Decisions

The Asset Management Strategy sets out the approach to efficient and effective Highway Infrastructure Asset Management and how the Asset Management Policy will be delivered. The Strategy and Policy, which form part of the Highways Infrastructure Asset Management framework, have been reviewed and updated.

The Cabinet Member for Highways and Infrastructure has approved -

(1)         the implementation of the revised West Sussex Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Policy (Appendix 1), and Strategy (Appendix 2) to take immediate effect; and

(2)         the delegation of authority to the Director of Highways, Transport and Planning to approve the individual asset group lifecycle plans described in paragraph 2.4 of this report.

The County Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for all children who need a place. This report seeks approval to award the construction contract to undertake an expansion project to provide an enlarged school hall at Thorney Island Primary School that will provide sufficient and suitable accommodation for the previous increase in pupil numbers from 210 to 270.

In the key decision (reference ES01(20/21), the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills approved the allocation of £857,000.00 from the Capital Programme to fund an increase in space at the school to provide an expansion of the hall to accommodate the increased number of pupil places.  As part of this decision the Cabinet Member also approved the delegation of authority to the Director or Property and Assets to award the contract for the works.

A procurement process was conducted as a non OJEU Restricted Procedure. Following full financial and technical evaluation, based on a most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) criteria, this report recommends the award of the contract to provide an enlarged school hall at Thorney Island Primary School to Buxton Building Contractors.

The Director of Property and Assets has approved the award of contract for the construction of the Thorney Island Primary School Hall Extension for the sum of £782,421,04 to Buxton Building Contractors. The overall construction budget is £897,000.00.

The attached decision report sets out the proposal to insource and recommission, through new contracts, the services currently provided by Capita through the Information Technology Outsource contract (“ITO”).  The report details the services to be recommissioned and the services to be provided in-house and outlines the process and timelines of the recommended options.

The current contract concludes at the end of September 2022 and the work on options demonstrate the benefits to the Council of moving to a new provision model at an earlier date, and the Council and Capita have mutually agreed this. The proposed approach will better support the delivery of council services and the ability to transform its services to provide a modern, responsive and flexible digital, data and technology service.

The intention will be for a phased recommission and in-source of services, with the objective of procurement activity commencing early in 2021, and the transition of services in Summer 2021.

The Cabinet Member has endorsed:

(1)         The delegation of authority to the Director of Finance and Support Services to settle terms for the early termination of the Information Technology Outsource contract in summer 2021 (Option 4);

(2)         The commencement of the procurement of the Service Desk and End User Compute Services, Networks, Telephony, Cloud Hosting and Infrastructure and Application Management Services valued at £5.84m;

(3)         Delegation to the Director of Finance and Support Services the authority to award the contracts required following the procurement activity set out in the report in consultation with the Director of Law and Assurance; and

(4)         The allocation of implementation costs of £2.3 million to enable the transition of IT services to the new model.

In August 2017 the Leader approved the Crawley Growth Programme LDR04 17.18 and following approval of the business case by the West Sussex Local Enterprise Partnership, delegated authority to the (then entitled) Executive Director Economy, Infrastructure and Environment to progress the projects. Crawley County Buildings partial demolition is a key project within the growth programme.

A full demolition was approved in July 2019. As set out in the report a change request was submitted in March 2020 to reduce the full demolition to a partial demolition.

      The Executive Director Place Services has endorsed the award of the demolition contract for Partial Demolition of County Buildings in Crawley for the sum of £733,500, including contingencies, to DDS Demolition Ltd.

The proposal relates to a request from residents of Pound Hill for parking restrictions in a residential area in the vicinity of Three Bridges railway station.

Previously approved by the Crawley County Local Committee (CLC) on 15 November 2018 for delivery in the 2019/20 Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) works programme

Following the Statutory Public Consultation, between 29 July 2020 and 26 August 2020, there were 10 objections received, along with 3 expressions of support. All objections are included in Appendix B to this report.

The Director of Law and Assurance, in consultation with the Chairman of the Crawley County Local Committee and the Chairman of the Environment and Communities Scrutiny Committee, has used his delegated powers under Standing Order 3.45 to agree to make the Order as advertised except for any amendments as detailed in the revised scheme referred to in paragraph 2.3 and attached in Appendix C.

The County Council’s Future West Sussex Plan set out its ambition to minimise the burden of local taxation, delivering the best outcomes for residents with the money it spends, whilst living within its means.  In 2018 the County Council agreed to adopt an Asset Management Policy and Strategy. An objective of the strategy is to acquire, manage, maintain and dispose of property effectively, efficiently and sustainably, together with optimising financial return and commercial opportunities. 

To accord with Standing Orders, this report advises on the outcome of the marketing of the vacant potential residential development land to the south of The Littlehampton Academy and seeks the approval of the Cabinet Member for Finance to dispose of the County Council’s freehold estate in the land.    Offers have been received for the site and approval is sought to sell to the preferred and highest bidder having regard to the planning considerations and the costs of developing the site.

That the Cabinet Member endorses:

(1)         That the County Council disposes of its freehold estate in the surplus brown field site to the south of the Littlehampton Academy as set out in Appendix A of this report (restricted, members only) and;- 

(2)         Delegation of authority to the Director of Property and Assets in conjunction with the Director of Law and Assurance to conclude the terms of the sale with the purchaser.