2 August - Finance Scrutiny Committee report (Asset Management)
As
with ‘Transformation’,
the first Councillor to ask a question was Steven Hall. He asked how the Council
planned to measure the success of the new Asset Management Strategy. Apparently
it is a “robust” strategy and will be subject to “regular updates”.
Councillor Hall said he was happy with the answer but sounded less than
convincing and he was going to read the papers again.
Councillor Borella (Labour Group Leader) had read the Agenda thoroughly and noticed that it referred to both 690 assets (Page 72)
and 750 (Page 76). What was that all about and what sort of condition are they
in? We don’t want
another Parkside Community Centre. (So bad it had to be demolished.)
He was told that the correct number was 690 following a clean up of the old
records. No one answered the condition question and Stefano does not give up as
easily as some Councillors do. He asked again.
Cabinet Member David Leaf said that the condition will not be known for a year
or two after a survey is conducted.
Councillor Larry Ferguson (Labour, Thamesmead East) asked if “any might be sold
to relieve the financial situation”. David Leaf said some are on a For Sale list
published in 2022 but he was not prepared to say which. “They are in the BexleyCo pipeline.”
Councillor Chris Ball was concerned about the amount of time that setting up the
Asset Strategy was taking (two years or more) and was told that the number of
staff employed on the Property Team is being increased in part because not very
specialism is available in-house.
There were no more questions on Asset Management and Cabinet Member for
Resources, David Leaf was asked to give his report to the Finance Committee.
• The Household Support Fund has commenced distribution.
• The Fair Funding Review is under way.
• There is a national Council Tax consultation going on and it is being debated with the Local Government Association.
• The employers’ Rights Bill will create a variety of new impositions on Local
Government including responsibility for pay negotiations of school support staff.
• Similar changes affect Adult Social Care and according to the Government’s
initial economic assessment, Local Government nationally could be hit for a billion pounds.