10.10

The Cabinet is scheduled to consider the Property Strategy in November. The Committee is asked to consider the current proposals.

Cllr Calum Miller, Cabinet Member for Finance, Claire Taylor, Corporate Director – Customers, Organisational Development and Resources, and Vic Kurzeja, Director of Joint Property Services, have been invited to present the report and answer questions.

The Committee is recommended to consider the report and having raised any questions, to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet accordingly.

Cllr Calum Miller, Cabinet Member for Finance, Claire Taylor, Corporate Director – Customers, Organisational Development and Resources, and Vic Kurzeja, Director of Joint Property Services, attended the meeting and gave the Committee a presentation on the Council’s Property Strategy proposals which were to be considered at Cabinet in November.

Members were informed the Council owned around 900,000 square metres of property assets across 905 sites. A significant part of this estate was controlled by third parties under long-term leasing arrangements, producing around £2.9m per annum of income through 353 lease arrangements.

There were three main asset portfolios - Community, Investment and Operational assets. The latter of which was divided into educational, non-educational and corporate assets.

The Property Strategy was an attempt to refresh the approach to the Council’s property assets which in recent years had seen relatively limited investment. Reference was made to many of the assets requiring sizeable investment to meet modern office and service delivery standards as well as the Council’s environmental obligations and ambitions.

The Committee was informed that the strategy had to take into consideration the worsening financial situation facing the Council, as well as the increase in agile working by staff following Covid, which had implications to the use of property assets by both staff and the public.

The Corporate Director for Customers, Culture and Corporate Services, informed Members on the progress of the report to Cabinet, which would be delayed by a month, to enable her greater oversight having only very recently assumed responsibility for the area within her directorate.

Issues raised by Members

·       Members asked that with capital assets of £2.9 Billion, there should be detailed financial information on property contained in the report to Cabinet. Members asked that more information be brought back to the next meeting of this Committee.

·       There was no comparative information with the previous strategy to enable to see where proposed changes were. Officers reported that proposed changes were mainly brought about because of Covid. The emphasis of the strategy was on consolidation and moving forward. 

·       Did the Council have enough staff to take the strategy forward? Officers replied that this was being considered as part of plans for delivery.

·       Reference was made to schools on Council’s freehold sites and that these were not mentioned in the document. Particular reference was made to the recent High Court Case on the rebuilding of Nettlebed School and the financial impact of this. Therefore, when the Schools portfolio was considered, the Committee suggested that the impact of the recent court judgement over reversion clauses won by the Council be fully considered

·       There were no costings of financial information for Members to analyse and the impact the proposals would have on the budget. With assets of £2.9 Billion, it would be good to see a breakdown of the costs to the Council of maintaining these. Officers would consider incorporating this information into the Cabinet report.

·       There was a case for consolidation of office working space as there was flexibility within the Council’s property portfolio, particularly as was reported, only 20% of the Council’s office space was currently being used. This created a potential saving to the Council.

·       Reference was made to possible co-location with organisations which shared aims and objectives with the Council, for example other tiers of local government, or providers of health or social care. Rents should be charged on a commercial basis.

·       The locations of some of the proposed hubs were in places not easily accessible for public transport. This could have implications for the Council’s aspirations to tackle the climate emergency.

·       Some of the Council’s buildings were in a bad state of repair and would require investment.

·       There was the issue of buildings leased out. There needed to be finance details on these. Members referred to the significant costs to relinquishing leases.

·       The importance of local members being involved, to represent the views of their communities, and being involved in discussions on local property assets was noted.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and officers for their presentation and summarised the general observations of the Committee to be submitted to Cabinet.

1.       There was recognition that the Property Strategy was a high-level document, however, there needed to be costings, information on trends, rationalisation, co-locations and those buildings the Council leased as tenants.

2.       It was recognised that any changes to the footprint within the Estate needed to take into consideration budgetary constraints, staff working patterns and Climate Action Plans.

3.       Any changes needed to be conscious of how schools were operating and any changes to their operations in the future.

4.       There needed to be clarity on the community asset transfer policy and what were the aims and were they practical and financially sound.

5.       Members welcomed the recognition that in practice the labour market impacts greatly on the Council’s Property Estates Strategy and the Committee asked if there could be integration of the Property Estates Strategy with HR and associated strategies.

6.       In future, the Committee would like to see more detail from the Cabinet and officers on items which are pre-scrutinised.

7.       The Committee would like to extend the option of meeting virtually to enable an on-line question and answer session to take place with the relevant Cabinet Members and officers to discuss the Cabinet report before it is submitted to Cabinet in November.

8.       The Committee would like to see in the Cabinet report clear KPIs, together with options, including financial detail.

9.       The Committee asked that as a general principle, local members be included in future discussions and decisions, and be included in consultations on local individual assets in the property estate. 

RESOLVED – That the information presented be received and the Committee’s comments on the Property Strategy be reported to the Cabinet.