Council to slash 'leaky roof' budget by half

Work at Bradford City Hall will be prioritised, but maintenance of other council buildings is being downgraded to save money

Officials in Bradford are to halve the amount they will spend on maintaining public buildings next year in the wake of ongoing money problems.

The cash-strapped council announced £40m of cuts at the start of this year and was only just pulled back from the brink of bankruptcy when it agreed an emergency recovery plan with the government.

It has now emerged a £4m plan for maintenance of buildings will have to be “pared back” to less than £2m.

But the authority said essential works like fixing leaky roofs, boilers and fire alarms at key sites such as City Hall, Bradford Industrial Museum and Cartwright Hall would still be prioritised.

Maintenance work at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford is also on the priority list

Matt Seed, head of built environment at Bradford Council, told a meeting on Tuesday that initial maintenance plans had been slimmed down so that only “high-level risk” work was a priority - but added there was no money to "go above and beyond".

“Obviously, it's about health, safety, wind, watertight, to make sure that we've got the buildings and premises in a suitable state,” he told decision-makers on the council’s executive.

"It's not always about betterment, but it's about getting them to an acceptable level.”

A report signed off by the council’s executive said there would be a focus on fixing “backlog maintenance on the council’s estate” along with other work to keep it “safe, fit for purpose, and [to ensure it] does not deteriorate to a point of failure”.

Seed said he and colleagues had used a “risk matrix” to work out priority areas and what had to be “stripped out”.

'Matter of urgency'

Overall, it means planned works of around £4m will now be reduced to £1.68m next year.

However Seed stressed the remaining work programme was crucial.

He said: “If we do nothing, that's going to cause us issues.

"We could have boiler failures, we could have roof failures.

“It is a matter of urgency now.

"Obviously we're coming to the winter months, so there are some items that we want to try and progress as swiftly as possible.”

Work that has now been approved also includes improvements at Keighley Leisure Centre, Ilkley Library and several other council-run buildings.

The authority previously announced plans to sell off multiple buildings and pieces of land to boost the public coffers.

Alex Ross Shaw, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration, planning and transport, said: “We've got to keep investing in the estate.

"Obviously, we've got a large disposal programme, but we'll still be a large estate owner at the end of that, and we've got some key buildings in the district that we've got to make sure we keep maintaining, as a responsibility for the people of the district.

"It’s good to see investment to keep those buildings operational and ticking over.”

The current priority works list is subject to a review.

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