Decision details

RESOLVED that Cabinet: -

(a)             agreed the outcome of the FuturePlaces business plan projects’ review, as set out in Table 12.1;

(b)            agreed to Option 1, the closure of FuturePlaces company and the bringing in-house of the development and investment activities of the company;

(c)             agreed the principles, as set out in Appendix 3, to be applied to the closure of FuturePlaces financial accounts in respect to work in progress;

(d)            delegates to the Director of Finance in consultation with the Chief Operations Officer, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Leader the implementation of these decisions and application of these principles (Appendix 3) to enable closure of FuturePlaces accounts and to report the final outcome position back to Cabinet;

(e)             noted the estimated range of between (£2.23m) and £1.24m for the orderly closure of FuturePlaces accounts after the provision already made;

(f)              noted the £636k additional cost for the in-house delivery of development for the period 1 November 2023 to 31 March 2024;

(g)            agreed to include in the proposed general fund base revenue budget of the council, from 2024/25 onwards, £1.526m to recognise the additional cost for the in-house delivery of regeneration accompanied with a principle of capitalising such costs where appropriate to do so; and

(h)            supports the recommendation from the Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee and defers the decision on the disposal of the former civic offices in Poole and Christchurch to enable further work to be undertaken, with a report being brought back to the next Cabinet meeting on the disposal of the Christchurch civic offices and a report being brought back in early 2024 to deal with the disposal of the Poole civic offices.

Voting: Nem. Con. (1 abstention)

Portfolio Holder: Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Dynamic Places

Reason

To achieve the corporate vision of delivery of dynamic places. To respond to the DHLUC governance review report, in particular the recommendation to set out a clear portfolio of projects with timescales for delivery for FuturePlaces, and to meet the ambitions of the new administration. To exercise appropriate controls on commitments for expenditure on development and to facilitate the Council taking the leading role on delivery of investment and development projects.