Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which informed Members of requests to increase the capital programme, sought approval for those schemes that could be approved under authority delegated to the Executive and asked the Executive to recommend to Council proposals that required specific Council approval.

The proposals which required Council approval were those which were funded by the use of reserves above a cumulative total of £10 million, where the use of borrowing was required or a virement exceeded £1m. These included the following proposed changes:-

·                ICT - Future Council Infrastructure Implementation – Hybrid Cloud Programme.  A capital budget virement of £0.618m requested, funded by borrowing via the ICT Investment budget. A capital budget decrease of £2.661m was also requested and approval of a corresponding transfer of £2.661m to the revenue budget, funded by Capital Fund, to enable the implementation of the ICT Hybrid Cloud Strategy, which sat under the wider ICT & Digital Strategy (currently in consultation phase) and was a key enabler in the delivery of ICT strategic objectives over the next five  years.

·                Public Sector Housing – Woodward Court external concrete repairs and Enveloping.  A capital budget increase of £0.500m in 2022/23 and £2.505m in 2023/24 requested, funded by HRA Reserves, to deliver external concrete repairs and balcony balustrade repairs alongside a planned programme of enveloping works to ensure clear logistical and economical benefit for the Corporate Estate.

·                Public Sector Housing – Fire Risk Assessments Additional Works.  A capital budget increase of £4.112m in 2022/23 and £0.773m in 2023/24 requested, funded from HRA reserves to deliver further fire protection/prevention related works beyond those already included in the HRA capital programme

The proposals which did not require Council approval and only required Executive approval were those which were funded by the use of external resources, use of capital receipts, use of reserves below £10.0m, where the proposal could be funded from existing revenue budgets or where the use of borrowing on a spend to save basis is required.  The following proposals required Executive approval for changes to the City Council’s capital programme:-

·                ICT – Mobile Data.  A capital budget decrease of £0.161m requested and approval of a corresponding transfer of £0.161m to the revenue budget, funded by Capital Fund to enable the discovery work required to build the specification for the tender documentation for a new contract to be in place by March 2023.

·                Growth and Development - House of Sport Fire Mitigation and Roof additional

·                costs.  A capital budget increase of £2.260m in 2022/23 requested, funded by Capital Receipts to enable fire remediation works and additional roof works to prevent water damage from roof and gutter leaks.

·                Private Sector Housing – This City – Postal Street PCSA Fees.  A capital budget increase of £2.4m in 2022/23 requested, funded by Capital Receipts to provide a budget envelope to cover the appointment of a contractor on a Pre-Construction Services Agreement (PCSA) basis until planning permission had been granted whilst options for future funding were being explored with potential third-party investors.

·                Public Sector Housing – Collyhurst.  . A capital budget increase of £6.645m  requested in 2023/24, to be funded by Housing Capital Receipts to deliver construction of the new homes, demolition of existing homes and construction of the new park (including all remaining design fees, associated on-costs, legal fees, and site assembly costs)

The report highlighted that if the recommendations in the report were approved the General Fund capital budget would increase by £16.374m across financial years which would also result in an increase in the prudential indicator for Capital Expenditure in corresponding years.

Approval had also been given for the following capital budget virements:-

£0.200m to be allocated from the Unallocated Education Basic Need funding for Gorton Primary School. This project would add a resource provision of 18 places to the school’s capacity and would accommodate children with an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP).

·                £0.024m to be allocated from the Education Basic Need funding for Dixons Brooklands Academy to create an additional 30 bulge class places to meet demand for year 7 pupils in September 2022.

·                £0.013m to be allocated  from the Parks Development Programme budget for an additional Site Investigation (SI) for Heaton Park Overflow Car Park to be carried out as recommended in the previous SI report. The additional report was necessary to identify the outfall options as part of a future submission.

·                £1.842m to be vired to the National Cycling Centre from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund grant funded programme. Following budget approval, the Council entered into a contract for the refurbishment and carbon works only, whilst the enhancement works scoping was progressing through the design stages to RIBA Stage 4 and cost certainty was being secured from the supply chain. This work had now been completed and following some value engineering the cost difference from RIBA Stage 2 to Stage 4 still presented a budget shortfall of £1.578m (£160K of this related to inflationary and market pressures). The virement would utilise grant funding to cover additional costs identified of £1.578m and also reduce borrowing of £0.264m.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Recommend that Council approve the following changes to Manchester City Council’s capital programme:-

·                ICT - Future Council Infrastructure Implementation – Hybrid Cloud Programme. A capital budget virement of £0.618m funded by Borrowing via the ICT Investment budget. A capital budget decrease of £2.661m is also requested and approval of a corresponding transfer of £2.661m to the revenue budget, funded by Capital Fund.

·                Public Sector Housing – Woodward Court external concrete repairs and Enveloping. A capital budget increase of £3.005m, funded by RCCO – HRA.

·                Public Sector Housing – Fire Risk Assessment Additional Work. A capital budget increase of £4.885m funded from by RCCO from the HRA.

(2)      Under powers delegated to the Executive, to approve the following changes to the Council’s capital programme

·                ICT – Mobile Data. A capital budget decrease of £0.161m and approval of a corresponding transfer of £0.161m to the revenue budget, funded by Capital Fund.

·                Growth and Development - House of Sport Fire Mitigation and Roof additional costs. A capital budget increase of £2.260m funded by Capital Receipts.

·                Private Sector Housing – This City – Postal Street PCSA Fees. A capital budget increase of £2.4m, funded by Capital Receipts.

·                Public Sector Housing – Collyhurst. A capital budget increase of £6.645m funded by Capital Receipts.

(3)      Notes the virements in the programme of £2.079m as a result of virements from approved budgets.