Issue - meetings

Station Approach Proposals for Delivery and Further Public Realm Development
(Less exempt Appendices 4a,  4b and 9*) 
(Report CAB3172 refers)

RECOMMENDED: 

1.         Approval to agree and to enter into the LEP grant agreement for a total sum of £5m based on the Heads of Terms (Appendix 6), with final amendments to be delegated to the Strategic Director: Place in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Local Economy.

2.         Approval to incur capital expenditure in stages totalling £5m to be funded from the LEP grant recognising the terms and conditions attached to the grant agreement and that such expenditure will be subject to payback to the LEP should the scheme not progress and achieve the grant objectives.

*NB Due to its size, Appendix 10 of CAB3172 has been circulated separately under a supplementary agenda pack.

Councillor Humby was not present for this item.

Councillor Green left the meeting before consideration of this item. 

Councillor Weir, Cabinet Member for Local Economy, moved that the Recommended Minute be approved and adopted (seconded by Councillor Learney, Cabinet Member for Housing and Asset Management).

Council proceeded to ask questions and debate the matters in the Report and Recommended Minute.

Members were reminded that the only matters that required its decision in Recommended Minutes of Cabinet were with regard to the Local Enterprise Funding.

          AMENDMENT (1) Councillor Lumby (2) Councillor Godfrey

          Addition of the following words (in bold) at the end of Recommendation 16

“Approval to incur capital expenditure in stages totalling £5m to be funded from the LEP grant recognising the terms and conditions attached to the grant agreement.  Such expenditure will be subject to payback to the LEP should the scheme not progress and achieve the grant objectives.  This approval is subject to the Council requiring that any proposed disposal of the site should be structured so far as possible to ensure a high likelihood of the scheme proceeding within the required period to avoid clawback of the LEP monies.”

The Mayor allowed for an adjournment of the meeting between 9.15pm and 9.30pm so that Cabinet could informally consider the Amendment.

Upon the Mayor reconvening the meeting, Councillor Weir (Cabinet Member for Local Economy) advised that she would be pleased to invite Councillor Lumby to join a team currently producing a report to be considered at Cabinet in October setting out the detail of the evaluation process against criteria for the disposal of the site to a purchaser.  Councillor Weir hoped that, on this basis, Councillor Lumby would reconsider his Amendment.  

On the basis of the Cabinet Member’s statement, the proposer and seconder of the amendment (Councillors Lumby and Godfrey respectively) agreed to withdraw their amendment.

As it was the will of five members present at the meeting, a recorded vote was taken on the Motion to approve the Recommended Minute.

Division Lists

The following Members voted in favour of the motion:

Councillors Achwal, Becker, Bell, Bentote, Brook, Clear, Clementson, Cook, Craske, Cunningham, Cutler, Evans, Gemmell, Godfrey, Gordon-Smith, Hiscock, Horrill, Hutchison, Learney, Lumby, Mather, McLean, Miller, Murphy, Pearson, Porter, Power, Read, Ruffell, Scott, Thompson, Tod, Weir, Weston, Williams.

The following Members voted against the motion:

Councillors Gottlieb.

The following Members abstained:

Councillors Bronk, Fern, Ferguson, Laming, Prince, Rutter.

Motion carried.

RESOLVED:

That the Recommended Minute of the Cabinet held 28 August 2019 (as follows)  be approved and adopted:

(1)  Approval to agree and to enter into the LEP grant agreement for a total sum of £5m based on the Heads of Terms (appendix 6 of Report CAB3172), with final amendments to be delegated to the Strategic Director: Place in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Local Economy.

(2)  Approval to incur capital expenditure in stages totalling £5m to be funded from the LEP grant recognising the terms and conditions attached to the grant agreement and that such  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5

To include a presentation from the architects on the proposals for the public realm

That the following be noted:

1.    That the Scrutiny Committee considered the contents of the report and the proposed recommendations to Cabinet on 14 August 2019 and made comments as set out in the draft minutes (Appendix 9)

2.    That the three specific areas for consideration raised by the Scrutiny committee along with associated comments as set out in the report and detailed in Appendix 8

3.    That the amendments made to the outline planning application, including reduced height, reduced parking and additional areas of active frontage to the public route through the site.

