Agenda item

To scrutinise the information before Cabinet considers the Asset Management Plan at its meeting on June 11th 2024

DECISION:

·          To accept the report.

·          To approve the propriety of the process of establishing the Plan's priorities.

·          To support the recommendation to the Cabinet (11 June 2024) to approve the Plan

The Chief Executive submitted a report asking the members to scrutinise the information and offer observations that the facts being submitted were based on robust information and that the propriety of the process of establishing the priorities had been considered in full, before the Cabinet considered the Plan at its meeting on 11 June 2024.

It was explained that the Council received a capital grant from Welsh Government annually, to be used for asset management priorities. When the Asset Management Plan was adopted in 2019, it was reported at the time that the Council was receiving £6.6 million in capital resources every year, and it had not increased since the previous Plan had been established in 2009. Between 2018 and 2023, we also received amounts above this (approximately £2M per annum on average), in the form of grants for a specific purpose.

However, concern was highlighted that the additional grants would come to an end, and that the core capital grant would remain on the same level – £6.6 million per annum.  This would mean that it will not be possible to achieve as much with the core resource – considering the levels of inflation over the past 5 years, £6.6 million's worth in 2009 was equivalent to £4.3 million today, which was a 34% reduction.

When setting our new 10-year plan, we presumed that £47.7 million of capital funding was available for us to extend the plan for an additional 5 years. This conclusion was reached having considered our annual capital grant amount as well as capital and funds that have not been allocated in the current Asset Management Plan. It was reiterated, in order to respond to new plans emerging that could not be projected when setting this plan, the intention was to continue to maintain a provision of £0.5 million per annum to address those requirements. It was noted that this brought the additional amount available to extend the Asset Management Plan until 2034 to £45.2 million.

When establishing the 10-year Plan, it was reported that bid invitations had been made to the Departments to identify their capital needs over the next 10 years – 70 bids had been received with a total expenditure of £129.3 million. The Chief Executive had assessed all plans and had placed them in high, moderate and low risk categories. Information had been submitted to Elected Members to gather views on the risk assessment on each of the plans.

The members thanked the officer for the report.

In response to a question regarding feasibility studies and whether any improvement would be subject to a feasibility study, it was noted that a vast majority of the process would involve applying for grants through other sources and the need to consider that cuts would not cause excessive disruption.

Matters arising from the ensuing discussion:

·         Gave thanks for the invitation to the briefing session.

·         Welcomed the procedure to address the gap.

·         Welcomed the contribution of the housing premium to fund urgent investment to deal with health and safety risks in smallholdings.

·         Considered additional capital by selling property – was every building used in full?  Had a review been carried out post-Covid to review the use of buildings? Was reasonable use being made of buildings?

In response to the comment regarding selling buildings to generate extra capital, it was noted that the list of unused properties was under review and that every building was currently being used, except for those earmarked for housing developments. If the property was not appropriate for housing, the intention was to sell.  In the context of offices, with the cuts scheme and a reduction in revenue expenditure, staff would be squeezed into fewer buildings, and empty assets would be used to deliver services.

In response to a question about why flood prevention on the A499 was not considered a priority field, it was noted that the department was in discussions with Natural Resources Wales since NRW would fund such schemes.

RESOLVED

·         To accept the report

·         To approve the propriety of the process of establishing the Plan's priorities.

·         To support the recommendation to the Cabinet (11 June 2024) to approve the Plan.