Agenda item

1.     That the updated ongoing spending programme be approved as set out in Appendix A to report CAB3360.

2.     That the Strategic Director with responsibility for CIL be authorised, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, to consider inflationary impacts on projects already approved and to recommend adjustments to CIL to the Cabinet Member for Place and the Local Plan.

3.     That, in accordance with recommendation 2 above and if needed, delegate authority to the Cabinet Member for Place and the Local Plan to approve supplementary capital estimates and expenditure, via a Decision Day, to existing projects for which additional funding is required due to inflation and which in total should not exceed £500,000 in aggregate.

4.     That the 2022/23 allocation of £226,452 from the Winchester City Council CIL income receipts set aside for community projects be approved as detailed in Section 11.12 of the report, and approve the expenditure under Financial Procedure Rule 7.4 for the funding of eight community led projects recommended by the Informal Panel. This includes the following specific projects;

4.1  Colden Common Boardwalk - £10,000

4.2  Colden Common cycle/pump track - £65,000

4.3  Knowle pump track - £10,000

4.4  New Alresford Allotments - £25,000

4.5  Shedfield pavilion - £50,000

4.6  Shedfield pavilion car park and access - £21,000

4.7  Wickham Recreation ground outdoor gym and access - £20,452

4.8  Winchester Barton Farm Ridge Path - £25,000

5.     That a capital budget and expenditure of £200,000 be approved of which £150,000 is to be funded from the Winchester City Council District CIL receipts for the KGV recreation ground open space/park improvements project in Winchester. This is subject to the approval of £50,000 from the Town CIL receipts going to the reconvened meeting of Winchester Town Forum on 22 September 2022 (adjourned from 15 September 2022).

6.     That, subject to the approval of £200,000 from the Town CIL receipts and subject to due diligence assessment and support of the council CIL informal panel, the sum of £800,000 to be funded from the Winchester City Council District CIL for the additional budget required to deliver the KGV Pavilion project be approved, as detailed in section 11.17 of the report.

7.     That the reallocation of funds for the Winchester City football club project be approved, previously approved on 15 September 2021. The sum of £200,000 had been allocated to the football club to take forward the project but will instead now become a council led project and the CIL monies reallocated to Winchester City Council, as landowner, as detailed in section 12.19 of the report.

8.     That an allocation of £300,000 for a further round of community bids in 2023/24 as part of the ongoing programme of community projects be approved, which will include this years’ unallocated sum of £23,548, with future arrangements beyond 2023/24 to be reviewed annually.

Councillor Porter introduced the report which sought agreement of the new projects recommended by the Informal CIL Panel after the close of the application process earlier in 2022 and to also agree the Community Infrastructure funding programme for 2022/23.

At the invitation of the Leader, Councillors Wallace and Horrill addressed Cabinet as summarised briefly below:

Councillor Wallace

Highlighted that the council had committed to tackling the climate emergency and believed that consequently all CIL projects should be assessed to ascertain the quantifiable impact on greenhouse emissions.

Councillor Horrill

Requested that all councillors have the opportunity to input into the strategic review.  Noting the recent government announcements regarding the proposed replacement of CIL with a new Infrastructure Levy queried whether the council’s review be delayed.  Queried whether the proposed £300k was sufficient for 2023/24.  Requested further justification for the amount of district CIL proposed to be allocated to the KGV pavilion project.

The Strategic Director and Cabinet Members responded to the points raised including confirming that preparatory work was being undertaken on the policy review (including consideration of the requirement for more quantitative assessment) whilst awaiting further clarification from the government.  The draft strategic review would be submitted to the appropriate Policy Committee for consideration.

With regard to the use of the district CIL receipts, Councillor Ferguson stated that analysis of the usage of the Garrison grounds and playing fields indicated that around 70% was from across the Winchester district.  It was the home of Winchester City flyers which was one of the largest female membership football teams nationally and included a large number of youth teams from across the district.

Cabinet agreed to the following for the reasons set out above and outlined in the report.

RESOLVED:

1.        That the updated ongoing spending programme be approved as set out in Appendix A to report CAB3360. That the Strategic Director with responsibility for CIL be authorised, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer, to consider inflationary impacts on projects already approved and to recommend adjustments to CIL to the Cabinet Member for Place and the Local Plan.

2.        That, in accordance with recommendation 1 above and if needed, delegate authority to the Cabinet Member for Place and the Local Plan to approve supplementary capital estimates and expenditure, via a Decision Day, to existing projects for which additional funding is required due to inflation and which in total should not exceed £500,000 in aggregate.

3.        That the 2022/23 allocation of £226,452 from the Winchester City Council CIL income receipts set aside for community projects be approved as detailed in Section 11.12 of the report, and approve the expenditure under Financial Procedure Rule 7.4 for the funding of eight community led projects recommended by the Informal Panel. This includes the following specific projects;

3.1  Colden Common Boardwalk - £10,000

3.2  Colden Common cycle/pump track - £65,000

3.3  Knowle pump track - £10,000

3.4  New Alresford Allotments - £25,000

3.5  Shedfield pavilion - £50,000

3.6  Shedfield pavilion car park and access - £21,000

3.7  Wickham Recreation ground outdoor gym and access - £20,452

3.8  Winchester Barton Farm Ridge Path - £25,000

4.        That a capital budget and expenditure of £200,000 be approved of which £150,000 is to be funded from the Winchester City Council District CIL receipts for the KGV recreation ground open space/park improvements project in Winchester. This is subject to the approval of £50,000 from the Town CIL receipts going to the reconvened meeting of Winchester Town Forum on 22 September 2022 (adjourned from 15 September 2022).

5.        That, subject to the approval of £200,000 from the Town CIL receipts and subject to due diligence assessment and support of the council CIL informal panel, the sum of £800,000 to be funded from the Winchester City Council District CIL for the additional budget required to deliver the KGV Pavilion project be approved, as detailed in section 11.17 of the report.

6.        That the reallocation of funds for the Winchester City football club project be approved, previously approved on 15 September 2021. The sum of £200,000 had been allocated to the football club to take forward the project but will instead now become a council led project and the CIL monies reallocated to Winchester City Council, as landowner, as detailed in section 12.19 of the report.

7.        That an allocation of £300,000 for a further round of community bids in 2023/24 as part of the ongoing programme of community projects be approved, which will include this years’ unallocated sum of £23,548, with future arrangements beyond 2023/24 to be reviewed annually.