Capital spending at Dorset Council has been reined in to produce a fresh budget for the 2203-24 financial year.

Shortages of supplies and labour, together with rising interest rates, had already knocked back capital spending in the 2022-23 financial year, with the risk of some projects being carried over and many not able to get underway.

The authority has now reviewed its capital programme for the financial year starting in the first week of April and has come up with a spending plan of £123million.

Dorset Council will have to self-fund £79m of that spending with the rest being either totally or partially externally funded, mainly through government grants.

Finance portfolio holder Cllr Gary Suttle said the figures will remain "fluid" with changes likely to come about if interest rates drop significantly or the authority succeeds in winning new grants for capital works.

Budget assumptions over the medium-term see capital spending tailing off, with £85.8m provisionally planned for 2024-25, £63.6m for 2025-26 and £38.1m for 2026-27.

Cllr Suttle said he was confident that the council did have the finances in place, together with the staff and other resources available, to deliver the £123m capital spend in the coming 12 months.

Council leader Cllr Spencer Flower told last week's Cabinet meeting that he was "reasonably confident" the planned spending was "do-able".

Many of the fully funded projects already programmed in relate to sea defence work, including the next phase of the sea defence works at Lyme Regis, which will focus on repairs and strengthening of the historic Cobb, as well as project on the Chesil sea wall, at Weymouth harbour and the town esplanade, and the riverbank strengthening works at West Bay.

Partially funded schemes include improvements to the A351 at Wareham and the A354, work on Julian's Bridge at Wimborne; phase 5 of the Lyme Regis works and just short of £1million each for Maumbury Cross improvement works in Dorchester and works at North Quay, Weymouth.

A further £3.3m has been included for works at Parley Cross, although the bulk of that spending will come in 2025-26.

Another ongoing project is to stabilise the road at Dinah's Hollow near Shaftesbury with almost £4.4m set aside, the majority of the spending taking place in 25-26.

Also shown in the fully funded budget is £2.7m for works on the Weymouth Relief Road.