A rocky relationship

The relationship between schools and the company that is supposed to be looking after their buildings is not working as well as it should, it has been claimed.

HOWPS is a joint venture between Powys County Council (PCC) and construction company, Kier, that looks after 5,400 homes and 630 other properties which also includes the county’s schools.

At the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the relationship between schools and HOWPS was highlighted during discussion to approve the school maintenance programme for the next year,

Cllr Pete Roberts, chairman of the learning and skill scrutiny committee, said: “One area that did concern us at scrutiny is the interaction between schools and HOWPS and the property plus agreement, which doesn’t seem to be working as effectively for schools as we might hope.

“The fear is that school maintenance will be cut to a minimum and will need more and more investment in the future.”

Education portfolio holder, Cllr Myfanwy Alexander agreed, and added: “The relationship between schools and HOWPS is far from perfect but we are assured that the appropriate actions are being taken and hope that leads to an improvement. We will certainly be keeping an eye on the situation.”

Corporate director for economy and environment, Nigel Binn who is also a HOWPS director, explained that a meeting was taking place that afternoon between all service areas that work with HOWPS.

Feedback from this meeting will then be digested by HOWPS directors at another meeting later in the week.

As we reported yesterday, the new budget for school maintenance has gone up to £2,417,628 by combining a grant from The Welsh Government with PCC capital funding.

David Thompson, of the education department, said: “This is for minimum essential works we can achieve in this financial year.

“The next financial year and year after will be subject to a capital spending review.

“We have identified some much needed energy savings works this year, much needed boiler and control systems. In future we will be looking to set out a three to five-year programme.”

The report was approved by cabinet.

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter