Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

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Cabinet Member: Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2024/030

Contact: Sam Thomas, Property Decarbonisation Manager

Sam.thomas@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Report by Executive Director of Resources (CMDF4)

The Cabinet Member for Finance is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)           To approve the receipt of £3.1m grant funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund.

(b)           To note, subject to approval (a), that the total Decarbonisation Programme budget included in the capital programme for 2024/25 will be £8.2m for works to 26 sites.

(c)           To approve the commencement of the procurement of decarbonisation works with a value above £1m for Kidlington Fire Station HQ.

(d)           To approve the commencement of the procurement of decarbonisation works with a value above £1m for Oxford Resource Centre.

(e)           To approve the commencement of the procurement of decarbonisation works for the other sites in the programme of works, noting that where sites may be batched together into a single procurement exercise these will have a combined value in excess of £1m.

(f)             Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Resources & Section 151 Officer to agree the procurement strategy and award of contracts associated with the 2024/25 Property Decarbonisation Programme.

The Cabinet Member considered a report which indicated that the Council has secured central government grant funding of £3.1m, requiring £5.1m match funding, to conduct full scale property decarbonisation of 26 buildings, putting these buildings on the pathway to net zero.

This funding was time limited and need to be spent by 31 March 2025. A complex programme of works to replace aged equipment in a poor state of repair would generate potential carbon savings of 425 Tonnes of CO²e.

RESOLVED to:

(a)           approve the receipt of £3.1m grant funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund.

(b)           note, subject to approval (a), that the total Decarbonisation Programme budget included in the capital programme for 2024/25 will be £8.2m for works to 26 sites.

(c)           approve the commencement of the procurement of decarbonisation works with a value above £1m for Kidlington Fire Station HQ.

(d)           approve the commencement of the procurement of decarbonisation works with a value above £1m for Oxford Resource Centre.

(e)           approve the commencement of the procurement of decarbonisation works for the other sites in the programme of works, noting that where sites may be batched together into a single procurement exercise these will have a combined value in excess of £1m.

(f)             Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Resources & Section 151 Officer to agree the procurement strategy and award of contracts associated with the 2024/25 Property Decarbonisation Programme.

Cabinet Member: Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2023/008

Contact: Michael Smedley, Head of Estates, Assets and Investment

(michael.smedley@oxfordshire.gov.uk)

Report by Executive Director of Resources (CMDF5)

The Cabinet Member for Finance is RECOMMENDED to:

a)    Approve, as a key decision, the freehold sale of land comprising the former elderly persons home at Glebe House, Kidlington and the development site at The Moors, Kidlington in consideration of Oxfordshire County Councils (OCC) receiving a capital receipt.

b)    Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Property, to consider Officer recommendations and agree the final purchaser(s) and sale price(s).

The Cabinet Member considered a report on Glebe House a former elderly person’s home that has been vacant since 2020. The property was let to the Oxfordshire Care Partnership (OCP) under a project agreement dated 20 December 2001, for a term of 60 years, but has been unoccupied since 2020 when the residents moved to a new facility at Moorside Place Extra Care Housing (ECH) in Kidlington. Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) took back possession in 2021. The property has been considered for several uses within OCC and other external partners, since 2020, but with no viable business case forthcoming.

The properties have been formally declared as surplus to any internal operational requirement and have been discussed in detail with Local Authority partners and other connected parties.

RESOLVED to:

a)    Approve, as a key decision, the freehold sale of land comprising the former elderly persons home at Glebe House, Kidlington and the development site at The Moors, Kidlington in consideration of Oxfordshire County Councils (OCC) receiving a capital receipt.

b)    Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Property, to consider Officer recommendations and agree the final purchaser(s) and sale price(s).