Special Meeting, Executive - Thursday, 9th May, 2024 6.00 pm
May 9, 2024 View on council website Watch video of meetingTranscript
Thank you. Good evening and welcome to this special meeting of Guilfibera Council's Executive. This meeting has been convened outside of our usual schedule so as to consider a report concerning the Wayside Urban Village Development Program. Before we consider the business on this evening's agenda I would like to draw your attention to a number of housekeeping requirements. First I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be webcasted live to the internet and will be capable of repeated viewing. So when you are seated in the chamber it is likely that the cameras will capture your image. You are deemed to be consenting to this and to the use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes. If you are speaking at the meeting your contribution will be recorded and broadcast. In addition the public gallery area is being monitored by CCTV for safety purposes. Although this meeting is being recorded anyone is permitted to record the proceedings using their own devices for example for social media purposes providing they do not disrupt the meeting in doing so. If the fire alarm sounds at any time during the meeting we're not expecting it to go off everyone in the chamber should leave immediately through the nearest fire exits and proceed calmly to the assembly point on the paved area adjacent to the river as you exit the site. May I also ask that you switch your mobile phones or handheld devices to silent for the duration of this meeting. If you are attending remotely may I ask that you have your cameras and microphones turned off at all times during the meeting and only switch them on when I invite you to speak for your own privacy camera backgrounds should be set to blurred. If for any reason remote attendees lose their Wi-Fi connectivity during the meeting and are unable to rejoin using the link on the Outlook calendar invitation please rejoin using the telephone number 02038554748 you will be prompted to input a conference ID 873-856-492-HASH. Finally it has been agreed that non-executive counsellors and officers may if they wish attending this attend this meeting remotely via Microsoft Teams. Any non-executive counsellors or officers who are attending remotely and who wish to speak on any item should indicate this by leaving a request in the meeting chat box. Okay let's get started with items sorry item number one apologies for absence have any apologies for absence been received Carrie. Good evening yes we've received apologies from Councillors George Potter and Richard Lucas this evening thank you Carrie. Item number two declarations of interests may I remind Councillors who have a disposable pecuniary interest in any matter to be considered this evening to disclose the interest now and withdraw from the meeting when we get to the relevant item of business are there any disposable pecuniary interests no can't carry can you check please check the meeting chat to see if any Councillor attending remotely has a disposable pecuniary interest I see none thank you may I also ask in the interest of transparency whether any Councillor wishes to disclose a non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this evening's agenda and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter are there any non-cuniary interests? Carrie could you please check the meeting chat to see if any Councillor attending remotely has a non-pecuniary interest please once again I see none thank you okay moving on to item number three minutes of the previous meeting included in the agenda pack are the draft minutes from the meeting held on the 18th of April 2024 is the executive happy to adopt those minutes as a correct record I agree thank you okay so let's move on to the next item sorry chairman's announcements first item is in relation to sort the solace independent reports on Tuesday we published two reviews into our governance and housing landlord function alongside an improvement plan you can find more information on that on the council's newsroom but I would just like to clarify that our liberal democrat administration will always do the right thing not the easy thing we did not create the environment in which these failings could take place but we will be the ones to fix it we will not rest until we have made the improvements necessary to ensure the people of the borough are served by a resilient and well-managed council they deserve nothing less we lead with integrity and I encourage that the external reports recognize that our executive have acted with integrity and taken the right steps in our response to the solace reports our focus now is on making sure this situation can never be repeated this week at our annual meeting we elected councilor sally barker mbe as the mayor of gilford and counselor howard smith as deputy mayor i'm sure you would like to join me in wishing them all the best for the year ahead thank you be be part of a greener gilford we've announced our first ever gilford green day an initiative funded by the uk government through the uk shared prosperity fund it's taking place on sunday the ninth of june 2024 from 11 o'clock to four p.m and we'll be a day to celebrate learn to be part of a greener gilford and it will combine environmental education and awareness activities we hope as many people as possible will come along and get involved in the free activities on offer and more information is available on the visit sari website or by searching for gilford green day there's been really good progress on the ash road bridge and last weekend the bridge beams were installed over the railway at ash road bridge over 200 people came along to our viewing sessions to watch the work in progress 17 24 ton beams and two 45 ton beams were installed over the weekend using a 750 ton mobile crane the good weather was an added bonus and meant that