Borough of Poole Council

Corporate Asset Management Plan

2010 - 11

Contents

1Introduction

2Strategic Objectives

3Property Asset Management

4Inclusion and Engagement

5Cross Cutting Initiatives

6Performance Management and Data

7Capacity Building

Appendix 1Service Unit Aspirations

Appendix 2Partnership Working

Appendix 3Capital Disposals Programme

Appendix 4Major Projects

Appendix 5Programmed Maintenance

Appendix 6Property Strategy & CorporateAsset Management Action Plan

Appendix 7 Asset Performance

Glossary of Terms

1 - Introduction

1.1Our Assets Portfolio

Within the AMP the Council has expressed its commitment to transform the management of property assets and the underlying processes in order to deliver its strategic objectives and priorities in the most efficient and effective manner. The process of change is making good progress despite delivery against a background of continuous change in service demand and financial restraint.

Issues facing the Council regarding its property portfolio include stock condition, sustainability, access strategy including DDA, planning for and delivering a rationalised portfolio, driving value from the portfolio to support service delivery and compliance with legislative requirements. The property portfolio also represents an asset in influencing and shaping the economic vitality and sustainability of the town.

The 2010Corporate AMP reviews the Council’s overall approach to asset management and the detailed processes and proposals in place to drive portfolio change. It draws together the key issues identified in all service unit Business Plans and helps to inform future priorities and agendas.

The table below gives an indication of the Borough’s property portfolio by service sector: -

OPERATIONAL DIRECT (SERVICES DELIVERED BY COUNCIL STAFF)

NUMBERS OF ASSETS (1) / BUILDING GIA (sq m) / VALUE IN £M (2)
Schools / 35 / 103,425 / £157.37
Museums & Libraries / 12 / 7,329 / £9.35
Elderly & Disabilities / 4 / 4,592 / £7.38
Environmental & Trading Standards / 32 / 6,993 / £7.54
Leisure & Amenities / 89 / 11,344 / £13.92
Youth Centres / 5 / 1,631 / £1.85
Children / 10 / 1,545 / £1.74
Car Parks / 33 / 69,816 / £12.09
Other / 32 / 2,217 / £0.72
Housing and CommunityTemporary Accommodation / 33 / 6,965 / £0
TOTAL / 285 / 215,857 / £211.96

OPERATIONAL INDIRECT (SERVICES CONTRACTED OUT)

Elderly & Disabilities / 9 / 9,897 / £5.57
School Caretakers’ Houses / 10 / 832 / £2.02
Leisure and Amenities / 52 / 34,326 / £26.1
Youth Centres / 2 / 385 / £0.81
Children / 5 / 772 / £0.22
TOTAL / 78 / 46,212 / £34.72

OPERATIONAL – OFFICE AND ADMINISTRATION PROPERTIES

ADMINISTRATION BUILDINGS
(13 leased from 3rd parties) / 24 / 25,489 / £14.19

NON-OPERATIONAL- INVESTMENT PROPERTIES

Leisure and Amenities / 14 / 7,066 / £1.74
Transportation / 1 / 0 / £0.18
Others / 77 / 78,775 / £18.67
TOTAL / 92 / 85,841 / £20.59
NON-OPERATIONAL - SURPLUS / 30 / 3,809 / £7.5
COUNCIL DWELLINGS (PHP) (3) / 4,646 / 0 / £297.00
COMMUNITY ASSETS / 260 / See note (4) / See note (5)
GRAND TOTAL / 5,415 / 377,208 / £585.96

(1)Includes properties owned and leased / licensed by the Borough of Poole.

(2) Asset Valuations are carried out in accordance with the Current RICS Appraisal and Valuation Standards 5th Edition UK PS1, which includes Accounting Standards FRS 15 and SSAP 19.

(3) Valued on the basis of Existing Use Value – Social Housing. Excludes 539 leasehold flats (PHP) units of accommodation.

(4) No GIA data available from PHP. Note: - Valuation figures are based on those signed off by Financial Services by 1 July 2008.

