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Agenda item

Capital Programme 2018-19 to 2027-28

Minutes:

The Interim Head of Finance sought agreement to present a report to Council for approval of a revised capital programme for 2018-19 to 2027-28. 

 

The Interim Head of Finance reported that since the approval of the capital programme, a number of schemes had been progressed which require the approval of Council.  She informed Cabinet that in respect of the 21st Century Schools Band A Programme, despite site investigation works being undertaken in advance of letting the Pencoed Primary School construction contract, the site required significant cut and fill activities not originally anticipated, resulting in the project costs increasing by £200,000.  It was proposed to meet this additional cost from projected under spends in other Band A schemes.  The Interim Head of Finance informed Cabinet that a budget of £165,000 had been included in the capital programme for the provision of additional accommodation at Cwmfelin Primary School.  However, following design development, the original project estimate was deemed insufficient and despite a value engineering exercise being undertaken, a revised project cost had been received of £235,000, resulting in additional funding of £70,000 over and above the approved budget, which it was proposed would be vired from the school modernisation retention budget.

 

The Interim Head of Finance reported that capital investment of £205,000 had been approved for the establishment of a MASH.  However the MASH had instead moved into Raven’s Court, resulting in costs being considerably less than anticipated, which would release funding of £45,116 for other schemes.  She also reported that capital funding of £1.217m for ICT investment had been approved to deliver agile working, which was dependent on securing a tenant for Raven’s Court.  Following decisions on where to place the MASH, the active marketing of Raven’s Court would no longer be pursued and consequently the investment initially identified was no longer required, which left a balance of £1.201m to be de-committed and used for other schemes.

 

The Interim Head of Finance also reported that funding of £360,000 towards cemetery extensions at Porthcawl and North Cornelly, however due to further investigation and feasibility works an additional £170,000 was required to be funded by prudential borrowing.  She also reported that a capital budget of £1.64m is required for the purchase of replacement highway maintenance vehicles to be funded from within clients’ existing revenue budgets, through revenue contributions to capital or prudential borrowing.  The Interim Head of Finance commented on the need following a review of the ICT estate for an increase of £226.375 funded from a revenue contribution from the existing ICT rolling programme budget.

 

The Interim Head of Finance reported that the procurement exercise for the Porthcawl Resort Investment Focus project had been completed which had increased to £2,924,000; there was a need to revise the match requirement to £1,358,060.  The match funding was made up of a range of external resources and Council funds.  She stated that if opportunities arise to access further external funds, either through ERDF or other sources then these will be targeted in an effort to further reduce the requirement for Council resources. 

 

The Interim Head of Finance also reported that there is significant commercial interest in the land and building (Ty’r Ardd) which houses the Registrar’s Office and Awen’s Reference Library.  There has been an increase in wedding cancellations due to the works taking place on the adjacent land.  With work increasing on the site, it was likely to cause a further increase in wedding cancellations.   Feasibility work has been undertaken on relocating the Registrar’s Office which can be accommodated on the ground floor of Civic Offices.  This would provide a one-off capital receipt from the sale of the land as well as ongoing revenue savings from the closure of a building.  She stated that the indicative capital budget needed to remodel the area of the Civic Offices affected is £275,000, which includes creating a patio area for wedding photos.  The anticipated capital receipt, indicated in the draft valuation report, is expected to be significantly more than the cost of the works. 

 

The Interim Head of Finance reported that the Welsh Government had awarded the Council £2.6m in order to create Welsh-medium childcare provision in Bettws, Ogmore Valley, Bridgend Town and Porthcawl with the four projects costing £650,000 each.  

 

The Interim Head of Finance informed Cabinet that the revised capital programme includes a number of other adjustments which reflect new external funding approvals and changes to expenditure profiles across financial years, which showed a revised programme of £211.185m, of which, £138.408m is met from the Council’s resources, including general Capital Funding from the Welsh Government and £72.777m met from external resources.

 

The Deputy Leader informed Cabinet that due to the nature of the capital programme being over a 10 year period, there would be a need to update the programme from time to time; however the programme is financially sound.  The Leader commented that there are robust procurement processes in place; however variances would occur on construction projects which would not be known until work on site had been commenced.  He stated that cost increases in the capital programme had been minimised and funding from the MASH and agile working projects had been re-allocated.                                                    

 

The Interim Head of Finance informed Cabinet that overspends would be driven down as robustly as possible.    

 

RESOLVED:           That the revised Capital Programme be submitted to Council for approval.

Supporting documents:

 

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