all beams were installed by 5 p.m. on saturday the fourth of may so well done to everybody who was involved in in that sounds like a mammoth task and i'm sure that everybody who came along to watch that thoroughly enjoyed it our open space and special protection area planning guidance consultations we're running consultations on two guidance documents that will help decision makers assess planning applications the guidance covers open space and the tem space tems basin heath special protection area the consultations opened yesterday and run to midday on the 12th of june 2024 you can visit our newsroom or our planning portal for more information good news gilford lido is open it's official summer is here the gilford lido is now open until the 15th of september and season tickets can be purchased online from the freedom leisure website and finally free live bandstand concerts get set for another amazing summer of music at our award-winning gilford castle grounds bandstand concerts take place between may and september you can enjoy free live music every sunday from 2 p.m to 4 p.m and visitors can take a picnic too the program for the bandstands bandstand concerts is on the visit sari website we just need the sun to keep on shining okay thank you right moving on to item number five wayside urban village development uh the information you need can be found on pages 15 to 48 of your agenda pack before we begin i noticed that the appendices to this report have been listed as exempt for reasons set out within the local government act 1972 of course we would wish to keep as much of our debate in open session as possible but should counselors wish to discuss the content of these appendices i will need to close the meeting to the public whilst that discussion takes place so can counselors please advise me now if you wish to discuss the exempt material set out in appendices wonderful of the report this evening i can't see anyone online either no okay so in that case thank you counselor hunt can you please introduce the report without reference to the restricted content thank you so i hope everyone here is aware that wayside open village is a major 41 brownfield regeneration scheme that gilford bro council anticipates could deliver in the order of 1500 new homes across a range of tenures as well as 2 000 meters of community space and six and a half thousand square meters of employment space council's been working for a very long time on this scheme over 15 years to de risk the infrastructure delivery and the site assembly process 44 percent of the site is currently in council ownership and the full 100 percent will be achieved on completion of the land transfers with tems water contract with tems water was signed back in april 2019 and construction commenced in august of last year so housing is obviously of great importance to the borough and forms a major theme to the local plan and that it's meeting on the 7th of january 2020 the council executive organized the managing director in consultation with the leader of the council to sign and complete the 52.3 million grant agreement with homes england to implement the infrastructure works and draw down the grant expenditure this was completed on the 29th of july and a significant proportion of that grant has been drawn down also at the 7th of january 2020 meeting the executive agreed that the wayside urban village team would report the financial position of the program on an annual basis the report before you tonight sets out the financial forecast the end of the program in the appendices and it notes that a further paper will be presented to the executive and council outlining some proposed mitigations to address the forecast financial deficit that has risen as a result of several macroeconomic factors in january last year full council approved a visual capital budget to enable the infrastructure phase of the wayside project to be carried out and the report before you tonight asks you to note the current financial position of the program and to approve the transfer of a further 69.5 million from the provisional capital program to the approved capital program uh for payments which the council is obliged to make under the Thames water agreement to Thames water happy to take any questions thank you council aunt are there any non-executive councilors who wish to comment or ask a question in regard to this matter without reference to the restricted content did i open this a bit thank you just to clarify uh the executive is asked to recommend that the council improves so we're recommending to the council that the the the transfer of the 69.5 million from the provisional capital program to the approved capital program for payments thank you thank you council aunt for clarifying that thank you okay so i'll ask again are there any non-executive councilors who wish to comment or ask a question in regard to this matter without reference to the restricted content thank you moving on then are there any executive councilors who wish to comment or ask a question in regard to this matter once again without reference to the restricted content councillor white thank you very much leader um i can remember uh this is um a project that had been started by the council pre 2019 um but i can remember when i was elected in 2019 um that the overall budget for this was substantially less than it is now and i seem to remember there was a projected shortfall of something like 1.67 million pounds or something of that nature um i wonder if the lead member i mean obviously since then we've had had an awful lot that's gone on um and i wonder if the lead member can give an indication as to the extent to which um the increased interest rates following the um trust administration and the war in ukraine and the other external factors like that have contributed towards the increase in the projected shortfall thank you councillor white councillor hunt thank you councillor white