1 THE ISSUE

1.1 This report informs the Council Executive of the current position of the 2003/2004 Capital Programme and available resources.

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.1 That the Executive:

a) notes the current position of the 2003/2004 capital programme;

b) approves the adjustments to and incorporation of additional funding to the 2003/2004 programme as detailed in paragraph 4.1;

c) notes the current position of available resources.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 Included in the report.

4 2003/2004 CAPITAL PROGRAMME

4.1 At the 9^th July meeting a revised capital programme of £39.9 million was approved. The following revisions have now been incorporated into the programme giving a revised total of £37.9 million:

· Social Services - Elderly Persons Homes Replacement Programme - The budget for this has been re-phased so that £1,538,000 has been moved forward to future years. This budget will be added back to the major projects contingency in this financial year and considered in the financial plan review.

· Spa Project - An exempt report was presented to the Council Executive on 3^rd September outlining the latest position. Further to this report a draw down of £2.4m from the risk reserve is required.

· Transportation, Access & Waste - have received additional Supplementary Credit Approval of £257,000 for transport schemes. The budget of £7,000 for Domestic Security has been transferred to Social Services. The budget of £25,000 for Neighbourhood Improvements has been transferred to Economic Development.

· Education - £380,000 of NDS condition grant has been transferred to Property Services. The budget of £100,000 for schools cafeteria improvements has been transferred to Trading Services. An insurance claim of £45,000 for Farrington Gurney School has been added to the Education programme.

· Public Service Agreements - The budget for this has been re-phased and £174,000 is to be carried forward to future years.

· Payroll upgrade - The Executive Member for Resources approved funding of £146,000 be allocated from anticipated slippage in the current programme. This will be taken into account when reviewing the Financial Plan.

· Social Housing Grant - The reimbursement of Social Housing Grant to local authorities was discontinued by the Government with effect from 1^st April 2003. Some transitional funding has been allocated for schemes which were already approved prior to the Government notification. However, the funding is being paid directly to the Housing Associations which has therefore, reduced the Councils' budget requirement for this financial year. The amount of transitional funding approved for this year is £2.16m. The budget is therefore to be reduced by £2.16m. Members should note that the availability of the transitional funding provides an opportunity to re-phase the Council's own capital resources to the period following the expiry of the existing SHG programme. This will be taken into account in the financial plan review.

· Office accommodation - £150,000 is required to finance office moves around the Guildhall. This can be funded from slippage within the Long Term Office Accommodation budget, but will need to be replaced in future years.

4.2 Spend to the 30^th September totalled £9.2million (£6.9million net of grant funded Stone Mines expenditure, or 98% of profiled spend). Profiled spend to 30^th September, excluding grant funded Stone Mines expenditure, was £7.07million. The level of spend is similar to that of previous years (£9.3million to 30^th Sept 2002).

4.3 Details of the current programme are given in Appendix 1.

4.4 Details of profiled spend are given in Appendix 2. It is now expected that total spending for 2003/04 will be around £24.5million.

5 RESOURCES

5.1 The receipt from Somer Housing right-to-buy sales was estimated at £6m for the year, (£1.5m useable and £4.5m reserved). Sales have already reached £4.9m at 30^th September. The estimated useable receipts have therefore been increased to £2.25m.

5.2 Details of revised resources are as follows:

5.3 The table shows surplus resources of £2.2 million. This will be taken into account when reviewing the Financial Plan.

APPENDIX 1 CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2003/2004

In addition to the above expenditure £2.35 million has been spent on the Stone Mines which will be grant funded.

Spa scheme - The excess spending compared to the profiled budget shown in the table above will be offset by the remaining Millenium Commission grant and Operators lease premium which is due to be released on practical completion.