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Issue - meetings

Asset Management Strategy

 

 

Meeting: 09/05/2024 - Cabinet (Item 279)

279 Asset Management Strategy pdf icon PDF 158 KB

Purpose

To agree to adopt the Asset Management Strategy to provide a clear strategy for future decision making and investment in the Councils land and property assets.

 

Recommendations

That Cabinet resolves to:

1.    Adopt the Asset Management Strategy attached at Annex B.

2.    Instruct its consultants Carter Jonas to review its existing assets in line with that Strategy.

Additional documents:

Decision:

The purpose of the report was to agree to adopt the Asset Management Strategy to provide a clear strategy for future decision making and investment in the Councils land and property assets.

 

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the report, highlighting the following points;

  • The list of assets at Annex A contained some minor errors, eg. Northleach was a town not a parish. Officers would be making these changes.
  • Principles of managing these assets was listed on page 12 of the report.
  • Commercial opportunities for the Council’s assets were also highlighted in the document

 

Members of the Cabinet welcomed the report, and raised the following points;

·         Internal works were being undertaken to Cirencester Leisure Centre

·         The list of assets was valuable in order to decarbonise the Council’s assets as soon as possible

·         The strategy and its objectives were clear, but that adequate member involvement would be needed to ensure its successful implementation. The Leader stated that this feedback has been given to senior officers, but would also be raised at a future meeting of the constitution working group.

 

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Mike Evemy and were seconded by Councillor Joe Harris.

 

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

 

1.    AGREED to adopt the Asset Management Strategy attached at Annex B.

 

2.    AGREED to instruct its consultants Carter Jonas to review its existing assets in line with that Strategy.

 

Voting Record

 

7 For, 0 Against, 0 Abstention, 1 Absent/Did not vote

 

Minutes:

Having declared a pecuniary interest, Councillor Bloomer left the room before the item was introduced.

 

The purpose of the report was to agree to adopt the Asset Management Strategy to provide a clear strategy for future decision making and investment in the Councils land and property assets.

 

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the report, and highlighted the following points;

 

  • The Overview and Scrutiny Committee had examined the report in advance of the meeting and had provided various feedback.
  • It was noted that this strategy was focussed on land and property owned by the Council.
  • The current valuation of the assets was around £64 million in total and £5.4 million of those were commercial investments purchased under the previous Conservative administration. 
  • The list of assets at Annex A contained some minor errors, e.g. Northleach was a town council and not a parish council. Officers would be making these changes after the meeting.
  • The strategy at Annex B set out the Council’s current position on assets and the management going forward which included the principles of managing these assets being;

-       Fit for purpose, cost effective and well utilised

-       Sustainable and efficient

-       Commercially managed

  • It was noted that those investment properties within and outside of the District were also covered within the strategy including further opportunities for these assets.
  • A Strategic Estates Board as a sub group of the Cabinet Transform Working Group would be created to look at opportunities in relation to assets.

 

Members of the Cabinet welcomed the report, and raised the following points;

  • Internal works were being undertaken to Cirencester Leisure Centre.
  • The list of assets was valuable in order to decarbonise the Council’s assets as soon as possible.
  • The strategy and its objectives were clear but adequate member involvement would be needed to ensure its successful implementation. The Leader stated that this feedback had been given to senior officers and would also be raised at a future meeting of the Constitution Working Group.

 

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Mike Evemy and were seconded by Councillor Joe Harris.

 

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

 

1.    AGREED to adopt the Asset Management Strategy attached at Annex B.

 

2.    AGREED to instruct its consultants Carter Jonas to review its existing assets in line with that Strategy.

 

Voting Record

 

7 For, 0 Against, 0 Abstention, 1 Absent/Did not vote

 

For

Against

Abstention

Absent/Did not vote

Joe Harris

 

 

Claire Bloomer

Juliet Layton

 

 

 

Lisa Spivey

 

 

 

Mike Evemy

 

 

 

Mike McKeown

 

 

 

Paul Hodgkinson

 

 

 

Tony Dale

 

 

 

 

Meeting: 07/05/2024 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 70)

70 Adoption of Asset Management Strategy pdf icon PDF 158 KB

Purpose

For Cabinet to agree to adopt the Asset Management Strategy to provide a clear strategy for future decision making and investment in the Councils land and property assets.

 

Recommendation

That Overview and Scrutiny Committee resolves to:          

1.    Agree any recommendations it wishes to submit to the Cabinet meeting on 9 May

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the report, which was an item that had come to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for pre-decision scrutiny. The Cabinet was due to make a decision on the report on Thursday 9 May 2024.

 

The purpose of the report was for Cabinet to agree to adopt the Asset Management Strategy to provide a clear strategy for future decision making and investment in the Council’s land and property assets.

 

The Deputy Leader stated that a previous interim Chief Finance Officer had recommended that an asset management strategy be put in place. The Deputy Leader explained that at Councils which had issued Section 114 notices recently, a lack of a register of assets had been an issue, which highlighted the importance of the work.

 

Noting the list of assets at Annex B, members raised some local concerns in their wards, such as;

  • Parking concerns in Bourton on the Water and ensuring sustainability for businesses.
  • Referencing the local plan partial review, major strategic development in Moreton-in-Marsh, for which strategic engagement with Members would be needed.
  • The path and verge in Broadwell were strategically significant in regard to a planning application.

 

The Chair assured members that these concerns would be dealt with by officers but that they were out of scope of the report they were considering.

 

Members welcomed the report and stated that it was important. In discussion, members raised the following points which were addressed by the officers and Cabinet Member:

 

  • The Cabinet Member explained that the purpose of the strategy was to plan how assets would be used, not the strategic acquisition of sites. The Deputy Chief Executive added that the strategy followed advice in the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) guide on asset management and that if the Council’s priorities around assets shifted, this would be picked up as part of a Corporate plan refresh.
  • An LSVT was a Large Scale Voluntary Transfer, in this case it was from the Council to the Housing Association.
  • The list of assets at Annex B was fluid and liable to change but it would be updated at least annually. If there were large scale property acquisitions or disposals then the list would be updated more regularly in line with these.
  • A ‘ransom strip’ was a piece of land which would enable a future strategic acquisition of an otherwise landlocked site.
  • The Deputy Chief Executive stated that the valuations around these assets were for accounting purposes and would not necessarily reflect a sale price.

 

RESOLVED: To NOTE the report.

 

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