Proposed New Library and Youth Connexions Facility in Borehamwood Capital Funding

HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

CABINET

MONDAY 21 JULY 2008 AT 2.00 P.M.

PROPOSED NEW LIBRARY AND YOUTH CONNEXIONS FACILITY IN BOREHAMWOOD – CAPITAL FUNDING

Joint Report of the Corporate Director (People and Property) and the Director of Children, Schools and Families

Authors:
Colin Cooper, Principal Estates Officer Tel: 01992 588114
Roy Evans, Property Business Partner Tel: 01992 555258

Andrew Simmons, Head of Youth Connexions Tel: 01992 555865

Glenda Wood, Head of Libraries, Culture and Learning Tel: 01707 281559

Executive Members: David Lloyd, Keith Emsall

Local members: Jean Heywood, John Metcalf

1. Purpose of report

1.1To seek approval to a part self-financing project to provide a new library and youth facility in Borehamwood, at a total estimated cost of £4.58m.

1. Summary

2.1An opportunity has arisen to provide replacement library and youth facilities as part of the redevelopment of a church owned site located in the centre of Borehamwood.

2.2The scheme has been in development for a couple of years but did not achieve an allocation of County Council capital funding for the current financial year.

2.3 An application has been made for a capital grant of £600k from the East of England Development Agency’s “Investing in Communities” fund. The necessary criteria have been met and a decision on the allocation of the grant to be spent by 31 March 2009 is to be made by Cabinet at this meeting.

2.4 The project envisages that the land for the scheme will be made available on a long ground leasehold basis at a nominal rent by the current freehold owners (two distinct Church of England trustee bodies). The County Council would construct two linked buildings comprising a library (with museum display space) and a multi use hall with meeting rooms and music studio for provision of Youth Connexions services, together with wider community use.

2.5 The proposed capital funding for the scheme would be provided from a number of external sources including contributions from Hertsmere Borough Council, Borehamwood Town Council, the EEDA grant, and S106 planning agreement contributions, adding to the County Council sources.

2.6 A commitment to the scheme now is essential in order to have an opportunity of securing the EEDA grant.

3.Recommendation

Cabinet is asked to approve a part self-financing project at a total capital cost of £4.58m with the County Council providing capital funding of £3.288m but subject to funding contributions being made by other parties amounting to some £1.293m.

4. Background

4.1The County Council owns the freehold of the current library in Elstree Way, Borehamwood which does not meet the standards set out in “Libraries for 21st Century”. The library is located outside the settlement centre and there has been a long held ambition to relocate the library into the main retail area of the town.

4.2The County Council used to own the Lair Youth Centre which was located on the former Lyndhurst School site in the northern part of the town. The school site was sold in 2006 but as one of the planning obligations attached to the planning permission which enabled the site sale, the County Council was required to replace the facility by using a ring fenced S106 contribution of £590k.

4.3The intention was to build a new youth facility on retained land on the Lyndhurst site. However, such a location did not accord with the Youth Service strategy of wishing to have a major youth facility in the centre of Borehamwood readily accessible from all parts of the town.

4.4 With the knowledge that the All Saints site could be available, the reserved site for the new Lair was sold in 2007 and £250k from the capital receipt was set aside to provide part of the funding for a replacement in the preferred location.

4.5 The Maxwell Park Centre, Borehamwood, is in the freehold ownership of the County Council and is let to a local management committee. It is a purpose built community centre dating from the late 1960’s whose principal use was by the youth service in the evenings with wider community use during the day time. There has been no youth work here some time with use being solely by the wider community, although the County Council still undertakes most of the maintenance of the building. The building condition has deteriorated and significant expenditure is required if the building use is to continue.

4.6 The All Saints Village Hall site comprises two halls located in the town centre of Borehamwood in the ownership two separate Church of England Trusts.

4.7 The main hall is of lightweight single storey construction dating back from the mid 1920s and requires significant expenditure if it is to continue to operate as a public hall. The Trustees are planning to close the premises at the end of 2008 due to its poor condition.

4.8 A strong network had been established in Borehamwood with officers of the County Council and Hertsmere Borough Council working together to identify community benefit from the re-use and disposal of property assets following the re-organisation of the school system in Borehamwood in the early years of the millennium.

4.9 The opportunity to redevelop the All Saints site was brought to the attention of the County Council and Borough Council officers and an officer working group was established to explore the potential that the site may offer.

4.10 The various sites are identified on the attached location plan.

5.The Project Proposal

5.1The All Saints site would be developed to provide a library in a building at the front of the site with a linked building to the rear providing a hall, meeting rooms and music studio.

5.2 The library would be of the size to satisfy the requirements of Libraries for 21st Century and would include internet computer facilities for public use and display space for the local museum.

