Issue - meetings

The Head of Environmental Services and Housing Property Services was welcomed to the meeting to present the Upgrading of Sewage Treatment Plants and introduction of Service Charging to contributing properties - 1) Frankley Green Lane, Frankley Green, 2) Fockbury Road, Dodford 3) Dusthouse Lane, Tutnall report.

In doing so, Cabinet was informed that three existing Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in the locations stated above, served three individual rural area communities. The STPs were installed many years ago and had significantly deteriorated over time. With the transfer of the Council’s housing stock to Bromsgrove District Housing Trust (BDHT), informal arrangements were implemented, and it was agreed that Bromsgrove District Council would maintain these assets, with BDHT contributing 60% towards these maintenance costs. When the agreement was made it had been thought that potentially the STPs could be transferred to Severn Trent Water Ltd. This, however, would have been dependent on the condition of each STP being deemed acceptable by Severn Trent Water Ltd. In discussing this with Severn Trent Water Ltd it had been noted that the condition of the STPs were not acceptable and therefore this was not a viable option for the future.

Therefore, following these discussions, as outlined above, some investigations were carried out which had identified issues with all three STPs. These investigations confirmed that works would need to be undertaken in order to get them all back up to an appropriate condition.

Following the presentation of the report, Members thanked the Officers involved in the preparation of the report and the investigations undertaken thus far. It was also noted that the residents that had been impacted by these issues would be extremely satisfied that this matter was to be resolved.

The Interim Executive Director explained that recently there had been a successful meeting with BDHT. And although there were still some legal areas to finalise, it was hoped that the outcome would be suitable for all parties involved.

RECOMMENDEDthat

1)    A budget of £72k be added to the 2023/2024 Capital Programme, for the agreed contribution for upgrading of the 1) Frankley Green Sewage Treatment Plant, to be funded from borrowing or balances following consideration as part of the medium-term financial plan review;

2)    A budget of £69k be added to the 2024/2025 Capital Programme, for the agreed contribution for upgrading of the 2) Dodford Sewage Treatment Plant, to be funded from borrowing or balances following consideration as part of the medium-term financial plan review;

3)    A budget of £57k be added to the 2025/2026 Capital Programme, for the agreed contribution for upgrading of the 3) Tutnall Sewage Treatment Plant, to be funded from borrowing or balances following consideration as part of the medium-term financial plan review;

4)    An annual service charge be introduced, subject to agreement with Bromsgrove and District Housing Trust (BDHT), for all contributing properties to the three Sewage Treatment Plants from 1st April 2024, equivalent to the annual sum payable to Severn Trent Water Ltd for sewage treatment, if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44