Issue - meetings

·         To accept the report on the end of November review (30 November 2023 position) of the capital programme.

·         To approve the revised financing as shown in part 3.2.3 of the report, namely:⁠ - an increase of £3,576,000 in the use of borrowing - an increase of £2,373,000 in the use of grants and contributions - an increase of £317,000 in the use of revenue contributions - an increase of £1,038,000 in the use of renewal and other reserves.

The report was submitted by Cllr Ioan Thomas. ⁠

DECISION

·         To accept the report on the end of November review (30 November 2022 position) of the capital programme.

·         To approve the revised financing as shown in part 3.2.3 of the report, namely:⁠ - an increase of £3,576,000 in the use of borrowing - an increase of £2,373,000 in the use of grants and contributions - an increase of £317,000 in the use of revenue contributions - an increase of £1,038,000 in the use of renewal funds and others.

DISCUSSION

The report was submitted noting that the main purpose was to present the revised capital programme and to approve the relevant financing sources. It was explained that the main conclusions were that the Council had concrete plans in place to invest around £86.8m in 2023/24 on capital schemes, with £41.5m funded via specific grants.

It was expressed that the impact of recent financial challenges continued on the capital programme, with £23.2m namely 27% of the budget spent up to the end of November this year, compared to 40% over the same period a year ago.  It was noted that an additional £27.4m of proposed spending had been re-profiled from 2023/24 to 2024/25 and 2025/26.  Attention was drawn to some of the schemes which included £12.2m School Schemes, £11m Housing Strategy Schemes, £3.9m Coastal Risks and Flood Prevention Schemes.

It was highlighted that the Council had been successful in attracting additional grants since the last review which included £661k Circular Economy Capital Grant, £550k Grants for a 3G Community Synthetic Field on the Syr Hugh Owen School site.

Observations arising from the discussion

·         It was stated that there was so much worry about the revenue schemes that the capital programme was often forgotten. It was made clear that the Council's ten-year assets plan would be set over the coming months, and it was highlighted that each service's requirements came to a total of £82m with capital funding at £38m and therefore there would be a need to cut back on expenditure.

·         It was noted that this year's spending share was reported to be 27% which was lower than last year, and it was asked what the reason for this was. It was explained that this was due to poor profiling and some education schemes that had not moved forward.