Wayleaves

Presenter:

Jennie Bayliss, J Bayliss Consulting Ltd

Presentation recording:

The presentation recording for Connected London Workshop Wayleave Agreements.

If you are considering how to engage with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with the intention of agreeing the installation of gigabit fibre broadband across your housing and non-residential portfolio, this case study gives an outline plan for how to pull together a wayleave pack and engage with potential ISPs.

• Take the decision to seek applications for a wayleave - Once the Local Authority (LA) made the decision to progress with agreeing wayleaves for the provision of full fibre broadband, the necessary approvals were sought. Led by the Housing, Regeneration and Planning Department, a paper outlining the benefits of this programme of work was presented to and approved by Cabinet, giving delegated authority to the Director of Housing, Regeneration and Planning for signing of the wayleaves once ready.

• Establish a short-term project group - The LA hired an external consultant to work with a member of the Economy Team. The brief was to complete the wayleave specification and information pack, and to design a wayleave package to give their residents, assets, and infrastructure the best outcomes for the long term.

• Identify interested departments to engage with - Internal programmes of work had already identified areas where the fibre broadband could provide additional benefits, not just related to housing stock, as well as departments who may have an interest in the programme. These departments included: Housing, IT/Digital, Health and Safety, Resident Engagement, and Connected Communities.

• Identify interested ISPs - A number of ISPs had already contacted the LA to explore the opportunity for a wayleave. Additional ISPs were also identified from communication with other LAs who were willing to share their experience with ISPs rolling out fibre broadband in their borough. A list of ISPs with contact details was created.

• Prepare the wayleave and supporting documentation - In order to get the most benefit from the wayleave, it needs to be prepared alongside additional documentation. In this case study, the external consultant was able to prepare a complete pack for inviting ISPs to apply for a wayleave. This included:

1. A letter of invitation highlighting the requirements of the borough, scope, and timescales.
2. The draft wayleave agreement, including Social Value Commitments.
3. Master stock lists – residential and non-residential.
4. A Ways of Working document to clarify requirements, expectations, and constraints.

This LA used the City of London template as the base agreement. Here is a link to the City of London standardised wayleave toolkit. Every LA has a different take on what they want, different constraints, different histories to be mindful of. By liaising with the identified departments, we were able to shape a number of key areas that should be included within the wayleave pack. These included:

• Preferred location of cabling and infrastructure.
• Number of listed buildings and buildings of interest, and the options for including them in the programme.
• Preferred hours of working for the engineers during the installation programme.
• Areas of high priority for connection.

At this point, we also looked at the regulatory compliance areas of fire, asbestos, electricity, building regs. and health and safety, as well as asset protection constraints to make sure the buildings and the wider neighbourhood environment felt minimal impact and that any local policy was referenced.

The Social Value Commitments formed an appendix to the wayleave and were designed to bring tangible, measurable benefits to the programme as a whole. Some of the social values were:

• Employment in the borough – local jobs for local people.
• Apprenticeships and work experience placements.
• London Living Wage for their workforce – 100% of workforce.
• Digital inclusion training programmes.
• Free connections for life – community spaces, electrical cupboards, communal rooms in sheltered schemes.
• Low-cost tariffs.
• Support for local community initiatives.
• Payment for project management to support the programme.

• Send out the wayleave application pack and negotiate - Approximately three months from the start of the project group, the wayleave pack was sent out to all interested ISPs and 3-4 weeks of discussion and negotiation took place. The wayleave was from the template and, as every provider operates differently, it required some element of personalisation for each provider around some of the terms and conditions. The external consultant acted as the point of contact for any ISP questions or discussion. Some requests for amendments to the wayleave were accepted, others were not.

• Review formal responses against the key criteria - Within the invitation pack, we issued the ISPs with a questionnaire which asked questions relating to the key criteria. This formed the basis for our evaluations of whether the ISP will be a good fit for the LA. Our questions included: which social value commitments will you deliver, can you provide evidence of your customer satisfaction rates, can you provide evidence of delivering similar size projects, please elaborate on your fire protection controls and methods, can you provide connectivity to our industrial estates, etc. Overall, we asked 21 questions, as well as requesting copies of their methodologies, product and design overview, and reporting templates.

• Present formal responses to interested departments, forums, and Boards; and obtain approvals and signatures - The outcome of the evaluation was presented and reported through internal process and, once approved, the wayleaves were sent to Legal for the final sign off and for signature. The intention in this case study was to achieve 3-4 signed wayleaves with suitable ISPs who could deliver full fibre connectivity to the complete residential and non-residential stock. Having a choice of providers will maximise choice for residents, and it is more likely that all social value commitments can be fulfilled.

• Next steps?

This specific case study took around nine months, but please note it can vary depending on the approval processes, levels of internal engagement and the resource available to support the work. Once signed, the programme moved into launch and delivery phases. If you would like any further information on this or the programme management of the installation programme, please get in touch with Jennie Bayliss via [email protected] or 07734 955250.

At what point in the process do you recommend boroughs engage with lawyers and are these commercial lawyers?

