Cabinet – 8 November 2011 Closure of Feltham, Heston and Chiswick
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Contact: Mary Harpley Tel: 020 8583 2012 E-Mail: [email protected] Cabinet – 8th November 2011 Closure of Feltham, Heston and Chiswick local offices and the vacation of three other premises (representing the first recommendations from the Asset Workstream) Report by: Cllr Corinna Smart, Lead Member for Environment and Member lead for the Asset Workstream Cllr Theo Dennison, Lead Member for Performance and Customer Care 1. Recommendations Cabinet is recommended to agree that: 1.1 We vacate our three area offices at Chiswick, Heston and Feltham by the 31 st March 2012 and that the Director of Environment is authorised to dispose of the Feltham office property. 1.2 We declare the former Brentford Children and Families Centre at 1 The Butts, Brentford surplus to requirements and that the Director of Environment is authorised to dispose of the property. 1.3 We surrender the lease of 3 rd Floor, Ashley House, 86 – 94 High Street, Hounslow by 31 st January 2012. 1.4 In principle, we dispose of 78-80 St Johns Road, Isleworth, and that, subject to the conclusion of the current consultation with all occupiers and the agreement of the Lead Member for Environment and the Lead Member for Performance and Customer Care, the Director of Environment be authorised to dispose of the property. 1 Summary The asset workstream was established in April 2011 as one of the Council’s first ten transformational workstreams. It is co-chaired by the Lead Member for Environment and the Chief Executive. Its objective is to reduce substantially the Council’s occupational costs of property, while maintaining service performance and minimising the impact on service users. The workstream is pursuing a number of strands of work. The recommendations laid out in this paper – to vacate our three local area offices and three further premises – represent the outcome of the first strand of work to be completed. Further recommendations will come to the Cabinet over the next few months. Our three local offices in Feltham, Heston and Chiswick provide a range of borough-wide services related to the safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults, including children in need of protection. The majority of referrals received at these offices are made by telephone and letter/email and the services delivered from them are delivered in part from the offices themselves, but also elsewhere, including in residents’ homes. The number of residents who actually visit these offices is low. In light of the outcome of the consultation we have conducted with service users, staff and partners, we propose to re-locate our staff from these offices in the most part to the Civic Centre, but in some instances to partners’ or other premises, depending on the particular needs of our service users. We are not proposing any cuts to service levels, only a relocation of services. Recognising that there are some very local users of our current offices who could not be visited in their homes but would find it difficult to travel to the new locations on account of their disability we are discussing with health and other partners the potential for using their premises for our appointments with these service users. We propose that we vacate all three local offices by 31 March 2012 and let the Chiswick and Heston offices and sell the Feltham office. The former Brentford Children and Families Centre, 1 The Butts, Brentford is already surplus to our requirements and we propose to sell it in early 2012. We also propose to surrender our lease for 3 rd Floor, Ashley House, High Street, Hounslow and relocate our staff to the Civic Centre. We are also considering the vacation and sale of 78-80 St John’s Road, Isleworth. While consultation with Council staff and the West London Mental Health Trust, located at 78 St John’s Road, has concluded, our consultation with our tenants at 80 St John’s Road – the St John’s & Spring Grove Community Association – and the thirty-five organisations which use the location continues until 30 November. Subject to the outcome of this consultation we are considering disposing of this property and the final decision will be taken during December by the Director of Environment in consultation with the Lead Member for Environment and the Lead Member for Performance and Customer Care. This paper also lays out our plans to check the accuracy of the rateable values assigned to the Council’s property portfolio as part of the national rating recalculation in 2010. We are procuring the specialist support we need for this jointly with some other local authorities. 2 2. Background 2.1 In the current economic climate the Council must ensure that it operates from the minimum number of buildings required to deliver its services effectively and that it lets or sells those buildings it does not require. The Asset Workstream’s objective is to reduce significantly the Council’s occupational costs of property, while maintaining service performance and minimising the impact on service users. 