Plans for Cumbria County Council to invest more in some of its buildings, roads and other assets have been unveiled at a Cabinet meeting today.
A draft capital plan for 2008/9 to 2012/13 was approved for consultation today and will be considered alongside the draft revenue budget published last month. The plan details total capital investment of £77.6m in 2008/9. The final capital and revenue budgets will be decided at a meeting of Full Council next month (February 14th).
Highlights in the draft capital plan include proposals to:
- Invest £39m over the next year improving the county's school buildings, £32m of this are on new building projects.
- Invest £5.68m over the next two years in replacing Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in Whitehaven, Carlisle and Millom and upgrading the other nine HWRC sites in the county.
- Invest £2.38m over the next five years in measures which enable chronic sick and disabled people to live in their own homes.
- Invest £3.45m over the next five years replacing fire & rescue vehicles which have reached the end of their useful lives.
- Invest £1m over the next five years setting up 28 'one-stop shop' customer access centres working alongside the district councils, police, NHS and other service providers.
- Invest £750,000 over the next five years in improving disabled access to county council buildings.
- Invest £3.15m over the next five years in improving the Port of Workington and continuing its transformation into a commercially sustainable port.
- Invest £550,000 over the next five years in making council buildings greener and more energy efficient.
- Invest £270,000 over the next two years refitting the Windermere ferry.
Cllr Joan Stocker, Cabinet member responsible for finance, performance and resources, said:
"The capital plan forms a key part of our budget as it involves maintaining and improving the council's physical assets - the roads, bricks and mortar of the organisation. The draft budget we have produced strikes the best possible balance between spending on services and infrastructure and keeping tax increases down to acceptable levels for the people of Cumbria. The 3.9% increase on the county council's share of council tax we are proposing is the second lowest increase in Cumbria since council tax was introduced in 1993 and represents a rise of just 11 pence a day on a Band D property."
ENDS
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Follow this link to view the full Cabinet papers