Content

Salford City Council - Record of Decision
 
I, Councillor Youd, Deputy City
Mayor and Lead Member for Finance, Support Services and
Regeneration, in exercise of the powers contained within the
Council Constitution, do
hereby:
 
Approve the
virement of £0.600m within the 2025/26 Place directorate
capital programme to finance RIBA stage 2 and 3 costs for a
replacement leisure facility in Pendleton.
                                                                                                                   
The Reasons
are:This  work will
build on, and update where necessary, the previous work undertaken
in 2019/20 and has been completed (apart from business case) which
requires work following RIBA stages of work (RIBA2 and
RIBA3). 

 

The work on RIBA 2
(concept design) will enable the centre business plan to be
developed. Agreement to commission RIBA Stage 2 was sought and
obtained via Lead Member for Culture, Heritage, Equalities, Sport
and Leisure in August 2025. 

 

Additional work up to
RIBA 3 (developed design) is also required to further establish
design and costs to then further determine potential funding
available from Sport England to support delivery of the replacement
facility.
 
Options considered and
rejected were: Not to proceed and lose an opportunity
to present a strong funding proposition up to RIBA stage 3 to Sport
England.
 
Assessment of
risk: Low: the intended commission can be
delivered in this financial year. 
 
The source of funding
is: 2025/26 Place capital programme
 
Legal Advice obtained: Submitted by:
Tony Hatton, Group Leader, Commercial Legal and Democratic
Services
As
set out in the Council’s Constitution, each directorate is
allocated a budget amount as their share of the annual revenue
budget approved by Council, and capital virements (movement of
budgets between approved capital schemes) are permitted subject to
the approvals being made by authorised persons as set out in
section 7.4 of the Budget and Policy Framework Procedure
Rules. 
For
a virement of the amount requested, it would appear that section
7.4 (g) applies and the approval of lead member for financial and
support services in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer is
required. Section 7.4 reads as follows:

 
The person set out below shall be entitled to
vire across budget heads or budget
amounts as follows:

a)   
a Chief Officer may vire between budget heads under their control
and

within their directorates
£150,000 in any financial year.

b)   
the Member(s) of the Cabinet for a
relevant service area(s) may, with the

approval of the relevant Lead
Member, vire between budget heads
within their control sums of £150,000 and over, up to
£350,000 in any financial year

c)    
the City Mayor may vire sums up to £1,000,000 between the
budget

amounts of different directorates in
any financial year.

d)   
the Chief Finance officer shall be
responsible for authorising all

virements from the central inflation
and contingency provision to other service budgets.

e)   
any virement must be notified to the
Chief Finance Officer and virements

of above £150,000 must be
reported for information to the next meeting of the Overview and
Scrutiny Board.

f)     
any revenue virement above £ 1,000,000 will
require the approval
of full
Council.
              
g) Virements within the capital programme of above £350,000
up to
                  
£2,000,000 are subject to the approval of the lead member
for
financial
and support services in consultation with the Chief Financial
Officer.
 
Financial Advice
obtained: Submitted by Grace Rogerson,
Capital Finance Manager, 16/09/2025
This report is seeking
approval to vire £600,000 of
capital resource from the Place workforce capital budget to the SCL
Leisure capital budget.
This virement will be used to finance RIBA stage 2 and RIBA stage 3
costs for the replacement leisure facility in Pendleton, alongside
internal fees from the council’s property team. In order to
progress the business case, firm up costs and explore additional
grant funding from Sport England, RIBA stages 2 & 3 must be
completed.
There is £600,000 of
unallocated unsupported borrowing within the approved 2025/26 Place
Capital Programme. The budget within Place workforce has become
available as a result of a funding switch of capitalised costs,
resulting in this resource being available for
investment.
 
Procurement Advice
obtained: Not applicable
 
The
following documents have been used to assist the decision
process:
Lead Member Report.
 
Contact Officer:
Ian Thompson, Principal Programme Manager,
Investment and Programmes
 

This decision is not subject to consideration by another Lead
Member.
 
The appropriate scrutiny panel to call-in the decision is the
Overview & Scrutiny Board.
 
 
Signed:  Councillor Jack Youd                         
Dated: 14th October 2025  
Deputy City Mayor and Lead Member for Finance & Support
Services
 

 
This decision was published on 17th October
2025.
 
This decision will come into force at
4.00 p.m. on 24th October 2025, unless it is called-in, in accordance with the
decision-making process rules.