Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

At this point Members must declare whether they have an interest, whether personal or prejudicial, in any of the items on the agenda. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

No declarations of interest or whipping declarations were made.

The minutes of the meeting of the Business Efficiency Scrutiny Panel held on 9 April 2009 were approved as an accurate record.

The decision notice for each decision will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision may then be implemented on the expiry of 3 working days after the publication of the decision (not including the date of publication), unless a request for call-in of the decision is received from any two Members of a Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Commissions..  If a request for call-in of a decision is received, implementation of the decision remains suspended for consideration by the relevant Scrutiny Committee or Commission.

There were no requests for call-in to consider.

The Head of Strategic Property presented a report on the process and policy adopted for the disposal of land and assets.

Peterborough City Council was a major landowner in the Peterborough area and in total the Council owned in excess of 2000 assets with a current use value of £380m (FY08/09 values).  These assets were used to support the Council in the delivery of its objectives.  Asset use was kept under review and those that were surplus were disposed of in accordance with the process set out in the Corporate Asset Management Plan 2009-14.

A key to determining the future approach to disposing of an asset would be the holding costs and the period before the site was transferred out of Council ownership.  Larger ‘Open’ sites such as ‘The Grange’ were high value sites that would generate substantial capital receipts if the disposal was managed correctly.  ‘Self-Build’ or single plots had been considered in the past,   however the evidence in the market was showing that there was not the demand to justify disposal as single plots of a large site like ‘The Grange’.  In addition the Council would need to fund the infrastructure, market and manage those sites and there would be a lack of certainty in Capital receipts.  However ‘Self-build’ could be an option when the necessary infrastructure was already in place.

Properties were identified as surplus by a number of routes including by the service department.  Surplus properties were then examined as to possible future uses and if none could be identified the asset was transferred to Strategic Property for an options study to be undertaken.  An independent consultant valued the site and if appropriate outline planning permission may be sought.  A decision would then be needed on how to dispose of the site and a number of options would be considered, for example market, auction, mail drops or direct contact with developers.  Any bids would be technically evaluated to ensure that they met the requirements of planning and other issues and then negotiations would begin with the developer.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

• It was pleasing that disposing of land as self build plots would be considered where appropriate as there was a need for it in Peterborough.  The officer confirmed that there were some self build plots in Peterborough, especially in Hampton but other plots could be looked at in the future.
• Despite the current economic conditions the disposal programme was still going ahead.  The Capital Programme was partly funded by capital receipts and Strategic Property were continuing to work with colleagues in Planning Services to identify possible sites for disposal.
• Ward members should be consulted on contentious issues when assets are disposed of in their areas.
• Due to the current economic conditions support was needed for those tenants who were having difficulty in maintaining their commitments.  The officer confirmed that staff within Strategic Property worked with existing tenants when they got into difficulties such as being able to vary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

In November 2008 and April 2009 the Scrutiny Committee agreed to the establishment of the Local Development Framework Scrutiny Group and the Planning Performance Agreement Charter Scrutiny Group.  Following the introduction of a new scrutiny structure at Annual Council these groups now needed to be reconstituted to report to the Sustainable Growth Scrutiny Committee.

ACTION AGREED

That the Local Development Framework Scrutiny Group and the Planning Performance Agreement Charter Scrutiny Group be reconstituted and that they report to the Sustainable Growth Scrutiny Committee.

The latest version of the Forward Plan, showing details of the Key decisions that the Leader of the Council believed the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would be making over the next four months, was received.

A decision on the ICT Managed Service was due to be taken shortly so the Committee would not be able to have an input at this time.  A report on the project including the lessons learnt, what went well and what did not work well could be considered by the Committee in the future to help improve future projects such as this.

ACTION AGREED

To consider a report on the lessons learnt on the ICT Managed Service project at a future meeting.

We considered the work programme for 2009/10.

A report on the City Services ALMO will be considered at our meeting in November, with an initial briefing paper in September.

A report on how the Council procures contracts will also be considered in September.

ACTION AGREED

To confirm the work programme 2009/10.

Monday 14 September 2009 at 7pm

Monday 14 September 2009 at 7pm