Wrthi'n llwytho
Does dim crynodeb o'r cyfarfod hwn eto. Caiff crynodebau eu hysgrifennu pan fydd y cyngor yn cyhoeddi'r cofnodion, sef ei gofnod swyddogol o'r hyn a benderfynodd cyfarfod. Maen nhw fel arfer yn ymddangos ychydig wythnosau ar ôl y cyfarfod.
1.1 The Chair welcomed Members and Officers to the meeting. 1.2 Apologies had been received by Councillors Norma Parrish & Nathan Yeowell
2.1 Councillor Nick Horler declared he had been a tenant of Torfaen Council for 10 years previously. Councillor Karl Gauden declared he was a current trustee of Ponthir Village Hall.
3.1 The minutes of the previous meeting held on 21 November 2024 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The action sheet was noted.
5.1 The SO presented the report and appendices and highlighted that it was not an opportunity to scrutinise the individual items within the appendices but was instead an opportunity to pose questions to the officers present or reprioritise items for the rest of the cycle. Following questions from Members, officers confirmed that they were comfortable with the order of the remaining items for the rest of the cycle. 5.2 The committee agreed to retain their existing basket of items for the rest of the cycle. 5.3The Chair thanked the officers for attending and invited them to leave the meeting. The HoPP&ES then left the meeting.
6.1 The Chair introduced the item. Following, the EM gave some background information and then introduced the HoE&P to give a summary of the report. 6.2 In response to Members’ questions the EM and officers provided the following answers: · GLP&AM – We had commissioned suitability surveys on our assets to gain a better understanding and assessment of them. HoE&P – Suitability surveys had also given us a broad perspective of benefits to the communities that our assets provided. · GLP&AM – Out of 300 commercial properties vacancy numbers were low, with only 3 or 4 currently vacant, and this had been consistent for the last 6 years. The strategy would not affect the vacancies but instead would look at investment within the property stock. Some properties were 50 plus years old and had never received investment, so the strategy aimed at improving our use of the stock. HoE&P – We had taken a data-led approach to identify properties which had been underperforming. Previously there had been no central database to allow us to collate, view or run reports on our property stock but it was hoped that the implementation of the new asset management software would change this and give us a better understanding of our vacant properties and allow us to monitor trends as well. · HoE&P – It was anticipated that to clear the maintenance backlog would require an investment of around £5million a year and so there would need to be hard decisions taken on some of our properties and consolidating our numbers would need to be considered as well. The strategy also looked at classing our assets and allowed us to develop strategies for each class. GLP&AM – We have worked with community groups and helped them to access grants which allowed them to use funds to maintain and better use greenspaces. · GLP&AM – Once condition surveys had been completed then that would give us the knowledge of which buildings were hitting energy standards and then that would inform our prioritisation of these buildings. · GLP&AM – Once condition surveys had been completed then that would give us the data we needed to understand which assets were in poorest condition. HoE&P – The property stock that we had was not sustainable based off the maintenance budget that we had available, so harsh decisions were needed. EM – Member input would be important to inform what assets would be best to keep in place due to their local knowledge. · GLP&AM – Following the asset classification exercise we would then be able to identify which assets would be able to access grant funding. HoE&P – The previous approach to grant funding was ad-hoc depending on which services or directorates were applying, so the strategy would allow for a consistent approach to be taken. · GLP&AM – Moving to a corporate landlord model would allow us to be more flexible and support local organisations who lease properties from the Council to access funding grants. · GLP&AM – There had been work undertaken in Pontnewydd Park which had focussed on regenerating that area and reopening the toilets in the park. · HoE&P – We did not have the resources to have a designated responsible officer for each asset class, the expectation had been that officers would be responsible for more than one class. · GLP&AM – A 10 year license had been decided upon for the cloud-based database as this would be in place for the next two strategies. · GLP&AM – Initial conversations with the provider of the database had not been clear how long it would take to input all our assets onto the system. · GLP&AM – Maintenance of interiors of our assets were looked at on a case-by-case basis. EM – Under the strategy the hope was that maintenance would become more proactive than reactive. HoE&P – Planned maintenance was always looked at as an urgent requirement. · GLP&AM – Commercial rates were set at market value although there was flexibility to lower this should a property be underused. We had also in some cases looked at offering shorter-term leases as well if necessary. · HoE&P – Discussing Springboard it was said that whilst occupancy levels had risen, there was still an aspiration to see these rise further to 75-80%. · GLP&AM – Research had been done of other local authorities and their approaches regarding resources and staffing implications. It was acknowledged that resource implications would be challenging. HoE&P – Lots of authorities had moved over to a corporate landlord model although we didn’t have the level of resource to achieve that in TCBC, so this would require more resources. · HoE&P – The strategy had been refined and most of the reporting around KPIs had been included as part of the service planning. 