(5) Community Assets are not valued in accordance with RICS / CIPFA Guidance and are assets that the authority intends to hold in perpetuity, that have no determinable useful life, and that may have restrictions on their disposal.

1.2Role of Asset Management

Asset management plays a key role in the successful provision, utilisation and maintenance of all of the Council’s property assets.

TheOperational Efficiency Programmelaunched by the Treasury on 3rd July 2008 as part of the SR04 Efficiency Programme and CSR07 Value for Money programme highlights five areas of targeted efficiencies: -

  • Back office operations and IT
  • Collaborative procurement
  • Asset management and sales
  • Property
  • Local incentives and empowerment

Asset management planning has become an integral part of the Council’s corporate planning and strategy framework and this change in organisational culture places consideration of property assets at the heart of decision-making. It is proposed to build on progress made to date to bring about fundamental changes in the way the Council delivers its services to the community by a process of stakeholder consultation both within and outside the authority.

The ICT Steering Group reports on a quarterly basis to the Asset Management Group. This enables an over-arching view of information technology and property issues.

Improved income streams are resulting from the Council’s more commercially minded management of corporate property investment estate. This approach will continue to be developed although the extent of the current economic crisis is unpredictable.

1.3Asset Objectives

Five headline aims and objectives have been adopted to ensure that the Council’s assets are fit for purpose. These are: -

  • Assets must meet the needs of those that use them. This includes staff, members, visitors, customers and general public, disabled people and other minority groups.
  • Assets must be affordable. This means keeping running costs down, prioritising capital spending, proper option appraisal incorporating whole life costing and assessing opportunity costs. It also means making sure that any borrowing for capital works follows a robust business case and can be afforded.
  • Assets must be safe and comply with the law. In addition to prescribed management requirements associated with asbestos, water hygiene / legionella, fire safety and gas safety there are a broad range of more general safety related activities requiring systematic management and record keeping.
  • Assets must make a strategic impact. Ensuring that our property decisions are linked to decisions on other Council resources (staff, IT, finance) and initiatives and that asset management contributes to our corporate goals and vision including influencing and shaping the town in support of a vibrant economy.
  • Assets must be sustainable. Monitoring and reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions, ensuring that asset decisions take into account both the local and global environment and make a positive contribution to a sustainable community.

2 – Strategic Objectives

2.1Corporate Strategy

The Council’s mission is expressed in its Corporate Strategy “Striving for Excellence… for the people of Poole”. The Corporate Strategy provides the framework, within which the Council plans, develops and delivers its services. It sets out what we aim to achieve over the next four years and identifies our contribution to the wider Community Plan “Shaping Poole’s Future”, the South East Dorset Multi Area Agreement with Bournemouth and Dorset (MAA – agreed July 2008) and other joint strategies and plans.

The Local Area Agreement (LAA) “Closing the Gap” identifying the local improvement targets for Poole agreed between the Borough of Poole, the Local Strategic Partnership and the Government has now been superseded by Poole's LAA 2008 – 2011 (LAA 2).The LAA National Indicators, where relevant to estate related activity, are included in Appendix 7.

The Corporate Strategy clarifies the Council’s corporate objectives, priorities and key areas of action and activity for the year head. It helps set the scene for Poole and explains why these objectives and priorities are important to us.

Vision

Poole is a vibrant town, with strong communities, where people enjoy healthy lifestyles, care about their environment and support each other.

Corporate Objectives

  • Supporting Children and Young People.
  • Promoting Health and Well-being.
  • Protecting Poole’s Environment.
  • Strengthening our Communities.
  • Developing a Dynamic Economy.

Priorities

  • Revitalising our Town Centre.
  • Transforming our Schools for the Future.
  • Improving Housing for Local People.
  • Reducing Poole’s Carbon Footprint.
  • Meeting the Needs of our Ageing Population.
  • Improving Efficiency and Effectiveness.

Striving for Excellence has been developed with due consideration for the changing make-up and diversity of the community, the current and potential risks faced by the Council and our desire to be business efficient and provide good quality, value for money services that effectively meet the needs of all. Supported by a range of internal processes - including Medium Term Financial Planning and Workforce and Asset Management Planning - the Corporate Strategy drives the annual business planning process and fulfils the requirements of our Best Value Plan.

