RAPC 601/26 – April – July Budgetary Control Report 2026/27

NFNPA RAPC 601/26

NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY

RESOURCES, AUDIT AND PERFORMANCE COMMITTEE – 7 SEPTEMBER 2026

APRIL-JULY BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT 2026/27

Report by: Nigel Stone, Director of Resources & Operations (CFO) and Tom Knott, Finance & Sustainable Procurement Officer

Purpose:

This report provides a summary of financial performance up to the end of July 2026, the first four months of the 2026/27 financial year.

1. Introduction

1.1 This report provides a summary of financial performance in the first four months of 2026/27, providing detail on potential variances and the responses to them. Annex 1 sets out the summary financial position; Annex 2 includes indicative splits of the 2026/27 budgets across the purposes & duty and the statutory accounting format; further detail is then provided on the Programme Fund (Annex 3), Authority-led Partnership Projects (Annex 4) and Developer Contributions / Reserves.

2. Current Position

2.1 The overall income and expenditure budgets for 2026/27 are £8.21m, as shown in Annex 1. This includes £1.6m from capital projects and £1.86m from Authority-led partnership projects (externally-funded).

2.2 The overall expenditure position shows £2.3m spend over the first four months of the financial year (28% of budget). Without the capital and partnership projects, spend was £1.6m from a budget of £4.8m (34%).

2.3 The overall income position shows £3.6m received (44% of budget) over the first four months of the financial year. Without the capital and partnership projects, income was £2.4m from a budget of £4.8m (49%).

3. Budgetary Review Process

3.1 All budget holders were again requested to scrutinise their budgetary positions and provide details of known or potential over- or underspends; key responses and outcomes are included in section 4 below.

4. General Budget Analysis

4.1 Overall the figures after four months of the financial year, shown in detail in Annex 1, are largely still on track and no significant issues have emerged of which Members need to be made aware of at this time. Capital budget spend is low during this period as projects are still be sought, developed and/or finalised.

Current Net Position: Balanced Budget.

4.2 As previously noted, a number of small savings often occur across budget lines which cumulatively will aid the financial position towards the end of the year.

5. Sustainable Communities Fund (SCF) Monitoring

5.1 The SCF budget for 2026/27 is £20,000 and we have £38,000 in the SCF Reserve which has previously been allocated to projects but yet to be formally claimed following completion of the relevant works. After four months of the year a total of £4,000 has been claimed.

6. Developer Contributions

6.1 As detailed in Annex 5, during the first four months of the financial year a further £85,000 has been received in respect of developer contributions and £1,000 spent or allocated.

6.2 As Members are aware, a very significant proportion of the remaining Affordable Housing contributions will soon be utilised to fund a pair of homes at the site in Burley (for which the procurement of a building contractor was recently completed and works are scheduled to begin in September).

7. Reserves Position

7.1 As detailed in Annex 5, the General Fund Reserve remains at £350,000 and is projected to do so until the end of the financial year.

7.2 Earmarked reserves are being utilised in line with the revised budget approved in July 2026.

8. Treasury Management Position

8.1 The end-of-July Treasury Management position projects that the Authority will receive around £130-150,000 from interest on its investments and holdings this year (an overall return of around 4%); this is currently ahead of the original budget projection for £110,000, a full analysis will be provided in the half-year report.

9. Partnership Projects

9.1 As Members will be aware, we have been highly successful over the last year in bidding for external funding to leverage our core Defra grant; it is estimated that in 2026/27 we will receive over £1.85m in this partnership projects funding as detailed in Annex 4.

9.2 This year, for every £1 the Authority is contributing to these partnership projects, it will generate a further £54 from funders / partner organisations. On average, over the last five years, we have generated a further £29 from funders / partner organisations.

10. Capital Projects

10.1 In July the Authority approved the overall capital budgets for utilising the £1.4m of core capital funding and £0.15m of capital access funding. Officers have been scoping out a number of projects and potential projects under these workstreams and an update will be provided to Members within the confidential part 2 session of this meeting.

11. Recommendation

It is recommended that Members:

1. note the current income and expenditure position, including the potential savings and pressures identified.

Papers:

• NFNPA/RAPC 601/26 Budgetary Control Report
• NFNPA/RAPC 601/26 Annex 1 Budget Monitoring
• NFNPA/RAPC 601/26 Annex 2 2026/27 Budget Formats
• NFNPA/RAPC 601/26 Annex 3 Programme Fund
• NFNPA/RAPC 601/26 Annex 4 Authority-led Partnership Projects
• NFNPA/RAPC 601/26 Annex 5 Developer Contributions and Reserve Balances

Equality and Diversity Implications:

There are no specific equality or diversity implications arising out of this report.

Contact:

Nigel Stone

Director of Resources & Operations (Chief Finance Officer)

Tel: 01590 646655

Email: nigel.stone@newforestnpa.gov.uk

Annex 1

Budget Monitoring 2025/26

Summary Accounts for the period 1 April – 31 July 2026

Central Costs Split

* Figures include significant annual invoices paid in advance (e.g. memberships, licences, business rates, rent, insurance premium).

Capital Budgets Split

Annex 2

2026/27 Original Revenue Budget (£4.79m – not including partnership projects) shown as ‘Purposes, Duty and Achieving Excellence’

*Includes all costs directly related to the Planning Service

First Purpose 63%

Second Purpose 22%

Achieving Excellence 7%

Duty 9%

2026/27 Indicative Budget

2026/27 Budget revenue position in Authority’s formal reporting format

Annex 3

Programme Fund 2026/27

* The designation of projects to ‘First Purpose, Second Purpose & Duty’ are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute the total funding allocated to each area by the Authority (see Annex 1).

Authority-led Partnership Projects 2026/27 Annex 4

Annex 5

Developer Contributions:

* Funds paid over to the relevant organisations on an annual basis at year-end. Transport contributions over the previous five financial years have totalled £67,000 and Solent Mitigation £151,000.

Current Reserve Balances:

Current Reserve Balances: