The Canterbury City Council Scrutiny Committee met on 3 September 2025 to discuss the financial outturn for the 2024/25 financial year, receive an update on the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) projects, and review the committee's topic review and timetable. The committee noted the carry forward of unspent capital budget provisions for identified projects, and agreed the timetable for the coming year.

Financial Outturn 2024/25

The committee reviewed the provisional financial outturn for both the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for 2024/25.

• General Fund: The provisional outturn for the General Fund was an underspend of £18,000 after government support funding. Despite this, further contributions from the Budget Stabilisation Reserve were required for one-off expenditure, resulting in a net contribution from the reserve.
  • Major Variances: Several service areas experienced significant variances. Corporate Services had a £1.449 million overspend, mainly due to overspends in Revenues and Benefits relating to Housing Benefit payments. Corporate Management had a £218,000 overspend, and People Services had a £453,000 overspend. Place Services and Strategy & Improvement both had underspends of £291,000 and £302,000 respectively.
  • Reserves: The General Fund Reserve has been stabilised at £2 million, but the Budget Stabilisation Reserve ended the year £200,000 lower than forecast, at £4.7 million.
• Housing Revenue Account (HRA): The final outturn for 2024/25 showed an overall surplus of £7.870 million, against a budgeted surplus of £113,000. This increased the HRA working balance reserve to £14.28 million.
  • Major Variances: General Management had a £720,000 underspend, and Rents & Service Charges had a £1.250 million underspend. Rent, Rates and Charges had a £527,000 overspend, and Repairs and Maintenance had a £409,000 overspend.
  • Self-Financing Debt: A decision was taken to stop charging the loan principal repayment to revenue, to replenish the HRA working balance.

The committee also reviewed the Capital Outturn Report 2024/25, which detailed the position against General Fund and Housing capital spending. The total requested carry forward for the General Fund was £9.704 million net. There were no requested carry forwards for the HRA in 2024/25, with a final net underspend of £2.799 million. The committee noted the actions of the Budget Directors and approved the use of underspend to cover the in year overspends on schemes as detailed in Appendix A - GF HRA Capital Outturn 24-25 summary.

Levelling Up Fund (LUF) Quarterly Update

The committee received an update on the progress of the Connected Canterbury Levelling Up project. The project, awarded £19.9 million in January 2023, aims to transform Canterbury's public spaces and heritage.

• Budget Position: As of the end of July 2025, £7,605,739.39 of the £19,905,912.00 grant funding had been spent (38%). The majority of grant-funded works remain on target to be completed before 31 March 2026, with the exception of the Canterbury Castle project, which has been delayed due to the presence of bats.
• Completed Works: Completed works include the roof and stonework repair at the Poor Priests Hospital, installation of the Aphra Behn statue, Riverside cycle route improvements, and installation of new EV chargers.
• Works in Progress: Several sites are currently under construction, including Westgate Square, St George's Square, and Dane John Gardens. Delays with Section 278 agreements¹, Diocese consents, and the presence of bats in the castle keep mean that several sites are now due for completion in 2026. The report outlined key challenges, including delays in achieving Section 278 agreements from Kent County Council (KCC) and the availability of materials. The committee was informed that a system for collating footfall data at various locations across the city has been procured to enable future analysis of the impact of the improvements made through the project.

Scrutiny Committee Topic Review and Timetable

The committee reviewed its scrutiny activity over the past 12 months and agreed on a programme of work for the coming year. The committee agreed to adopt the recommended timetable for November 2025 – November 2026, which includes themed meetings on projects and performance, environment, transport, community safety partnership, finance, and housing and contract management.