The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change presented a report, the purpose of which, was to:

• comply with the requirement of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA) ‘The Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities’ (2017 edition);

• provide an update on the capital programme position for 2022-23 as at 30 September 2022 (Appendix A to the report);

• seek approval for a revised capital programme for 2022-23 to 2031-32 (Appendix B);

• note the projected Prudential and Other Indicators for 2022-23 (Appendix  C)

She explained that the Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (Wales) Regulations 2003, as amended, contains detailed provisions on capital finance and accounting controls, including rules on the use of capital receipts and what is to be treated as capital expenditure. They modify accounting practice in various ways to prevent adverse impacts on authorities’ revenue resources.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change, reminded Council that on 23 February 2022, it approved a capital budget of £69.979 million for 2022-23 as part of a capital programme covering the period 2022-23 to 2031-32. The programme was last updated and approved by Council on 20 July 2022.

This report provided an update on the following:

• Capital Programme monitoring quarter 2 2022-23;

• A revised Capital Programme for 2022-23 to 2031-32;

• Capital Strategy monitoring; &

• Prudential and other indicators

With regards to the Capital Programme 2022-23 Quarter 2 update, she referred Members to paragraph 4.1 of the report, which provided Members with an update on the Programme for this period since it was last approved by Council, and which incorporated any new schemes and grant approvals. The revised programme for 2022-23 currently totals £89.539 million, of which £54.043 million is met from Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) resources, including capital receipts and revenue contributions from earmarked reserves, with the remaining £35.496 million coming from external resources, including Welsh Government General Capital Grant.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change, also referred then to the Tables on page 191 of the report, namely Table 1 that contained the Capital Programme per Directorate for 2022-23, with Table 3 summarising the current funding assumptions for the Capital Programme 2022-23.

Appendix A to the report, then provided details of the individual schemes within the Capital Programme, showing the projected spend at 30 September 2022 against the budget available.

She advised that a number of schemes had already been identified as requiring slippage of budget to future years (2023-24 and beyond). At quarter 2 the total requested slippage is £7.207 million, which comprised the schemes shown at paragraph 4.4 of the report.

In terms of the Capital Programme 2022-23 onwards, the Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change confirmed that since July 2022, a number of new externally funded schemes approved and internally funded schemes had been incorporated into the Capital Programme, as was illustrated in paragraphs 4.5 and 4.6 (of the report).

Paragraph 4.7 then made reference to the revised Capital Programme at Appendix B to the report, whilst Appendix Cdetailed the actual indicators for 2021-22, the estimated indicators for 2022-23 set out in the Council’s Capital Strategy and the projected indicators for 2022-23 based on the revised Capital Programme. These show that the Council is operating in line with the approved limits.

The final part of the submission of the Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change, referred to issues regarding Capital Strategy Monitoring, which she expanded upon for the benefit of Council.

A Member referred to the proposal to extend Coety Primary School and asked if the cost of the works exceeded the estimated £1.6m, then would this extra monies be found in order for the project to go ahead.

The Corporate Director – Education and Family Support confirmed subject to the consultation process for the enlargement of the school proceeding as part of the usual statutory processes for schemes of this nature and planning consent being approved for the school’s proposed extension, then the scheme would be proceeded with.

A Member referred to an allocation of £500k of Capital Funding to be committed for un-adopted roads and asked for a progress update on this.

The Corporate Director – Communities advised that she did not have the finer details of this to hand, but she would be pleased to share this with the Member outside of the meeting.

A Member noted that there was detailed in the report a slippage of £7m for capital schemes from this financial year to the next. He asked if this amount also took into account, any inflationary cost and material cost increases for the works so proposed, etc.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change, advised that the report contained the reasons for certain schemes having to slip from this year into next, some of which were very near to commencement, so she was confident that these schemes would be costed as they had been estimated. Schemes that were further down the line, could be modified on a cost base basis, with any changes to the works altered as necessary, so she was confident that these schemes would not bring with them any significant increased cost pressures for the Authority.

The Member also noted from the reports pack that in different areas of it there were different estimated costs for the Cosy Corner works at Porthcawl. He sought clarification which one of these was the correct figure, to which the Corporate Director – Communities responded that the allocation available to construct the scheme was £2.675m.

RESOLVED:                                  That Council:

·         Noted the Council’s Capital Programme 2022-23 Quarter 2 update to 30 September 2022 (Appendix A to the report referred).

·         Approved the revised Capital programme (at Appendix B).

Noted the Prudential and Other Indicators for 2022-23 (Appendix C).