Agenda item

[Report of the Director of Housing, Regeneration and Planning. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategic Regeneration]

This report presents the Council’s new Asset Management Plan for the period 2020-25 and recommends its adoption.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategic Regeneration introduced the report which provided an overview of the Council’s Asset Management Plan and would cover a five-year period from 2020-2025.

It was noted that the Asset Management Plan (AMP) was an important tool in achieving the Council’s policy and service ambitions. The AMP is part of the capital strategy and is the context for capital investment decisions, setting out major initiatives and priorities for capital investment, as well as investment required for compliance and carbon management planning.

The Cabinet Member outlined that the plan’s focus is how the Council uses its land and property assets to deliver its Borough Plan priorities. This plan provided this important overview and included a number of important principles and plans which were already in place .The plan also included the Council’s new Disposals and Acquisitions Policy. The Cabinet Member advised that in some areas there is more to do, so the outcome of further work and future decisions will be incorporated in the first annual review of the plan.

In response to questions from Councillor Barnes, the following information was noted

• There were no reduction in services arising from, potentially, locating a swimming pool on the Wood Green Library site.

• With regards to the consideration of fire safety in Council homes and inclusion of sprinklers as a potential addition and cost for future assets in the AMP, the housing revenue account business plan had set aside funding for fire safety measures in Council homes. The Council still needed to await outcome of the changes to building regulations following the Grenfell fire. It was not fully certain if it will be a requirement for buildings to have sprinklers. Also it would be important to await other potential additional recommended works as fitting in sprinklers would, in itself, be disruptive to tenants and leaseholders. If further regulations were issued for additional safety works, this could mean taking forward two lots of works. Therefore, there was a need to have clarity on this from the government before any action was taken. The budget included an allocation for a prudent sum to make changes when they come through but at the moment the Council could not second guess the changes to regulations in respect of fitting sprinklers.

RESOLVED

1. To adopt the Asset Management Plan 2020-2025 (“AMP”) summarised at paragraph 6 and as attached as the Appendices 1 and 2 of this report.

2. To agree the Acquisitions and Disposals Policy set out in Appendix 1 (main AMP) section ‘Acquisitions, Disposals and Void Property’ and as summarised at paragraphs 6.4 – 6.5.

3. To agree the strategic recommendations of the commercial portfolio review set out in Appendix 1 (main AMP) section ‘Commercial Portfolio’ and as summarised in paragraph 6.6 and 6.7.

Reasons for decision

In August 2018, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accounting (CIPFA) published its Strategic Asset Management Framework guidance for local authorities. The proposal to adopt and publish an Asset Management Plan as part of the 2020/21 budget strategy to ensure that the Council uses its land and property assets effectively to deliver its service and Borough Plan priorities is an important part of ensuring that the Council complies with that guidance.

Alternative Options

If the Council does not publish an Asset Management Plan there will be a gap in the budget strategy for 2020/21 to 2023/24. The publication of an AMP is a requirement of CIPFA.