To track the progress of the recommendations arising from the Premises Charges and Community Benefit Rent Reduction Scheme Scrutiny Challenge Session.

The Committee received a presentation that provided an update on progress being made about progress on addressing the recommendations from the Premises Charges and Community Benefit Rent Reduction Scheme Challenge Session which had been undertaken in November 2019 and chaired by Councillor Tarik Khan former scrutiny lead for Resources and Finance. The main points raised because of questioning is summarised as follows:

The Committee:

v  Observed that in relation to community hubs agreeing their own pricing whilst the Council can guide and advise it is down to the organisations running the hubs to make sure that those hubs are used and utilized by the community. However, if no Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisation is identified to run these hubs, then the Council will have to take on the cost of maintaining; servicing and managing those hubs.

v  Noted on the issue of pricing whilst the VCS organizations that operate the hubs will have the freedom to set their own pricing, as part of the lease arrangement the Council will (i) have some degree of oversight on that pricing to ensure that the pricing is fair; (ii) expect premises to be accessible to organisations; and (iii) presume that the organisations managing the community hubs are essentially going to aim and operate on a cost recovery basis.

v  Noted that business rate relief is a critical advantage to VCS  organizations operating these buildings which enables them to run the premises on a more cost effectively basis than the Council could and therefore potentially to pass those savings onto those organisations that want to hire space in the buildings.

v  Noted that the most significant challenge is that of fairness because space is one of the Borough’s most scarce resources as highlighted in the earlier part of the committee meeting tonight regarding the Scrutiny Spotlight on Housing.

v  Acknowledged that for many community hubs just starting up one of the most challenging issues that they need to address is identifying their individual business activities and responsibilities e.g. duties around health and safety and managing a facility can become very challenging and an organisation does not have any experience in the management of such facilities then it can be really time-consuming and if an organisation gets it wrong that can have serious consequences for that organisation.

v  Commented that the Council have the experience and understanding of those complications to ensure those buildings are run safely and legally that can be shared with VCS organisations (e.g., policies in relation to health and safety).

v  Acknowledged that the presentation had illustrated how the outcomes that were included in the Cabinet report on 24^th March 2021 will be addressed in the future management of the community hubs.

v  Noted the Council in November 2016, agreed a scheme to reduce the rent payable for third sector organisations who meet specific criteria relating to the community benefit of their activities and their organisational governance and management, the Community Benefit Rent Reduction Scheme (CBRR). These new arrangements initially affected organisations in buildings in the council’s community premises portfolio but have since been extended to existing VCS occupiers of other council premises.

v  Commented that there has been noteworthy progress since scrutiny undertook the challenge session and anticipated that the Council will continue to develop its response to the scrutiny challenge session on the Boroughs premises charges and community benefit rent reduction scheme.

Following a full and wide-ranging discussion, the Chair thanked (i) Councillor Mufeedah Bustin (Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion) for providing the Committee with the progress on the recommendations together with David Freeman (Corporate Strategy and Policy Manager) and Vicky Clark (Director of Integrated Growth and Development); and (ii) stated that the Committee are pleased with the progress made on the recommendations and hope those areas where on-going work needs to take place continues.