Agenda item

Consideration was given the report which provided an update on the progress and activities of Asset Management.

 

The Council’s Corporate Asset Management Plan 2017 - 2023, which incorporated the Council’s Asset Management Policy and Strategy, was now the guiding document for Asset Management activities and priorities with the decisions on property delegated to the Assistant Director Planning Regeneration and Transport and only those of a value greater than £100,000 or at the request of the Cabinet Member reserved for Cabinet.

 

Progress against the Corporate Asset Management Plan was monitored by the Asset Management Board, which was not a decision-making vehicle, but made recommendations. The latest monitoring position confirmed that all actions were “Green” or completed.

 

The process for dealing with surplus property and decisions and the procedure for the review of surplus operational assets had been revisited and the process both simplified and made more open and included the consultation with Ward Members after an asset had been deemed to be surplus to the Council’s requirements.

 

Additionally earlier consultation with Ward Members was now also included,  before recommendations to the Asset Management Board, where there was a proposal to retain, demolish or declare an asset surplus to the Council’s requirements.

 

At the request of the Service, the Internal Audit Service had carried out an Audit on the Statutory Compliance in the operational estate. This found that the Asset Management Service was ensuring compliance, but that the methods of compliance record storage and reporting upwards of that compliance required improvement. A set of actions have been agreed to improve compliance record storage and to instigate regular reports on compliance to the Regeneration and Environment - Directorate Management Team and the Asset Management Board.

 

Paul Smith, Head of Asset Management, provided further insight into Asset Management by way of a powerpoint presentation, which highlighted:-

 

·                Asset Management Governance Structure.

·                Post Review – The Asset Management Leadership Team.

·                Asset Management Budget.

·                Key Assessment Management Deliverables.

·                Partnership Working.

·                Corporate Asset Management Plan – Five Main Objectives.

·                Property Reviews.

·                Non-Operational Commercial Property Review

·                Commercial Investment, Acquisition and Development Strategy.

·                Condition Surveys.

 

Further information was also provided on the Property Review Flowchart Process and the contents outlined in detail to Members.

 

A discussion and answer session ensued and the following issues were raised and clarified:-

 

·                Consistency in the management of former school caretaker’s bungalows as isolated properties.

 

Properties of this type would go through various stages and internal consultation whether to retain or dispose.  Any representation would be received by the Asset Management Board.  Officers would investigate outstanding concerns and return back.

 

·                Engagement with local residents on the Swinton precinct redevelopment.

 

·                Internal Audit Service audit on compliance and the details on the outcome.

 

External Audit reviewed all compliance documents and advised the compliant statutory record keeping needed improving and should be reported back more often to Asset Management Board.

 

·                Asset Management dashboard and those performance measures on hold identified as “green”, should these not be “amber”.

 

The performance measures deemed vital in terms of resource management and placed on hold would in future be changed to amber or even red.

 

·                Clarification and differentiation of delivery together, public estate and Section 106 properties and the suite of measures attributable to asset management.

 

·                Clarification of the date of the Council’s Corporate Asset Management Plan which was 2017/2025.

 

·                Redevelopment of other town centres.  This would need to be done in accordance with need and opportunity with emerging requirements whilst taking account of the implications on land and assets for those areas who had produced a neighbourhood plan.

 

·                Clarification of Section 106 Agreements which were a legal agreement attached to a planning application and not specifically for residential properties.

 

·                Benchmarking and the highlighting of measures for performance.

 

·                Management and acquisition of commercial real estate.

 

·                Decision making of the Asset Management Board and how this worked in practice.

 

·                Asset categorisation and if this had been completed on a Ward by Ward basis and reviewed in February on an annual basis.

 

·                Asset management of Council-owned properties and if consideration was given to strategic acquisitions of spare unused land, such as Laudsdale Road at East Herringthorpe.

 

Some of the land may be HRA allocated sites.  Further information would be provided in due course.

 

·                Forthcoming Health Check and if anything further had been done on the storage facilities for information and data.

 

A Storage Officer had now been appointed from OPE to move this issue forward.

 

·                Review of efficiency on worksmart and completion of the review.

 

The office moves and relaunch of worksmart had been put on hold due to the Big Hearts Big Changes Team projects that had been brought forward. 

 

·                Development of cost effective energy services. 

 

Assessment of buildings and energy ASRs had been undertaken as part of the review with further assessments of how the utilities were managed.  The Energy Officer was looking at sites for battery storage, wind power and at opportunities within the Council estate to further this agenda.

 

Resolved:-  (1)  That the progress against the Asset Management Plan be noted.

 

(2)  That the new property review process be supported and noted.

 

(3)  That the ongoing work on the records storage and reporting of statutory compliance be noted.

 

(4)  That an update on worksmart be provided in six months.