MORE than £3 million is set to be spent on a new children’s home and almost £1 million on electric vehicles by Bradford Council, if spending plans are approved on Tuesday.

At a meeting of Bradford Council’s Executive tomorrow morning, they will discuss the spending as part of a review of the district’s first quarter financial statement.

It is being recommended that almost £4.5 million worth of new capital schemes be given the go ahead by the council’s leaders, which will see the Council investing in new electric vehicles and infrastructure, the move of a children’s home to a newly refurbished location, some spend on the Bradford Live Odeon regeneration, bridge repairs and updating of the Council’s mail room.

As part of the Council’s ongoing procurement of electric vehicles, the executive will be asked to approve the spending of a further £881,000 to cover the cost of purchasing additional vehicles, and to give spending £50,000 on vehicle charging infrastructure the go ahead.

The total £931,000 budget for these purchases will be funded by ‘invest to save’ and corporate borrowing, to make the council more efficient and effective in future.

The most costly scheme set to be green lit is one to relocate an existing children’s residential home to a newly refurbished property with is owned by the council.

The cost of this scheme is set to cost £3.1 million, and will allow the Council to provide additional accommodation to children over two homes, and give young people and families more accessibility to care within the district.

In the report it says the new home will provide benefits to the Council and children by “improving the outcome of the children in care and on the edge of care”.

It will also mean a reduction in more expensive external residential placements. The increased internal capacity in Council-owned homes means the Council will save £480,000 a year, meaning within four years it will have paid for itself.

This new home is set to be paid for through ‘invest to save’ and through prudential borrowing.

Bradford Council is also set to send £400,000 to the Bradford Live project to regenerate the old Odeon building, including £300,000 towards council staff who will “recharge their time” to this project, and £90,000 on work the Council is responsible for.

Also set to be approved is a £50,000 project on a footbridge at Ilkley Riverside to stop people accessing the external structure of the bridge, aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour and making the river crossing safer.

A further £72,000 will also go on replacing two franking machines and two finishers in the Council mail room, which will take the place of older machinery.

Bradford Council’s executive will be meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, July 6, at 10.30am in City Hall, where these projects have been recommended for approval.