Hampshire County Council Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel Meeting

Councillor Andy Tree gave apologies for this meeting and Councillor Louise Parker-Jones attended as the Independent substitute.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code.  Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 June 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

There were no deputations on this occasion.

The Chairman made the following announcement:

The County Council has a strategy of forward buying for gas and power and earlier this year secured fixed prices for energy up to September 2024. This meant that the County Council had been able to avoid the most recent price increases. Nonetheless, we do welcome the recent announcement on the Government’s Energy Relief Scheme and the anticipated benefits this will bring for the public sector in terms of energy prices. We will still continue to look for opportunities to reduce our own energy costs and usage across County Council buildings and operations. Not only to save money but also to deliver important environmental benefits as part of our carbon reduction goals and climate change ambitions – for Hampshire to be carbon neutral by 2050 and resilient to a two-degree rise in temperature.

The Panel considered a report of the Director of Culture, Communities and Business Services giving an update on how the County Council is managing its Built Estate (Item 6 in the Minute Book).

The Panel heard that the completion in June of the £29.4 million PSDS grant-funded work has made a positive contribution to reducing carbon emissions from the built estate. Although good progress was being made on delivery of the planned maintenance, the rising costs and other difficulties in the construction market were becoming increasingly challenging. Property Services continued to work to manage these issues with its suppliers and progress work, where value for money could be assured, to minimise disruption to building users.

RESOLVED:

That the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel recommends that the Executive Member for Commercial Strategy, Estates and Property:

      i.        Notes that since the last report to the Panel, the Director of Adult Services has allocated £2.4 million from departmental cost of change reserves to be focused on further addressing health and safety priorities across its portfolio of buildings. Individual programmes of work will be approved within Chief Officer Delegations.

    ii.        Approves the provision of £600,000 of additional Schools Condition Allocation (SCA) funding for the replacement roofing project at Stoke Park Infant School, identified in the 2022/23 CCBS capital programme, giving a revised total scheme value of £1,900,000 as set out in paragraph 24 and in the updated project appraisal within Appendix 3.

   iii.        Notes Hampshire County Council’s ongoing programme of decarbonisation including the conclusion of phase one of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Programme (PSDS) with £29.4million of grant funding invested across the Corporate and Schools’ estates.

   iv.        Approves the proposal at paragraph 40 to consolidate the remaining £1.45 million of Energy Performance Programme funding to support the County Council’s decarbonisation programme and delegates the commitment of this funding to individual projects to the Director of Communities, Culture and Business Services.

    v.        Approves the proposal at paragraphs 41 to 43 to allocate £500,000 within the SCA programme to create a revolving fund to enable schools to undertake energy efficiency projects.

   vi.        Notes the ongoing challenging construction industry market conditions and the associated impacts on the supply chain and work being delivered across the County Council’s built estate.

The Panel considered an exempt report of the Director of Culture, Communities and Business Services regarding property services asset decisions (Item 7 in the Minute Book).

Members were informed of the details of various transactions across the estate. The Panel was supportive of the proposals within the report.

RESOLVED:

The Panel recommends that the Executive Member for Commercial Strategy, Estates and Property:

      i.        Approves the asset transactions set out in the schedule at Appendix 1.

    ii.        That the Director Culture, Communities and Business Services be authorised to settle the detailed terms and conditions.