Issue - meetings

Report of Assistant Director of Finance (S151 Officer)

Purpose of report

To submit the draft Capital and Investment Strategy for 2026-27 for recommendation by the committee to the Executive.

Recommendations

The Budget Planning Committee resolves:

1.1         To recommend the draft Capital and Investment Strategy for 2026-27 (Appendix 1) to Executive.

Resolved

(1)        That the Committee recommends the draft Capital and Investment Strategy for 2026/27 to the Executive.

The Assistant Director of Finance (S151 Officer) submitted a report for the Committee to consider the draft Capital Strategy and Investment strategy for 2026-27 and recommend to the Executive.

In introducing the report, the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Property and Regeneration advised the Committee that the Capital Strategy and Investment Strategy must be approved by Full Council annually and must satisfy the requirements of government legislation and CIPFA guidance.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance, Property and Regeneration gave an overview of the key changes in the 2026-27 Strategy, explaining that the annual Minimum revenue provision statement had been expanded in line with new statutory guidance and the operation boundary had been reviewed and reduced from £200m to £199m.

In response to a question from the Committee on the reported spend of £3m to purchase temporary accommodation, the Assistant Director of Finance explained that the local authorities were seeing a trend in increased need for temporary accommodation and the proposal would help reduce potential pressures in future years. This indicated there was a clear business case for the purchase of property to be used for temporary accommodation.

The Assistant Director of Finance (S151 Officer) responded to a question from the Committee regarding the revised CIPFA Prudential Code for Capital Finance which stated that the Council cannot borrow for commercial purposes. This meant that the Council may only borrow funds for purposes that clearly demonstrated that it was linked with the priorities of the Council.

Resolved

(1)      That the Committee recommends the draft Capital and Investment Strategy for 2026/27 to the Executive.