Content

Decision
 
RESOLVED that
Cabinet:
 

1.1)          
Noted the revised
capital programme budget for 2025/26 to 2027/28 of £27,557k
as set out in Section 7.

1.2)          
considered the
draft capital programme 2025/26 to 2028/29, amounting to
£39,613k over the four year period and agrees: the additions
to the capital programme amounting to £15,196k as set out in
Sections 8-10 and detailed in Appendix C;

一                  
the removal of
capital projects amounting to £3,140k as set out in Section
11.

一                  
the profiled
budget for 2025/26 to 2028/29 as £20,359k in 2025/26,
£8,381k 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 Full
Council for approval.  
 
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.
 
 In order to comply with these requirements, the
adoption of the 2025/26 – 2028/29 Capital Budget will follow
the timetable below:
 

Asset Management Panel for critical
appraisal

5th
January 2026

Draft budget to Cabinet to
recommend for consultation

14th
January 2026

Draft budget to Policy Review
Committee for consultation

26th
January 2026

Final budget to Cabinet for
recommendation to Council

11th
February 2026

Approval by Full Council

25thFebruary
2026

 
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 of the report, new
capital bids could be brought forward for approval throughout the
year.