The strategy is ambitious and wide in its scope and reach. Significant demands are being made upon current assets to support its successful delivery. Property assets have features that place particular importance on their proper management: -

  • They are expensive.
  • They need to be carefully managed over their lives to ensure best value.
  • It takes time to determine carefully new property needs and to procure and provide them.
  • The Council’s approach will need to be bold, innovative and cross cutting with risks identified and managed rather than avoided.

The Council’s Property Strategy guides the overall organisational approach to the management of its property assets.

2.2Government Policy and Statutory Responsibilities

The Council recognises that Government and European policies, directives and legislation have far-reaching implications for the strategic planning of a diverse property portfolio whose principal objective is the delivery of services to the community.

Efficiency savings, both financial and in service delivery are being actively sought through co-location, rationalisation of externally procured accommodation and services and the rollout of innovative working practices. Particular areas under scrutiny are: -

  • Procurement of external services
  • Anomalies in running costs especially energy and cleaning
  • Capital and revenue savings from property rationalisation and co-location
  • The financial, legal and practical implications of reciprocal co-location arrangements with third parties
  • The provision of services to other local authorities
  • Improved and more efficient use of accommodation.

2.3Property Strategy

The Property Strategy, approved by Cabinet on the 6th November 2007 provides a high level vision for the Council’s property portfolio. It guides the overall organisational approach to the management of its property assets. The AMP complements the Strategy by providing the gap analysis and consultative processes to translate the vision into implementation.

2.4Understanding Future Changes

Some of the key change drivers over the long and short term include: -

  • The ambitious and demanding Schools for the Future programme.
  • Asset management implications of Integrated Children’s Services e.g. making provision for the forecast increase in school places through the primary and secondary education structure; and planning property usage jointly between school and other education uses, social care and health service providers and making links to regeneration programmes and policies.
  • The Core Strategy highlighting space (harbour and green belt) and environmental constraints (eg Heathland policy, flooding etc.).
  • The “Place Shaping” agenda combined with spatial planning which take a holistic approach to public servicesand infrastructure.
  • The regeneration of the town centre area.
  • Demographic changes (population increase by 2026) particularly the ageing population factor and the impact upon health and social services
  • Housing pressures (10,000 new homes by 2026) and the requirement for affordable housing.
  • The need to review office accommodation provision and current direct service delivery points in parallel with the development of a customer access policy.
  • Pace of economic growth.
  • The “Customers First” initiative, which will affect the design and delivery of services to the community through all channels.
  • Sustainability and reducing the Council’s carbon footprint.
  • The development of innovative service delivery mechanisms to fully exploit the efficiencies offered by IT.
  • Financial constraints.
  • Meeting the challenges of affordability in the proper management of listed and historic buildings.
  • Shared and joint service delivery exploiting the efficiencies of partnership working.
  • Increased service demand and expectation of performance increase.

The environment within which the Council provides services is fast moving and the Council must match or exceed that pace of change. It requires high quality research and intelligence capability to ensure decisions are made on the basis of quality data that has been the subject of expert analysis and is consistent across the organisation. Improvements in data quality achieved in 2008 are being built upon.

Strategic asset management planning reflects the Council’s longer term strategic planning. It is recognised that property assets have a degree of illiquidity making medium and long term planning paramount. However, circumstances do arise where the requirement for change can be short notice or opportunistic and sufficient flexibility to react to such demands, where possible, must be retained.

2.5Governance Arrangements

The structure of asset management governance is set out in the Council’s Asset Management Plan 2008 - 09. The Plan highlighted the working relationships between Cabinet, Portfolio Holder and the Corporate Property Officer. The Council’s Head of Asset Management and Property Services is the Council’s nominated Corporate Property Officer (CPO). The CPO is responsible for the strategic management of the Council’s property assets as indicated in the Council’s Property Strategy.

