Agenda item

This report sets out the latest capital budget monitoring position.  

Discussion:

The Chief Finance Officer summarised the current spend and forecast to date (April to June) of the capital budget for 2011/2012. He advised that out of a total of 186 schemes, with an approved total of £329 million, five of these gave cause for concern. These related to HCA (Homes and Communities Agency) funded schemes and a final payment from the HCA to the council of £1.5 million was anticipated at any moment.

Members discussed the projected overspend of the bus facility in Chatham town centre and the surrounding project in The Brook and that these two projects accounted for a large proportion of the projected overspend. The committee asked for a clear position from officers about monies due from the HCA and notification of when any final monies had been received. Members acknowledged that it had been their decision to move the position of the bus station, which had resulted in re-design costs of £900,000 but these costs were questioned as being unreasonably high.

Members also requested further information on the Members Priority Scheme and the transparency of this scheme. Officers were asked to provide information on the number of requests for funding that had been refused by this scheme.

With reference to Strood Academy (paragraph 4.2.5 of the report), the committee praised the apprenticeship scheme developed in partnership with Mid-Kent College, acknowledging that this was an excellent addition within the contract and the way forward for similar contracts in the future.

Councillors Bright and Pat Gulvin, speaking as ward Members (Princes Park), voiced their concern at the abandonment of the project for North Dane Way (as set out in paragraph 4.5.1 of the report). They advised that they had been involved at the start of the project but had not been notified that it was no longer going ahead and asked that officers ensured that Members were kept informed of information like this.

The committee also asked that in future all capital monitoring reports contained the original, project budget forecast, so that Members could monitor the ‘project outturn’ against the original forecast in order to assess the accuracy of information when projects were first put forward for agreement. The Chief Finance Officer explained that it was not uncommon for additional resources to be allocated to projects during their life, which made such a comparison meaningless as an outturn measure. However, he advised that the ‘New Approvals’ column in Appendix 2 of the report and the council process for approval were a means of tracking such changes.

Members also discussed the replacement of legal Section 106 agreements with the new Community Infrastructure Levy and asked that a briefing note was circulated to all Members of the Council on the operation of the new levy.

Decision:

The committee agreed to:

(a)   note the spending and funding forecasts summarised at Tables 1 and 3;

(b)   request that officers provide details of schemes which had been rejected from the Members Priority Fund scheme;

(c)   request that officers notify Members of the committee when the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) have paid over the outstanding sums;

(d)   to request a Briefing Note for all Councillors on the operation of the new Community Infrastructure Levy.