To provide cabinet with comments on the proposed capital programme for 2016/17 onwards for recommendation to council on 18 December 2015.

The Director of resources presented the proposed capital programme for 2016/17, noting that the programme had a key role in supporting the council’s ambitions to drive economic growth in the county and deliver more jobs and homes.  Attention was drawn to the schemes identified on page 101 of the agenda.

Responses were provided to a number of questions from committee members, the principal points included:

i.        The ‘capital strategy group’, referred to in paragraph 5, page 100 of the agenda, consisted of senior representatives from each directorate and was chaired by the Director of resources.  Responding to further questions about accountability, the Cabinet member economy and corporate services and the Cabinet member infrastructure commented on their involvement in a range of activities and discussions about individual projects and considered it appropriate for an officer group to assess capital proposals for subsequent consideration by the executive.

ii.       The Assistant director commissioning clarified that the ‘Hereford city centre transport package’ brought together the Hereford city link road and the range of complementary transport and public realm measures within one line in the schemes identified on page 101.  A committee member asked for consistency in how schemes were described and accounted for.  In response to a further question, the Head of corporate finance advised that the description given on page 106, that ‘LEP grant funded investment increasing the net social value of housing and external impact of housing development resulting in a net regeneration benefit of £82m’, had been taken from the business case but would be updated in the next iteration of the document.  The Chairman suggested that future reports would benefit from expanded explanatory notes.

iii.      The Director of resources advised that all projects included an element of contingency, with further 1% contingency across the programme.  Reference was made to the £2m identified for ‘Emergency property estate enhancement works’ which reflected the age of buildings on the estate and the backlog of maintenance.

A committee member noted that numerous schemes had been identified as ‘invest to save’ initiatives and suggested that the committee would benefit from visibility of those elements of the capital programme which had been delivered and to be assured that savings and returns on investments were being achieved.  The Director of resources referred to the examples including the purchase of green bins for recyclable waste and the capital investment in Halo Leisure run facilities across the county.  The Deputy Leader said that Cabinet already received performance reports.  In order to be as accessible to members as possible, the Chairman requested that a briefing note be prepared and circulated on this matter annually.

RESOLVED:  That the capital programme be noted and the comments of the committee be forwarded to Cabinet.