Councillors push forward with plans to transform Hertfordshire's adult care facilities

Councillors were told a number of schemes will be brought forward in September for feasibility work as the authority examines options for parts of its adult care estate.

The update was provided during a meeting of the council’s impact of scrutiny advisory committee. Helen Maneuf, director of adult care services, said a number of significant projects remain ongoing despite scrutiny recommendations being considered complete.

She said members would shortly be asked to approve feasibility studies examining how some accommodation could be redeveloped or disposed of.

“I think probably the difference is with the ‘underway’ one, we’ve got a specific action that we’re going to do at a point in time in September,” she said.

“We’re bringing forward a number of schemes where we want to ask members to agree to go forward and prepare feasibility studies to look at how we can dispose of those units of accommodation.”

The issue formed part of a previous budget scrutiny review which examined potential savings linked to the council’s adult care estate.

Members had recommended continued monitoring of the programme amid concerns that inflation and construction costs could affect projected savings.

During the meeting, councillors sought clarification over whether parts of the programme described as “underway” should still be considered complete for scrutiny purposes.

Ms Maneuf said the distinction was that specific pieces of work were still progressing, while the council had fulfilled the original scrutiny recommendation by providing regular updates to members.

Councillors ultimately agreed that the recommendation could be signed off. Adult social care remains one of the county council’s largest areas of expenditure, with demand for services continuing to rise.

The authority has previously highlighted estate redevelopment and service transformation as important elements of its wider financial strategy.