Supplementary A - London Borough of Hillingdon

Planning and Community Services
• The Secretary of State's decision in respect of Terminal 5 led to the need to recruit additional
planning officers for a period of three years. An equivalent decision in respect of a third
runway (and sixth terminal) could well have the same staff and space consequences.
3.2 Options for Closing Gaps in Property Provision
3.2.1 The Council has identified and appraised the options for closing these gaps and is implementing
its proposals through the Capital Programme and other initiatives as follows:
Corporate
• The capital and revenue funded maintenance programmes of £800,000 and £150,000
respectively provide funding for planning programmes and a reactive contingency. These
are now being managed on a prioritised basis to ensure that resources are applied where
most needed.
• The various asset reviews are also leading to decisions to dispose of some assets and
redevelop or refurbish others, which will have a significant impact on reducing the
maintenance backlog, shown by schemes such as the Botwell Green development and
Hillingdon House Farm.
• The Council is using Local Performance Indicators on space utilisation and pursuing a
number of initiatives on re-planning space in the Civic Centre, introducing new methods of
working (including hot desking and home working) to improve space utilisation. During
2005/06 it also undertook a Best Value Review of Facilities, which reviewed the use of
external offices. Utilisation of the Civic Centre has steadily risen from 1610 staff (November
2003) to 1877 staff (November 2006) By November 2007 the number of staff is expected
to rise to 2027.
• Through the continuing development of a Partners Asset Strategy the Council is working
very closely with Key Partners (Hillingdon Primary Care Trust, Hillingdon Police and the
Voluntary Sector) to review areas of the Borough where all Partners delivering services can
do so jointly leading to better service delivery and in a reduced number of assets.
• As noted in Appendix I paragraphs 4.2 and 4.3 the Council continues to undertake a review
of asset management within the Property and Accommodation Strategy Group, which is
being led by the Head of Corporate Property Services (HCPS). This has lead to some
further assets being identified for disposal or replacement.
• It is planned that the two “incubator spaces” will be delivered during 2007/08. The funding
will be partly from the LDA, Uxbridge College and Section 106 resources. The sites will be
at Uxbridge College, Hayes Campus and Mellow Lane School. The total value of the two
projects will be £1 million. They will provide training for young entrepreneurs who may be
school leavers or young people in the community.
Premises Management
• The Council is the legal owner of a large number of buildings. The fabric of these buildings
and importantly the services installations within them are of a wide range of age and
condition. To ensure these service installations operate safely, effectively and efficiently a
wide range of service contracts are in operation.
• Each service contract is designed to provide one or more of three main functions. Firstly,
they may be required to ensure automatic alarm systems operate when required for example
fire alarm systems. Secondly they are required to help avoid the consequences of total or
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