Issue - meetings

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) which sought approval for the replacement of the administration building at Whitley Depot and the ICT Data Centre at Jackson Road.

The Place Directorate continued to review the use and effectiveness of the City Council’s operational property.  It was clear that the current arrangement of two separate satellite sites for an operational depot and CCTV / data centre are tired, unfit for purpose.  Including period repairs, they were also expensive to operate, averaging in excess of £0.5m per year.

The Cabinet noted that Whitley Depot dated back to the 1960’s and comprised 14 different buildings; 2 submerged fuelling stations; a weigh bridge and a concealed pond on a sloping site, immediately adjacent to the River Sowe on the Western boundary.

Jackson Road, whilst newer that Whitley, comprised a secure CCTV and alarm monitoring area, ICT hub, a collection of small offices, a poison store and kennelling for stray dogs.  The site had constrained access from Holbrook Lane and very limited operational parking.  Originally the site formed part of the adjacent St Paul’s cemetery, and had limited commercial appeal. 

It was proposed that a new building be constructed on the Whitley Depot site, comprising an open plan office; welfare and deployment building on a greatly reduced footprint towards the south of the site, close to the London Road entrance.  The new office building would house all back-office staff currently based on site and would create a purpose-built deployment space for the Streetscene and Greenspace, Building Services and Highways teams.  The office would mirror the Council’s new accommodation standards that were in place at the new Customer Service Centre in Broadgate, the Democratic Centre within the Council House and the new office facility at Friargate.

The report indicated that the main entrance from London Road would be redesigned to create a more fluid movement of staff and commercial vehicles in and out of the site. It would also look to contain visitor parking in a safer and more controlled environment. A neighbouring property had been acquired to make way for the entrance redesign and an area of land to the front of the site cleared.  An indicative masterplan sketch of what the site could look like was provided at Appendix A of the report submitted.  In addition the scheme would look to provide space for basic parking provision for the remaining neighbouring residents.

All other buildings on site would be demolished with the exception of the grit store and vehicle workshop.  The scheme would also de-clutter the site and vastly improve general movement of staff, visitors and commercial traffic.  The existing waste transfer station could potentially be relocated within the confines of the site in the future.  However, it was not part of the proposed project and would be subject to additional funding.

It was acknowledged that perimeter security would need to be improved (CCTV, fencing, gates etc.) so that the externally contracted security that currently patrolled the site could be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 154