Millions of pounds needed to repair Leeds City Council buildings

Council chiefs in the city were told that the authority is looking at “innovative” ways to be able to afford its estate.

A report to the authority’s Governance and Audit committee claims that £44m will be needed to be spent to cover the cost of repairs to ‘heritage assets’ over the next decade.

There are currently 615 sites in use by the council but 57 have been sold since 2014 to claw back £20m.

Council officer Angela Barnicle told meeting yesterday: “There is a collective view that we can probably no longer afford to have the extent of our estate that we currently have. We are looking at innovative solutions.”

But Coun John Illingworth (Lab) slammed the report, claiming more should have been done before council buildings fell into disrepair.

He said: “It worries me that we’ve only just noticed that maintenance has fallen behind.

“I can’t believe that you were unaware of the maintenance backlog for so long.

“You watch with heartbreak – these are listed buildings and they are falling into disrepair due to lack of basic maintenance.”

He added that more should be done to help community groups run disused council buildings.

The council has an annual maintenance budget of £4.3m to spend on its sites currently in use. The authority agreed to pump in an extra £5m this year to help tackle some of the maintenance issues. Older buildings, dubbed “heritage assets” by the council, have also fallen behind with repairs. A survey done on 46 of these estimated the cost of repairs of £44m over the next 10 years. The council has since agreed to put more money into this work. The report said: “In recognition of this investment need, and that there are insufficient funds within the standard maintenance budget, an extra capital injection of £2m per annum over the next three years has been agreed.”

DISCUSSION OVER COUNCIL RENTALS

Councillors also disagreed on the viability of the authority’s investment estate - the buildings it rents out for an income.

Coun Peter Harrand (Con) questioned whether that was a “legitimate purpose” of a city council but officer Angela Barnicle said it created a “resilient revenue stream.”

Coun Peter Truswell (Lab) said: “One part of me dislikes [engaging] in this part of activity – but it brings in £10m a year, I wonder whether £10m of further cuts to services would come if we did do this.”