Contact: Nick Gibbins, (01962) 84 7544; [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report contains proposals for improving the quality of the information held about land vested in the County Council as highway authority but originally acquired by district councils and the Highways Agency. Current arrangements mitigate against effective management of highway land and can result in the County Council missing opportunities to dispose of surplus highway land in a few cases for a valuable alternative use.

1.2 Invest to save funding of £26,000, spread over a period of two years, was agreed by the Cabinet in June 2007 for the Environment department to finance digitisation of deeds transferred to the County Council by district councils, but if this project is to achieve its full potential, some additional temporary resources also need to be financed in Legal Services and Estates. This will enable the relevant deeds to be recorded into the County Council's deed storage system and freehold land to be registered at the Land Registry; and for Estates to assess any action required to protect the County Council's interests and generate potential capital receipts. A contribution of £118,500 over a three year period from the Invest to Save reserve is proposed, subject to being able to extend the Estates appointment for the full three year period of the project in the event that the work required justifies such resources. It is proposed that the Invest to Save reserve is reimbursed by top slicing capital receipts from the sale of surplus highway land.

1 Recommendation

1.1 That a contribution of £118,500 be made to the funding of a project to improve the management of highway land over the next three years; and that in-principle authority be given to extend the interim funding for an Estates Surveyor if the workload so justifies and for the County Treasurer and the Interim Director of Property Business and Regulatory Services to be authorised to settle the detailed terms of such recruitment.

2 Background

2.1 Land vested in the County Council as Highway Authority was, in many cases, originally acquired by district councils or the Highways Agency. This may have arisen for three reasons:

· The land was acquired prior to 1974 when the relevant district council was the Highway Authority

· The land was acquired post 1974 by the district council acting as agent for the County Council as Highway Authority.

· The land was acquired by the Highways Agency in respect of a trunk road, which has subsequently been detrunked and thus became a county road.

2.2 The deeds to this land would normally have been held by the district council and Highways Agency and the County Council has had no comprehensive records of such land. A project was commenced a few years ago by the Director of Environment to record digitally data relating to all highway land holdings, and funding of £26,000 for temporary staff over a two year period was agreed by Cabinet in June 2007, to enable Environment to progress the work relating to highway land acquired by district councils.

2.3 Whereas this is an important first step in improving the management of these land holdings, in order to maximise the potential benefits from this project, some additional temporary staffing resources are now required in Legal Services and Estates over the next three years. These would enable the recording of deed packets from district councils and the Highway Agency to proceed and all freehold land to be registered at the Land Registry. It is estimated that there may be as many as 6,500 deed packets to register. In addition the employment of an agency Estates Surveyor for a period of nine months would enable an initial view to be taken of action required to protect the County Council's interests in respect of these land holdings and to assess the potential for capital receipts to be generated.

2.4 By way of an example of what might be achieved out of such improved asset management, the County Council has recently joined in a development agreement relating to land in Farnborough Town Centre which may result in a substantial capital receipt being secured. The land was formerly part of the public highway, acquired pre-1974 by the then Borough Council. Having become aware of the proposed disposal by Rushmoor Borough Council, officers of the County Council have established that the land vests in the County Council and, by becoming a party to the disposal agreement, the County Council may benefit by up to £3 million depending on the relative success of the commercial redevelopment project.

2.5 The capture of deeds relating to this land was fortuitous rather than planned, but, by introducing the robust procedures as proposed above, together with undertaking detailed legal and management investigation by Environment, Legal Services' and Estates' staff, the prospects of the County Council missing out on such a windfall capital receipt will be reduced significantly; and, whilst this is probably an extreme case in terms of the values involved, it does highlight what is potentially achievable to offset the costs involved.

2.6 In the event that the scale of work required in Estates is shown to justify the employment of an Estates Surveyor beyond the initial nine months of the project, in-principle authority is sought for the Invest to Save arrangements to be continued for the remaining period to complete the work; and for the County Treasurer and Interim Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services to be given delegated authority to finalise detailed recruitment arrangements. This would ensure that the momentum of the project can be maintained.

2.7 The estimated costs associated with progressing this project in Legal Services and Estates are as follows:

2.8 In the event that the additional Estates work is required, the potential all-in costs to the County Council in employing an Estates Surveyor on a fixed term contract for the remainder of the project would be between £33,000 and £43,000 per annum (as at April 2007 levels), depending on the skills and experience of the successful candidate.

2.9 The implementation of this project will improve significantly the management of the County Council's highway land assets. The Audit Commission in its 2007 Use of Resources Auditor judgements identified the need to improve highway land records as a key improvement area in assessing the quality of the County Council's management of its asset base. The extension of this project can be expected to be self-financing over the medium term, as there are likely to be a number of opportunities identified to dispose of surplus highway land for development and a report on progress will be submitted on an annual basis .

2.10 In view of the potential for this project to generate more than sufficient additional future capital receipts to fund the cost of the temporary staff identified in paragraph 3.7, it is proposed that a contribution be made from the Invest to Save reserve of £118,500 to fund these costs and any costs associated with extending the recruitment to Estates for the full project period; and that the costs are repaid from the top-slicing of future capital receipts from the sale of surplus highway land.

Section 100 D - :Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

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

NB: the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

none.