Agenda item

Report of the City Treasurer.

5.1     The City Treasurer introduced the report.  The programme was fully funded and would be monitored by the Capital Review Group.

5.2     Councillor Tim Mitchell explained that the risks would be carefully monitored and slippage reviewed against borrowing needs.  He stressed that the programme was affordable and fully funded.

          Resolved:

          That the Council be recommended:

(i)              To approve the capital strategy as set out in this report.

(ii)             To approve:

(a)       The capital expenditure for the General Fund as set out in    Appendix A1 and A2 of the report for 2017-2018 to 2021-2022.

(b)       The capital expenditure for the General Fund as set out in    Appendix A1 and A2 of the report for Future Years.

(c)       The revised capital expenditure budgets for the General Fund as     set out in Appendix A1 and A2 of the report for 2016-2017    forecasts; and

(d)       The expenditure forecast for 2016-2017 for the HRA as set out       in paragraph 10.6.5 of the report.

(iii)            To approve the capital expenditure for the HRA for 2017-2018 to 2021-2022 as approved in the 30 year HRA Business Plan and as included in paragraph 10.6.5 of the report.

(iv)           To note the financial implications of the HRA capital programme including the references to the debt cap and the level of reserves as detailed in paragraph 10.6 of the report.

(v)            To approve that in the event that any additional expenditure is required by a capital scheme over and above this approved programme the revenue consequences of this will be financed by revenue savings or income generation from relevant service areas.

(vi)           To approve the revised terms of reference of the Capital Review Group (CRG) as included in Appendix B.  The changes are outlined in paragraph 4 of the report.

(vii)          To approve that all General Fund projects follow the business case governance process as set out in section 4 of this report and in Appendix C of the report.

(viii)        To approve the roll forward of the unspent balance of £12,5m for investment schemes into 2017-2018 and the drawdown of the second £25m tranche of funding for investment schemes.  This will be available subject to a full assessment of all proposed investments to ensure they have a business case and provide value for money for the Council and approval by the City Treasurer and CRG.

(ix)           To approve that no financing sources unless stipulated in regulations or necessary agreements are ring fenced.

(x)            To approve that a sum of £12m is held for schemes not yet identified which are fully funded by external grants and/or contributions by a minimum of £10m leaving the Council to potentially fund a net £2m, as described further in paragraphs 8.2.50 – 8.2.51 of the report.

(xi)           To approve that contingency is held corporately, with projects required to bid for them in the event they are required to fund capital project costs.  Bids would be reviewed and approved or rejected by the Capital Review Group.  The value of these contingencies is £105.1m.

(xii)          To note the proposed use of new capital receipts under the freedoms of the Flexible Capital Receipts regulations to fund revenue spend on City Hall, Digital Programme and Pension Deficit Recovery and leading to future ongoing savings.

(xiii)        To approve that the financing of the capital programme be delegated to the City Treasurer as part of routine quarterly closure of accounts process.

Reasons for Decision

The Council is required to set a balanced budget and the capital strategy and subsequent capital programme form part of this process, along with the governance process to monitor and manage the programme.