This meeting was scheduled to include the possible approval of a new 'agency model' for running the council's leisure centres, a report on the award of a contract for the installation of solar panels on the roofs of council homes, and decisions on a new management contract for the utilities in empty council homes. It also included a contract award report on the letting of Clissold House Cafe. Please note that this is based only on the meeting documents that were made available in advance of the meeting, and does not contain any information about what was actually said at the meeting, or what was decided.

Hackney Leisure Management Contract

Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) has been running Hackney's leisure centres since 2009, and in 2016 the council extended its contract with them until 2029. In exchange for a 'peppercorn rent' on the leisure centres, and in accordance with the terms of a contract called the 'Leisure Management Contract', GLL operates the centres as a business and shares any profits with the council. The council believes that changes to the application of VAT¹ law following a 2023 HMRC² policy document called ‘Brief 3’, and a subsequent court ruling, mean that both the council and GLL would save money if GLL instead acted as the council's agent for collecting income from leisure centres.

If the agency model is approved, GLL would still collect all customer sales income, but will be acting on behalf of the Council. GLL would provide a remittance note to the Council for this income. GLL would then invoice the Council for service costs plus GLL’s margin as per the Contract; adjusted by any income under or over-performance to ensure GLL retains this key element of risk.

The Council has already indicated to GLL that if the Agency Model is implemented then the Council’s expectation is that the full financial benefit of the Agency Model arrangement should accrue to the Council.

The exact savings that would be made under this arrangement were not disclosed. The council officers sought approval to vary the contract to implement the new model from April 2025. They also requested delegated authority to agree the terms of the variation, and to enter into all the necessary legal documentation to implement it.

Hackney Light and Power Residential Solar PV Pilot

Hackney Council’s 2022 manifesto pledged to develop a plan to expand solar panels across all Council estates, with an aim to utilise solar on up to fifty per cent of the residential roof space owned by the Council. This is part of its plan to install 6 megawatts of solar capacity on council homes by 2030, as set out in the council's 2023 Climate Action Plan.

In June 2022, the council’s in-house energy services company Hackney Light and Power received £80,000 from the Greater London Authority’s Local Energy Accelerator programme to investigate the possibility of creating a pilot project that would install 1 megawatt of solar panels on the roofs of council homes. This report contains the results of that investigation. The report argues that existing solar panel schemes, where the energy produced is used to power the communal areas of a block of flats, are not financially viable, because only a small proportion of the energy they produce can be used. They instead recommend that the council follow the example of Gateshead, Brighton and Nottingham City Councils and use a 'microgrid'³ to sell the energy directly to residents.

In order to do this, the council officers are recommending that the council enters into two contracts with Emergent Energy, an energy consultancy firm based in Hackney:

• A 24 month contract, worth £1.96m, for Emergent Energy to manage the installation of the solar panels and microgrids.
• A 7 year contract, with an optional 3 year extension, for Emergent Energy to manage the microgrid infrastructure and sell the electricity it produces to residents. They estimate that over the course of the 7 years Emergent Energy could make £2.639m from this contract, or £3.987m if the optional 3 year extension is used.

The council officers believe that this approach would be beneficial because the residents will enjoy cost savings from using solar PV from which they would otherwise be excluded, and that the money made from selling the electricity would enable the council to recoup its investment. Because Emergent Energy is the only company known to be capable of delivering this kind of scheme, the officers recommended that the contracts are awarded to Emergent Energy without going through a competitive tender process. They estimate that the initial cost of installing the scheme would be approximately £2m. Of this, £500,000 is to come from the council’s Section 106 Carbon Offset Fund, with the remainder coming from prudential borrowing. Once the scheme is operational, the council will receive regular payments from Emergent Energy, which they project will eventually cover both the initial cost of the scheme and the ongoing cost of maintaining it.

In order to be able to go ahead with the scheme, the officers asked to be given delegated authority to agree the final list of estates that will be included in the pilot scheme, and to enter into all the necessary contracts to implement it. The proposed list of sites for the pilot scheme is:

• Frampton Park Estate
• Whiston Estate
• Wren's Park Estate

Voids Utility Management Provision

When a council tenant moves out of their home, there is often a delay in getting the property ready to let to a new tenant. Part of this process involves managing the handover of utility meters from the old tenant to the new tenant. The council believe that this process is taking longer than necessary, and would like to appoint an external contractor to manage it. They say that doing so would free up council staff to focus on other tasks, with the aim that void properties could be returned to the market a week earlier, which they believe could bring in an additional £139.73 per property (£70k per annum).

Because the contractor would be able to make money from selling energy to new tenants, the council intend to award the contract as a 'concession contract', where the council do not pay the contractor anything, but the contractor is free to make money from providing services to the council's tenants. In this case the council hope that the contractor will both make enough money from selling energy to the tenants to make the service worth providing, and pass on some of this financial benefit to the council by supporting residents who are struggling to afford their energy bills.

They are particularly concerned about the rising cost of 'standing charges' on prepayment meters, where residents are charged a fixed daily amount regardless of how much energy they use. They therefore want the new contractor to:

• Provide emergency credit to meters to enable residents to use their gas boilers when they cannot afford to top them up
• Provide support to residents signposting to relevant support services including the Financial Inclusion team at Hackney Council
• Reconsider their approach to standing charges, and if possible adjust the way they levy standing charges on residents’ utility supplies

The council believe that there are a few providers that offer Void Utility Management services, but that it is unclear whether any of them will be able to meet their requirements. They are therefore requesting approval to start a formal tender process to identify a suitable contractor.

Clissold House Cafe Procurement

Clissold House is a Grade II* listed building in the middle of Clissold Park that is rented out for community bookings, weddings, meetings and parties. The cafe in Clissold House was previously run by Deep Beat Entertainment, who went into administration in the spring of 2024. A new tenant for the cafe is now being sought, and the council officers are recommending that a 5-year lease on the cafe, with a 2-year optional extension, be awarded to a business called ‘Operator A’. In making this recommendation, they considered 12 bids for the lease.

The council officers believe that Operator A will be a good tenant for the cafe because:

• They have substantial experience running cafes, already operating 6 other sites.
• They have pledged to use local suppliers, hire local staff, and pay all of their staff the London Living Wage.
• They plan to turn the cafe into a community hub for residents, allowing local groups to use the space and creating a welcoming space for all.
• They embody a management style that is collaborative and inclusive and their team is representative of London, employing high numbers of people under 40, and with key protected characteristics (sexuality, gender diversity, race, religious backgrounds).
• They will offer simpler, affordable high-quality items alongside those with more expensive ingredients to make a menu that has an affordable entry point and discounted offers including seniors coffee mornings, free drinks for park volunteers, discounts for Jobseekers and NHS staff, as well as a loyalty scheme.

They estimate that Operator A will pay the council around £60,000 a year in rent, and that Operator A could make around £700,000 per year from running the cafe. The officers say that the cafe will need some refurbishment before the new tenant can occupy it, and that this work will be funded from existing council budgets.

They do not go into detail about the content of Operator A's bid, but they highlight the sustainability credentials of the cafe, saying that Operator A:

• Will not use any disposable plastics
• Use reusable containers for coffee beans and bread deliveries
• Recycle everything, including coffee grounds and compostable packaging
• Use local suppliers and seasonal ingredients, which keeps their food miles extremely low.
• Provide free water refills, reusable cups, and other waste avoidance measures.