um the answer is significantly yes i mentioned some macroeconomic factors that have had some adverse effect on the on the program the russia's invasion of ukraine certainly one of them and the kamikaze budget that the conservative party delivered so the government delivered in october 22 which resulted in you know massive hiking interest rates not just for um uh for the council but also for ordinary homeowners too um is a significant factor in in the additional uh additional costs of the program absolutely thank you thank you uh councillor morsen thank you how certain are you that the hames england funding will be spent within the specified time frame and what will the impact be if we don't need this thank you councillor hunt could you answer that question thank you so we're working very hard to make sure that we uh we hit the hones england uh milestones uh that that they require us um the the implications are are are severe um we we could end up in in default with homes england which suffice to say would not be a good place for the council to be um so that the team is all is very focused on making sure that the deadlines are hit hence the number of meetings to be scheduled to discuss uh the the program and the mitigation approach uh over the next few weeks just the team want to add anything to that five you don't but okay thank you okay thank you councillor houston thank you elida and i'd like to ask um i know that the project team um i'll report a bound to report the position of the budget to this committee on an annual basis but um could the lead member perhaps tell us how this budget on the on this project is being monitored and reviewed in between these updates yes i don't go councillor thank you so we want to do it regularly Richard burden behind you is uh the finance member of uh finance officer responsible for this he's uh he's got a pc full of spreadsheets looking at this um and we look at it regularly it's reported on regularly we had a steering board on the world program just an hour and a half ago um where we talk about a number of facets of the program the finance has been one of them um but it's under very careful and close scrutiny uh not just from the project team but also from our finance uh finance department what did the team like to add anything happy would you like to add anything to that yeah thank you elida um through you um yeah i mean we we haven't monthly monitoring meetings with finance colleagues so that's looking at how the forecast spend um relates to actual accrued spend um so joe is taking on that that role now um and Richard certainly provides kind of the updated figures so that that is a kind of ongoing process and similarly we use our reporting mechanisms um through verto which produces dashboards looking at um anticipated and and um actual spend on a monthly basis as well thank you very much labby um oh uh council rehorsmith thank you elida could the elida member tell us what further work can be undertaken on the delegated authority to close the budget deficit so we're going to have a paper come forwards uh in dune to look at the the closing the deficit and and addressing it um you specifically asked about delegated authority you know we're always looking at uh at a ways to reduce cost um simple fact of the matter is that that you we've got a lot of the design work already it's it's very difficult to to reduce cost once we've we're committed to a particular particular course of action it's difficult to change the requirements and go back and revisit them so i think you know the team is open to looking at uh any ideas to reduce cost and happy to happy to take those ideas but it's it's becoming increasingly difficult as we get into the program to reduce costs under delegated authority um and the mitigations paper is going to be a a really important piece of uh of paperwork that we look at over the next few weeks abbey mike lee richard any comment lee if you'd like to thank you thank you elida um as a project team we we're constantly reviewing the the costs the spend the cash flow timings program scope and specification and that that's been since inception so um all of those things are daily activities to us um we we do refer to our professional advisors as well for extras on top of that um they're not coming forward with anything that we're not already doing which is a good good sign from our side um but they are day-to-day activities for us thank you very much are there any more questions for any members of the executive no okay thank you very much then it if there are no further questions or comments let's move to the recommendations set out on pages 16 to 17 of the agenda pack which are that the executive one notes the current financial position of wayside urban village program at the spring 2024 financial review as set out in the report two notes the current forecasted eventual deficit outlined in exempt appendix one in 2033 which is year 10 of the project delivery program three delegates to the strategic director of place in consultation with the lead counselor for regeneration and lead counselor for finance and property authority to enter into such contracts and legal agreements connected with the wayside urban village program as may be necessary in compliance with procurement procedurals and within the approved budget and finally number four recommends to full council meeting on the 13th of May 2024 the approval of the transfer of 69.548 million pounds from the provisional capital budget to the approved capital budget for payments which the council is obliged to make to Thames water utilities limited under the Thames water agreement for 2024-25 for costs necessary to meet the milestones set within the homes england housing infrastructure funding agreement and construction costs of phase two infrastructure off-site highways and the new council depot is that agreed agreed agreed okay thank you as that was the only item of business on the agenda i am now closing the meeting and may i ask that the web webcast is ended