You will likely engage with your legal team when you seek approval from the relevant Committees. At this point it is worth asking if they have the expertise internally to support the wayleave process. If they don’t, there are several external companies who can do this. It would be a good idea to get these in place as early as possible to prevent any delays later.

Can you give some examples of social value requirements you have seen?

There have been a lot of innovative, borough specific social values created to support corporate objectives. These are the most common ones:

• Employment related social values - include targets for employing from within the borough, having apprenticeships and work placements, and ensuring all staff are paid the London Living Wage.
• Free connections – this can include connectivity to communal spaces, sheltered accommodation, intake rooms, hubs, and other local authority buildings.
• Digital inclusion training programmes.
• Low-cost tariffs for residents who are most in need. 3.

What do you see as the most challenging part of the process? And are there any lessons learnt from others about how to manage the challenge?

Communication is the most challenging piece of this programme, with all stakeholders including staff and residents. Often, staff are not aware of the work taking place and this can result in mixed messages to residents when they contact the Local Authority. And resident engagement is the top priority and the most difficult to do well. Creating a stakeholder engagement plan, good stakeholder mapping, and regular reviews of these by the project manager are essential. When multiple estates and multiple providers are in delivery, communication should be as hands on as possible. With this being a cost neutral programme, most of the resident communication sits with the providers and the wayleave provides for this. But it will be the Local Authority that residents look to for confirmation that the work is approved, and the project manager should lead the engagement internally. Methods used to support the comms from the providers include:

• Direct contact with the TRA (Tenants Residents Association)
• On site pre-meets with resident representatives and onsite meetings during the installation phase
• Posters in communal spaces, and use of electrical notice boards • Open forums and meetings
• Advisory emails once a site is approved to caretakers, neighbourhood managers, housing officers
• Articles on the website and in resident magazines • Notices via social media

What is the best way to measure / track value promised by operators, in terms of social value?

When the reporting dashboard is set up, add these metrics to it. The project manager will make sure the providers are connected into the relevant departments, for example employment, to support them to deliver the social values. This can then be reported on through the dashboard each week/fortnight/month by the providers updating the project manager as required.

Are some boroughs more "desirable" than others? If so, what influences the fibre providers view of desirability of a particular borough e.g. inner or outer London?

Most providers have the intention of connecting every borough in London, regardless of location. There may be some logical preferences in terms of their infrastructure and network builds which may make some areas quicker to connect, for example if the neighbouring borough already has the infrastructure, however the size of portfolio is not relevant.

If boroughs are replacing copper with fibre do, they need a wayleave, if so, is there any difference?

Any provider wanting to install infrastructure on your buildings/property needs a wayleave. They may be able to upgrade their existing infrastructure as part of an existing wayleave or they may need a new wayleave. It is recommended that a copy of any existing wayleave is requested to ensure it is still fit for purpose. The terms of your wayleave will explain what they can and can’t do.

There are four categories of properties. Council owned, Housing Associations, Businesses and private properties. Are there any differences in what the council can do for each of these types?

Within the wayleave, any council owned building can be included, regardless of property type. A residential stock list and a non-residential stock list is attached with the wayleave to make it clear what properties can be cabled. Many providers will have, or will be looking to have, separate wayleaves with other landlords in the borough such as Housing Associations and private landlords. By securing a wayleave with the Local Authority, the provider is then able to commit the investment to bring their infrastructure into the borough, which will ultimately benefit all residents with full fibre broadband being available in many residential streets and business communities. Many boroughs are already experiencing the benefits of this.

How do you accommodate new homes onto the existing wayleave?

A change to the residential stock list can be made at any time by completing a side letter with list of properties. This is helpful if the original stock list was incomplete or new properties are bought by the organisation. The installation process is different for new builds and so new homes, maybe, as a result of new development will be captured under a separate wayleave as part of the overall new build programme. Wayleaves can stipulate that new builds are not included and that the wayleave does not mean that the provider will have an automatic right to install on new buildings. The best option is to connect the new build project team with the providers at an early stage so they can have these discussions.

Multiple providers all laying fibre in same council blocks could be problematic [too many unsightly cables etc], can a wayleave assist in mitigating those issues / any other thoughts?

Wayleaves give you the right to control the methods used by providers in placing their infrastructure on your buildings. There are several different methods and whilst there will need to be additional cabling and boxes installed, even with a wayleave the provider still requires your approval to install. There will be practicalities around this, but it is worth outlining your requirements in the ways of working document that accompanies your wayleave from the beginning so that providers understand your expectations. There are also some solutions on the market that have been developed to ‘house’ multiple providers in one. There are some complexities to these, but they do exist and mean one installation can provide four networks, and at least one borough has already developed their own version of this.

What's the highest number of fibre suppliers in a single property? Does it ever go above four?

The number of providers on a property is down to the number of wayleaves you have signed and whether all the providers intend to cable every property. If you have signed with more than four providers, then it is likely that the multiple dwelling units will have more than four lots of infrastructure on them