Agenda item

That the report be noted.

The Service Lead Finance introduced a report that summarised the spend against capital budgets for the 2018/19 financial year.

The revised capital budget for 2018/19 was £239m of which £177m had been spent on a wide range of projects as detailed in the report and appendix.  The Cabinet noted the various reasons for the underspend which included reprofiling and completing projects such as the A332 Widening & Tuns Lane Transport Scheme and the new leisure project under budget.  There was some unspent budget from the capital allocated to James Elliman Homes and the Strategic Acquisition Board as suitable properties and investments had not become available during the year.  These underspends would be carried forward and available to invest when opportunities were identified.  When such reasons were stripped out, slippage was 9.7% which was well below historic levels.

Lead Members commented on the benefits that a number of the capital schemes would deliver in the future including school expansion projects, new homes and investments to generate income to the Council and support frontline services.  The Cabinet agreed the importance of investing the allocated resources to James Elliman Homes at the earliest opportunity to address the pressures on temporary accommodation and it was noted that further progress had been made since the end of the reporting period of 31^st March 2019.

At the conclusion of the discussion the report was noted.

Resolved –  That the capital monitoring report for 2018/19 be noted.