k p.a.(to the £80k p. a. already included in the LTP line) allocation for the street lamppost replacement programme from 2011/12 to 2015/16, totalling £250k

·         £100k p.a. from 2011/12 to 2015/16 to fund an energy generation project which will exploit modern technologies such as photovoltaic cells and which is aimed at providing an additional revenue stream, through the sale of energy, by utilising the availability of new “feed in” tariffs, totalling £500k

·        an additional capital investment in structural highways of £166k for 2011/12.

(ii)Note that the revenue implications of the above amendments in 2011/12 are £29k, to be reflected in the revenue budget proposals.

(iii)Note the overall funding position identified in the report, which highlights a current shortfall in resources over the next five years, which the Council will need to address through increased revenue contributions in the medium term.

(iv)Approve the full restated programme as summarised in Annex A totalling £175.318m (£172.702m plus £2.616m amendments) up to 2015/16.

REASON: To set a balanced capital programme as required by the Local Government Act 2003.

Members considered a report which outlined the current position of the 2010/11 – 2014/15 capital programme, highlighted the existing funding position and associated pressures, and presented the bids received as part of the current year’s Capital Resource Allocation Model (CRAM) process.

The current approved programme for 2010/11 to 2014/15 amounted to £221.229m, financed by £121.209m of external funding and Council controlled resources of £100.020m.  The programme included three key elements – schemes fully funded by government departments (£104.472m), politically imperative schemes (£86.797m - mostly funded from corporate resources) and rolling programme schemes (£29.988m).  In terms of the funding position, significant reliance continued to be placed on the achievement of a small number of high value asset disposals which had been affected by the economic downturn.  There was currently a temporary shortfall of £2.411m on the required level of receipts.

A total of 30 bids had been received under the CRAM process, of which10 were fully funded from external sources, 6 were rolling programme bids and 14 required additional discretionary resources.  The bids were summarised in Table 4, in paragraph 19 of the report,and detailed in the following paragraphs.  Schemes recommended for approval were set out in Table 5.  The total value, and revenue implications, of all recommended bids were shown in Tables 6 and 7.  Externally funded schemes proposed for addition to the programme were set out in Table 8.  The capital programme for the next five years, should the proposals in the report be accepted, was summarised in paragraph 131 and detailed in Annex A.

Members discussed and agreed some amendments to the proposals recommended for approval in the report.  They then

RECOMMENDED:That Council:

(i)Agree to the revised capital programme of £175.318m, that reflects a net overall increase of £18.891m (as set out in the ‘growth’ column of Annex A with the amendments totalling £2.616m set out in (d) and (e) below).  Key elements of this include:

a)the bids recommended in paragraph 114 (table 5) totalling £7.205m, subject to the following amendment:

·        the timing of Yearsley Pool energy solution moved to 2012/13 from 2011/12 to permit thorough investigation of necessity and appropriate technology;

b)     the schemes funded from external resources in paragraph 122 (table 8) totalling £3.629m;

c)      the revised prudential borrowing profile for the IT development plan in paragraph 126 (table 9) totalling £3.750m that shows a decrease of £250k per annum in years 11/12 - 14/15 and an extension of the programme by £750k in 2015/16 containing specific schemes;

d)     the use of HRA balances to fund HRA capital schemes as set out in paragraph 130 (table 10) totalling £5.691m subject to the following amendment:

·        the inclusion of £700k (including work at The Glebe) towards a building insulation programme, including the fitting of double glazed windows, to commence in 2011/12 to bring the increase in the HRA capital programme to £6.391m;

e)     the inclusion of the following new/amended schemes totalling £1.916m with a revenue implication of £29k in 2011/12:

·        £1.000m in 2012/13 to be utilised in conjunction with the Environment Agency for the provision of the Leeman Road flood defences

·        an additional £50k p.a.(to the £80k p. a. already included in the LTP line) allocation for the street lamppost replacement programme from 2011/12 to 2015/16, totalling £250k

·        £100k p.a. from 2011/12 to 2015/16 to fund an energy generation project which will exploit modern technologies such as photovoltaic cells and which is aimed at providing an additional revenue stream, through the sale of energy, by utilising the availability of new “feed in” tariffs, totalling £500k

·        an additional capital investment in structural highways of £166k for 2011/12.

(ii)Note that the revenue implications of the above amendments in 2011/12 are £29k, to be reflected in the revenue budget proposals.

(iii)Note the overall funding position identified in the report, which highlights a current shortfall in resources over the next five years, which the Council will need to address through increased revenue contributions in the medium term.

(iv)Approve the full restated programme as summarised in Annex A totalling £175.318m (£172.702m plus £2.616m amendments) up to 2015/16.

REASON: To set a balanced capital programme as required by the Local Government Act 2003.