5.3 The rear building would be jointly used by the Youth Connexions (Integrated Youth Support Service) and the wider community on the basis of dedicated and shared space to provide for the users of the current front hall at All Saints, the Maxwell Park Centre functions and for the County Council services to young people.

5.4 Both the County Library and Youth Services have been searching for some years to find a location in the town centre which is suitable, available and affordable. The All Saints site provides a rare opportunity to achieve these service aspirations.

6. The Property Plan and Service Property Priorities

6.1The vision in the Property Plan is to only use property that sustains and supports service delivery. The proposed investment would support that aim.

6.2 The priorities and actions set out in the 2007 Property Performance Plan show the library as a service priority category 2 for replacement.

1. Town Planning

7.1 The development of the All Saints site for a library and a youth facility is in accordance with the land use allocation for the site contained in the approved Local Plan.

7.2 It is anticipated that planning permission for the proposed development would be forthcoming without onerous conditions.

1. Financial Implications

8.1The estimated capital cost of this building project is £4.58m. It would be spread over three financial years with approximately £600k for this financial year with remaining expenditure of £4m being spread broadly evenly of £2m in each of the following two financial years.

8.2 It is proposed that the County Council will provide £3.288m (72%) of capital and other parties, as detailed below, will contribute capital of £1.293m (28%).

8.3As the scheme is not shown in the approved capital programme, an extra £1.197m is being sought from the County Council spread £600k in 2009/10 and £597k in 21010/11 together with approval to contribute capital receipts from the consequential sale of surplus County Council assets.

8.4As part of the capital funding is proposed from the sale of surplus assets, the criteria used by the County Council for self funding schemes needs to be met. The criteria are:

• Change to not be achieved within the budget guidelines.
• The proposed scheme is estimated to be robustly self financing.
• There is a real impediment to beneficial release of resources.
• The cash flow effect can be accommodated within the capital control limits as they affect the County Council as a whole.
• Disposal receipts revert to the “pool” if external funding is achieved.

8.5The self funding criteria appear to be satisfied and it is suggested therefore that the capital investment proposed be a first call on the resources that can be released from the redeployment of the sites of the current Library and the Maxwell Park Centre.

8.6It is estimated that £1m in capital receipts would be generated from the sale of the surplus County Council assets, which might not be achieved until 2010/11 financial year

8.7The County Council holds £590k from a planning obligation consequential to the sale of the former Lyndhurst School site in 2006. There are legally binding contractual arrangements in place which require the County Council to spend this capital on youth facilities in Borehamwood and which must have the prior approval of Hertsmere Borough Council.

8.8There is set aside by the County Council £250k from the sale in 2007 of the reserve Lair site to be used as a contribution towards the reprovision of services to young people which were formerly provided from the Lair.

8.9Hertsmere Borough Council (HBC) has indicated that it is prepared to make available capital in total amounting to some £643k of towards the scheme.

8.10Borehamwood Town Council has proposed that it would be prepared to make a capital grant of £50k towards the project.

8.11An application for EEDA “Investing in Communities” grant amounting to £600k has been made and a decision on the allocation is expected at this meeting of Cabinet.

8.12 The capital funding sources are summarised in Appendix 1.

8.13 The building will be procured by way of the County Council’s usual procurement method via a Smarte East framework contractor.

8.14 The proposed scheme would appear to show good value to the County Council as the land is being provided at a nominal cost and the building cost apportionment according to user breaks down to £3.527 (77%) for the County Council uses (£2.061 to the library – 45% and £1.466m – 32% to the youth facility) and £1.053 (23%) to the community uses.

8.15 The proposed scheme will draw in existing revenue funding from HCC and HBC. It is envisaged that existing users who relocate from the current Church Hall and Maxwell Park Centre to the new provision will contribute income from hiring charges. Additional users for the centre will be sought to maximise use and generate additional income. It is envisaged that income will grow after the first year of operation, once the centre is fully established.

8.16A formal agreement will be drawn up between the partners to establish the funding, enable the development and deal with the management of and the budgets for the shared facility.

8.17The estimated revenue budgets are shown in Appendix 2.

9.Conclusions

9.1The opportunity to take acquire the All Saints site for a new library and youth facility gives the County Council an opportunity to work in partnership with both the Borough and Town Council as well as the wider community, to provide community facilities for both County Council services and for the wider local community.

9.2Cabinet is asked to approve a part self-financing project at a total capital cost of £4.58m with the County Council providing total capital of £3.288m and contributions totalling £1.293m from other parties.

APPENDIX 1

POTENTIAL FUNDING OF THE ALL SAINTS REDEVELOPMENT

APPENDIX 2

POTENTIAL REVENUE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NEW PROJECT: YEAR 1

Note *1: As the centre becomes established, it is anticipated that new users will increase the levels of income.

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