Issue - meetings

1.    To approve the four-year General Fund Capital Programme budget at £143.6m for the period 2024/25-2027/28 (presented in Table 2 and Appendix 1).

2.    To approve the continuation of rolling programmes for 2024/25 funded from the Council’s mainstream resources. For financial modelling purposes, these programmes are assumed to continue at the same level until 2027/28:

3.    To delegate approval of the detailed programmes for use of the rolling programmes, in recommendation 2, to the relevant SLT Director in consultation with the Strategic Director of Finance and relevant Lead Cabinet Member.

4.    To approve the four-year Housing (HRA) Capital Programme at £432.9m for the period 2024/25-2027/28 as set out in Table 6 and Appendix 1.

5.    To delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Finance in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform to approve the potential use of up to £3.6m of capital receipts under the Government’s Flexible Use of Capital Receipts provisions for funding of Invest to Save schemes in 2024/25 (as identified in Appendix 2) and potential match-funding opportunities.

6.    To approve the Capital Strategy 2024/25, as set out in the report.

7.    To approve the annual Minimum Revenue Provision policy statement for 2024/25, as set out in Appendix 3.

The Cabinet received one valid deputation for this item and, with the Deputy Leader’s permission Donald Grant, the representative, was permitted to address Cabinet for 5 minutes. The main points highlighted were:

·         The deputation supported the efforts to reduce congestion in South Fulham but highlighted that the trial traffic scheme was not working for many residents, businesses and visitors. The scheme had helped some residents, but it had also created a division in the community.

·         It had not been possible for groups opposing the schemes to engage with the Council as much as the scheme beneficiaries had, despite requests.

·         Concerns that the information provided was selective and not representative, such as quoting vehicle and NOX reductions but not stating the corresponding increase in other areas which were predicted before the trial, including Wandsworth Bridge Road and Chelsea; the increase in journey times or impact to public transport in those areas were also not provided.

·         Concerns over the figures used to show an increase in trade in the area.

·         Ongoing problems with private-hire cars, affecting Uber and also the local taxi company if their drivers were not registered in the borough.

·         Journeys now often involved longer, more polluting and more expensive routes. It had also created a safety issue as residents were being asked by taxi drivers to leave their taxis late at night to avoid the risk of a fine for entering the zone. Women particularly felt unsafe, but it also affected the disabled, the elderly and other groups on a daily basis.

·         Concerns that the latest Opinium survey would not show a balanced view of the trial because it focused on Clean Air and through traffic but not on residents, shoppers, business owners and bus users on more populous roads.

·         The deputation called on Cabinet for the Capital Expenditure allocated for Clean Air Neighbourhoods in 2024/25 to be spend on alternative solutions that would benefit everyone. Solutions like one-way streets with speed controls, School Streets, timed operated cameras and to fully re-open Imperial, Peterborough and Hurlingham Roads to through traffic.

Councillor Ree introduced the report setting out the Council’s Capital expenditure over the coming four years. The Council would be investing £576.4m on a series of measures including building new homes, maintaining the quality of the housing assets, school renewals program, becoming carbon neutral and investing in the CCTV network.

In relation to Mr Grant’s deputation, Councillor Ree clarified that the reference to the Clean Air Neighbourhoods programme on Appendix 1 of the report, the £2.847m capital spend would not be additional spending on cameras. This would cover Highways spending that the Council was looking to undertake over the year, such as improving drainage, increasing the number of green spaces, planting new trees and providing additional cycle parking.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE CABINET MEMBERS:

1.    To approve the four-year General Fund Capital Programme budget at £143.6m for the period 2024/25-2027/28 (presented in Table 2 and Appendix 1).

2.    To approve the continuation of rolling programmes for 2024/25 funded from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7