Issue - meetings

The report requests the agreement of additional funding to complete the Ashley Centre car park safety fencing scheme, subject to Environment and Safe Communities Committee supporting the request for additional budget.

The Committee approved the use of £23,000 from the capital receipts reserve to fund the additional budget, subject to the Environment & Safe Communities Committee supporting the increase in budget at the meeting on 29 January 2019.

In September 2017 a capital bid was made to install security fencing on levels 4C and 5 of the Ashley centre car park, with the objective of preventing anti-social behaviour, and to deter potential attempts to self-harm.

The proposal and bid were agreed and funds were made available at the start of the financial year 2018/19. The project was highlighted as an urgent priority. The initial works order was placed on 28/09/18, but following investigation it was deemed that the floor surface of level 4D was not suitable.

Additional structural investigations were carried out to ascertain a safe fixing mechanism to prevent wind from blowing the railings off the roof. This prevented orders being made for all materials in a single process, splitting the ordering into 2 phases. The two separate deliveries required two cranes to lift materials on to the roof rather than one.  Consequently, the budget of £165,000 was not sufficient to cover the additional costs.

Subsequently, the Committee approved the use of £23,000 from the capital receipts reserve to fund the additional budget, subject to the Environment & Safe Communities Committee supporting the increase in budget at the meeting on 29 January 2019.