Agenda item

Schedule attached as Report No: COU/SE/15/016

(A)    Referrals from Special Cabinet: 24 February 2015

          1.       Suffolk Business Park Land Assembly

                   Cabinet Member: John Griffiths

(B)    Referrals from Cabinet: 24 March 2015

1.       Suffolk Business Park/Eastern Relief Road, Bury St Edmunds: Update

                   Cabinet Member: John Griffiths

                   (Full Cabinet Report to follow as Appendix A.)

2.       Transfer of land to Suffolk County Council for new High School at Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds

                   Cabinet Member: Peter Stevens

                   (Full Cabinet Report to follow as Appendix B.)

          3.       Public Service Village Phase II: Update and next phase

                   Cabinet Member: John Griffiths

(Councillor Buckle left the meeting during the consideration of this item.)

(A) 1. Suffolk Business Park Land Assembly

The recommendations emanating from the Cabinet’s consideration of this report were contained within Report No: COU./SE/15/015, ‘Suffolk Business Park Land Assembly’, which had already been considered as Agenda Item 4 on this special full Council agenda.

(B) 1. – Suffolk Business Park/Easter Relief Road, Bury St Edmunds: Update

The report relating to this item (CAB/SE/15/021) had previously been circulated as a late item as Appendix A to Report: COU/SE/15/016.

Councillor Griffiths, Leader of the Council provided an update on the Eastern Relief Road project. Council had already committed £4.5m of funding for the works of providing electricity to serve the Suffolk Business Park at its meeting on 24 February 2015. At that time it was considered that NALEP would be able to provide a loan for the full amount but it was now clear that they would consider a loan of £1.4m instead. Therefore approval of the full amount of funding was now sought as a worst case scenario. The Council would continue to work with all partners to ensure a satisfactory conclusion.  

Councillor Griffiths confirmed that proper transport plans including cycle paths would be sought from Suffolk County Council (SCC).

On the motion of Councillor Griffiths, seconded by Councillor Farthing and duly carried, it was

RESOLVED:  That

(1) £4,528,871 from within the Council’s capital programme, be allocated by the Section 151 Officer, initially financed from capital receipts, with a view to the project being funded by a combination of £1.4m from Taylor Wimpey, a £1.4m loan from New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (NALEP), and a loan from Suffolk County Council. Following the conclusion of the negotiations with these parties and the outcome of the NALEP application, if there is any shortfall, this would be funded by the Council and recovered through the loan repayments by Taylor Wimpey, as set out in 2.9 and 2.10 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/021; and

(2) all of the above be subject to the satisfaction of the Section 151 and Monitoring Officers, in consultation with the Leader of the Council; and

(3) subject to Recommendations (1) and (2) above, delegated authority be granted to the Head of Planning and Growth, in consultation with the

Leader of the Council, to enter into a loan agreement with Taylor Wimpey to commission the electricity infrastructure works.

(B) 2. – Transfer of land to Suffolk County Council for new High School at Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds

The report relating to this item (CAB/SE/15/022) had previously been circulated as a late item as Appendix B to Report: COU/SE/15/016.

Councillor Stevens introduced this report which underlined the determination of the council to deliver infrastructure to the residents in Moreton Hall and St Edmundsbury in general, and to provide educational and leisure facilities.

A capital contribution would be made to SCC for sports provision within the site and the Council would retain the lease on site to ensure that these leisure facilities remain. The facilities would be flexible rather than aimed at specific sports. There would be a fitness suite, two studios, sports hall, and pitches available for community use in the evenings and at weekends and it was not anticipated that availability for the community would decrease as the school expanded.

On the motion of Councillor Stevens, seconded by Councillor Stamp and duly carried, it was

RESOLVED:  That

(1) 11.38 acres of land be transferred to Suffolk County Council for the construction of a new upper school at Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds, as detailed in Section 1 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/022, for the sum of £193,460

subject to a 125 year lease back of the land forming part of the shared community sports provision and an accompanying dual use agreement, whilst ensuring the commercial advantage of the Council’s ransom strip is

maintained; and

(2) a capital contribution of £1,366,460 be made to Suffolk County Council towards a shared community sports provision within the site made up of the balance of:

(a) £813,000 capital allocation for Bury Town FC relocation;

(b) £360,000 anticipated future s106 contributions for sporting facilities at

(c) the capital receipt of £193,460 detailed in (1) above; and

(3) delegated authority be given to the Head of Operations, in consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Waste and Property, and Leisure, Culture and Heritage, Chief Executive, s151 Officer and Monitoring Officer, to agree the

terms of all legal agreements necessary to give effect to the above.

(B) 3. – Public Service Village Phase II: Update and next phase

Councillor Griffiths, Leader of the Council, informed Members that as three of the four recommendations were decisions that could be taken within the Cabinet’s executive powers, consideration of this referral from Cabinet was no longer required and a new report would comb back to Council at a later date.