Agenda item

COVID19 has had a significant impact upon and how the council manages its’ commercial estate.  The pandemic has resulted in immediate and permanent changes to our ways of working and our operational estate requirements.  COVID19 related socio-economic impacts, some of which may become permanent, require the organisation to re-position its estate to respond to this change.

Councillor Richard Samuel introduced the report by saying that the Council's property holdings have produced income for many years, which was used for a wide range of services and on the improvements in the area. There were 1,200 properties with a value of around £1bn. Councillor Samuel stressed that this area of the Council was ‘a jewel in the crown’ that must be looked after and nurtured.  However, the time has come to consider a change of direction especially in the recent months (since COVID19 pandemic).  The budget 2021/2022 would consider how the decoupling of income from service provision could take place.

The elected Councillors were ultimately responsible for the performance of this portfolio, and it is for the Cabinet to uphold.  However, a delicate balance was necessary between property portfolio decisions and the freedom for officers to manage the estate on a day to day basis without undue pressure from members.  More rigorous governance was required drawing on national best practice in public and private sectors.  Councillor Samuel said that he intended to bring these changes forward for agreement soon. The proposals would outline who would benefit from future arrangements and would emphasise the huge beneficial opportunity that exists with a fresh look at the service.

Councillor Samuel said that he would like to invite Mandy Bishop (Chief Operating Officer of the Council who had carried out quite a lot of work on this matter) to speak the recommendation as moved and seconded, to take the Cabinet through the details of the report.

Councillor Richard Samuel moved the recommendations.

Councillor Rob Appleyard seconded the motion by echoing comments made by Councillor Samuel in his introduction, in particular on the need to revisit the service provision through recent challenging times during the pandemic.

Mandy Bishop (Chief Operating Officer) took the Cabinet through the report. 

The Bath and North East Somerset Council were fortunate to be the custodians of an extensive estate and land holdings.  The Council commenced a review prior to the pandemic of its property arrangements.  The report clearly indicated that the Council had to accelerate this work as it was necessary and timely due to COVID and the impacts that has had not just on commercial estate but also on Council's operational estate.

There were four key strands that were looked at the newest estate strategy and it was really important to define at that strategic level what the objectives were for this study and look at those conflicting priorities. It was not just about Council's objectives; it was about being clear and transparent about governance arrangements and the decision making processes, and the general approach not just with the property but also with land holdings, including community asset transfers.  There was a lot of interest in local communities, particularly around asset transfer which was really important point in terms of engagement with those communities in that process.

The developing strategy would align with the priorities contained in the Council's Corporate Plan for 2020-2024.  The last time the Council had this extensive review of its estate strategy and asset management planning was back in 2012 so it was timely to bring that up to date.

This was also aligned with areas such as climate emergency and ecological emergency.  The second area of focus was with the changes to Council's operational estate and like many other teams, they have had to work from home predominantly since the first lockdown, which was in accordance with National Public Health guidelines. Nevertheless, the Council has taken this as an opportunity to review future ways of working, and office requirements.  Significant progress has been made on reducing overheads by reduction of some of leasehold costs, with the process of letting some of office accommodation in Bath to other public sector organisations.  There is an intention to redesign Keynsham Civic Centre building, to maximise the efficiency and use of this award winning building, to become the primary office space for Council staff who will work in a more flexible way ensuring maximum use of digital facilities with investment in digital technology.  It is the Council's intention for teams to work in a blended way with a mix of office use, home use and working from other localities.  The Council is working closely with other local authorities and public sector organisations to look at the joint use of buildings for the staff.

One of the other strands was the commercial estate review.  The sharp and potentially long-term shift in how commercial buildings were used meant that the Council had to move quickly and seek advice.  The Council have engaged Montague Evans, one of the market leaders in this area of work ,to aid us in assessing Council's current strengths and weaknesses and also looking at our future strategic direction for both commercial estate focusing on commercial estate but also though some of the broader aspects that the Council may wish to consider.  Sections 3.24 to 3.26 of the report provide further information on commercial estate review, which was due to report back in the first quarter of 2021.  There has been lot of interest from Members on that document and how the Council might take the findings forward.

The fourth area of focus was the service review of Council's operational structures processes and procedures.  The Council has already commenced work on that matter and a lot has been done in recent months, especially on supply chain arrangements and on repositioning some services so that the Council could be more agile moving forward.  That was the piece of work that the officers would be taking forward as a priority over the coming months. 

Finally, the indicative timetable for the key activities that were highlighted in Section 3.5 and 3.8 at the end of the report. The Council would expect to have good Member engagement in this process with the Scrutiny Panels’ engagement in the process.  There has been a conversation with the Chair of the Resources PDS Panel who has welcomed this initiative.

The Leader thanked Mandy Bishop for taking the Cabinet through the report.

Councillor Paul Crossley welcomed the report and thanked officers for their work on this matter.  Councillor Crossley agreed with the comments from Councillor Samuel on the need for a review, especially during the financial pressures throughout COVID19 pandemic.  Councillor Crossley also thanked Mandy Bishop for detailed introduction of the report and for sound rationale around four key strands included in the report.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

1)  Note the content of this report and endorse the focus for our proposed actions (2021):

·  A review of the council’s Commercial Estate and note the principles for the review outlined in section 3.2.4

·  Endorse the principles of the ‘Preparing for the Future Programme’, to reconfigure our Operational (office) Estate (3.3.2)

·  The production of a new Corporate Estate Strategy and

·  A redesign of our estates, maintenance and construction etc functions to enable us to be in the best position to respond to our place shaping and renewal agenda, in support of our communities as we move into Covid recovery in 2021

2)  Delegate decisions relating to the estate to the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the council’s Chief Operating Officer, Section 151 Officer and Senior Officers in Estates; and

3)  Engage the Corporate Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel in the emerging Corporate Estates Strategy.