Transcript
Thank you. Good evening and welcome to this special meeting of Guilfabara Council's executive. This meeting has been convened outside of our usual schedule so as to consider a report concerning the Wayside Urban Village Development Program. Before we consider the business on this evening's agenda I would like to draw your attention to a number of housekeeping requirements. First I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be webcasted live to the internet and will be capable of repeated viewing. So when you are seated in the chamber it is likely that the cameras will capture your image. You are deemed to be consenting to this and to the use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes. If you are speaking at the meeting your contribution will be recorded and broadcast. In addition the public gallery area is being monitored by CCTV for safety purposes. Although this meeting is being recorded anyone is permitted to record the proceedings using their own devices for example for social media purposes providing they do not disrupt the meeting in doing so. If the fire alarm sounds at any time during the meeting we're not expecting it to go off everyone in the chamber should leave immediately through the nearest fire exits and proceed calmly to the assembly point on the paved area adjacent to the river as you exit the site. May I also ask that you switch your mobile phones or handheld devices to silent for the duration of this meeting. If you are attending remotely may I ask that you have your cameras and microphones turned off at all times during the meeting and only switch them on when I invite you to speak for your own privacy camera backgrounds should be set to blurred. If for any reason remote attendees lose their Wi-Fi connectivity during the meeting and are unable to rejoin using the link on the Outlook calendar invitation please rejoin using the telephone number 02038554748 you will be prompted to input a conference ID 873-856-492-HASH. Finally it has been agreed that non-executive counsellors and officers may if they wish attending this attend this meeting remotely via Microsoft Teams. Any non-executive counsellors or officers who are attending remotely and who wish to speak on any item should indicate this by leaving a request in the meeting chat box okay let's get started with items sorry item number one apologies for absence have any apologies for absence been received Carrie um good evening yes we've received apologies from counsellors George Potter and Richard Lucas this evening thank you Carrie. Item number two declarations of interests may I remind counsellors who have a disposable pecuniary interest in any matter to be considered this evening to disclose the interest now and withdraw from the meeting when we get to the relevant item of business are there any disposable pecuniary interests no can't carry can you please check the meeting chat to see if any counsellor attending remotely has a disposable pecuniary interest I see none thank you may I also ask in the interest of transparency whether any counsellor wishes to disclose a non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this evening's agenda and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter are there any non-pecuniary interests Carrie could you please check the meeting chat to see if any counsellor attending remotely has a non-pecuniary interest please once again I see none thank you okay moving on to item number three minutes of the previous meeting included in the agenda pack are the draft minutes from the meeting held on the 18th of April 2024 is the executive happy to adopt those minutes as a correct record okay so let's move on to the next item I'm sorry chairman's announcements first item is in relation to salt the solace independent reports on Tuesday we published two reviews into our governance and housing landlord function alongside an improvement plan you can find more information on that on the council's newsroom but I would just like to clarify that our liberal democrat administration will always do the right thing not the easy thing we did not create the environment in which these failings could take place but we will be the ones to fix it we will not rest until we have made the improvements necessary to ensure the people of the borough are served by a resilient and well-managed council they deserve nothing less we lead with integrity and I encourage that the external reports recognize that our executive have acted with integrity and taken the right steps in our response to the solace reports our focus now is on making sure this situation can never be repeated this week at our annual meeting we elected Councillor Sally Barker MBE as the mayor of Guilford and Councillor Howard Smith as deputy mayor I'm sure you would like to join me in wishing them all the best for the year ahead thank you be be part of a greener Guilford we've announced our first ever Guilford Green Day an initiative funded by the UK government through the UK shared prosperity fund it's taking place on Sunday the 9th of June 2024 from 11 o'clock to 4pm and will be a day to celebrate learn to be part of a greener Guilford and it will combine environmental education and awareness activities we hope as many people as possible will come along and get involved in the free activities on offer and more information is available on the visit Surrey website or by searching for Guilford Green Day there's been really good progress on the ash road bridge and last weekend the bridge beams were installed over the railway at ash road bridge over 200 people came along to our viewing sessions to watch the work in progress 17 24 ton beams and 2 45 ton beams were installed over the weekend using a 750 ton mobile crane the good weather was an added bonus and meant that all beams were installed by 5pm on Saturday the 4th of