Content

Decision
 
RESOLVED that
Cabinet:
1.1) noted the revised
capital programme budget for 2025/26 to 2027/28 of £27,439k
as set out in Section 7 of the report.
1.2) considered the draft
capital programme 2025/26 to 2028/29, amounting to £39,483k
over the four year period and agreed:
i) the additions to the
capital programme amounting to £15,184k as set out in
Sections 8-10 and detailed in Appendix C;
ii) the removal of capital
projects amounting to £3,140k as set out in Section 11.
27
iii) the profiled budget for
2025/26 to 2028/29 as £20,359k in 2025/26, £8,251k in
2026/27, £9,673k in 2027/28 and £1,200k in 2028/29
(Section 7, Table 3, Appendix A).
1.3) recommended the draft
four-year capital programme 2025/26 to 2028/29 to the Policy Review
Committee and to all Members, stakeholders and the public for
consultation.
1.4) considered the Capital
Strategy 2026 (paragraph 5.2 and Appendix D) which has been updated
to reflect the draft capital programme and recommended this
strategy for consultation.
 
Reasons for
decision
 
The Council has a statutory obligation (as
specified in the CIPFA Prudential Code) to make estimates of the
total capital expenditure it plans to incur during the forthcoming
year and the following two financial years to facilitate prudent,
affordable and sustainable capital investment decisions.
 
The procedure agreed by full Council for
setting the capital budget is that capital bids are firstly
critically appraised by the Asset Management Panel in conjunction
with officers prior to recommendation for inclusion in the capital
programme.
 
The Council’s constitution also requires
that the Policy Review Committee and Members of the Council be
consulted on the capital budget at least four weeks prior to the
Cabinet recommending that Council adopts the budget.
 
The capital programme is however a rolling
programme and whilst the annual budget process will consider new
capital bids brought forward as part of this process capital bids
can be brought forward at any time with an appropriate business
case and can be added to the Capital Programme subject to approval
by Cabinet or Council depending on the level of spend and
funding.
 
Alternative Options
Considered
 
The Cabinet may have decided to recommend that
full Council adopt an alternative capital budget to that presented
in Appendix A. However, any alternative proposals would need to be
supported by a full business case setting out how it meets with the
Councils priorities. As referred to in section 3 above, new capital
bids can be brought forward for approval throughout the
year.