Issue - meetings

Councillor Isobel Seccombe (Leader) moved the recommendation as set out in the report.  Councillor Adrian Warwick seconded the recommendation and reserved the right to speak.

Debate

Councillor Jerry Roodhouse welcomed the report and reflected on the current national economic situation and how that would impact on local authorities. He understood that there would be a need to prioritise the capital programme and he welcomed the provisions in the paper to report to scrutiny.  Looking ahead, Councillor Roodhouse considered that there was a hard budget round ahead.

Councillor Will Roberts noted that the report informed Council that 47 schemes had been identified in the approved capital programme where it was likely schemes would need additional funding approved to deliver the projects in full and sought agreement that, for transparency, these schemes be identified publicly.

Councillor Sarah Feeney expressed concern that monies would need to be reallocated, asserting the need for councillors to understand which schemes would be put on hold as communities would be counting on them to improve the areas where they lived.  Like Councillor Roodhouse, she anticipated hard times ahead. 

Councillor Jonathan Chilvers welcomed a prudent piece of good governance but expressed concern about the exemptions detailed in paragraph 2.10 of the report and sought some reassurance in this regard.

Councillor Bill Gifford expressed his support for the proposals and commended the work that had been produced.

Councillor Adrian Warwick reflected on the reasons for the economic pressure, citing the conflict in Ukraine as a key cause.  However, he was delighted to commend the report which supported the ongoing delivery of the capital programme.

In reply, Councillor Seccombe thanked Members for their comments and offered reassurance that there was clarity in terms of needing to deal with committed schemes as quickly as possible and the proposals set out in the report allowed for that to happen.  She acknowledged that there would need to be some prioritisation but considered that the proposal was a sensible way of dealing with current pressures. In doing so, she commended the prudent financial management of the council over many years but recognised that this did not result in immunity to the current financial pressures facing the country.  She also recognised that there would be a very challenging budget ahead.

Vote

Upon being put to the vote, the motion was carried with unanimous support.

Resolved:

That Council:

1.               Sets aside £15m of the Capital Investment Fund to create an Inflation Contingency Fund to manage the impact of inflation on the approved capital programme; and

Delegates authority to make allocations from the Fund to the Strategic Director for Resources, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Property in accordance with the proposals in paragraph 2.9 of the report.

A paper setting out proposals to efficiently manage requests for additional capital funding to allow schemes affected by high levels of inflation to continue through to completion.

Cabinet Portfolio  Holder – Councillor Peter Butlin

Councillor Peter Butlin (Deputy Leader of the Council) introduced this item and summarised the report which presented the emerging inflation picture for the capital programme and recommended an approach to try and make the approvals more efficient to manage for the Council given the volume of projects impacted and the need for pace within some projects that would require inflationary uplifts. He noted that taking all these projects through individual Member approval processes would unnecessarily fill up agendas and cause programme delays.  The recommended approval process would involve the creation of an Inflation Contingency Fund with allocations made by the Section 151 Officer and the Deputy Leader who would undertake due diligence and report quarterly to Overview and Scrutiny.

In response to a query from Councillor Roodhouse, Councillor Butlin accepted that there would be some prioritisation of projects required.

Resolved:

That Cabinet recommends to Council to:

1.     Set aside £15m of the Capital Investment Fund to create an Inflation Contingency Fund to manage the impact of inflation on the approved capital programme; and

2.     Delegate authority to make allocations from the Fund to the Strategic Director for Resources, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Property in accordance with the proposals in paragraph 2.9.  Councillor Peter Butlin (Deputy Leader of the Council) introduced this item and summarised the report.