Decision details

Summary of New Capital Proposals considered by Officer Capital Strategy Group

RESOLVED that:-

NFRS Fire Control Mobilising System: 

Cabinet approve spend of £89,000 for further necessary upgrades to the Northumberland Fire & Rescue Service (NFRS) Fire Control Mobilising System to be funded from the FRS Risk Critical Equipment Budget for 22/23 (£25,000) and 23/24 (£64,000) in the Council’s 2022-26 MTFP.

 Longframlington Affordable Housing Units

Cabinet approve the acquisition of two 3 bedroom, section106 houses on the Cussins Lightpipe Farm Development in Longframlington at a total cost of £312,000 funded through the HRA Affordable Homes Budget included in the 2022-26 MTFP. 

Desktop Refresh Preparation

Cabinet approve the transfer of £100,000 from the Cloud Migration Budget to the Desktop Refresh Budget in 2022/23 with a corresponding reversal in 2023/24 to enable the appointment of an external IT consultancy to commence the necessary planning and scoping for the roll out of the Desktop Refresh Programme which will commence in 2023/24.

Pegswood Childrens Home Grant Award

Cabinet accept a grant award of £429,000 from the Department for Education as a contribution towards the construction of the Childrens Home at Pegswood and increase the budget accordingly. The original project was approved by Cabinet in December 2019 at a cost of £648,000. However due to construction cost inflation since that date, the build cost has increased to £960,000. The Grant will therefore enable the project to be delivered within the approved budget limit.

B6344 Todstead Landslip Repairs

(a) Cabinet approve?repairs to the B6344 at Todstead at a total cost of £9,316,000, to be funded from the Todstead Landslip budget included in the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan for 2022-26 with £2,500,000 being spent in 2022/23 and £6,816,000 in 2023/24; and

(b) authority be delegated to the Council’s Interim Chief Executive to sign the works contract for the project up to a value of £8,600,000.

Next Generation Flood Resilience

(a) Cabinet approve the allocation and associated expenditure for Next Generation Flood Resilience?within the Council’s MTFP of £5,605,000 for the years 2022/23 to 2026/27 to be fully funded by the Environment Agency’s Flood & Coast Resilience Innovation Fund and increase the budget accordingly; and

(b) authority be delegated to the Council’s Interim Chief Executive to sign relevant works contracts up to a value of £5,000,000.

Contracts in excess of Delegated Limits

(a) Cabinet had previously approved capital investment for the County Hall Solar PV Carport Project in June 2019 and October 2020 to a total budget value of £3,362,120. 

RESOLVED that Cabinet approval be given to award the contract for the project to UK Power Network Ltd at a price of £3,059,767 in order to carry out the works.

(b) Cabinet had previously approved capital investment of £5,500,000 to refurbish the vacant Richard Coates School in Ponteland to enable the relocation of Atkinson House Special School from Seghill.

RESOLVED that Cabinet approval be given toaward a contract for the project to Robertson Construction Group Ltd for the sum of £4,943,168.