Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Finance and Property (copy attached).

The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets, Councillor Gwyneth Ellis, introduced the Capital Plan 2022/23 – 2025/26 and Recommendations of the Budget Board - Capital report (previously circulated).

Members were provided with an updated Capital Plan including an update on major projects and the corporate plan.   The report also included the Capital Strategy Report for 2023/24.  This provided a high level, concise and comprehensive overview to members of how capital expenditure, capital financing and treasury management activity contributed to the provision of the Council’s services.

The Head of Finance and Property summarised the report highlighting the main points.

During discussions the following points were raised:

·                 Page 41, Capital Programme – Gypsy and Traveller Site Accommodation.  Councillor Peter Scott queried the purpose of the inclusion of feasibility funding in the capital plan. The Head of Finance and Audit confirmed that the allocation simply made funding available should the Council’s processes and decisions on gypsy and traveller site accommodation require it.

·                 Councillor Terry Mendies queried why Denbighshire Leisure Limited did not appear in the Capital Plan, and he reported on his efforts to secure more information on the role, activities and financing of Denbighshire Leisure Limited. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that a briefing on Denbighshire Leisure was being arranged for members.

The Head of Finance and Audit gave a summary of Denbighshire Leisure’s budget and accounting arrangements, for example in the budgets retained by the Council for repairs and maintenance. He highlighted that the core management and Service Level Agreement funding paid to Denbighshire Leisure, amounting to some £2 million, had not increased since the company, which was wholly owned by the Council, had been established. This meant that the company had absorbed the financial pressures over the last three years. 

·                 In response to Councillor Butterfield’s query, it was confirmed that funding for the Beach Rake and Chewing Gum Removal machine was almost entirely from external sources, and the Flying Start accommodation funding had been acquired from the Welsh Government for building work to enable the offering of more Flying Start places.

·                 In response to a query of why the figures in Appendix 3 appeared so high, members were advised that Appendix 3 contained only gross costs incurred but did not show income from grant funding, so the income and expenditure streams in this report were shown separately. Members were advised that Appendix 1 to the report gave the high level summary of the capital plan.

·                 Councillor Gill German responded to Councillor Mark Young by confirming that the budget allocated for a school (Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn) ensured that funding would be available for whatever the Council decided to do, and the sum could be carried forward to future financial years if necessary. The Head of Finance and Audit confirmed that this was also the case for the allocation towards the Corwen Pavilion Development. In respect of Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn, Councillor Rhys Thomas urged the Council to be careful in its use of terminology when describing progress, as the use of ‘implementation’ had been misinterpreted by some to mean a progression to building works starting. The Lead Member, Councillor German, added that public statements about Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn had been qualified to represent the accurate position.

Councillor Gwyneth Ellis PROPOSED the recommendations of the Capital Plan 2022/23 – 2025/26 and Recommendations of the Budget Board - Capital report, SECONDED by Councillor Peter Scott.

RESOLVED that Council:

(i)              notes the latest position on the 2022/23 element of the Capital Plan and the update on major projects;

(ii)             supports the recommendation of the Budget Board – Capital as detailed in appendix 5 and summarised in appendix 6;

(iii)           approves the 2023/24 Capital Plan; and

(iv)           approves the Capital Strategy Report for 2023/24 as detailed in appendix 7