Issue - meetings

Report No:   CAB/SE/15/023

Cabinet Member: John Griffiths      Lead Officer: Steven Wood

RESOLVED:

That:

(1)     the progress of the Public Service Village Phase II (PSVII) Bury St Edmunds project, be noted;

(2)    the Head of Planning and Growth, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, be given delegated authority to negotiate Heads of Terms for a joint venture with the owners of the NHS distribution unit, and partnership agreements with potential occupiers of PSVII, as detailed in Section 1.1.7 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/023, so that these can be presented to a future meeting of Council; and

(3)     the exemption to the Contract Procedure Rules, as detailed in Sections 1.2.3 to 1.2.5 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/023, be noted.

The Cabinet considered Report No: CAB/SE/15/023 (previously circulated) which provided an update on the current situation regarding the Public Service Village: Phase II project.

Prior to this meeting, consideration had been given to deferring part of this item until a future Cabinet and Council meeting.  Whilst interest in the project was encouraging and potential partners wished to progress their enquiries more quickly than initially anticipated, the Cabinet wished to seek further information on a number of matters before recommending approval of Recommendation (2) contained in the report. 

Councillor Griffiths, Leader of the Council, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Cabinet, including that it had been established that the decision to defer approval of Recommendation (2), which sought an additional £200,000 for underwriting the appointment of appropriate expertise, would not jeopardise progression of the project and it had been acknowledged that this amount was not required to be committed at this stage.

As decisions on the other three recommendations could be taken by Cabinet, no Cabinet referral to Council was therefore presently required and all Members had previously been informed of the deferral accordingly.

The Cabinet then accepted a proposed amendment to Recommendation (3) to indicate that the outcome of the negotiations would come back for a decision of Council. ‘….so that these can be presented to a future meeting of Council’ would be inserted following ‘……as detailed in Section 1.1.7 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/023’.

RESOLVED:

That:

(1)     the progress of the Public Service Village Phase II (PSVII) Bury St Edmunds project, be noted;

(2)    the Head of Planning and Growth, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, be given delegated authority to negotiate Heads of Terms for a joint venture with the owners of the NHS distribution unit, and partnership agreements with potential occupiers of PSVII, as detailed in Section 1.1.7 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/023, so that these can be presented to a future meeting of Council; and

(3)     the exemption to the Contract Procedure Rules, as detailed in Sections 1.2.3 to 1.2.5 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/023, be noted.