Agenda item

To consider the attached report.

Teresa Brown the Principal Accountant introduced the annual report on the provisional capital outturn for 2017/18. This report set out the Council’s capital programme for 2017/18, in terms of expenditure and financing, and compared the provisional outturn figures with the revised estimates.

Appendix 1 to the reportsummarised the Council’s overall capital expenditure and funding for 2017/18. It showed the total amount of expenditure invested in Council-owned assets within the General fund, analysed over the directorates, and showed the sum invested in existing and new Housing Revenue Account (HRA) assets separately. Below this was the total sums advanced in the form of Capital Loans and the Revenue Expenditure Financed from Capital under Statute (REFCuS).

An analysis of the funds used to finance the Council’s capital expenditure in 2017/18 was also given, detailing the use of government grants, private funding, capital receipts and direct revenue funding.

The Council’s total investment on capital schemes and capital funded schemes in 2017/18 was £37,930,000 compared to a revised estimate of £40,124,000, representing an underspend of 5%. With regard to the General Fund projects, there was an overall overspend of £525,000 or 4%.

The Technology Strategy was agreed at Cabinet on the 9^th November 2017 as part of the Council’s transformation process to ensure that themes emerging in the new Corporate Plan 2018-2023 were also reflected in the ICT strategy. The general ICT schemes had progressed very well in 2017/18 with the majority of the projects being completed on time and within the allocated budgets.

The Neighbourhoods Directorate was reporting an overall overspend of £753,000 within the 2017/18 financial year which represented a 6% increase on what was budgeted. This was primarily due to the good progress with the construction of the new Hillhouse Leisure Centre and the redevelopment of the Council’s other leisure centres. Overall, expenditure was £1,267,000 ahead of what was estimated within the Capital Programmes as at 31 March 2018. Therefore, it was recommended that this sum was brought forward from the 2018/19 allocation to cover these costs.

The budget for the Epping Forest Shopping Park was split between the costs of constructing the shopping park and the costs of undertaking the Section 278 highways works. At the end of the financial year, nine of the twelve units were trading with two of the vacant units continuing to be marketed and the remaining one in the hands of the solicitors. Two extra units were now trading with one pending the signing of the lease.

The General Fund element to the Communities Directorate included CCTV installation schemes and recharges to the General Fund for the housing estate parking schemes. During 2017/18, the majority of the general CCTV projects were completed on time and within budget as planned.

Under the Housing Revenue Account there was a £2.5 million underspend due to delays in the housebuilding programme.

An allocation of £345,000 was included in the housebuilding programme to finance a pilot scheme to provide three modular units of temporary accommodation for six single vulnerable homeless people at Norway House, North Weald. Detailed designs of the works had been completed, however the planning permission for this site has delayed the works and a start on site date is expected within quarter two of 2018/19 with a further six to nine month construction period.

It was noted that disabled adaptations were now on the increase because Essex County Council had got to grips with its part of this work and was referring more cases to us. Councillor Patel noted that this had been a large underspend but now ECC were trying to keep residents in their own homes for as long as possible, so that this figure would continue to rise. We needed to look at our obligations and what we needed to provide. Councillor Bedford was worried that this may mean one person blocking a large house; officers should be taking this into account.

It was noted that the Communities Select Committee received annual reports on the disabled adaptions scheme and the budget implications for the HRA.

ACTION: It was agreed that the Communities Select Committee be asked to keep the disabled adaption scheme and Housing stock under review.

It was noted that a request to bring forward money to upgrade the Janus Security System was one of the recommendations of the report.

There were more Capital Receipts than had been anticipated and part of this money was being used to fund part of the new housebuilding programme. Councillor Whitehouse noted that we should spend this money quickly before it was claimed by the Government. Councillor Bedford asked if we were confined to buying property within our district, which was one way to spend this quickly. He was told that no, we were not.

Councillor Bedford noted that planning permission could cause delays to our schemes. Ms Brown said that we would need to work closer with planning officers on these projects and make contingency plans, noting that Burton Road was one of the largest schemes that we had.

RESOLVED:

(1)          That the provisional outturn report for 2017/18 be noted;

(2)          That retrospective approval for the over and underspends in 2017/18 on certain capital schemes as identified in the report were noted;

(3)          That approval for the carry forward of unspent capital estimates into 2018/19 relating to schemes on which slippage has occurred was noted;

(4)          That approval of the funding proposals outlined in this report in respect of the capital programme in 2017/18 was noted;

(5)          That a recommendation for approval be given to enhance the 2018/19 HRA structural schemes budget by £653,000 via a combination of virements of £494,000 from other budgets in 2018/19 and £159,000 of savings generated in 2017/18;

(6)          That a recommendation for approval be given for other virements within the HRA capital programme totalling £372,000 to supplement the windows, doors and roofing budget and the disabled adaptations budget as detailed in the report;

(7)  That a recommendation for approval be given to bring forward a budget of £30,000 for an urgent planned maintenance project on the ‘Janus Security System’ from 2020/21 to 2018/19.