How we plan our finances

Capital expenditure

Our capital expenditure is money we spend on assets – such as land, buildings, vehicles or equipment – that will be used for more than one year.

This also includes:

  • spending on assets owned by other organisations
  • loans and grants that enable other organisations to buy or build assets

For an individual asset, it is usually used for the one-time purchase cost. It cannot be used to pay for day-to-day running costs.

Capital expenditure can be paid from:

  • money set aside from the General Fund or Housing Revenue Account
  • special grants from the government for specific projects
  • loans
  • contributions from developers or other organisations
  • money raised by selling assets

When an asset is no longer needed it may be sold so that the money raised – known as 'capital receipts' – can be spent on new assets or used to repay debt.

Our capital programme is a list of projects we plan to fund using capital expenditure.

We approve an updated Capital Strategy before the start of each financial year (1 April to 31 March).