Meeting documents

            Meeting: Corporate Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1a - 27/02/2006 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A4 Property Issues

Purpose of the Report

1 To provide an outline of the nature and scale of the estate.

Background

2 The main components of the Authority’s property holdings are:-

Schools - 304
Education Other - 6
Social Care & Health
- Homes - 13
Other - 64
County Hall/Offices - 20
Business Parks (Joint) - 18
Business Units - 83
Community Centres - 33
Libraries - 38
Museums - 3
Waste Disposal Facilities - 4
County Farms (holdings) - 25
Green Estate - 2619 ha

3 The estate is valued for accounting purposes at £517m.

Issues

4 Realignment of property holdings will need to be carried out to reflect
the restructure of the Authority eg Childrens Services and Adult Services.

5 Longer terms plans are being devised to reflect most existing service areas.





6 Due to the level of investment needed in condition, suitability and accessibility Community Buildings require attention. Their role in future service delivery also warrants consideration. Setting aside community facilities in schools (e.g. joint/shared use agreements, in libraries and other establishments) the approximate basic investment needs for our community buildings can be summarised as:

* Condition and suitability needs are to be re-assessed.

A detailed list of all Community Buildings is shown in Appendix 2.

7 Typically, Community Buildings are leased to the relevant Community Association on a peppercorn lease with the Authority (landlord) responsible for structural and external maintenance and the Association (tenant) responsible for internal repair and decoration.

8. There is no specific capitalised maintenance budget allocation to meet the Authority’s legal obligations and help address the backlog. A notional amount of £100,000 pa has in the past been allocated from the Capitalised Maintenance Budget for Community Buildings.

9 It has been possible to facilitate new community centres at Dawdon, Eastlea, Seaham, Wingate and Grange Villa by restructuring lease arrangements that passed all responsibilities to the Community Association but also permitted them to access lottery and other funding.

10 Consideration is also being given to the creation of a new community facility based upon the former Glenroyd residential home at Consett.

Recommendation

11 Scrutiny is asked to note the position described.

Finance

N/a

Staffing

N/a

Equality and Diversity

N/a

Accommodation

N/a

Crime and disorder

N/a

Sustainability

N/a

Human rights

N/a

Localities

N/a

Young people

N/a

Consultation

Report for information