Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Item

15/03/200526 September 2007

Error! Bookmark not defined.Asset Management Working Group: report of meeting held 4 September 2007

Report by the Chief Officer

Contact: David Howells, Director of Corporate Services Tel: 02380 626833

1

Introduction

1.1

Reports on the Asset Management Working Group's activities are normally taken to the Finance and General Purposes Committee; but, because of the relative timings of meetings and the need to make progress on a number of matters, it makes sense to bring the report and recommendations from the Group to this meeting of the Authority.

1.2

Brief summaries of the items considered by the Group, with three recommendations to the Authority, are set out below.

2

Disposal of Housing Stock

2.1

The Group received an update on the progress being made to dispose of houses declared surplus to future operational requirements at Andover, Winchester and Havant.

2.2

At Andover (where the Station moved to a continuously shift-crewed duty system in April 2007): one house has been sold at a discount to an existing service tenant; an offer from a private purchaser on another has been accepted; and, the final property owned by the Authority is now on the market. The two properties rented from Testway Housing Association have now been handed back.

2.3

At Winchester (where the Station is due to move to shift-crewing on 1 October 2007) the Authority owns 12 properties and rents another from Winchester City Council. A number of properties have already been vacated and have been put on the market. An offer on one in Lower Brook Street has already been accepted. Notices to quit have been served on the remaining service tenants. The Group felt that it would be worth investigating whether it made sense to retain the property immediately next door to the Fire Station (60 North Walls) and include it as part of the eventual disposal of the fire station site.

2.4

At Havant (where the Station is due not due to move to shift-crewing until October 2008) the Authority owns 8 properties. These are all still occupied by service tenants.

3

Property Management Strategy and Property Register

3.1

The Group considered and approved a draft version of a proposed new property strategy. The aim of the strategy is to be clear and simple: `to provide and maintain properties that are fit for purpose'. It was recognised, however, that achieving this aim relies on:

· understanding both the current and future operational needs of the Service;

· having up-to-date information on the current and future building maintenance needs of all property (built-estate) assets;

· identifying the resource implications of meeting these needs;

· prioritising - through a continuous risk management process - programmes and plans of building works for the short-, medium- and longer-term;

· continually reviewing how our assets can be used more effectively.

3.2

It was acknowledged that while most of this information is available, it is not brought together and summarised in an accessible way which makes the review process easy. The Group was therefore asked to consider the draft of a two-page template which could be used to summarise the key data and information for each of the Authority's properties. These pages would form the basis of a new `Property Register' and would become an integral part of the overarching Property Management Strategy. It would be maintained as a `living document'. This was approved, and work is now underway to gather the information together. It is anticipated that the latest version of the document will be presented to the next meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee in November.

4

Disposal of land at Carpenters Down, Popley, Basingstoke

4.1

The land at Carpenters Down, Basingstoke was originally acquired in 1976 as a possible site for a second fire station to serve Basingstoke and the surrounding area. At that time, it was envisaged that plans for the major development at Chineham might lead to an operational demand for firefighting and rescue resources to be located in the north-east of Basingstoke. This was based mainly on the assumption that the resources based at the existing fire station at West Ham Close (on the western side of the town) would eventually become stretched both in terms of increased numbers of incidents and also in terms of potentially unacceptable response times to the north-east of the town.

4.2

At its meeting on 24 October 2001 the Finance and General Purposes Committee considered a feasibility report on the potential to build a new fire station on the site and this was to be the subject of a detailed project appraisal to the Authority as soon as it was considered possible to include the scheme in a future capital programme. In the event, this was not pursued and the Authority embarked on an initiative involving a trial to relocate a pumping appliance and crew at the Popley Fields Community Centre (close to the Carpenters Down site) from 1500hrs to 2200hrs during the working week. This arrangement has been in place since April 2005, and it has demonstrated that deploying a pump and crew in the Popley area achieves only a marginal improvement in overall response standards.

4.3

It is therefore now considered that the retention of the site can no longer be justified on operational grounds. It is most unlikely that it would be capable of facilitating any longer-term aims to improve emergency cover in Basingstoke and the surrounding area. As such, the Group agreed to recommend to the Authority that the land be declared surplus to operational requirements and sold.

4.4

Recommendation:

That the land (0.46hectares) owned by the Authority at Carpenters Down, Basingstoke, which was originally acquired in 1976 as a possible site for an additional fire station, be declared surplus to future operational requirements; and that authorisation be given to the Chief Officer to place the property on the open market and invite `design and offer' bids which will be reported back to the Group for consideration in due course.

5

Hydrants Maintenance

5.1

The Group considered a report by the Director of Corporate Services explaining that the existing hydrants database was first established in the early 1980's using software which is now obsolete. There is a need to migrate to a modern geographic information system capable of interfacing with third party applications (i.e. one able to: capture base data from the various water companies, use it to provide management information regarding our own testing, inspection and maintenance activity; and to provide location information to the new regional control centre database).

5.2

It was noted that a team has been working on a project over the last six months to identify a suitable replacement software product which can satisfy future mobilising and asset management needs. This has led to a recommendation to purchase the `Hydra' application supplied by `Imass Ltd'. Quite apart from emerging as the preferred management solution, it had recently been announced that `Imass' has been selected as the subcontractor for the supply of water supplies data and information (using `Hydra') by the principal software contractor (EADS) for the new regional control mobilising system. Given this timely development, the Director of Corporate Services has approved the negotiation of a single tender with Imass Ltd. It was estimated value of the contract for the software is not expected to exceed £15,000 with annual maintenance costs expected to be in the order of £3,000. Provision can be made within existing budgets for the purchase and maintenance.

The Group felt that the decision to negotiate a single tender was reasonable in these circumstances and agreed to recommend that the action be formally endorsed by the Authority.

5.3

Recommendation:

That the action taken by the Director of Corporate services to approve the negotiation of a single tender with Imass Ltd for the supply of the `Hydra' hydrant asset management system be endorsed.Error! Bookmark not defined.

6

Minor exchange of lands at HFRS Headquarters site, Eastleigh

6.1

The Group considered a report of the Director of Corporate Services on the need to rationalise land ownership along the western boundary of the Headquarters site. The developer of the neighbouring land (the former bakery site) identified that the boundary fence that forms the physical boundary to the fire headquarters site is not precisely in the position that it should have been following Hampshire County Council's sale of land to Manor Bakeries Limited on 14 May 1987.

6.2

The Authority's estates adviser said that he would take a keen eye to spot the differences and in some places the fence is positioned on the Fire Authority's side and in other places it is just over into the development site. In order to complete their registration of title at the Land Registry the developer has asked if there can be an exchange of lands to enable the legal boundary to be where the fence is currently located. This proposed action will also assist the Authority when steps are taken to formally register its title in the Headquarters site. Apart from regularising the situation neither side will gain anything from this exercise so the Group agreed to recommend to the Authority that the exchange take place for nominal consideration. It was noted that there are no other resource implications other than the costs of professional fees.

6.3

RecommendationError! Bookmark not defined.

That the Clerk to the Authority be authorised to enter into an appropriate exchange of lands with Dean & Dyball Developments Limited to enable the western boundary of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters site at Leigh Road, Eastleigh to accord with the existing boundary fence.

7

Equality Impact Assessment

7.1

All the proposals within this report are compatible with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

Background Information (Section 100D of Local Government Act 1972)

The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of the report:

· Supporting background reports presented to the Asset Management Working Group at its meeting held 4 September 2007.

Note: The list excludes: (1) published works; and (2) documents that disclose exempt or confidential information defined in the Act.