Agenda item

With reference to the minute of meeting of Council of 12 November, 2008 (article 9 refers), the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Housing and Environment which provided the Committee with an explanation as to why St Machar Primary School had not been transferred to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for redevelopment as part of the Housing Capital Programme for 2009/10.

At the previously mentioned meeting of Council, members agreed to transfer the site of St Machar Primary School from the General Services Account to the Housing Revenue Account for the sum of £820,000; and instructed the Head of Resources Development and Delivery to proceed with the demolition of the existing buildings at the earliest opportunity.

The report before members today advised that the capital funding for this purchase was allowed for in the Housing Capital Programme for 2009/10, but that it had not been possible for the Council to transfer the St Machar School to the HRA during 2009/10 due to the English as an Additional Language (EAL) Service and The Portal Community Learning and Development Centre still being based at St Machar School.

The report continued that there was ongoing consultation between the Education, Culture and Sport Service and the local community on the relocation of services undertaken at The Portal Community Learning and Development Centre as part of the development of community learning hubs, and advised that a report would be presented to the Education, Culture and Sport Committee of 15 April, 2010 in this regard.  The EAL was due to transfer to Sunnybank School after the Easter break, but due to the fact that it was unlikely that the HRA could obtain vacant possession of the whole St Machar Primary School site, it was not thought that the site could be programmed into the Housing Capital Programme for transfer to the HRA until 2011/12.

The report concluded that the Council Budget meeting of 11 February, 2010 had made an allowance of £1 million in the Housing Capital programme for the next 3 years (2010/11 to 2012/13) for the purchase of land for the Council Housing New Build programmes.  It was therefore suggested that the property should be revalued, and that the outcome of the re-evaluation be reported back to this Committee in due course.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note that it had not been possible to comply with the previous Council decision to transfer St Machar Primary School from the General Services Account to the Housing Revenue Account during 2009/10 since the property was still being used operationally for education purposes;

(ii)        to agree that the property should be revalued before a decision is taken to fund the transfer the site to the HRA from the 2011/12 Housing Capital Programme;

(iii)       to instruct the Director of Housing and Environment to submit a report to the next meeting of 13 April, 2010 with a full explanation as to why the Council’s instruction of 2009/10 was not complied with within the appropriate timescale; and

(iv)       to instruct officers to submit a report to this Committee at the earliest opportunity should the potential arise for the site to be transferred at an earlier date.