To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Barry Durkin

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

Cllr Paul Rone (for Cllr Durkin)

To receive declarations of interests in respect of Schedule 1, Schedule 2 or Other Interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

No schedule 1 or 2 interests were declared.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 19 July 2021.

RESOLVED:      That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 July be approved.

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

There were no questions from members of the public

To receive any written questions from members of the council.

There were no questions from members of the council.

To consider proposals for the disposal of the Town Hall,St. Owen Street, Hereford in the open market within the context of the council’s overall asset management strategy.

The committee invited the Interim Director for Economy and Place and the Head of Programme Management Office to introduce the proposals for the disposal of the Town Hall. 

The following principal points were explained:

·        The future of the Town Hall is an issue that has been considered for some time – options around community asset transfer have been and continue to be explored but have not been successful to date.

·        Importantly, no formal decision has been taken to dispose of the Town Hall. 

·        The council is currently considering how it manages its estate as part of a wider asset strategy and workforce (post Covid) accommodation review. 

·        It was noted that conditions surveys have been undertaken and maintenance issues with the Town Hall – as would be expected in an older building - have been identified

·        Within this context, the views of the committee, and the attending Mayor of the City Council, on the potential uses for the Town Hall including whether, or not, it should be sold on the open market are welcomed.

The chair invited committee members’ views.

The following principal points were offered by committee members:

·        An immediate concern is the visual prevalence of damp and black mould – can urgent action be taken to ensure de-humidifiers are placed in the building to ensure the health of staff is not placed at unnecessary risk?

·        The property strategy 2016/20 sought to keep both the Town Hall and the Shire Hall fit for public use.  A view was expressed that the committee should not be asked to consider the future use/ownership of the Town Hall in isolation – it must be in combination with the wider strategy review. 

·        Members of the public need to be engaged in this conversation.  Local Authorities do not receive grants to help them maintain their estate, are the public prepared to pay though increases in local precepts, for example, to maintain these public assets?

·        Observations were drawn to the current costs of maintaining the Town Hall and the backlog of estimated maintenance costs (of £1.8m) with potential to increase.   While these are relatively high sums of money, this would be dwarfed by having to replace and rebuild.

·        It was noted that figures supplied in Appendix A relating to income was drawn from F/Y 2020/21, whereas the date for running costs were taken from 2019/20.  The committee requested the income figures from 2019/20 are included to avoid imbalanced/worse case scenario financial reporting.

·        In considering the options for market disposal, does this include No. 8 St. Owens St, and if so had consideration been given to re-investing any income generated from this ancillary sale to cover the maintenance requirements of the Town Hall?

·        Whatever disposal option is committed to the Town Hall must remain open for public use.

·        Enquiries were made as to where the current services operating out of the Town Hall, such as registration and licensing services, would be relocated to once the disposal has been completed. 

·        Further, what was the estimated market value  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

The next scheduled meeting is 13 September 2021, 10.15 a.m.

The next scheduled meeting is 13 September 2021, 10.15 a.m.