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THE STRATEGIC PROCESS

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2.6Key Priorities

The following progress has been made against a number of key priorities set out in the AMP 2008 – 09: -

PRIORITY / PROGRESS
1 / To introduce and embed a common Project Management Methodology across the authority and to develop Programme Management functionality across the principal change programmes. / Completed. All current projects have been scoped and the Project Management Group (PMG) established. Implementation taking place through internal briefings.
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2 / To align governance arrangements for the Council’s property assets and capital management processes. / This process now takes place through the Asset Management Group (AMG) and the approval procedure for the AMP.
3 / To introduce and embed clear processes to ensure the Council achieves best value in its utilisation of property assets. / The AMG, AMP and option appraisal procedure is now firmly embedded. Completion of asset reviews will further reinforce the process.
4 / To develop an Office Accommodation Strategy that meets the high level objectives contained with the corporate strategy and further detailed in the Business Transformation Strategy. This will be progressed by a high level review in 2008 - 09. / The progression of the Accommodation Strategy has been constrained by the economic downturn. However work is ongoing to report initial findings to Members within the currency of this AMP.
5 / To develop and adopt a Corporate Acquisitions and Disposals Policy / Roles and responsibilities embedded in revised Financial Regulations approved by Council on 15th September 2009. A formal policy is scheduled for approval in early 2010.
6 / To develop processes to improve the security of supply lines for goods and services that support the property management function and consequentially deliver best value. / A significant amount of work has been done to source supply line data in order to inform and drive more efficient procurement.
7 / To achieve planned capital receipts as identified in the medium term financial plan. / The MTFP was not reliant on a major programme of capital receipts bearing in mind market conditions. AMPS and Financial Services monitor the position.
8 / To identify and develop plans to deal with property that is having a significant blighting impact within its locality. / Ongoing on a case-by-case basis e.g. Turlin Moor First School temporary uses identified pending outcome of further study into requirements / school places.
9 / To review the accounting practice relating to income from investment property. / Work is in progress to centralise property related income and expenditure in order to align corporate financial priorities.
10 / To complete the procurement of a corporate property database and populate it with validated data. / Procured. Indexation with existing systems, validation and input of core data due for completion by June 2010.
11 / To develop a corporate approach to the provision of affordable housing that supports the delivery of the Council’s objectives. / The Council is engaged in the “Single Conversation” process with MAA partners and the Housing Communities Agency (HCA) and has identified 3 sites target investment sites.
12 / To introduce a revised Asbestos Management Plan / Completed. Reported to Portfolio Holder for Resources in September 2009
13 / To introduce a revised water Hygiene / Legionellosis Management Plan / In progress. Due for completion March 2010
14 / To develop improved Facilities Management arrangements / Recruitment to the “intelligent client”-operating operating model is under way with a view to acquiring specialist skills through framework call-off.
15 / To procure a response repairs service
16 / To support the development of customer services through geographic review to initiate neighbourhood / partnership services delivery. / Research in progress to support the “Customers First” programme. Geographic review in progress.
17 / To support the delivery of the Children’s Services Capital Programme. / The AMPS Capital Programme Team acts as the “intelligent client” for all projects in the CS capital programme. The BSF Team currently manages the Building Schools for the Future project but its eventual implementation will be delegated to the AMPS Capital Programme Team. The AMPS Estates Team also provides support to the programme as necessary.
18 / To continue to promote equality through building design and alteration so as to provide access for all those who use them. To provide guidance to other service units on the responsibilities arising from property and project management / Level 3 achieved. Work in progress to achieve Level 4.
19 / To support the Housing Stock options appraisal process / First phase in progress.
20 / To support the continuity and development of the dementia care programme / Negotiations in progress with care providers to procure the commission of long-term delivery. Research under way to explore the release of development sites.
21 / To provide support and develop more robust links to other Service Unit Asset Management Plans. / Achieved through greater integration of the Asset Management Group and one to one interviews with service unit heads to ensure that the property and strategy implications of business plans, asset management plans and joint working opportunities are fully supported.
22 / To progress the major projects identified in Appendix 4 / Fully resourced. Ongoing support.

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