2.2 To deliver its objective the Asset Workstream is reviewing all the building and land assets that the Council owns or occupies (except schools and housing) on an area-by-area basis and assessing the opportunities we have to use our assets more efficiently. We are undertaking these reviews in collaboration with Hounslow Homes and Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare Trust and in the knowledge of the premises used by NHS Hounslow and the Metropolitan Police. Recommendations for changes to the use of assets and disposals from these area reviews (starting with West Area) will be brought to Cabinet members from February 2012. 2.3 In advance of completing these area-by-area reviews the Asset Workstream has considered the early vacation of a number of buildings with the objectives of reducing operational costs, maximizing the use of the Civic Centre complex as the primary base for the Council for the foreseeable future, reducing the Council’s carbon footprint and producing capital receipts. This paper sets out the business case for the vacation of four buildings (and the disposal of two of these) and the surrender of our lease for one building. It also sets out our intention to vacate and sell 78-80 St John’s Road, subject to the conclusion on 30 November of our consultation with the occupiers of No 80 and the re-location of these occupiers. 2.4 The Asset Workstream has developed a new ‘asset release matrix’ to ensure a consistent approach to our decision making when we are considering the release or retention of any building or land asset. Any asset which is put forward for potential release is now assessed using the asset release matrix to ensure that all the options are reviewed and challenged. The following questions are asked for each asset: • Is the asset no longer needed for its current purpose? • Can the asset meet other service needs of LBH or partners? • Is it a suitable site to deliver any of the Council’s other priorities? • Can its release bring about savings? • Can its release produce a capital receipt? • Is there an opportunity for enhancing the value of the capital receipt before it is sold? 2.5 We have assessed each of the six buildings proposed for vacation in this paper against the matrix. The populated matrix is attached at Appendix A. 3 3. Closure of the Feltham, Heston and Chiswick Local Offices 3.1 We propose to close and vacate: • Chiswick Local Office, Ashburnham House, Horticultural place, Chiswick • Feltham Local Office, 11-13 Hanworth Road, Feltham • Heston Local Office, 41 New Heston Road (including mobile office) 3.2 The following services are delivered from each of our current local offices: Chiswick Local Office The Chiswick office is a modern purpose-built facility for social care, located adjacent to Chiswick Town Hall. Services currently based at the Chiswick office serve the east of the borough for: • Older Peoples Assessment & Care Management • Occupational Therapy • Children’s Intake Team • Children’s Safeguarding & Support Team Total staff numbers 76 social work and support staff Average number of customer referrals 1,387 Children’s Services per year 1,165 Adult Services Average number of customers calling 40 Children’s Services into the office each week 47 Adult Services Feltham Local Office The Feltham office is located a short walking distance from the Feltham overland station. Services currently based at the Feltham Office serve the west of the borough for: • Older Peoples Assessment & Care Management • Occupational Therapy • Children’s Intake Team • Children’s Safeguarding & Support Team Total staff numbers 68 social work and support staff Average number of customer referrals 1,266 Children’s Services per year 1,193 Adult Services Average number of customers calling 45 Children’s Services into the office each week 47 Adult Services Heston Local Office (including Heston Mobile Office) The Heston office is a modern purpose-built facility for social care adjacent to the Heston leisure complex. Services currently based at the Heston office serve the whole borough for: • Adult Social Care Access Service 4 • Community Team for Learning Disabilities • Independent Living Team Total staff numbers 80 Average number of customer referrals 417 per year Average number of customers calling 55 into the office each week In addition, there are 10 safeguarding and review adult social care staff based at the Heston mobile office. It is not a public access point. 3.3 Our three local offices provide a range of borough-wide services related to the safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults, including children in need of protection. The majority of referrals received at these offices are made by telephone and letter/email and the services delivered from them are delivered in part from the offices themselves, but also elsewhere, including in residents’ homes.