Agenda item

Report No: CAB/JT/19/018

Portfolio Holders: FHDC Cllrs Stephen Edwards and Lance Stanbury

Lead Officer: Jill Korwin

RECOMMENDED TO FHDC COUNCIL: (20 March 2019)

That:

(1)     the project objectives to continue to work towards bringing a cinema and restaurant development to the heart of Newmarket, be endorsed;

(2)     the Outline Business Case for the development of a 3 or 4 screen cinema, as contained in Exempt Appendix A to Report No: CAB/JT/19/018, be approved;

(3)     a budget of up to £190,000 be approved, funded by Strategic Priorities and MTFS reserve, to deliver the further design and  study work as set out in paragraph 6.1 and Table 11 of the Outline Business Case; and

(4)     an additional £20,000 be approved, funded by Strategic Priorities and MTFS reserve, to undertake a condition and options review of the Guineas multi-storey car park.

The Joint Committee considered this report, which sought approval for the Outline Business Case (OBC) for a new Cinema and Restaurant development in Newmarket, and associated funding.

The production of the Outline Business Case (OBC), which was attached as Exempt Appendix A to the report, was a further gateway in the journey to develop a viable cinema scheme for Newmarket. It summarised work already completed including the study undertaken as a result of the FHDC Cabinet paper and funding approval given in June 2017, and set out the case to invest in detailed design and studies necessary to enable a planning application to be submitted for a cinema in Newmarket. At this stage of the project, the intention was to give councillors the confidence to take the next step of working up a final business case and designs that could be submitted to planning. This OBC was seeking to demonstrate that the next stage of the project was a good investment of taxpayers’ money.  The Joint Committee was not being asked to approve details or funding models for the scheme that could actually be delivered, only the budget for the work to prepare for them.

Councillor Lance Stanbury, FHDC’s Portfolio Holder for Planning and Growth, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Joint Committee, including providing background to the proposed scheme; the reasons for considering the case for providing a cinema in Newmarket; work to date and the process undertaken to select an appropriate preferred site (which had concluded that a site on Fred Archer Way adjacent to the Guineas multi-storey car park was the premium development site); and the positive discussions held with a number of cinema providers that had been optimistic about operating in Newmarket.  Further details regarding these issues were provided in the report.

Subject to approval of the recommendations contained in Report No: CAB/JT/19/018, Councillor Stanbury explained that further studies would need to be undertaken to move towards the preparation of a full business case, as outlined in paragraph 6.1 of the report.

The estimated cost of this work would be £190,000 for a three or four screen cinema.  In addition, as a cinema and restaurant development would have a clear impact on the Guineas multi-storey car park given the expected loss of surface car parking spaces and access arrangements for the multi-storey car park itself, there was an opportunity to undertake a full evaluation of that car park and investigate its structural condition and look at opportunities for reconfiguration or extension to improve flow and increase capacity. It was suggested that this study would be undertaken in conjunction with the cinema evaluation as should works be necessary they needed to be planned to link with the cinema development. Such a study would cost no more than £20,000. 

Section 6.4 provided further details on the proposed next steps, including measures to improve the financial case, which would include exploring external funding opportunities. 

A detailed discussion was held and the Joint Committee expressed its support and keenness to proceed with this project. Should the scheme come to fruition, Members considered that not only would it provide an exciting additional leisure offer for residents and visitors of Newmarket, much wider benefits would be achieved, many of which were detailed in paragraph 4.5 of the report.  Such a scheme was primarily about place-shaping and providing valuable investment in Newmarket, acting as a wider catalyst for growth and boosting the evening economy.

The Joint Committee also welcomed the proposed condition and options review of the Guineas multi-storey car park as this was considered to be an integral part of the scheme. Some caution was also expressed that approval of the OBC and the budget required to undertake necessary feasibility studies was not a guarantee that the proposed development would come to fruition.  Further consideration of the cost and highway implications, for example, was required, which would come forward as part of the full business case, as appropriate.

RECOMMENDED TO FHDC COUNCIL: (20 March 2019)

That:

(1)     the project objectives to continue to work towards bringing a cinema and restaurant development to the heart of Newmarket, be endorsed;

(2)     the Outline Business Case for the development of a 3 or 4 screen cinema, as contained in Exempt Appendix A to Report No: CAB/JT/19/018, be approved;

(3)     a budget of up to £190,000 be approved, funded by Strategic Priorities and MTFS reserve, to deliver the further design and  study work as set out in paragraph 6.1 and Table 11 of the Outline Business Case; and

(4)     an additional £20,000 be approved, funded by Strategic Priorities and MTFS reserve, to undertake a condition and options review of the Guineas multi-storey car park.