Decision details

The Cabinet will be asked to consider the delivery of phase 1 of the project in the context of the framework for proceeding agreed by Council in 2019 and the Cabinet’s own action plan arising from the external assurance review in January 2020.

(The Cabinet recommended this decision be made by the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Community Hubs)

Resolved:

That a full report for decision on the delivery of the Western Way Development, Bury St Edmunds, be referred directly to Council on 22 June 2021.

The Western Way Development (WWD) in Bury St Edmunds was a major capital project proposed by the Council and its partners to deliver a national exemplar mixed-use hub as part of the One Public Estate Programme.

Work had now fully resumed on the project and would shortly be sufficiently progressed to bring a proposal to Councillors on how Phase One might be taken forward with other public sector partners.  Given the length of time that had passed since the original decisions had been made, it was considered appropriate, by the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Community Hubs to re-confirm its intent to continue with the project before any procurement started.  Depending on the outcome of the current work on the business case, a new Council decision may be needed.

Work on updating the business case with partners would not be finished before early June 2021.  Therefore, to avoid any further delay to the project, the Leader of the Council was satisfied that this matter would not require any Cabinet approval prior to being referred back to Council.

The Portfolio Holder also provided a short presentation at the ‘non-decision making’ virtual Cabinet meeting on 25 May 2021 on how the project was progressing.  The information provided to the Cabinet would also be included within the Council report on 22 June 2021.  A full briefing to support the published Council report would also be offered to all Councillors in June 2021.

In the context of what was being noted in this report, the only alternative options would be to delay consideration of the update to the business case until later scheduled meetings of Cabinet and/or Council or hold special meetings.

In the case of the former, this could risk delay to the project and/or additional costs.  In the case of the latter, this was felt to be unnecessary by the Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Community Hubs, because they were content that all Councillors receiving and considering the report at the same scheduled meeting in June 2021 was the most inclusive and efficient way to progress this particular matter.  Councillors were also being encouraged to raise any issues or questions before the meeting.