Meeting documents

Councillor Mordue

Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources

To consider the attached report.

Contact Officer:  Nuala Donnelly (01296) 585164

(a)          Decision(s)

That Council be recommended to approve the updated Capital Programme for the period 2019/20 to 2022/23, onwards as set out in summary form at Appendix A to the Cabinet report.

(b)          Reason(s) for Decision(s)

The Council is required to set a capital budget for the coming year and as part of prudential financial management, incorporate a longer term view of capital activity.  Regular review of the capital Programme is essential, especially when a number of major schemes are running in parallel.  The CIPFA Prudential Code (December 2017) includes a requirement to produce a capital strategy.

(c)          Alternative Options Considered

None as such.  The proposed Capital Programme represents the allocation of anticipated resources in accordance with corporate priorities.

(d)          Relevant Scrutiny Committee

Finance and Services.  That Committee considered the Capital Programme at its meeting on 14 January, 2019.  The Committee Chairman attended the Cabinet meeting to elaborate upon the Committee’s deliberations.

Cabinet accepted all of the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee.

Cabinet’s final recommendation will now be considered by full Council and therefore is not subject to call-in.

(e)          Conflicts of Interest / Dispensation(s)

None.

Cabinet received the updated Capital Programme for the period 2019/20 to 2022/23 onwards.  An interim report had been submitted to Cabinet on 18 December,2018.  As had been reported at that time, the focus of the Capital Programme was on the delivery of existing schemes already approved by the Council.  The Programme reflected the Council’s strategy of ensuring prudent use and maximisation of available capital resources.  The earlier report had made reference to an additional request for funding from the Aylesbury Vale Enterprise Zone Board in relation to an investment proposal at Westcott.  The report now before Cabinet could be viewed in full on the Council’s web site.

It was reported that the Capital Programme for 2019/20 had now been updated to include provision for the Westcott investment proposal and the latest report (posted on the Council’s web site) contained more detailed information.  AVDC was the accountable body for the Aylesbury Vale enterprise Zone.  The proposed funding of £1.2m would be recovered through a combination of loan repayment and the recoupment of business rates collected and retained from the Enterprise Zone.

The CIPFA revised 2017 Prudential and Treasury management Codes required, for 2019/20, that all local authorities prepare an additional report setting out the Council’s capital strategy.  To comply with the statutory requirements, an expanded, but still abridged (because of the unitary proposal) would be presented in the Treasury management Strategy.  The Cabinet report set out the key principles of the capital strategy.

The creation of a new unitary authority would occur during the period of the capital plan.  This removed the need for medium term planning for Aylesbury Vale as a single entity organisation.  However, the Council remained obligated to hand over its affairs to the new organisation in the best possible financial state.  At this early stage, the financial implications of reorganisation were yet to be fully understood.  However, future investment and borrowing decisions might be influenced by the outcome of the unitary arrangements.

The Cabinet report had been considered by the Finance and Services scrutiny Committee on 14 January, 2019.  The Chairman of that Committee attended the meeting to elaborate upon the Committee’s deliberations.  The Scrutiny Committee had been supportive of the use of residual Right to Buy capital receipts and nominal sums from New Homes Bonus for affordable housing, to fund new affordable housing schemes.  The Committee had also been supportive of the funding proposal for the Space Catapult Innovation Centre at the Westcott Enterprise Zone.

In addition, the Committee had been supportive of the remaining £341,000 from the sale of the Elmhurst Community Centre being used for the maintenance of community centres in the Aylesbury Special Expenses Area.  The Committee had asked for, (and Cabinet confirmed), a breakdown in due course of how the £341,000 had been allocated.

RESOLVED –

(1)  That the Finance and Services Scrutiny Committee be thanked for its feedback on the Capital Programme.

(2)  That the Council be recommended to approve the updated Capital Programme for the period 2019/20 to 2022/23 onwards, as set out in Appendix A of the Cabinet report.