London - 29 February 2012 - Public sector organisations in South West
England are collaborating to make more effective use of their property
assets and rationalise their accommodation requirements. In the initial
years this is expected to save local taxpayers around GBP 1.5 million
per annum.
Working under the ‘Community Budgets’ initiative, the partnership is
using local authorities’ Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG)
addressing information from to provide a system of common reference to
enable all partner assets to be mapped and facilitate joint working. The
partnership’s efforts were recognised at the recent National Gazetteers
Exemplar Awards, where it was awarded the winner in the Integration
Award category.
The public sector was challenged to find radical new solutions using a
whole area approach to not only deliver better value for money, but also
better local services. In the project, partners from a wide range of
public sector organisations across the South West including: local
authorities; fire; police and NHS organisations came together to better
manage public sector property assets across the region.
Bristol City Council, who headed up the technical work stream, used the
LLPG data from the local authority partners to create a common data
format, enabling every organisation to submit its own property details
in a consistent way, complete with precise location. All the data was
held in a central database.
The result is an online web mapping resource, with properties
searchable by address or postcode. Clicking on a building reveals a
pop-up box which provides: an address; property classification; a
property reference number and contact details for the person responsible
for managing the property.
Asset managers can ‘post’ opportunities so they can let each other know
when a building might have some free space available, is available for
let or is up for sale.
Some innovative shared space arrangements have arisen as a result of
the project, with savings of over GBP 1.5m in the first year. Service
users benefit from more convenient, joined-up service provision. Tenants
benefit from rents that may be below normal market levels and building
owners benefit from increased contributions to their own management
costs.
Richard Mason, Managing Director for GeoPlace said: “This innovative
project in the South West, led by South Gloucestershire, is very much at
the forefront of the agenda and it is great to see the substantial
savings which using addressing information can bring. As the most
efficient part of the public sector, councils are always seeking
innovative ways to improve services and save the taxpayer millions of
pounds in the process.”
National Address Gazetteer Database
The National Address Gazetteer database is managed by GeoPlace. It
brings together data from local authorities’ Local Land and Property
Gazetteers (LLPGs) Ordnance Survey, Valuation Office Agency and Royal
Mail. AddressBase products are produced from the National Address
Gazetteer Database and made available by Ordnance Survey. To find out
how the National Address Gazetteer Database can make substantial savings
for your organisation, please visit www.geoplace.co.uk
List of project partners
Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, Bath & North
East Somerset Council, North Somerset Council, Avon and Somerset Police
Authority, Avon Fire and Rescue Services, Avon and Wiltshire Mental
Health Partnership NHS Trust, Great Western Ambulance Service, NHS Bath
and North East Somerset Trust, NHS Bristol, NHS South Gloucestershire
and North Somerset PCT
GeoPlace
GeoPlace is a public sector limited liability partnership between the
Local Government Association and Ordnance Survey. GeoPlace’s role is to
create and maintain the National Address Gazetteer Database and the
National Street Gazetteer for England and Wales, the definitive sources
of publicly owned spatial address and street data. Through agreement
with Scotland’s Improvement Service Company, the plan is to extend
coverage to Scotland.
Local Government Association
The Local Government Association is a political organisation that is
run by its members. The LGA always strives to agree a common cross-party
position on issues and to speak with one voice on behalf of local
government. It aims to set the political agenda and speak in the
national media on the issues that matter to council members.
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey is Great Britain’s national mapping agency, providing
the most accurate and up-to-date geographic data, relied on by
government, business and individuals. Ordnance Survey utilises the
National Address Gazetteer Database to create the AddressBase range of
products which are available for use in both the public and commercial
sectors.
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