Saturday 4th March, 2023
Colchester City Council is set to discuss the Capital Monitoring Report for Quarter 3 of 2022/23 at the Governance and Audit Committee Meeting on Tuesday, March 7th at 6pm at Town Hall.
SEXY, but relevant when it comes to tightening the purse strings at the Town Hall (which still sounds odd, seeing as though we have a City Council. But that’s what happens when Darius and his Tory chums go on a vanity hunting project to oversee hundreds of years of local history.)
But anyway.
The report outlines the Council’s Capital Programme for the quarter and includes projects for General Fund services and the HRA Housing Investment Programme.
The Council’s Capital Programme involves a significant amount of investment. It has the aims to benefit the Borough and contribute towards the local economy’s recovery.
The report also aims to ensure that spending on projects remains within the agreed budgets, that budgets are sufficient, and the Council makes the best use of available capital resources.
Cut to the chase, fella.
In Quarter 3, the Council spent £26.3m out of a forecasted £64.1m, which represents 41% of the projected spend. The low spending in the Capital Programme is partly due to the impact of Covid causing construction delays, followed by a large volume of work coming to the market during recovery.
The projects included in the report are diverse, with a focus on community and environmental initiatives. These projects include investing £157,000 on e-cargo bikes, £30,000 on the Stanway Community Centre, and £205,000 on the refurbishment of the Council offices at Rowan House.
Chair of the meeting, LibDem Councillor Paul Smith, is known for his prudence when it comes to tightening the purse strings.
Not a lot – if anything – is going to slip through here.
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