6.3 Officers left the meeting and members and the SO and TD&MSO remained. 6.4 Recommendations Upon completion of their scrutiny activity, the Committee offered the following recommendations:- Recommendation 1:- In light of the unique responsibility that the Council has towards Council-owned listed buildings, Members recommended the early evaluation and condition monitoring of listed buildings and added that the categorisation of listed buildings should be included within the asset register. Recommendation 2:- Members emphasised the important role that the knowledge of Ward Members and local people could have around the future of certain assets. Therefore, Members recommended that the strategy should state that Ward Members and local people’s views will be sought, where appropriate, with regards to disposals and leases. Members added that this engagement could also be expanded to support for businesses too, with Ward Members in a unique position to engage with their community, if they were made aware of available assets within their Wards. Recommendation 3:- Members stressed the important role that working collaboratively with the voluntary sector could play regarding assets, adding that decisions should be taken on social and sustainability grounds, not purely economic. Therefore, Members recommended that impact assessments should be carried out prior to decisions to divest assets, as some community groups were likely to be housed in, and rely upon, underperforming assets that were most likely to be considered for divesting. Recommendation 4:- Members recommended that officers explore the potential for the new cloud-based asset database to include a history of past works relating to assets, to assist with historic or recurring issues and repairs. Recommendation 5:- Members recommended that all survey results and maintenance plans need to be made available to all tenants and leaseholders, as well as the corporate landlord, and this needs to be formalised within the strategy. Recommendation 6:- In order to gain clarity around the required staffing levels necessary to deliver the Hybrid Corporate Landlord model, Members recommended that officers liaise with colleagues from other local authorities that already operate this model. Recommendation 7:- Members highlighted that, on occasion, the corporate landlord and directorates may have different priorities around what they want most from an asset. As a result, Members recommended that clarification should be reached quite promptly on the roles and responsibilities between both parties, and the process for any mediation that is required. Members added that the above should be formalised within the strategy. Recommendation 8:- Members recommended that the strategy provides clarity in terms of the appropriate contacts for each asset class / category. Recommendation 9:- With regards to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within the strategy, Members recommended that: • Officers conduct a benchmarking exercise with other local authorities operating the hybrid corporate landlord model, in order to ensure there were no gaps around KPIs; and • Officers provide confirmation of engagement with directorates on agreed KPIs, as Members acknowledged that priorities would vary between different directorates. Recommendation 10:- Members recommended that the strategy makes clear that support is available to stakeholders by signposting them to appropriate grant funding and organisations who could assist with this, and clearly identifies who would carry out this function (either the corporate landlord or directorates). In addition to the above, Members commented that different management agreements, leases and service level agreements can, on occasion, result in organisations being excluded from being able to access many grant applications. Members recommended that such groups are supported and that their arrangements are subject to review, where appropriate, in order to assist in their ability to access grant funding. Additional Comments & Observations from the Committee: Members commented that it was an excellent report, and they agreed with the direction of travel within the draft strategy. The Committee welcomed the offer from Officers to provide the following: • A briefing note to update members of the Committee around recent work and performance data of assets such as Springboard Innovation Centre and Pontypool Indoor Market, focussing on occupancy rates and the process of support for moving on to larger premises within Torfaen, including some examples.
7.1 The date of the next meeting was scheduled for 6 March 2025
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