4.    That the introduction of an Open Forum to continue stakeholder engagement in the development of this proposal.

5.    That the feedback from the soft market testing as detailed in Appendix 3.

6.    That the RIBA equivalent Stage 3 report (Appendix 10) and cost plan for the Public Realm project.

7.    That this report concludes the review of the Station Approach scheme led by the Cabinet Member: Local Economy.

That the following be approved:

8.    That the allocation of a revenue budget of up to £220,000, as set out in Appendix 1 of the Report be approved, to undertake the selection process to enable the site disposal.

9.    That the progression of the Public Realm project to RIBA equivalent Stage 4 (Technical design) and Stage 5 (Construction Management) be approved and that this work proceeds at a financial risk to the Council (see para 2.8).

10. That a request be progressed for the allocation of up to £500,000 CIL funding to enable development of public realm works to improve connectivity between the Station area and the High Street and Sussex Street.

11. That the Strategic Director: Place be authorised to enter into the necessary agreement with Hampshire County Council (and any other necessary associated parties) to progress public realm design and construction management work.

12. That the Strategic Director: Place be directed to develop a schedule of and process for spend and payments for the LEP grant that assists with the active management of the risk of grant repayment.

That, contingent on the approval of the outline planning consent the following be approved:

13. The disposal of the Carfax site to a selected purchaser by way of a long leasehold, subject to agreed terms and conditions following a competitive selection process.

14. That detailed arrangements for the purchaser selection process for disposal are subject to a further report to Cabinet, having considered the specific comments of The Scrutiny Committee in this regard.

That it be recommended to Council:

15.  Approval to agree and to enter into the LEP Grant Agreement for a total sum of £5M based on the Heads of Terms (Appendix 6), with final amendments to be delegated to the Strategic Director: Place in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Local Economy.

16.  Approval to incur capital expenditure in stages totalling £5M to be funded from the LEP Grant recognising the terms and conditions attached to the grant agreement and that such expenditure will  ...  view the full decision text for item 7

Cabinet noted that Appendix 9 (Minute extract of the Scrutiny Committee held on 14 August 2019) had not been notified for inclusion on the agenda within the statutory deadline.  The Chairperson agreed to accept this item onto the agenda as a matter requiring urgent consideration in order that regard be had to their content in reaching its decision.

Councillor Weir introduced the report and emphasised that the scheme had received support from the Local Enterprise Partnership, Hampshire County Council, the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and the Winchester Business Improvement District.  Councillor Weir noted that the report had been considered by The Scrutiny Committee at the additional meeting held on 14 August 2019.  She thanked Councillor Learney for attending the meeting on her behalf and Members of The Scrutiny Committee for their time in the consideration of the report.

Councillor Learney emphasised that The Scrutiny Committee had supported the principles of the report. However, they had raised a number of comments and concerns.  Councillor Learney stated that primarily, these related to market timing, the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) funding and scrutiny of the desired outcome with baseline financial returns. The minute extract was set out in Appendix 9 to the report (less exempt minute).

In addition, Councillor Learney made reference to a representation received from Councillor Gottlieb which had also been taken into consideration.

In response Councillor Learney detailed some amendments that were proposed to the recommendations of the report for consideration by Cabinet, as follows:

Amended report recommendation 10

Removal of the wording ‘Carfax site’ from this report recommendation.

New additional report recommendation 12 (under ‘Approves’):

12.       That the Strategic Director: Place be directed to develop a schedule of and process for spend and payments for the LEP grant and assists with the active management of the risk of grant repayment.

Amended report recommendation 14 (previously recommendation 13, as set out in the report)

14.       That detailed arrangements for the purchaser selection process for disposal are subject to a further report to Cabinet, having considered the specific comments of the Scrutiny Committee in this regard.

At the invitation of the Leader, Katie Kopec, Director – Strategic Development Consulting at JLL (the Council’s Strategic Development Advisors), addressed Cabinet in respect of market timing opportunities. She emphasised that there was high demand for top quality Grade A office space in the district, with the availability of adequate space currently restricted. Research had been carried out which indicated that there was significant demand from businesses looking to secure greater space in structurally sound new offices where they are currently occupying aging facilities and where lease renewals were becoming due.

Mark Baulch, Dr Paul Spencer, Chris Gillam, Patrick Davies and Kate Macintosh spoke during public participation and Councillors Miller and Godfrey addressed Cabinet, at the invitation of the Leader, as summarised below:

Mark Baulch (Hampshire Chamber of Commerce)

·         Supportive of the Station Approach development for several years;

·         Businesses continue to grow and the new development was much needed for economic growth in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7