Agenda item

(Director of Resources) To consider the attached report (FPM-016-2016/17).

The Director of Resources presented an update on the various schemes funded through Invest to Save.

In setting the budget for 2015/16 the Council had decided that as the balance on the General Fund Reserve exceeded the minimum requirement and further savings were required, £0.5 million would be transferred from the General Fund Reserve into an Invest to Save earmarked reserve. This was subsequently topped up with an additional £154,000 during the current year and it was intended that this earmarked reserve would be used to finance schemes that would reduce the Continuing Services Budget (CSB) in future years. There was still £219,000 available in the fund, with a proposal to use £40,000 to create three new car parks that were approved by Cabinet on 3 November 2016.

The Director of Resources advised that following a presentation by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) to the joint Cabinet/Management Board meeting regarding their initial work on the Accommodation Review, it had been agreed to seek a price and timescale for an additional option. The additional fee had been advised as £18,500 (excluding VAT but inclusive of expenses/disbursements) and would undertake the following additional activities;

(a)          To determine the capacity of the Civic Building to accommodate civic/customer facing functions and staff;

(b)          To consider the extension potential of the Civic Building and any additional capacity this might create, giving regard to the structural survey that had been commissioned by the Council separately;

(c)          To determine the capacity of the proposed new Housing Hub at North Weald to accommodate residual staff numbers;

(d)          To determine the agile working ratios at the Civic Building and Housing Hub required to accommodate future staff numbers within the overall footprint;

(e)           To produce a high level development massing for the areas of the Civic Offices site surplus to Council office requirements, setting out the optimum development mix/unit numbers;

(f)           To prepare a high level development appraisal for the Civic Offices identifying both the potential rental income and residual land value for the proposed development to input into the financial appraisal;

(g)          To financially appraise the new option in line with the options considered to date; and

(h)          To revise and update the draft PwC and Bisset Adams reports to reflect the additional option and revised conclusions.

The development appraisal of Option 4 would have regard to the recent planning and ecological advice provided by the Council and the other options would not be re-visited on the basis of the latest advice.

The Director of Resources advised that the Portfolio Holders for Asset and Economic Development and Safer, Greener, Transport had confirmed their support for the proposal by email and he asked other Members to comment.

Councillor W Breare-Hall enquired whether any of the additional work could be undertaken by officers and what type of discussions had taken place with PwC. The Director of Resources advised that there was not the officer capacity and that the fees were always negotiated.

Resolved:

(1)        That the updates on the various schemes funded through Invest to Save be noted; and

(2)        That the additional fee of £18,500 from the Invest to Save fund for a fourth option on the Accommodation Review be pursued.

Reasons for Decisions:

To comply with a request from this Committee.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

Members could ask for additional information on individual schemes or suggest additional or alternative uses for the Invest to Save Fund.