The Section 151 Officer sought approval for a revised capital programme for 2016-17 to 2025-26. 

He reported that Council at its meeting in March 2016 had approved a capital programme for 2016-17 to 2025-26 of £163.774M as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).  However since that approval, a small number of schemes had been identified that require approval for inclusion in the capital programme. 

He reported that an opportunity had arisen as part of the works to external envelope of the Civic Offices to install a Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system on the roof of the Civic Offices at an estimated cost of £40k, including fees and contingency.  He stated that the solar panels will generate a small amount of electricity for the Civic Offices which will reduce the amount of electricity purchased from the grid, in addition to a 50% return on electricity generated through the Feed In Tariff.  He informed Council that funding for the scheme would be ring fenced from the underspend on the Resources Directorate revenue budget in 2015-16 and will be transferred to an earmarked reserve and used to provide a revenue contribution to capital in 2016-17.

The Section 151 Officer reported that the Digital Transformation programme supports the new corporate priority of making smarter use of resources and is integral to achieving a number of budget reductions in the Medium Term Financial Strategy.  He stated that digital technology presented an opportunity to improve citizens’ access to services and engagement, thereby reducing operating costs.  The Section 151 Officer informed Council that moving to a digital operating model would enable more cost effective, integrated and modern ways of working.  He stated that the Council would be required to go out to tender to secure the digital platform.  He also stated that it would be prudent to budget for up to £2.5M in order to cover all potential costs, although this may be revised once the tender process has been completed.  The cost of the capital element of the digital transformation project would be funded from earmarked reserves at year end from corporate underspends.

The Section 151 Officer reported that the Vibrant and Viable Places (VVP) regeneration scheme covers the provision of a multi-storey car park and commercial and residential properties totalling £9.6M, £6.7M of which would be incurred by the Council, funded from Welsh Government grant, Section 106 and other funding sources.  He stated that the capital programme currently includes the full scheme cost, including match funding and external funding.  As Coastal Housing would be incurring expenditure from both Social Housing Grant and their own resources of almost £3M, the capital programme had been updated to remove this element as the spend would not pass through the authority. 

The Section 151 Officer also reported that minor works are planned to the North locality hub based at Coleg Cymunedol y Dderwen as the current configuration was not fit for purpose and did not allow for effective locality based working.  It was proposed that work be undertaken to create an open plan environment to allow for more integration and greater numbers of staff to work from this location.  He stated that the estimated costs of the works are £40k with funding ring-fenced from the underspend in the Education Directorate revenue budget 2015-16, which would be transferred to an earmarked reserve and used to provide a revenue contribution to capital 2016-17.

The Section 151 Officer also reported on the additional highway requirements in respect of the Brynmenyn Primary and Garw Valley Primary Schools which was estimated to be £725k and funded through receipt of additional Section 106 funding and available capital receipts.  He stated that as the works are outside of the school boundaries, they are not eligible for Welsh Government funding and must be accounted for and funded by the Council and would now be treated as separate schemes within the capital programme, with the budgets for the school schemes being reduced accordingly.

The Section 151 Officer reported that when the 21^st Century Schools programme was developed it was intended to meet an element of the overall match funding through prudential borrowing, from revenue savings generated as a result of school amalgamations.  He stated that as the number of schools in scope within the programme had changed, the opportunity for generating revenue savings had diminished, especially with the higher cost of business rates in new builds, with an estimated shortfall on overall funding of £119k.  It was proposed to meet the shortfall by transferring funding from the School Modernisations Retention budget within the capital programme.

The Section 151 Officer that the Welsh Government had currently committed to fund £22.475M of the total costs for the current 21^st Century Schools Programme, with the Council meeting the remaining £23.035M.  He stated that as schemes were progressed through feasibility and the design stage, it had become apparent that the costs of some schemes would be higher than originally anticipated, due to site abnormals and rising construction costs.  Additional funding would be sought from the Welsh Government through a revised Strategic Outline Programme towards increased costs of the schemes as they are known, however there would be a requirement for additional match funding contributions from the Council if it wished to progress the schemes.  He stated it would be unlikely that the Council would have sufficient uncommitted capital receipts to meet the full costs and therefore Council was requested in principle to ring-fence the next capital receipts of up to £1.5M to ensure the programme is not delayed. 

RESOLVED:            That Council approved the revised Capital Programme and agree in principle to ring-fence the next capital receipts received of £1.5M to ensure the programme can be progressed.