Agenda and minutes

To note the names of apologies given and deputy members who are attending the meeting in place of appointed members.

Apologies for the meeting were noted as above.

To receive any disclosure of interests from Members and Officers in matters to be discussed.

Note:  Councillors are reminded of their obligations to declare disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and/or prejudicial interests in accordance with legislation and the Council’s Code of Conduct.      

If you require advice, please contact the appropriate Democratic Services Officer, prior to the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

There were no announcements.

(These minutes were not finalised at the time of publication of this agenda and are to follow).

That the minutes of the meeting be signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 7 February 2023 be approved and adopted.

To receive and note questions asked and statements made from members of the public on matters which fall within the remit of the Committee.

Members of the public and visiting councillors may speak at Scrutiny, provided they have registered to speak three working days in advance. If you wish to attend or to speak, please complete and return this form by 5pm on Tuesday 21 February: https://forms.office.com/r/Y87tufaV6G

No members of the public present wished to address the committee.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that scrutiny committee comment on the proposals within the attached cabinet report, ref CAB3371 which is to be considered by cabinet at its meeting on the 6 March 2023.

NOTE.

This report contains four exempt appendices which have been published to committee members separately to this agenda pack. If members wish to discuss any part of these exempt papers, then the following applies:

(i)                  To pass a resolution that the public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business because it is likely that, if members of the public were present, there would be disclosure to them of ‘exempt information’ as defined by Section 100 (I) and Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 by virtue of paragraph 3 which is information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (which includes the authority holding that information).

Councillor Martin Tod, Leader, and Cabinet Member for Asset Management; introduced the report, ref CAB3371 which set out proposals concerning “Central Winchester Regeneration Appointment of Development Partner and Next Steps”, (available here).

Veryan Lyons, Head of Programme: Central Winchester Regeneration and Jennifer Newsham, (Jones Lang LaSalle) provided the committee with a presentation which included the following points; the journey to date, the process adopted, the evaluation criteria, the scoring process and scores achieved, the quality evaluation undertaken, the final tender submission summary, the recommended development partners approach to; engagement, sustainability and meanwhile uses, the proposed planning strategy, the development agreement, and the next steps.

The committee was supported by council officers and representatives from Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), Browne Jacobson and 31Ten. The committee was recommended to comment on the proposals within the attached cabinet report, ref CAB3371 which was to be considered by the cabinet at its meeting on 6 March 2023.

The committee proceeded to ask questions and debate the report in detail. During the meeting, the committee agreed to move into an exempt session to consider the exempt appendices to the report before returning to the open session to debate the report further.

In summary, the following matters were raised.

1. Had the development agreement previously been reviewed by the scrutiny committee?
2. Had the 13 expressions of interest received been above or below officer expectations?
3. Further information was sought regarding the priority or focus on providing homes for young people, whilst maintaining flexibility for older persons' housing and multi-generational living.
4. Clarification was sought regarding the council’s approach regarding the potential for any income loss and associated mitigations and whether it was possible to map out the details of any loss of revenue in the next six months?
5. Further information was sought on whether there was any difference in the approach being taken between the group of properties referred to in section 2 and those previously purchased properties.
6. Further information was sought regarding the mitigation and management of risk, especially concerning the statement that this project's risk appetite was higher than moderate. 
7. Further information was sought regarding how the recommended development partner's “strong track record” was evidenced and examples of their prior developments and experience.
8. A question was asked regarding paragraph 7.3 and the reference to “opening up culverted waterways to provide riverside walks” and whether mitigations could be considered to help prevent future flooding incidents. Also, the opportunity for the installation of small hydro-generating stations to be installed was suggested.
9. Clarification was sought regarding the expertise of the individuals who had been involved in the bid-scoring process.
10. Clarification was sought regarding the role and makeup of the Central Winchester Regeneration reference group.
11. Further information was sought regarding how the different bidder's offers concerning income versus capital had been assessed and compared.
12. Further information was sought regarding the implementation of meanwhile uses in the first 6 months and who would oversee their implementation. This included the approach to be taken regarding consultation on the implementation of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

That the Scrutiny Committee:

1.       Notes that the Performance Panel met on the 15 February 2023 to scrutinise the attached report, CAB3380 and its associated appendices. The minutes of the panel’s meeting are included as an appendix of the Cabinet report.

2.       Notes that the Chairperson of Performance Panel will provide a verbal update at the Scrutiny Committee.

3.       Raises with the Leader or relevant Cabinet member any issues arising from the information in this report, ref CAB3380, which is being presented to Cabinet on the 6 March 2023 and considers whether there are any items of significance to resolve or to be drawn to the attention of Cabinet.

The Chair referred to the previous meeting of the performance panel where a large number of questions had been submitted from councillors who were not appointed to the panel. This had caused some issues in answering all the questions ahead of the meeting, although it was acknowledged that there remained the opportunity for further questions to be asked on the papers at the scrutiny committee.

The Chair suggested that it was necessary to discuss with officers how to prevent such issues in the future and to take a wider review of the panel’s processes.

Councillor Caroline Horrill, Chairperson of the Performance Panel introduced the report, reference CAB3380 which set out the Quarter 3 Finance & Performance Monitoring report, (available here) and the notes of the performance panel meeting of 15 February 2023.

Councillor Horrill gave an overview of the following matters:

1. The questions that had been pre-submitted by panel members.
2. The outstanding issues as detailed within the notes of the performance panel meeting of the 15 February 2023.
3. That the leader of the council had attended the meeting to discuss the new performance measures and metrics related to the council plan and had agreed to review suggestions made by the panel with officers.

RESOLVED:

The committee:

1.    Noted that the performance panel had met on 15 February 2023 to scrutinise the report, CAB3380, and its associated appendices.

2.    Noted the draft minutes of the panel’s meeting and the verbal update provided by the Chairperson.

3.    Requested that the leader of the council review the points raised by the panel regarding the revised performance measures and respond back to the scrutiny committee following his review with officers (questions 38 to 44 of the notes of the performance panel refer).

4.    That Councillors Horrill, Cutler and Brook meet with Sharon Evans, Strategic Director and Dawn Adey, Strategic Director to review the processes of the performance panel, particularly regarding the pre-submission of questions.