Issue - meetings

To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance and Assets (copy enclosed) seeking Cabinet’s support of projects identified for inclusion in the 2015/16 Capital Plan.

RESOLVED that the projects detailed in Appendix 1 to the report for inclusion in the 2015/16 Capital Plan be supported and recommended to full Council.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the report seeking Cabinet’s support of projects identified for inclusion in the 2015/16 Capital Plan as recommended by the Strategic Investment Group (SIG) and detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.

Councillor Thompson-Hill guided members through the report and elaborated upon funding available for capital investment to one-off projects and block allocations for on-going programmes of work.  Reference was made to the work of the SIG in reviewing bids for allocations together with issues that arose during that process and a summary of the recommendations.  Due to insufficient capital funding being available to cover all projects a number of pre-allocations from future capital receipts had been recommended.

Questions were raised regarding the £2m street lighting replacement programme and it was explained that in order to meet the requirement to submit applications for Government Salix funding on an annual basis it was proposed that an annual loan of approximately £335k be taken out each year over six years on a rolling basis repayable out of the savings made from the previous year.  The programme involved replacing existing lanterns with new LEA lanterns which should provide significant savings on energy and maintenance costs.  Councillor Bill Cowie reported upon the poor lighting at the Pelican Crossing in St. Asaph (A525) since LEA street lighting had been installed and asked that the matter be investigated before consideration of the proposal at full Council.  Councillor Thompson-Hill agreed to liaise with Councillor David Smith, Lead Member for Public Realm directly in that regard.  He also responded to further questions regarding carbon emissions confirming that monitoring of the council’s buildings was undertaken in that regard and energy efficient schemes had been introduced in some areas.

The Leader felt that the process of reviewing bids and allocating capital was robust but asked that consideration be given how to measure value for money and impact of capital investment in future years.  Councillor Thompson-Hill agreed with that suggestion – he also agreed to provide further details regarding membership of the SIG in future reports and confirmed that meetings were generally well attended.

RESOLVED that the projects detailed in Appendix 1 to the report for inclusion in the 2015/16 Capital Plan be supported and recommended to full Council.