Council is requested to agree to the following recommendations of the Policy and Resources Committee held on 8 November 2023:

To approve:

1.  the revised Capital Programme of £100 million for 2023/24, including the virements of budget referred to in Appendix C of the report; and

2.  additional funding for the schemes referred to in section 3.7 in the report.

Minute Extract and Report are attached.

The second matter for approval was to approve the revised Capital Programme of £100 million for 2023/24, including the virements of budget referred to in Appendix C of the report and the additional funding for the schemes referred to in section 3.7 of the report, as recommended by Policy and Resources Committee at its meeting on 8 November 2023.

On a motion by Councillor Paul Stuart, seconded by Councillor Angie Davies, it was –

Resolved – That

(1)  the revised Capital Programme of £100 million for 2023/24, including the virements of budget referred to in Appendix C of the report be approved.

(2)  the additional funding for the schemes referred to in section 3.7 in the report be approved.

The Director of Finance introduced the report which provided an update on the progress of the Capital Programme 2023/24 at the end of September 2023. It recommended that Committee agree the revised 2023/24 Capital Programme of £100 million which took account of re-profiling, virements, additional funding requirements and grant variations identified since the Capital Programme was formally agreed on 27th February 2023 and revised via the Capital Outturn 2022-23 report.

The Chair requested that the Director of Regeneration and Place provide a future report to Policy & Resources Committee providing an update and timeline for the demolition of the Wallasey Town Hall annex buildings and on how future consideration is given to the relocation of civic and council operations back to Wallasey Town Hall following the decant in May 2023 and further to the future operation of both Wallasey Town Hall and Birkenhead Town Hall.

The Director of Finance advised that the Birkenhead Town Centre Sub Station was within the DLUHC Investment Plan and could be funded from the Future High Street Fund grant, but that given the inflationary costs within the sector, additional borrowing was being proposed to mitigate the impact on other regeneration projects. It was further outlined that any additional grant funding would be used to reduce the borrowing where possible.

Following queries on the cost to deliver the Birkenhead Market on the former House of Fraser site, the Director of Finance confirmed that there was an indicative budget of £28.5m funded from Future High Street Fund and potentially Wirral Growth Company profits, but that the use of this funding had not yet been agreed therefore a further report would be submitted to the Committee to determine this.

On a motion by the Chair, seconded by Councillor Jeff Green, it was –

Resolved – That

(1)  Council be recommended to approve the revised Capital Programme of £100m for 2023/24, including the virements of budget referred to in Appendix C of the report.

(2)  Council be recommended to approve additional funding for the schemes referred to in section 3.7 of the report.

(3)  the Director of Regeneration and Place be requested to provide a future report to Policy & Resources Committee providing an update and timeline for the demolition of the Wallasey Town Hall annex buildings and on how future consideration is given to the relocation of civic and council operations back to Wallasey Town Hall following the decant in May 2023 and further to the future operation of both Wallasey Town Hall and Birkenhead Town Hall.