May so well done to everybody who was involved in in that sounds like a mammoth task and I'm sure that everybody who came along to watch that thoroughly enjoyed it our open space and special protection area planning guidance consultations we're running consultations on two guidance documents that will help decision makers assess planning applications the guidance covers open space and the Thames base Thames Basin Heath's special protection area the consultations opened yesterday and run to midday on the 12th of June 2024 you can visit our newsroom or our planning portal for more information good news Guilford Lido is open its official summer is here the Guilford Lido is now open until the 15th of September and season tickets can be purchased online from the Freedom Leisure website and finally free live bandstand concerts get set for another amazing summer of music at our award-winning Guilford Castle grounds bandstand concerts take place between May and September you can enjoy free live music every Sunday from 2pm to 4pm and visitors can take a picnic too the program for the bandstands bandstand concerts is on the visit Surrey website we just need the sun to keep on shining okay thank you right moving on to item number five wayside urban village development the information you need can be found on pages 15 to 48 of your agenda pack before we begin I noticed that the appendices to this report have been listed as exempt for reasons set out within the local government act 1972 of course we would wish to keep as much of our debate in open session as possible but should counselors wish to discuss the content of these appendices I will need to close the meeting to the public whilst that discussion takes place so can counselors please advise me now if you wish to discuss the exempt material set out in appendices wonderful of the report this evening can't see anyone online either no okay so in that case thank you counselor hunt can you please introduce the report without reference to the restricted content thank you so I hope everyone here is aware that wayside open village is a major 41 to brownfield regeneration scheme that gilford bro council anticipates could deliver in the order of 1500 new homes across a range of tenures as well as 2 000 meters of community space and six and a half thousand square meters of employment space council's been working for a very long time on this scheme over 15 years to de risk de risk the infrastructure delivery and the site assembly process 44% of the site is currently in council ownership and the full 100% will be achieved on completion of the land transfers with tems water contract with tems water was signed back in april 2019 and construction commenced in august of last year so housings obviously of great importance to the borough informs a major theme to the local plan and that it's meeting on the 7th of january 2020 the council executive authorized the managing director in consultation with the leader of the council to sign and complete the 52.3 million grant agreement with homes england to implement the infrastructure works and draw down the grant expenditure this was completed on the 29th of july and a significant proportion of that grant has been drawn down also at the 7th of january 2020 meeting the executive agreed that the wayside urban village team would report the financial position of the program on an annual basis the report before you tonight sets out the financial forecast the end of the program in the the appendices and it notes that a further paper will be presented to the executive and council outlining some proposed mitigations to address the forecast financial deficit that has risen as a result of several macroeconomic factors january last year full council approved a visual capital budget to enable the infrastructure phase of the wayside project to be carried out and the report before you tonight asks you to note the current financial position of the program and to approve the transfer of a further 69.5 million from the provisional capital program to the approved capital program for payments which the council is obliged to make under the Thames water agreement to Thames water happy to take any questions thank you council aunt are there any non-executive councils who wish to comment or ask a question in regard to this matter without reference to the restricted content did i open this a bit thank you just to clarify the executive is asked to recommend that the council improves so we're recommending to the council that the the the transfer of the 69.5 million from the provisional capital program to the approved capital program for payments thank you council aunt for clarifying that thank you okay so i'll ask again are there any non-executive councilors who wish to comment or ask a question in regard to this matter without reference to the restricted content thank you moving on then are there any executive councilors who wish to comment or ask a question in regard to this matter once again without reference to the restricted content councilor white thank you very much leader um i can remember uh this is um a project that had been started by the council pre 2019 um but i can remember when i was elected in 2019 um that the overall budget for this was substantially less than it is now and i seem to remember there was a projected shortfall of something like 1.67 million pounds or something of that nature um i wonder if the lead member i mean obviously since then we've had had an awful lot that's gone on um and i wonder if the lead member can give an indication as to the extent to which um the increased interest rates following the um trust administration and the war in ukraine and other external factors like that have contributed towards the increase in the projected short fall thank you councilor white councilor hunt thank you councilor white um the answer is significantly yes um i mentioned some macroeconomic factors that have