Decision Maker:

Outcome:

Is Key Decision?: No

Is Callable In?: Yes

Date of Decision: October 14, 2025

Purpose:

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.