To receive a presentation from the Director of Finance and Systems.

The Director of Finance provided an overview of the presentation on the Asset Investment Strategy. The Committee were informed that the strategy originally agreed to borrow £300M looking at investments that could be made to generate returns that would deliver good rates of return to support the Council’s budget. The Strategy had matured over the course of its existence and was now focused upon regeneration and the amount had increased to £500M.The Director of Finance described the requirements the Council had to adhere to as part of the Prudential Code guidance. The main change to the code had been that Councils’ could no longer borrow purely for profit but needed to demonstrate other outcomes, which would be delivered from the loan and subsequent investments.

The Committee were informed that the strategy was overseen by the Investment Management Board (IMB) with recommendations made to the IMB provided by Council officers rather than the Council’s consultants (CBRE), who helped to identify and conducted due diligence on investment opportunities. The Director of Finance then went through the Council’s current set of investments and explained the different types of investments the Council was involved in. The Committee were provided with the figures for the amount of income generated by the investments and the projected income over the next few years.

The Council primarily looked to invest within Trafford but they also invested some funds across Greater Manchester. Originally the Council had looked at other investment opportunities in neighbouring areas but this approach had changed in line with government regulation and guidance. The Director of Finance explained the risk reserve the Council set aside each year, which had accumulated up to around £6M. The Committee were assured that the fund would be utilised to protect the Council if there were any issues with an investments, such as not letting a retail space.

The Director of Finance concluded his overview by informing the Committee that the Council were looking at a £1M shortfall in income during 2021/22. This was due to not having identified enough investments to fill in for those which had come to an end.

Following the overview a number of questions were asked by Members of the Committee covering a range of areas including; the investment shortfall, the pipeline of investments, updating the value of investments, and investments which addressed the council’s Green and Connected priority. The Director of Finance provided detailed responses to the questions and agreed to provide additional information in relation to the valuation of investments and investments that addressed the Green and Connected priority within the Council’s portfolio.

RESOLVED: That the content of the presentation be noted.