Officers drafted in for council-owned property company

The future of a council-owned property company once again came under the spotlight at a Royal Borough meeting this week.

Last month, the council’s cabinet faced questions about the RBWM Property Company after four of its five directors resigned on Tuesday February 13.

The property company is wholly owned by the council and is responsible for tasks including managing regeneration projects and delivering affordable housing at council-owned sites.

Last month, council leader Simon Werner said the company was being reviewed and steps had been taken to ‘strengthen council oversight’.

At a full council meeting on Monday, he was asked by Cllr Ewan Larcombe (NFPP, Datchet, Horton and Wraysbury) to explain the circumstances behind the director resignations.

Cllr Werner explained that senior officers have temporarily been drafted in to replace those who have resigned while the future of the property company is considered.

In a written response, Cllr Werner explained that the decision by the directors to resign ‘is their own’ and he thanked them for their contribution.

He added that as part of the council’s financial recovery plan, the authority is looking at all services to determine if the current delivery model is the correct one.

In a supplementary question at the meeting, Cllr Larcombe asked if the company had performed in accordance with its expectations over the years.

Cllr Werner said that when he became council leader one of the areas he felt the council needed to tackle was scrutiny of the property company.

He said: “We implemented changes soon after we took control on two levels. As owners of the property company, we put in place a shareholder panel so that we could get that proper scrutiny.”

But as the council is also a ‘client of the property company’, Cllr Werner added, an officer was appointed to act as the council’s main liaison with the property company so it could be scrutinised on that level.

Cllr Werner added that at one of the recent shareholder panels, the authority raised ‘a number of issues’ with performance and asked for an improvement plan to urgently be put in place.

“The following day. Four of the nonexecutive directors resigned,” he said.

“They have temporarily been replaced with senior officers of the council, while we consider the future of the property company.”

In his written response Cllr Werner explained that the council will be reviewing the property company and the service it provides – although ‘no decision has been taken about future approach’.