West Oxfordshire Council Holds £13.2M in Unspent Infrastructure Funds

A council reported having approximately £13.2 million designated for infrastructure projects that remained unspent at the commencement of the current financial year. West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) stated that possessing this “relatively large amount of money” represents “not an unusual position” for a local authority. However, the council also indicated that its officers “acknowledge that more could be done to proactively identify new projects” to utilize these funds. These funds, known as section 106 funding, are provided to authorities by developers to support the provision of community and social infrastructure. WODC explained that a portion of the £13.2 million has either been recently received or is expected to arrive in instalments, and it “often only be spent once the total amount has been received in its entirety”. The council further noted that some of these funds have been informally allocated for specific projects and will be deployed “once those schemes have been worked up in more detail”. It was also mentioned that some of the funding was only acquired “relatively recently”. WODC’s overview and scrutiny committee is scheduled to receive a briefing on Wednesday regarding these funds and their expenditure. The authority indicated that the forthcoming report aims to provide councillors with “greater clarity”. In September, WODC had announced that section 106 funding would contribute to the cost of a £1 million football pitch at West Witney Sports Ground. Readers can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not accountable for the content of external sites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.