Contact: Bevis Ingram, 01962 847508, email [email protected]

Stuart Dorward, 01962 846110, email [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

That the capital programme for 2004/05 to 2007/08 as set out in Appendix 1 be approved for submission to the Cabinet.

2 Reasons

2.1 Cabinet has requested that Executive Members prepare proposals for a locally-resourced capital programmes for the four-year period from 2004/05 to 2007/08 within the guidelines of the current capital programme adjusted for inflation.

2.2 Decisions on the capital programme will support the range of Corporate Strategy Aims covered by the Recreation and Heritage Service.

3 Other options considered and rejected - not applicable

4 Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or other Executive member consulted - not applicable

5 Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - not applicable

6 Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - not applicable

Approved by: (signature) Date: (date of decision)

.................................

Councillor J. Waddington

Contact: Bevis Ingram, 01962 847508, email [email protected]

Stuart Dorward, 01962 846110, email [email protected]

7 Summary

7.1 This report proposes the Recreation and Heritage capital programme for 2004/05 to 2007/08 (shown as Appendix 1).

7.2 The report is being presented to the Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee prior to its consideration by the Executive Member to allow members to make comments on the proposals.

8 Introduction

8.1 The Cabinet at its meeting on 15 December 2003 asked Executive Members to prepare proposals for:

· a locally-resourced capital programme for the four-year period from 2004/05 to 2007/08 within the guidelines of the current capital programme adjusted for inflation

· capital schemes supported by Government approvals in the form of grants or Government supported borrowing in 2004/05 and those expected to be supported in 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08

· possible capital projects which might be suitable for the private finance initiative (PFI) revenue support from the Government for 2004/05 to 2007/08, subject to further reports on the outline business case for each scheme and the Government support being available.

8.2 For this service, the guidelines for the locally resourced programme are:

		£'000
	2004/05	2,123
	2005/06	1,611
	2006/07	1,611
	2007/08	611

8.3 In the first three years of the programme the guidelines include £1m per year ring fenced for Discovery Centre developments. In line with the decision taken last year, the guideline for 2004/05 has been further supplemented by £500,000 transferred from the Library and Information Service revenue budget to support a programme of improvements to library buildings.

8.4 The guidelines include an addition of 2.5% for inflation, in line with the non-pay inflation assumption for the revenue budget.

8.5 Executive Members may vary these guidelines between years provided their total four-year guideline is not exceeded and bunching of payments in any one year or front-loading are avoided.

8.6 Executive Members may propose supplementing their capital guidelines under the `prudential framework' agreed by Cabinet at its meeting on 24 November 2003, thereby integrating more closely decisions on revenue and capital spending in support of corporate aims. These additions may include:

· virement from the Executive Member's revenue budget

· temporary unsupported borrowing, to provide bridging finance in advance of capital receipts or other contributions, with the cost of servicing the unsupported borrowing in the interim being met from the Executive Member's revenue budget.

8.7 In addition, Executive Members may propose additional schemes funded from:

· use of Executive Member's share of capital receipts obtained in 2002/03 as allocated by the Cabinet in July 2003 (if not already used for the 2003/04 programme)

· anticipating their share of capital receipts obtained in 2003/04 provided the receipt has actually been received.

9 Capital programme 2004/05 to 2007/08 - locally resourced schemes

9.1 The report on the capital programme in January 2003 highlighted the need for significant capital investment in the Recreation and Heritage services to:

· reverse the decline in the physical condition of buildings and property which, if continued, would bring about further reductions in usage and visits

· restructure and remodel facilities to make them more attractive and better able to cater for the needs of existing and potential users

· enable services to be delivered in new ways to meet user expectations including developing ICT infrastructure to meet e-government targets and underpin service improvement.

9.2 The decision taken to reallocate £500,000 per year for two years from the Library and Information Service revenue budget to support a programme of improvements to libraries has been matched by investment from Policy and Resources repair and maintenance allocations, enabling building improvements to take place in 15 libraries in 2003/04. This will be continued in 2004/05 together with the development of Discovery Centres made possible by the allocation of an additional £4.8m over four years starting in 2003/04.

9.3 The capital programme for 2003/04 approved by the Executive Member in September 2003 included provision for increased allocations for countryside and rights of way improvements and significant additional funding to support work needed to comply with Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) requirements in Recreation and Heritage premises, community buildings and village halls. Ideally this should continue in subsequent years together with the established levels of provision for product development and updating ICT infrastructure. The capital programme report in September also identified the major improvements in the residential accommodation at Calshot as a priority for funding in 2004/05. In November, the Executive Member gave approval for this scheme to go ahead, subject to finalising details of the funding of the project.

9.4 These increased levels of investment cannot be maintained in 2004/05 and beyond from within the current capital guidelines. However, other options are available to support a bigger programme next year.

9.5 Under the prudential framework approved by Cabinet in November 2003 (see paragraph 2.6) it is possible to consider funding capital expenditure by making use of unsupported borrowing to be repaid out of income. The proposals for the new accommodation block at Calshot elsewhere on the agenda envisage the scheme being funded, in part, in this way.

9.6 A further proposal is that, subject to the approval of the Executive Member - Policy and Resources, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of certain Recreation and Heritage properties should be used to supplement the programme in 2004/05. This could generate a one off addition to the capital programme of up to £830,000. Further details of the properties being considered for disposal are given in the confidential Appendix 2.

9.7 The proposed programme for 2004/05 to 2007/08 detailed in Appendix 1 assumes that the capital guidelines for Recreation and Heritage can be supplemented in the manner indicated above. In framing the proposals, officers have taken account of the following factors:

· the need to reserve resources allocated for Discovery Centres exclusively for that purpose

· ensuring that resources transferred from the Library and Information Service revenue budget in 2004/05 are used exclusively for the improvement of library buildings

· resources are allocated to meet known commitments

· an appropriate balance in kept between maintaining the condition and value of existing assets and investing in new developments

· the need to maintain some contingency to support emerging priorities and unforeseen requirements.

9.8 The proposed programme for 2004/05 includes schemes totalling £1.7m relating to Discovery Centres and improvements to library buildings. Within this an allocation of £1m has been made for the Gosport Discovery Centre, supplementing the £1m allocated in the 2003/04 programme. A project appraisal for this scheme is the subject of a separate agenda item.

9.9 The programme of library improvement work for 2004/05 is under discussion with Property, Business and Regulatory Services and details of individual projects will be reported to a later meeting. An element of the funding set aside for this work has been allocated to remodel library buildings as Discovery Centres. This will initially contribute towards improvements at Havant, Odiham and Lyndhurst.

9.10 The programme includes contributions of £180,000 to the new accommodation block at Calshot in each of the two years 2004/05 and 2005/06. The total cost of this project is estimated at £1,115,000. The Centre will contribute £360,000 from accumulated revenue provisions and it is suggested that, subject to approval by Cabinet and the Executive Member - Policy and Resources, the balance will be met by unsupported borrowing to be repaid over 10 years from the Centre's income.

9.11 The remainder of the programme is made up of specific schemes, which in many instances have already been approved by the Executive Member, and allocations to areas of activity that will support a variety of relatively small scale projects. The allocations for Community Buildings and Village Halls and for Countryside and Rights of Way Improvements reflect continuing pressure to tackle the backlog of remedial work, often to meet health and safety requirements. The provision for ICT development is largely intended to support upgrading of the library catalogue and issuing systems.

9.12 An allocation of £50,000 has been included in the programme for 2004/05 to contribute towards work necessary at Recreation and Heritage sites and buildings to comply with DDA requirements. This will be matched by provision in the Policy and Resources programme. The detailed work programme will be agreed with Property, Business and Regulatory Services. Where possible, this work will be coordinated with other planned maintenance and improvement schemes to ensure value for money.

9.13 Further work is necessary to explore options for increasing the size of the capital programme for the remaining three years and to determine priorities within the schemes under consideration for those years. The programme set out in Appendix 1 identifies known priorities for funding within the current capital guidelines. Other elements of the programme beyond 2004/05 are provisional at this stage.

10 Capital programme 2004/05 to 2007/08 - schemes supported by Government approvals

10.1 The County Council has submitted a bid under the Governments e-innovations programme for £0.5m of additional funding for the Gosport Discovery Centre scheme. The outcome of this bid is unlikely to be known until March 2004 and the scheme has not therefore been included in the proposed capital programme for 2004/05. However, if approved, it would support a major enhancement of the Discovery Centre in line with key objectives of the Community Strategy for the Borough by providing:

· a specific Gosport Discovery Centre web portal themed around the zones

· more public access internet terminals to supplement those already available in the Borough's four neighbourhood libraries

· a purpose built mobile IT suite equipped with wireless internet access and video conferencing facilities that can be taken to any location in the Borough

· portable computers and wireless communications for web access for outreach workers (Book Start, reader development, equal access, home library service etc.)

· staff training in the use of these resources and to facilitate use by customers

· funding to investigate and develop affordable e-access solutions (using PDAs, mobile phones, digital TV etc.) and to evaluate the use and take up of video conferencing facilities available over HPSN.

11 Private finance initiative schemes

No Private Finance Initiative schemes have been identified at this stage. This will be reviewed but it is unlikely that any Recreation and Heritage schemes will be big enough to qualify.

12 Capital Programme Summary

12.1 On the basis of the position outlined above, the total value of the capital programmes submitted for consideration for the four years to 2007/08 are:

13 Revenue Implications

13.1 The revenue implications of the proposed capital programme are as follows:

13.2 The total revenue implications for the four years of the starts programme, including capital charges, represent a real term increase of 1.2% over the 2003/04 original budget of this service.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

TITLE FILE

Recreation and Heritage Services Appendix 1

Capital Programme 2004/05 to 2007/08