A new taskforce is set to try and speed up delayed projects worth millions of pounds at Southampton City Council.

Civic leaders have admitted that delays in the capital programme has continued to be a difficult challenge to overcome.

Delays include spending £3.39million in school investment, £1.35million on IT and a case management system, and £11.5million for the Outdoor Sports Centre development.

Latest estimates suggest the general fund and housing revenue programmes would spend £137.73million in 2024/25.

This is significantly lower than the forecast after the first quarter of the financial year when it stood at £170.82million.

Speaking at cabinet on Tuesday, February 25, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance Cllr Simon Letts said: “There have been some issues with delivering the capital programme.

“It tends to be that in every year but I think we have had probably less of it delivered than historically. We are onto that now.”

Officer reports have continued to detail project slippage – where works are not expected to take place according to the provisions agreed in the capital programme – throughout the year.

The latest capital financial monitoring report to cabinet outlined a further £21.97million of slippage in the general fund and housing revenue account from what was reported previously.

The housing programme had £2.21million of net slippage after factoring in £3.84million of investment in block modernisation and sprinkler installation being brought forward to the current year.

Cllr Letts said not spending the money meant borrowing had not taken place, which presented a revenue benefit but this was not the purpose of the programme.

He added: “The purpose of the capital programme is to get things built and delivered for the citizens of Southampton.”

At last week’s overview and scrutiny management committee, chair Cllr Richard Blackman asked what actions were being taken to address the challenges with delivering the capital programme to schedule.

Cllr Letts said a new officer capital delivery group had been created, while the member and officer capital board meetings will receive monitoring reports.

Papers could be prepared for either the scrutiny, governance or audit committee to discuss this work further, the deputy leader added.

Asked for examples of any concrete steps that have been identified to rectify the slippage problem, Cllr Letts said: “It is difficult for me to be specific because each project has its own specific and unique difficulties, if there are any difficulties.”

The committee heard that the capital delivery group had only recently been established, with its first meeting due to take place before the end of the month.