had some adverse effect on the on the program uh the russia's invasion of ukraine certainly one of them and the kamikaze budget that the conservative party delivered so the government delivered in october 22 which resulted in you know massive hike and interest rates not just for um for the council but also for ordinary homeowners too um is a significant factor in in the additional additional costs of the program absolutely thank you thank you uh councilor morsen thank you how certain are you that the hames england funding will be spent within the specified time frame and what will the impact be if we don't need this thank you councilor hunt could you answer that question thank you so we're working very hard to make sure that we uh we hit the homes england uh milestones uh that that they require us um the the implications are are are severe um we we could end up in in default with homes england which suffice to say would not be a good place for the council to be um so the the team is all is very focused on making sure that the deadlines are hit hence the number of meetings to be scheduled to discuss uh the the the program and the mitigation approach uh over the next few weeks does the team want to add anything to that fine if you don't but okay thank you okay thank you council hunt uh councilor houston thank you elida and i'd like to ask um i know that the project team um i report a bound to report the position of the budget to this committee on an annual basis but could the lead member perhaps tell us how this budget on the pro on this project is being monitored and reviewed in between these updates yes i don't go council hunt thank you so we wanted to do it regularly uh richard burden behind you is uh the the finance member of uh finance officer responsible for this he's uh he's got a pc full of spreadsheets looking at this um and we look at it regularly it's reported on regularly we had a steering board on the world program uh just an hour and a half ago um where we we talk about a number of facets of the program the finance has been one of them um but it's under under very careful and close scrutiny uh not just from the project team but also from our our finance uh finance department would it seem like to add anything happy would you like to add anything to that yeah thank you elida um through you um yeah i mean we we haven't monthly monitoring meetings with finance colleagues so that's looking at how the forecast spend um relates to actual accrued spend um so joe is taking on that that role now um and richard certainly provides kind of the updated figures so that that is a kind of ongoing process and similarly we use our reporting mechanisms um through verto which produces dashboards looking at um anticipated and and um actual spend on a monthly basis as well thank you very much abbey um oh uh counsel rehorsmith thank you elida could the elida member tell us what further work can be undertaken on the delegated authority to close the budget deficit so we're going to have a paper come forwards uh in dune to look at the the closing the deficit and and addressing it um you specifically asked about delegated authority and we're always looking at at a ways to reduce cost um simple fact of the matter is that that we've got a lot of the design work already it's it's very difficult to to reduce cost once we've we're committed to a particular course of action it's difficult to change the requirements and go back and revisit them so i think the team is open to looking at uh any ideas to reduce costs and happy to happy to take those ideas but it's it's becoming increasingly difficult as we get into the program to reduce costs under delegated authority um and the mitigations paper is going to be a really important piece of of paperwork that we look at over the next few weeks abbey mike lee richard any comment lee if you'd like to thank you thank you leedah um as a project team we we're constantly reviewing the the costs the spend the cash flow timings program scope and specification and that that's been since inception so um all of those things are daily activities to us um we we do refer to our professional advisors as well for extras on top of that um they're not coming forward with anything that we're not already doing which is a good good sign from our side um but they are day-to-day activities for us thank you very much are there any more questions for any members of the executive no okay thank you very much then if there are no further questions or comments let's move to the recommendations set out on pages 16 to 17 of the agenda pack which are that the executive one notes the current financial position of wayside urban village program at the spring 2024 financial review as set out in the report two notes the current forecasted eventual deficit outlined in exempt appendix one in 2033 which is year 10 of the project delivery program three delegates to the strategic director of place in consultation with the lead counselor for regeneration and lead counselor for finance and property authority to enter into such contracts and legal agreements connected with the wayside urban village program as may be necessary in compliance with procurement procedure rules and within the approved budget and finally number four recommends to full council meeting on the 13th of may 2024 the approval of the transfer of 69.548 million pounds from the provisional capital budget to the approved capital budget for payments which the council is obliged to make to Thames water utilities limited under the Thames water agreement for 2024-25 for costs necessary to meet the milestones set within the homes england housing infrastructure funding agreement and construction costs of phase two infrastructure offsite highways and the new council depot is that agreed agreed agreed okay thank you as that was the only item of business on the agenda i am now closing the meeting and may i and ask that the webcast is ended.
