Commercial Investment Fund and Asset Development Fund to be combined into Property and Investment Cabinet Sub-Committee

The Commercial Investment Fund and Asset Development Fund are to be combined into the Property and Investment Cabinet Sub-Committee, after it was approved at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (29 August).

It will be comprised of the Leader of the Council and Lead for Regeneration; Portfolio Holders for Corporate & Resources, Planning & Development; Housing & Environment; and Employment Skills and Business.

The sub-committees are to be amalgamated to enable “better scheduling of meetings and efficient decision making.” Combining three decision making bodies into one will enable the Council to ensure decisions are compliant with the statutory requirements of executive decision making.

In July 2016, the Cabinet agreed to create the Asset Development Fund. The authority to expend and make decision relating to the assets of the fund was delegated to a Delegated Decision-Making Panel comprising the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Members for Corporate & Resources and Housing & Environment.

The Commercial Investment Fund Sub-Committee comprised of the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Members for Corporate & Resources, Employment Skills and Business, and Planning & Development.

On 1 March 2017, Council approved a total of £30m to be set aside from the Council’s Capital Programme for 2016-2019 as a “Commercial Investment Fund”. The Asset Development Fund includes an annual investment over four years of £1m in each financial year from 2016 using unallocated capital receipts.

The allocated capital in the Fund will be supplemented by:

• Capital receipts from the disposal of properties within the investment portfolio, which will enable the receipts to be recycled back into the portfolio by way of acquisitions or other improvements.
• Surplus rental income over and above the budgeted income for 2016/17.

The definitive terms of reference for the governance of both the Commercial Investment Fund and the Asset Development Fund remain unchanged although adopted to reflect the powers of a single Sub-Committee.