Agenda item - Bridge Estate Portfolio Update

Agenda item

Bridge Estate Portfolio Update

Report of Director of Strategic Assets and Property

Minutes:

Bevis Mackie, Senior Estates Surveyor, introduced the report which updates the Committee on the key matters relating to the Bridge Estate property portfolio that have taken place since the last meeting and future recommended actions.

 

Further detail and recommendations are included within the exempt appendix.

 

Peter Wells, Infrastructure Asset Manager, presented the Trent Bridge Maintenance report, attached as appendix 1 to the report, which informs the Committee of the current maintenance approach, assessment findings, advice sought regarding conservation, and possible approaches to funding future maintenance works.

 

For future maintenance works, the Committee were presented with 3 potential options which are detailed in the report.

 

Councillor’s comments included:

 

(a)  the Charity should start to consider the long-term future of the Trent Bridge and ensure that necessary modernisation, to meet the needs of the City, can be achieved;

 

(b)  the majority of major European city bridges have been made a statement feature with enhancement lighting. This should be an aim of the Committee for Trent Bridge;

 

(c)  the decorative stone work of the bridge must be protected;

 

(d)  any works undertaken must be part of a co-ordinated plan and sensitive to the further long-term planned works on the bridge. Care must be taken to ensure that materials and methods used in one area of work do not have a longer-term negative impact on other areas of work;

 

(e)  the Committee needs to consider which is the most viable option with long-term benefit to the Bridge, not just which could result in the quickest completion of the required pavement works; 

 

(f)  the condition and appearance of the paving on the Bridge needs to be addressed very soon.

 

Colleagues responded as follows:

 

(g)  if option 2 were chosen by the Committee, the cost of repairs to the ornamental features of the bridge will need to be funded by the Bridge Estate as they are of no function to highway maintenance or road safety;

 

(h)  Option 1, Department of Transport (DfT) Maintenance Challenge Fund bid application, is structured to support maintenance of exceptional schemes and the bid, of up to £5 million could include proposals for non-highway works to the bridge. However, an application to this fund is likely to be more successful if a significant level of match funding by the Charity were to be offered. Letters from the Committee and English Heritage, supporting the bid application, could also be beneficial;

 

(i)  decorative feature lighting for Trent Bridge has previously been considered but the Committee considered it too costly;

 

(j)  the Senior Estates Surveyor has already contacted English Heritage requesting advice on sympathetic maintenance approaches and what areas of work they consider should be prioritised,  however, despite following up, a response is yet to be received so further contact will be made;

 

(k)  maintenance of Bridge furniture may be considered for funding within Option1, but could not be considered if Options 2 and 3 were to be pursued;

 

(l)  the previous unsuccessful bid by the City Council to the Challenge Fund was for City ‘Gateway’  works on several sites and was compiled within four weeks. If a new bid were to be submitted for Trent Bridge, it would be purely for works to Trent Bridge and would be compiled over a much longer period;

 

(m)  the restriction of the Challenge Fund criteria will need to checked to whether installation and/or modification of decorative lighting could form part of the bid.

 

RESOLVED

 

(1)  to note the update report;

 

(2)  with regard to the funding options for Trent Bridge planned works:

 

(i)  for the Infrastructure Asset Manager to pursue Option 1 as outlined within the appendix to the report, submission of a comprehensive bid to the Department of Transport (DfT) Maintenance Challenge Fund, with the Committee to consider the bid prior to its submission;

 

(ii)  if the application to the Maintenance Challenge bid is unsuccessful, for the Infrastructure Asset Manager to pursue and report back on Option 2 as outlined in the appendix to the report, ‘bring forward the Local Transport Plan (LTP) maintenance programme with 50:50 funding from the Bridge Estate to replace the paving;

 

(3)  for a report proposing potential decorative lighting schemes for Trent Bridge, including costings, to be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee;

 

(4)  for the Senior Estates Surveyor to make a further request to English Heritage for advice on the protection and preservation of Trent Bridge stone work.

 

Supporting documents: