Agenda item

Report of the City Treasurer

5.1     Steve Mair, City Treasurer, stated that the Capital Programme is ambitious and reflects and supports the strategic aims and vision of the Council as defined in its City for All Programme. He referred Cabinet to the governance processes to manage the programme which were set out in the report.

5.2     Councillor Robathan stated that it is correct and right for the Council to have an ambitious capital programme so that residents, businesses and visitors have the confidence that the necessary infrastructure is being delivered to enable the city to grow and thrive. She commented that the capital programme has not always received same level of focus as the revenue element of the budget and that in the past there had been challenges in delivery. A Programme Management Office had been established to provide a stable framework and robust governance to support and oversee all project teams and stakeholders to improve the probability of successful delivery of projects. The programme will be kept under review by the Capital Review Group on a regular basis.

5.3     The Leader of the Council referred Cabinet to paragraph 10.16 of the report which set out the Place Shaping capital budget to fund the Oxford Street District programme.

Recommendations

That Council be recommended:

1.              To approve the capital strategy as set out in the report.

2.              To approve the capital expenditure for the General Fund as set out in Appendix A to the report for 2019/20 to 2023/24 and future years to 2032/33.

3.              To approve the capital expenditure forecasts for the General Fund as set out in Appendix A to the report for 2018/19 (Period 4).

4.              To approve the expenditure forecast for 2018/19 (Period 4) for the HRA as set out in Appendix B to the report.

5.              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.

6.              To approve that all development and investment projects, along with any significant projects follow the previously approved business case governance process as set out in paragraphs 5.1 and 6.5 to 6.14 to the report.

7.              To approve that no financing sources, unless stipulated in regulations or necessary agreements, are ring fenced.

8.               To approve that contingencies in respect of major projects are held corporately, with bids for access to those contingencies to be approved by the Capital Review Group (CRG) in the event that they are required to fund capital project costs, as detailed in Sections 12.11 to 12.14 to the report.  

9.              To approve the council plans to continue its use of capital receipts to fund the revenue costs of eligible proposals (subject to full business cases for each project). This comes under the MHCLG Guidance on the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts (FCR), if considered beneficial to the Council’s finances by the City Treasurer at year-end. (The Council’s strategy for flexible use of capital receipts is outlined in section 11 to the report)

10.           To approve the use of a further £7.193m of flexible use capital receipts to fund revenue costs associated with City Hall, Network and Telephony Transformation and Technology Refresh projects as detailed in section 11.9 and 11.14 to 11.24 to the report.

11.           To approve the Council’s proposal to make use of £400m of forward borrowing to finance the capital programme and subsequently reduce the longer-term revenue impact.

12.           To approve the financing of the capital programme and revenue implications as set out in paragraphs 14.1 to 14.33 to the report.

13.           To approve the financing of the capital programme being delegated to the City Treasurer at the year end and to provide sufficient flexibility to allow for the most effective use of Council resources. 

Reasons for Decision

The Council is required to set a balanced budget, and the capital programme, together with the governance process, which monitors and manages the programme, forms part of this process.