Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Cabinet seeking approval the County Council’s treasury management activities and indicators; the updated Capital and Investment Strategy; the updated capital programme and other associated recommendations.

To consider a report of the Cabinet setting out the end of year position for the financial period 2022/23, seeking approval of the County Council’s treasury management activities and prudential indicators.

The Council considered the report of the Cabinet setting out the end of year position for the financial period 2022/23, seeking approval of the County Council’s treasury management activities and prudential indicators together with several other financial recommendations.

In presenting the report the Leader started with the outturn position and was pleased to report that even during a very difficult year, with inflationary pressures hitting many of the County Council’s services, the end of year position was to come in slightly under budget, thanks mainly to the early delivery of the SP23 savings programme.  The Leader thanked all the officers and Cabinet members for their strong financial stewardship over this difficult year.

Nonetheless, the Leader highlighted the importance of trying to stay ahead of the financial challenges that the Council faced, therefore the availability of reserves had been looked at to see what might be available to secure the financial position up to 2025/26 and to fund a number of urgent priorities.  This was not something he had wanted to do but there was no choice if the Council was to remain solvent over the medium term.

The Leader also highlighted that funding of £89m had been re-prioritised, £22.5m of which would be used on the road network over the next three years.  It was also necessary to ensure that the Council was prepared for the switch off of analogue lines in 2025 which would impact a number of services, therefore £5m was being invested in the switch over to digital alternatives.

In conclusion, the Leader moved the recommendations and commended them to the Chamber.

There were no questions or debate.  The recommendations were put to the vote and agreed by the majority of Members present.

RESOLVED:

That the County Council approves:

a)        The report on the County Council’s treasure management activities and prudential indicators set out in Appendix 2.

b)        The transfer of unused budget of £4.1m within Corporate Services and   Hampshire 2050 to the Budget Bridging Reserve.

c)         An additional investment of £7.5m per annum for the next three years for highways reactive maintenance, to be met from reserves.

d)        Funding of £5.24m for the switch from analogue to digital to be met from reserves.

e)        The review of earmarked reserves resulting in a transfer of £61.26m to the Budget Bridging Reserve.

f)          A variation to the 2024/25 Alderwood School (Aldershot) capital scheme of £2.7m resulting in an estimated scheme cost of £12m with the additional funding coming from a mix of developer contributions (£1m) and resources transferred from 2023/24 (£1.7m).

g)        The updated capital programme presented in Table 4 of Appendix 3 including changes to the programme since February 2023.