Agenda item

Report of the Head of the Epping Forest Field Centre.

The Committee considered the report of Steve Bunce, Head of the Epping Forest Field Centre. Members noted the following:

·       One of our Team Leaders left in April after nearly ten years at the Centre to take a senior role at FSC Malham Tarn. As an interim step Officers had replaced her with a new member of our education team so that Officers could continue to deliver courses without disruption. The Bursar/Administrator left on 9 May.

·       Further remedial works arising from the Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) undertaken in the summer of 2012 was due to take place in the near future (order 601319). The Contractor had indicated that they would shortly come on site to plan and schedule the work. This should address most outstanding FRA remedial actions.  The possible exceptions to this relate to the testing of the lightning conductor and also to the advice to install emergency lighting in the adult toilets. The intentions regarding these were still unclear to me at the time of reporting.

·       The boilers for the main building were taken out of commission on 17 January when they were declared unsafe by contractors. Whilst the support from the Superintendent and his team (temporary use of the Visitor Centre and a supply of portable electrical heaters) has been much appreciated the absence of appropriate heating has created a number of issues. Officers thanked the Superintendent of Epping Forest and his team for their constant support during this difficult time/

·       These difficulties for Centre staff had also been compounded by the present arrangements for maintenance.  Whilst some maintenance receives exemplary attention and the direct City staff contacts were always very helpful, Officers said it was sometimes difficult to understand why other maintenance issues are dealt with in a protracted way where there seems to be a considerable lack of clarity regarding process and intended outcome and where many people seem to be involved in resolving things that would appear to be resolvable in a less time consuming and complex manner. Officers raised this as a query and not a complaint, and City Corporation Officers agreed to investigate this further.