Agenda item

(A) That the Draft Capital Strategy and Minimum Revenue Provision policy 2023/24 onwards for scrutiny by Audit & Governance Committee be approved; and

(B) That the principle of selling assets to raise capital receipts to reduce the revenue costs of the capital and authorise officers to prepare an initial list and marketing strategy for assets for sale for approval by Executive be endorsed.

(C) To authorise the Head of Strategic Finance & Property, in consultation with the Executive Member for Financial Sustainability, to make any changes to these documents as are necessary to reflect the impact of the local government finance settlement and other emerging information, such as the impact of the business rates revaluation, so that Audit and Governance Committee can scrutinise the most up to date financial position.

The Executive Member for Financial Sustainability presented the report. He said that this was the fifth edition of the report attached at Appendix A. He said that changes in the economic climate and the increase in interest rates need to ensure that the capital programme remained affordable. He said that lower priority capital spending would be moved to the not committed category which means that the delivery of those items would be paused until the finance becomes available.

Councillor Williamson said that the Draft Asset Management Plan looked at the council’s operational and non-operational property assets. He said that the strategy would propose an evaluation of all the council’s assets to determine whether it was in the council’s interest to retain or dispose of it. The capital receipts from any such disposals would support the capital programme or offset borrowing requirements. He said the strategy was not available for this meeting and would be presented at the January meeting so proposed an amendment to recommendation (A) in the report to remove the words “Draft Asset Management Plan”.

Councillor Boylan seconded the amendment to the recommendation. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – To amend recommendation (A) as follows: That the Draft Capital Strategy and Minimum Revenue Provision policy 2023/24 onwards for scrutiny by Audit and Governance Committee be approved.

Councillor Curtis asked if the Executive Member could confirm if the evaluation would include revenue generating assets or future generating assets.

Councillor Williamson said it could include revenue generating assets but only where the revenue return was below an acceptable threshold.

Councillor Curtis asked if there would be an opportunity to increase the return on some of these assets.

Councillor Williamson said that it would be looked at as part of the evaluation.

Councillor Curtis asked for confirmation that each asset would be looked at for revenue potential before a decision was made to sell it.

Councillor Williamson confirmed that this would be part of the process.

Councillor Curtis referred to the savings within the Transformation Programme and said it would be better to increase the revenue on the council’s assets instead of selling them off to raise money.

Councillor Buckmaster said that many the council’s assets were not capable of generating further income and so should be considered for disposal.

Councillor Haysey said the requirements were laid out in detail on page 21.

The Head of Strategic Finance and Property said the evaluation would look at assets for disposals. He said that any assets that did not contribute to the Corporate Plan or would not appreciate in capital or generate income should not be held onto by the council. He said there was potentially £2.4million value in the surplus assets. He said many of the assets were surplus to requirements and it would be a Member decision as to what assets were disposed of.

Councillor Curtis asked how the council kept track of its assets and asked when the last review was taken place.

Councillor Williamson said property assets were valued every year for the Statement of Accounts.

Councillor Curtis asked if costs for capital projects could be reduced instead of sacrificing savings in other services.

Councillor Haysey said that all the capital projects have been reviewed frequently and some had been moved from approved but not committed.

Councillor Williamson proposed and Councillor Cutting seconded a motion supporting the amended recommendations. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – That (A) the Draft Capital Strategy and Minimum Revenue Provision policy 2023/24 onwards for scrutiny by Audit and Governance Committee be approved; 

(B) The principle of selling assets to raise capital receipts to reduce the revenue costs of the capital and authorise officers to prepare an initial list and marketing strategy for assets for sale for approval by Executive be endorsed; and

(C) The Head of Strategic Finance and Property, in consultation with the Executive Member for Financial Sustainability, be authorised to make any changes to these documents as are necessary to reflect the impact of the local government finance settlement and other emerging information, such as the impact of the business rates revaluation, so that Audit and Governance Committee can scrutinise the most up to date financial position.