Summary
The council meeting focused on the Wayside Urban Village Development Program, addressing its current financial status and future funding needs. The executive committee reviewed financial forecasts, discussed potential budget deficits, and considered transferring funds to meet project obligations.
Decision 1: Acknowledgment of Current Financial Position The executive agreed to note the current financial position of the Wayside Urban Village program. The discussion highlighted the impact of external macroeconomic factors, such as increased interest rates and geopolitical events, on the project's budget. The implications include a need for careful ongoing monitoring and potential adjustments to ensure financial sustainability.
Decision 2: Forecasted Deficit and Delegated Authority The forecasted deficit by 2033 was noted, and authority was delegated to the Strategic Director of Place to enter necessary contracts within the approved budget. The discussion underscored the severity of the deficit, driven by unforeseen economic shifts and project-specific challenges. This delegation aims to provide flexibility in managing the project efficiently without frequent recourse to the executive, thereby streamlining the response to financial fluctuations.
Decision 3: Recommendation to Full Council The executive recommended that the full council approve the transfer of £69.548 million from the provisional capital budget to cover obligations to Thames Water and other project costs. This is crucial for meeting milestones in the Homes England funding agreement and continuing construction. The decision underscores the project's scale and the critical nature of maintaining funding flow to meet contractual and project timelines.
Interesting Observation The meeting included a detailed discussion on the impact of global events and government decisions on local projects, highlighting the interconnectedness of local governance and broader economic and political events. The proactive approach to addressing potential financial shortfalls was notable, reflecting strategic foresight in municipal management. The Guilfabara Council's executive meeting focused on the Wayside Urban Village Development Program, addressing its current financial status and future funding requirements. The council deliberated on the financial forecast and the necessary budget transfers to continue the project amidst rising costs due to external economic factors.
Financial Position Acknowledgment: The executive noted the current financial position of the Wayside Urban Village program, acknowledging a forecasted deficit by 2033. The discussion highlighted the impact of increased interest rates and external economic disruptions, such as the war in Ukraine and policy changes. The acknowledgment of these challenges sets the stage for strategic financial planning to manage the deficit.
Delegation of Authority: The council delegated authority to the Strategic Director of Place, in consultation with relevant council members, to enter into contracts necessary for the project within the approved budget. This decision aims to streamline project execution and ensure flexibility in management, allowing for timely responses to project needs without requiring frequent council approval.
Recommendation for Budget Transfer: The executive recommended a significant budget transfer to cover obligations to Thames Water and other project-related expenses. This recommendation, aimed at meeting Homes England funding milestones and continuing construction, underscores the council's commitment to advancing the project despite financial strains.
Additional Information: The meeting was well-attended, with provisions for remote participation, reflecting the council's adaptability and commitment to inclusivity. The detailed discussions and proactive measures taken during the meeting highlight the council's dedication to transparency and fiscal responsibility in large-scale development projects.
Attendees
Documents
- Supplementary Information Sheet 09th-May-2024 18.00 Executive
- Exec - Supplementary information Sheet v1
- Decisions 09th-May-2024 18.00 Executive
- Agenda frontsheet 09th-May-2024 18.00 Executive agenda
- Public reports pack 09th-May-2024 18.00 Executive reports pack
- Minutes of Previous Meeting
- Accessible_Committee_Report_Weyside