Purpose

Outlining proposed Capital Programme 2025/26
to 2029/30

Content

The Cabinet considered
a report of the Director of Corporate Services
which sought to update on the Council’s Capital
Programme 2024/25, which was now £116.903m as described in
section.
 
The Deputy Chief
Finance Officer was in attendance to
present the information and to address the questions and the
comments of the Board Members.
 
The Senior Officer outlined the Council’s proposed
Capital Programme 2025/26 to 2029/30, as a basis for consultation
(Section 5.2 of the report) and  outlined to Members the risks of borrowing to
finance the Capital Programme and its long term impacts on the
longer term financial sustainability of the Council and Treasury
Management Strategy (TMS), as discussed in section 5.3 of the
report.
 
Some of the assumed
external funding included in the programme was still subject to
clarification from Government and other sources and in some cases
may involve bids for funds. It was therefore
recommended that all approvals were subject to confirmation
of funding allocations.
 
Resolved:
1.   
The proposed changes to the Capital Programme 2024/25, which was
now £116.903m be noted;
2.   
That the Capital Programme for 2025/26 of £176.652m, and
provisional programmes for 2026/27 to 2029/30, as a basis for
consultation, subject to confirmation of grant funding allocations,
as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report be approved;
3.   
That it be noted that:

a.   
The additional revenue cost of new capital schemes and inflation
was £0.120m in 2025/26 rising to a future year full year
effect of £0.491m by 2029/30;

b.   
A review of the phasing of the existing Capital Programme and the
use of £2.4m of reserves to fund shorter life schemes had
resulted in reduced revenue costs of circa £1.16m in 2025/26,
with reduced savings across future years. This had resulted in a
net revenue cost reduction in 2024/25 of £0.984m, in 2025/26
of £0.330m, and in 2026/27 of £0.042m after taking
account of the new scheme costs;
4.   
That it be agreed that where new funding was confirmed relating to
schemes with a prudential borrowing implication for the Council
such as Highways maintenance / pothole funding, this would be used
to reduce the Councils borrowing requirement;
5.   
That the next steps of the consultation process
which would take place over the autumn be approved.
 
Reason for
decision:
Cabinet members were
required to recommend a balanced 2025/26 Revenue Budget to Budget
Council, and provisional budgets for 2026/27 to 2027/28, and the
capital programme was a key element of the budget setting process
and had a direct impact on revenue budgets.
The Council was
required to set a balanced budget for 2025/26 by 11th March
2025.
 
Alternatives
considered and rejected:
The Council was
legally obliged to set a balanced budget. The budget setting
process was complex and had to be
undertaken in a planned way. It was equally important that
assumptions used in the preparation of the budget were agreed, reasonable and consistently applied by
all services.
 
A number of
alternative elements of the Capital Programme were considered in
the development of the programme, the one which
was presented was of the most strategic/community value and
was aligned with the Council’s priorities and therefore forms
the basis for consultation, on the understanding that any
alternatives offered during that process would be considered.