Appendix 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part A: Executive Summary & Overview                                 Page 2     

 

Part B: Revenue Budget Q2 2021/22

B1)    Revenue Budget                                                             Page 5

 

Part C: Capital Budget Q2 2021/22

C1)     Capital Budget                                                                Page 9 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part B

 

This report provides members with the financial position as at 30 September 2021, covering activity for both the Council as a whole and this committee’s revenue and capital accounts for the second quarter of 2021/22.

Members will be aware of the significant uncertainty in the 2021/22 budget estimates arising from the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, both in relation to demands on the Council to respond and the speed of local economic recovery.  Financial support from central government received during 2020/21 continues to support specific activities, and the unringfenced Covid-19 grant of £860,000 will be used to support recovery and renewal activities.

In addition, the Council will shortly be applying for the final round of funding under the government’s sales, fees and charges compensation scheme covering income losses between April – June 2021 measured against the 2020/21 income budget.  This is expected to be the final allocation of unringfenced Covid-19 funding from central government.

The headlines for Quarter 2 are as follows:

Part B: Revenue budget – Q2 2021/22

·         Overall net expenditure at the end of Quarter 2 for the services reporting to this committee is   £0.638m, compared to the approved profiled budget of £0.646m, representing an underspend of £0.008m.

Part C: Capital budget – Q2 2021/22

·         Capital expenditure at the end of Quarter 2 was £1.744m against a total budget of £4.453m. Forecast spend for the year is £2.917m.

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B2)  Revenue Budget 

B1.1  The table below provides a detailed summary on the budgeted net income position for ERL services at the end of Quarter 2. The financial figures are presented on an accruals basis (e.g. expenditure for goods and services received, but not yet paid for, is included). 

ERL Revenue Budget & Outturn – Quarter 2

 

B1.2  The table shows that at the end of the second quarter overall net expenditure for the services reporting to ERL is £0.638m, compared to the approved profiled budget of £0.646m, representing an underspend of £0.008m.

B1.3  The table indicates that in certain areas, significant variances to the budgeted income levels have emerged during the second quarter of the year. The reasons for the more significant variances are explored in section B2 below.

B2)  Variances

B2.1  The most significant variances for this Committee are as follows:                                  

 

	Positive Variance Q2	Adverse Variance Q2	Year End Forecast Variance
Economic Regeneration & Leisure Committee	£000
Leisure Centre – As part of the management contract with Serco the council receives annual income of £0.2m. This has been on hold whilst negotiations with Serco over losses incurred during the pandemic have been taking place, but these payments are expected to resume shortly.		-102	-102
Mote Park Adventure Zone – This variance is a provision that was raised in 2020/21 for the management fee which has been delayed due to Covid-19 issues.	53		53
Business Terrace Phase 3 – A number of offices remain vacant, and the Council also now has empty rates liability on some of these.		-38	-58
Market – Letting income for stalls and the hall have been lower than forecast for the first two quarters, but income is expected to recover to normal levels for the remainder of the year.		-52	-55

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B1)  Capital Budget: Economic Regeneration & Leisure Committee (ERL)

B1.1  The position of the 2021/22 ERL element of the Capital Programme at the Quarter 2 stage is presented in Table 3 below. The budget for 2021/22 includes resources brought forward from 2020/21.

ERL Capital Programme 2021/22 (@ Quarter 2)

B1.2  Comments on the variances in the table above are as follows:

Mote Park Visitor Centre & Estate Services Building – Construction works are now underway, and the new centre will open in 2022.

Mote Park Lake Dam Works – This scheme is now substantially complete, although some works to a sluice gate are yet to be completed. The figures in the appendix for these works are indicative pending an update on the actual costs of these works.                   

Mall Bus Station Redevelopment – Tender prices for the project came back higher than had been budgeted for. Rather than try and find a cost engineering solution that may have resulted in a reduced specification it was decided to use £0.3m additional funding from the Business Rates Pilot Projects Reserve to allow the project to proceed as planned.