What is the capital programme?
Alongside its budget for services, the council also has a capital budget. The capital budget is used for building new assets and maintaining physical infrastructure like buildings and roads. Although this budget is not funded by Council Tax, it is funded by external grants, borrowing and selling council assets and reinvesting this money in facilities, it does have an impact on the council’s service budget as the interest paid on borrowing, and a provision to repay the amount borrowed, is paid from the service (revenue) budget.
The council will continue to invest in building new facilities such as new care homes, schools, roads and leisure centres so that residents continue to want to live in the area and businesses want to invest and relocate to Central Bedfordshire. However, the council will spend less than last year and the timescales for some of these projects will be longer, so the cost is spread over a longer period.
Next year, the council plans to spend £153million on infrastructure projects. Below is a summary of the plans:
- £70million on schools - this includes new school places, transitioning schools to two-tier and special educational needs provision (£14million which has not been reduced or spread out over a longer period).
- £13.7million on roads. £12.9million is for highways works, including resurfacing and pothole repairs. £50,000 on Arlesey relief road and Clophill roundabout schemes.
- £19million on new leisure centres and other leisure and outdoor activity improvements – this includes the new leisure centres in Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard and new leisure provision in Sandy, as well as active travel and green wheel improvements.
- £11million on new care homes and other facilities for people with a physical or learning disability – this includes the new older people village in Flitwick (Steppingley Road) and the new care home in Leighton Buzzard (Marigold House, Hockliffe Road) the council is building.
- £3.2million on replacing vehicles and equipment to maintain services such as adult social care transport and waste collection. This includes buying new waste vehicles in 2024/25 so the council can collect glass from households in 2025/26.
- £3million on sustainability projects - this includes renewable energy schemes and electric vehicle charging.
You can read the full capital budget plan on this website.