Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 21^st March 2016

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting on 21 March 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interests

To provide an opportunity for Members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the Agenda

There were no declarations of party whip

A total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to make a statement(s) on any matter that falls within the remit of the Committee.

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes, but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned, where there are a number of speakers.

Note: in order for officers to undertake any background, it would be helpful if members of the public notified the Scrutiny Officer listed at the foot of the Agenda t least one working day before the meeting with brief details of the matter to be covered.

There were no members of the public present who wished to speak

To consider a presentation and review the implementation progress of the Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP).

Joanne Jones provided a presentation about the progress made since May 2015 in implementing the Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP). The presentation explained the four objectives of the SAMP and the seven key actions and how the Council had progress with each actions.

Members asked questions and the following points arose:

·         Council had achieved £20.7m capital receipts in 2015/16; this was followed by a further £5.7m delivered in April 2016. There were already c£19m  of receipts in the process of being developed during 2016/17.

·         Council had achieved business rates reductions of £3m for the current five year period of rates calculations.

·         There had been 37 transfers to town and parish councils since September 2011. 66 outstanding assets were currently in the programme of transfers and had been sorted into priority order to help offices focus on transferring assets requested by town and parish councils. These priorities had been communicated to town and parish councils.

·         A new head of asset management had been appointed at the beginning of 2016 and a Corporate Property Board (made up of key cabinet members and officers) had been established.

·         Collaborative work with other public bodies such as those in the NHS, DCLG and DWP had been developing to progress the One Public Estate agenda which would hopeful enable partners to benefit by sharing facilities or making better use of assets together.

·         The data management system used by the Assets Team had been improved and the data within had also been made more robust and reliable.

·         Officers had regular training to ensure their skills and knowledge were up to date with new legislation and the team carried out training with community groups taking on assets to ensure they understand requirements to comply with various regulations (e.g. asbestos control/fire safety etc.)

·         The Council had made savings c£450k by exiting leased accommodation within the year (such as Dalton House in Middlewich).

·         Future work included making further work on capital receipts, investing in estate to increase its capital value and improving rental income from small industrial units and business generation centres.

·         The Council also needed to consider how assets linked with schools would be affected by academy status and whether the Council could use its own land to support the housing needs of the Borough.

The Committee requested further information about a variety of aspects of the SAMP that was not available at the meeting including figures for 2016/17 targets to enable the Committee to monitor future performance.

RESOLVED – That the presentation be noted

To consider a report regarding the recommendations of the High Growth City Task and Finish Group which were presented to Cabinet on 3 March 2015

(Report to Follow)

Karen Tierney attended the meeting to request that the Committee defer consideration of this item until a later meeting. Karen informed the Committee that significant developments in relation to several work streams linked with High Growth City and HS2 were imminent and that a better response to the High Growth City Task and Finish Group report recommendations could be provided at the Committee’s July meeting.

Karen also provided a brief oral report on the current status of work streams in relation to high growth city and HS2 generally and what the developments she would report on in July were expected to be.

RESOLVED – That the item on the High Growth City Task and Finish Group Report of March 2015 be deferred until 18 July 2016 meeting.

To review the current Work Programme

The Committee gave consideration to its work programme. The Committee agreed to reschedule the informal meeting scheduled for 20 June 2016 and proposed that the 27 June 2016 be considered as a new date.

RESOLVED – That the work programme be noted