Issue - meetings

1.    To accept the report on the end of August review (31 August 2023 position) of the capital programme.

2.    To approve the revised financing as shown in part 3.2.3 of the report, namely:

-      Use of various sources, worth a total of £17,421,000, to fund actual slippages from 2022/23

-      A decrease of £1,836,000 in the use of borrowing

-      An increase of £61,991,000 in the use of grants and contributions

-      A decrease of £9,000 in the use of capital receipts

-      An increase of £991,000 in the use of revenue contributions

-      An increase of £194,000 in the use of renewal and other reserves

The report was submitted by Cllr Ioan Thomas.

DECISION

1.    To accept the report on the end of August review (31 August 2023 position) of the capital programme.

2.    To approve the revised financing as shown in part 3.2.3 of the report, namely:

-      Use of various sources, worth a total of £17,421,000, to fund actual slippages from 2022/23

-      A decrease of £1,836,000 in the use of borrowing

-      An increase of £61,991,000 in the use of grants and contributions

-      A decrease of £9,000 in the use of capital receipts

-      An increase of £991,000 in the use of revenue contributions

-      An increase of £194,000 in the use of renewal and other reserves

DISCUSSION

It was explained that the main aim of the report was to submit the revised capital programme (31 August 2023 position) and it was noted that the report included an analysis per Department of the capital programme, which was £178.6 million for the 3 financial years between 2023/24 and 2025/26.

It was concluded that the Council had firm plans in place to invest approximately £107.3 million in 2023/24 on capital schemes (with £42.8 million (40%) funded by specific grants).

It was reported that the impact of recent financial challenges continued on the capital programme, with £311.5m (11%) of the budget spent up to the end of August this year. This was compared to 11% of the budget spent within the same period last year and 16% two years ago.

It was confirmed that a further £312.5m of proposed expenditure had been re-profiled from 2023/24 to 2024/25 and 2025/26. It was detailed that the main schemes included:

·       £5.7 million – Schools Schemes (Sustainable Learning Communities and Others)

·       £2.8 million – Carbon Management and Solar Panels Schemes

·       £1.5m – Penygroes Health and Care Hub

·       £1.4m – Residential Organisations, day care and others in the Adults field

·       £0.9m – Flood Prevention Schemes.

It was noted that the Council had managed to attract a number of grants since the original budget, which included:

·       £36.9m – Shared Prosperity Fund Grant from the UK Government, to be distributed across the counties of North Wales.

·       £16.7m – Levelling Up Fund Grant from the UK Government.

·       £3.0m – Grants from the Local Transport Fund (LTF) and Active Travel Fund (ATF) from the Welsh Government.

·       £1.3m – Sustainable Learning Communities Grant – Schools Community Use 2023-2025.

It was explained that this report had recently been submitted to the Governance and Audit Committee where members had noted that construction costs had recently increased significantly and, therefore, there was a possibility that those projects were now more costly. Officers had reported to the Committee that there had been an intentional delay to projects while prices and inflation were high and that this had been reflected in the slippages.

Pride was expressed in the Council's ability to attract grants to improve resources and services while investing for the future.