Agenda item

To review the proposed Strategic Asset Management Plan.

The Panel considered the strategic asset management plan which would set out a clear direction for the management, development and rationalisation of the Council’s property assets. 

A Panel member raised that they had previously sought guidance on how they could safeguard community assets owned by the Council but used by local communities.  It was suggested that it would be helpful to have a more user-friendly proposal as to how Parish and Town Councils could approach the issue. 

There was also concern that the report did not list the assets concerned and although Councillors would be involved, the decisions could be made by Officers or Portfolio Holders. It was confirmed that officers would take those comments away and report them to the Cabinet. 

It was felt that timescales were a concern with local government reorganisation as a new authority would exist before the work had been completed and then transferred to the new authority.  Another concern was the scrutiny and governance of operation facilities which served the wider communities such as the depots, so more ward members should be consulted.  It was requested that this should be included in the plan.  An example was provided of an item going from the transformation board to Council for decision and it would effectively be a done deal at that point.   Therefore, there should be greater scrutiny within the process.  In response, it was confirmed that the comments received from the Panel would be reviewed.  It was also confirmed that on the establishment of a new council, assets would not necessarily be sold or closed. As part of this work, stock condition surveys would be undertaken so that informed decisions could be made by the Council, along with Parish and Town Councils on the transfer of any assets.  Those Councils who had previously gone through local government reorganisation such as Cornwall, were still transferring assets and working with communities to offer better solutions for local people.

A member asked what the benefits were of undertaking this now compared to not undertaking it at all and what were the risks.  It was confirmed that a future risk was that a new Council could decide that a particular building was no longer of use and may it could be closed or sold off.  Therefore, the Council wanted to protect its communities by reviewing assets for the benefit of local communities.  If assets were not transferred it would allow new ways of working to be adopted but utilised potentially in the new model of service delivery. Therefore a balance was required.  It was confirmed that there had already been some interest and approaches from Parish and Town Councils and communities but those approaches would need to be reviewed in a structured process.  The Strategic Asset Management Strategy was currently going through the Council’s decision-making process but consultation with all stakeholders could be undertaken due to the timeframe.  However, the Council was already working with Parish and Town Councils on the principles of the strategy and there would be a Parish and Town Council engagement process as part of local government reorganisation and this would include asset management.

RESOLVED:

That the Panel supported the following recommendations to Council :

It is recommended that Cabinet recommend Council approve:

1.           the Strategic Asset Management Plan 2025-28 (‘SAMP’) and the high-level actions which flow from the Plan.

2.           the Asset Disposal Policy.

3.           the Community Asset Transfer policy.

4.           the re-direction of the £1.5 million Corporate Priorities reserve to support the delivery of the SAMP, resulting in the full budget equalisation reserve being available to support budget preparation over the medium term period.

5.           the approval of a delegation to the Strategic Director Corporate Resources and Transformation to drawdown the Corporate Priorities reserve for the purposes of SAMP delivery, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources.

6.           the approval of a delegation to the Chief Executive and Strategic Director Corporate Resources and Transformation in their positions as Transformation Board members, to take decisions in accordance with the Governance arrangements as set out in the SAMP and associated policies.