Cabinet Member for Economic Growth
Decision:
It was RESOLVED:
1.1 That the additional information provided with the report, further to its resolutions of 11 March 2021 relating to the Belle Vue site, and that recommendations to Council as follow at 1.3 and 1.4 below be noted.
1.2 That with immediate effect from the approval of the recommendations of this report, delegated authority be given to the Assistant Director for Economy, Business & Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economy and Cabinet Member for Assets and Investments to procure and appoint the contractor to deliver the scheme outlined in 1.3 below following a formal tender process.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL
1.3 That Council approve the addition to the Capital Expenditure Programme of the Council’s spend of up to £1.12m to create a new high quality, secure and accessible park entrance with supporting retaining wall structure and new café/toilet block facilities (to ‘Changing Places’ or equivalent standard) at the Belle Vue Park site in Sudbury.
1.4 That Council authorise forward funding of essential works by borrowing until the capital receipt is received, and to ensure that the overall site delivery programme critical path (including the retirement living development) remains on track.
REASONS FOR DECISION
1. The Council has committed to deliver for the community and visitors to the town a new park entrance, café and toilet facilities at Belle Vue park in Sudbury. Cabinet resolved to divert this capital receipt and with understanding of the timeframes involved.
2. As a condition of sale of adjacent land, the Council is contractually obliged to deliver completed, as a minimum, the new park wall retaining structure within nine months of completion of the sale. Those works are also to have commenced within three months of sale completion.
3. Approval of the Capital Programme works will enable the Council to progress the necessary works and to also seek stakeholder engagement input and additional funding support (including CIL/S106/external contributions).
Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:
1.1 a) DO NOTHING (Not Recommended) – the site for these proposed works continues to be retained and maintained by the Council. Cabinet has resolved to reinvest capital receipt from wider-site sale proceeds into these works. The Council has contractual obligations from the sale of the adjacent site to undertake retaining wall structural works, as a minimum, and within a timeframe to enable the retirement living complex development to come forward. Sale of the adjacent site means the current park entrance will need to be moved.
1.2 (b) SEEK FORMAL APPROVAL TO DELIVER THE FULL WORK-PACKAGE AND ADD THE SCHEME TO THE COUNCILS CAPITAL EXPENDITURE PROGRAMME (Recommended) – to enable the commissioning of a multi-disciplinary professional team to support and deliver the stakeholder and community engagement and detailed design work, surveys and investigations, planning, principal contractor procurement, liaison with the retirement living developer’s professional team (including party wall matters) and construction delivery within the required timeframe.
Any Declarations of Interests Declared: None
Any Dispensations Granted: None
Minutes:
26.1 The Chair, Councillor Ward, informed Members that Appendix A was not confidential, as stated in the report, but that Appendices B and C were.
26.2 The Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Councillor Holt, introduced the report and advised Members that the recommendations were for Council.
26.3 Councillor Holt proposed the recommendations in the report, and this was seconded by Councillor Osborne.
26.4 Councillor Ward referred to the risk in relation to the step-in rights and asked what the consequences would be for the developer if these were not activated.
26.5 The Assistant Director for Economic Growth and Regeneration responded this would be the last resort, but the economic consequence would be to the value of the retaining wall works.
26.6 Following a question from Councillor Maybury, the Monitoring Officer stated that it was for each Member to declare a pecuniary interest, however she did not see anything in the recommendations that would exclude them from the planning committee.
26.7 In response to questions from Members the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth stated that the safety issues for the entrance into the Belle Vue Park would be addressed by Suffolk Highways in the planning application and that the entrance was set off Cornard Road.
26.8 The issues raised by Councillor Ayres regarding the loss of green space, trees and parking provision would be addressed in the planning application for the retirement homes by the developer.
26.9 Councillor Owen asked for a written response to Councillor Lindsay’s question to which the Chair responded they would be made available after the meeting.
26.10 Councillor Jan Osborne observed that residents in Sudbury would see the benefits once the work had been completed.
26.11 Councillor Arthey observed that the site had been an issue for nearly 30 years, and he thanked Councillor Holt and the Economic Growth team for bringing forward a plan and for obtaining funding to proceed.
26.12 Councillor McCraw referred to Councillor’s Holt response to Councillor Lindsay, which stated the reason for why the decision had to be taken. There were necessary steps to follow for the project to be moved forward.
26.13 Councillor Busby expressed his concern for taking this decision when the full schedule of potential cost implications was not before Members. Further concerns included what would happen if the planning permission were not granted.
26.14 Councillor Ward stated that a decision had been made on how to proceed and deliverability was key, which included this decision for the park entrance.
26.15 Councillor Holt added that money had to be spent up front to be able to deliver a fantastic park for the future and that any planning application issues were for the developer to resolve.
26.16 Following the comments from Members, the Assistant Director for Economic Growth and Regeneration briefly outlined the funding for the prework design, and the planning application and she advised Members that land for the entrance was outside the red line area previously approved by Cabinet in March 2021.
26.17 The Chair stated that if the agreement with the developer did not proceed then an alternative solution would have to be found for the disposal of land in question. However, the work on the entrance would still be required and the forward fund would still have to be made to comply with the timescale for the project.
It was RESOLVED:
1.1 That the additional information provided with the report, further to its resolutions of 11 March 2021 relating to the Belle Vue site, and that recommendations to Council as follow at 1.3 and 1.4 below be noted.
1.2 That with immediate effect from the approval of the recommendations of this report, delegated authority be given to the Assistant Director for Economy, Business & Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economy and Cabinet Member for Assets and Investments to procure and appoint the contractor to deliver the scheme outlined in 1.3 below following a formal tender process.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL
1.3 That Council approve the addition to the Capital Expenditure Programme of the Council’s spend of up to £1.12m to create a new high quality, secure and accessible park entrance with supporting retaining wall structure and new café/toilet block facilities (to ‘Changing Places’ or equivalent standard) at the Belle Vue Park site in Sudbury.
1.4 That Council authorise forward funding of essential works by borrowing until the capital receipt is received, and to ensure that the overall site delivery programme critical path (including the retirement living development) remains on track.
REASONS FOR DECISION
1. The Council has committed to deliver for the community and visitors to the town a new park entrance, café, and toilet facilities at Belle Vue park in Sudbury. Cabinet resolved to divert this capital receipt and with understanding of the timeframes involved.
2. As a condition of sale of adjacent land, the Council is contractually obliged to deliver completed, as a minimum, the new park wall retaining structure within nine months of completion of the sale. Those works are also to have commenced within three months of sale completion.
3. Approval of the Capital Programme works will enable the Council to progress the necessary works and to also seek stakeholder engagement input and additional funding support (including CIL/S106/external contributions).
Supporting documents: