Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded that this meeting will be audio-recorded.

Members were reminded that the meeting would be audio recorded.

Apologies for absence were received from independent member Mrs L Thomson.

Members are reminded that the Members’ Code of Conduct

requires the disclosure of Statutory Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Non-Statutory Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Disclosable

Non-Pecuniary Interests.

There were no declarations of Members’ interest.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the

Estates and Property Committee held on 5 July 2018.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the Estates and Property Committee held on 5^th July 2018  be confirmed as a correct record.

The Director of Governance and Commissioning introduced the report, which informed Members about the development of the fire station modernisation programme and sought approval for the proposed delivery schedule.

He informed Members that progress had been made by the programme team and a quick route to market had been identified by the Joint Procurement Team. Initial works at Bollington and Tarporley would involve using a local company.

He referenced the ‘Corporate Image Upgrade’ document that had been received by Members a couple of months prior. The document included a range of options that had been prepared involving a variety of treatments to upgrade the external appearance of a fire station, with indicative costs. It had become apparent that updating the external appearance of all of the fire stations would be too costly and beyond the budget that had been allocated. He advised Members that a more cost effective option would be to focus external upgrade work on fire stations that were in more prominent locations. In addition, it would be possible to create a corporate element to be used at all fire stations. Members were advised that the initial design and costings were expected to be received by officers at the end of the month.

The Group Manager for Blue Light Collaboration informed Members of the recent visits made to Bollington and Tarporley Fire Stations to discuss the condition surveys. He explained that the feedback received from the staff on station had helped to identify issues that would not have been apparent to the person carrying out the condition survey.

A Member queried if solar panels could be considered for each of the stations. The Joint Head of Estates and Facilities advised that once the initial costings were received, officers would be in a better position to advise what could be achieved within the available budget.

The Director of Governance and Commissioning drew Members attention to the proposed delivery schedule detailed in Appendix 1 to the report. A Member queried if the work at Bollington and Tarporley was on target to complete by April 2019. The Joint Head of Estates and Facilities confirmed that work was scheduled to commence on the two stations mid February and was expected to complete by April 2019.

The Director of Governance and Commissioning asked Members what level of engagement would be preferred once the costings had been confirmed. Members indicated that they would be happy with written updates.

A Member queried if female staff on station were happy with gender-neutral pods. The Group Manager for Blue Light Collaboration advised that there had been a mixed response. He advised that the Equality and Inclusion Officer had been engaged in the development of elements of the programme and would continue to influence the approach to equality and diversity issues at specific sites as the programme progresses.

RESOLVED: That

[1]  progress with the development of the fire station modernisation programme be noted;

[2] the delivery schedule for the fire station modernisation programme be agreed

The Director of Governance and Commissioning introduced the report, which provided Members with a range of options for the modernisation of Runcorn Fire Station. He explained that whilst Runcorn had been selected fairly randomly, the work had proved invaluable in helping officers preparing elements of the programme.

He informed Members that it would cost circa £550k to modernise and circa £1.1m - £1.35m to remodel. He advised Members that it appeared preferable to remodel the fire stations provided the cost could be contained within the budget.

The Group Manager for Blue Light Collaboration provided Members with an overview of each of the options provided by officers. He drew Members attention to Appendix 3 to the report, which contained the indicative costings and beneficial and negative aspects for each of the options.

The Head of Estates and Facilities highlighted that a benefit of option 2 would be the separation of public and staff use, which would improve the overall security of the station.

A Member expressed their preferred option being option number 2 but highlighted that a number of small changes be made, including the resizing and repositioning of the restrooms and kitchen area. The Director of Governance and Commissioning advised Members that officers would provide Members with an updated view of the remodelling in due course.

RESOLVED: That

[1]       progress to-date be noted;

[2]       the preferred approach at Runcorn would be remodelling;

[3]       an update about remodelling be provided in due course once there was greater certainty about the overall programme.

The Member Training and Development Group suggested that members of the Estates and Property Committee should consider whether they have any specific training and development needs associated with their role on the Committee.

Following a request made by the Members Training and Development Group, the Members of Estates and Property Committee were asked if any specific training needs had been identified.

Members discussed the individual training needs of the committee and it was agreed that visits to the stations and procurement training would be useful.

RESOLVED: That

[1]       Members of the Estates and Property Committee receive procurement training and be offered the opportunity to visit Fire Stations.