Issue - meetings

Issue - meetings

Community Leases

Meeting: 20/06/2017 - City Executive Board (became Cabinet on 13 May 2019) (Item 21)

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The Head of Community Services has submitted a report to establish clear criteria and processes for the award of a community lease and to approve terms for new leases for Bullingdon, Headington, Risinghurst and Florence Park Community Centres

 

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

 

1.    Agree the process and criteria for awarding a community lease

 

2.    Approve terms for new leases for Bullingdon, Headington, Risinghurst and Florence Park Community Centres and delegate authority to the Executive Director of Sustainable City in consultation with the Monitoring Officer to complete the leases.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Community Services submitted a report which established clear criteria and processes for the award of a community lease and to approve terms for new leases for Bullingdon, Headington, Risinghurst and Florence Park Community Centres

 

Councillor Dee Sinclair, Board Member for Culture and Communities presented the report.

 

The Board asked questions to satisfy themselves that these leases presented no disadvantage either to the community associations named in the report or other community associations. The Board agreed to delegate authority to the Head of Community Services to include for Bullingdon CA break clauses contained in other protected tenancy leases as deemed appropriate and feasible, and report back to the Board

 

The City Executive Board resolved to:

 

1.    Agree the process and criteria for awarding a community lease

 

2.    Approve terms for new leases for Bullingdon, Headington, Risinghurst and Florence Park Community Centres and delegate authority to the Executive Director of Sustainable City in consultation with the Monitoring Officer to complete the leases.

 

3.    Delegate authority to the Head of Community Services to include for Bullingdon CA break clauses contained in other protected tenancy leases as deemed appropriate and feasible

 


Meeting: 14/06/2017 - Scrutiny Committee (Item 11)

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Background Information

The Scrutiny Committee has asked for this item to be included on the agenda for pre-decision scrutiny.

Why is it on the agenda?

The City Executive Board on 20 June 2017 will be asked to agree the process and criteria for awarding a community lease and approve terms for new leases for Bullingdon, Headington, Risinghurst and Florence Park Community Centres.  This is an opportunity for the Scrutiny Committee to make recommendations to the City Executive Board.

Who has been invited to comment?

·         Councillor Dee Sinclair, Board Member for Community Services;

·         Ian Brooke, Head of Community Services.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Acting Communities Manager and the Council’s lawyer with responsibility for leases introduced the report and answered questions.

The Committee noted in answer to questions:

1.    Two different types of lease are being offered: eight community associations currently operate a community centre on a licence and the Council is offering these associations an ‘unprotected lease’.

2.    Protected leases had been given to some community associations about 15-20 years ago and this type of lease could not be rescinded: such leases would not be offered now as they were no longer the preferred means of achieving the good management of council property.

3.    Unprotected leases offer a 25 year term with a rolling twelve month rolling break for either tenant or landlord. This gives flexibility to both the council (to manage its assets in the best interests of the city) and the community associations (to provide activities and management to best support the changing needs of their growing communities) with sufficient control by both parties.

4.    Performance measures allowed both parties to work to make the centres effective.

5.    The poor state of repair of three of the buildings, and Florence Park community centre in particular, was known. The protected leases had break clauses which allowed either party to terminate the lease at fixed points. There was a clause permitting the council to terminate the lease if the cost of repairs exceeded £100,000 but this was not intended as a mechanism to avoid the Council’s responsibilities.

6.    The community centres’ opening hours and activities relied on demand; volunteers; and paid staff. The Communities team was helping the associations to manage centres and attract and retain volunteers which should help improve the centres’ activities and increase their opening hours. However, while the council should make good use of valuable assets, expectations of the associations and the use of the centres had to be realistic.

The Committee commented that they would want all community associations to be satisfied with their lease arrangements and received assurances that the Council was actively supporting community associations to help them ensure that the centres were accessible to all of the diverse communities they served.

The Committee asked for information about the reason for the large grant given to offset all of the rent paid by Museum of Modern Art, and the benefit this offered to the wider community in the city. They suggested that, to distinguish between those organisations actually paying a low rent and those where the rent was off-set by grants, the information on rents should show the actual rent charged; the grant (if any) off-setting this; and the residual rent (if any) paid.

The Committee made no recommendations to the City Executive Board.