Dozens of council projects in Southampton were not delivered as planned in the past financial year.

The city council saw more than £17million of general fund capital works not take place as hoped in 2023/24.

This included investment in schools, major road schemes and progress on the Outdoor Sports Centre redevelopment.

In addition, there was a net slippage of £2.5million for projects in the housing revenue account.

All of this investment is still scheduled to take place or has been completed already in 2024/25.

The deputy leader of the council heard concerns from opposition councillors and said he would review the situation to assess if there were any common themes behind the delays.

At last month’s full council meeting, Conservative opposition member Jeremy Moulton said a quarter of the programme in the general fund was not delivered last year and it was largely to do with slippage.

“We often do just talk about ‘it’s just slippage’ but we should be targeting delivering as much of the capital programme in year as possible,” Cllr Moulton said.

“There will be some reasons beyond our control in some circumstances but in others it is down to our control and we should be looking to minimise that slippage as a discipline.

“Procurement is often cited as a reason for lack of pace in the organisation and I am surprised to see very little reference to procurement in the transformation strategy."

Millbrook ward representative Cllr Moulton said planning was another “key enabler”.

The discussion was focused around the report on the capital outturn for 2023/24.

Liberal Democrats councillor for Bassett Sam Chapman said many of the projects had slipped for multiple years.

About the Outdoor Sports Centre and special educational needs programme, he said: “Things that were promised at the outset of the project are being cut or taken away.”

Cllr Chapman said to have 36 projects that had slipped was “quite a large number”.

He added: “I’m acutely aware that the council has lost staff over the last year and may continue to do so and the ability to deliver some of these projects, if you read some of the details on here, a lot of it has been held up in committees and the design stage and the commissioning and the procurement."

Liberal Democrats group leader Cllr Richard Blackman said the level of slippage was “striking”, with “common factors” at play.

Cllr Blackman, who chairs the overview and scrutiny management board, said he was “particularly concerned” by delays in the housing revenue account.

He said the local authority had commitments to be a good landlord, to provide decent homes and to build new homes.

Labour deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for finance and corporate services Cllr Simon Letts said the opposition members had made a “valid point”.

Cllr Letts said: “I’m probably going to have a little review of the slippage position and see if there are any common themes that we can draw out from that review."

The full list of projects slipped into 2024/25 broken into directorates are as follows:

Children and learning

  • School condition works – £270,000
  • Oakwood Primary School replacement roof. Mount Pleasant Junior roof
  • Early years – £130,000
  • Weston Park, Townhill Nursery, Sholing Day Nursery, Wordsworth Primary School expansion for early years
  • St Marks – £200,000

Field works

  • St Georges expansion – £230,000
  • SEND review – £610,000
  • SEND units – £250,000

Corporate services

  • CareDirector – £680,000
  • Projected implemented but minor improvements needed
  • IT equipment and software refresh – £260,000

Place

  • Transforming Cities – £2.49million
  • Mostly delay starting the Northern Inner Ring Road project. All works in programme due to be completed in 2024/25
  • Future Transport Zone – £2.94million
  • Some of the schemes were delayed, mostly in theme area of drones, macro and micro consolidation.
  • ITS – £330,000
  • Northam Bridge – £220,000
  • Cycling – £240,000
  • Improved safety – £1.01million
  • Outdoor Sports Centre – £280,000
  • Corporate Assets Decarbonisation Scheme (CADS) – £1.1million.
  • Mostly related to projects replacing street lighting across the city.
  • Belgrave Industrial Estate roof – £290,000
  • District centre improvements – £360,000
  • Bargate North Walls restoration works – £480,000
  • Corporate council buildings – £450,000
  • Mostly related to the Kanes Hill Traveller site.
  • Solar-powered compactor bins – £210,000
  • Mayflower Park revetments – £430,000
  • SANGS improvement works £150,000

Strategy and performance

  • Transformation programme £1.22million

Housing and the green environment

  • Safer neighbourhoods – £410,000

Housing revenue account

  • ECO: City Energy Scheme – £380,000
  • Townhill Park regeneration – £410,000
  • GN New Homes – £1.21million
  • Starboard Way – £880,000
  • Structural inspections to high-rise blocks £590,000
  • Holyrood Estate heating update – £390,000
  • Roofing lot one west – £290,000 (rephase)
  • Black modernisation programme – £1.23million (rephase)