Agenda item

This report advises Members of the level of required maintenance in respect of the Council’s operational property portfolio.

Discussion:

The Head of Asset and Property Services introduced the report which detailed the council’s significant portfolio of operational properties. He advised that the maintenance of these properties was important to ensure they remained fit for purpose to meet service needs. Members were also advised that there was an on-going property rationalisation programme, which resulted in reducing the repair liabilities for the council. A recent condition survey had been carried out and this informed the priority list for the repair programme, as set out in appendix 1. The current repair programme totalled just over £16 million.

The committee commented on the information provided within appendix 1 and made the following comments and requests to officers:

·        it was difficult to quantify the works required on each property, brief information should be included in future

·        what was the priority order of works within Priority 1?

·        properties due to be disposed of should be listed separately, so they did not affect the overall figure for this budget

·        it would be useful to include timescales for the rationalisation programme

·        a further column was requested detailing the properties that received a grant from other organisations, for example English Heritage

·        it appeared that maintenance works were considered on a project by project basis. The same type of maintenance work should be bundled together through the procurement process to ensure value for money

·        were the heritage assets within the council’s ownership getting a full financial return, for example Rochester Castle? Had a study been undertaken to demonstrate this?

·        in the future, could officers bring more information to the meeting for all properties with maintenance works over £100,000, in order to answer specific questions from Members

·        clarification as to whether the Balfour Centre was due for disposal, as it had previously been understood that it was the service provided at the centre that was to be disposed of, not the centre itself, as other services were still located there?

Officers advised that they were currently working on prioritising the order of works within Priority 1 and that additional information on the lists requested by Members would be provided in future reports. Members were assured that, where possible, maintenance works were bundled together through the procurement process to ensure value for money.

In response to various questions about the council’s heritage assets, officers advised that the purpose of the maintenance programme was to list the properties principally in the council’s ownership and the condition of those properties. The report did not include what the service challenges were for each property but the property team tasked the service with appropriate questions about this. There was a Local Management Agreement with English Heritage but this had limited funding and the scale of refurbishment for any heritage asset was enormous. For example, the council had previously investigated the cost of installing a roof on Rochester Castle to give it commercial viability, which was estimated to be £5 million, whereas English Heritage wanted to let the castle decline gracefully.

The Chief Executive advised the committee that Medway Community Healthcare had expressed an interest in taking over the provision of the council’s service currently provided at the Balfour Centre but his understanding was that it remained the intention that the building was to be declared surplus to requirements, as the other services located there would also be provided at alternative locations.

Following further questions about maintenance works required within
Priority 1, officers agreed to hold a briefing session giving information on works required over £100,000.

Decision:

The committee agreed to:

(a)         note the report;

(b)         provide information on the ‘Playleadership Hut’ listed on page 25 of the agenda;

(c)         list properties due for disposal in a separate column on the main list of maintenance works in future reports;

(d)         request that a briefing session is held for Members giving further information on all property maintenance over £100,000 within Priority 1 and where each project is placed within the priority list, together with an update on works taking place at Medway Crematorium.