Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Dedman, Dove, K Salmon and Walters.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Formal notice had been received appointing Councillor Adams as substitute for Councillor Dove, Councillor Armstrong as substitute for Councillor K Salmon and Councillor Chapmanlaw as substitute for Councillor Walters.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

Having been previously interviewed in a professional capacity by ‘FuturePlaces’ prior to his successful election as a Councillor in May 2023, Councillor Tarling informed the Committee that he would take no part in voting on this issue although confirmed he had no further professional association with ‘FuturePlaces’ either before or after his election.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 12 June 2023.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 June 2023 were confirmed as a correct record.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is 3 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

The Committee was advised of the receipt of one Public Question and one Public Statement.

Public Question from Mr Alexander McKinstry

Question

With regard to Option (h) in tonight's draft report, "disposal of the former civic offices in Poole and Christchurch": I'm assuming the estates team has already weighed up the pros and cons of letting out either of these sites, while the Council retains the freehold ownership. If so, can we have a detailed summary of the potential merits and drawbacks of such a letting? 

In addition, can you confirm if a report already exists on the pros and cons of letting out these sites, as it may be the case that councillors would like to see such a report - along with any supporting documents, such as structural surveys or details of recent maintenance spends - prior to the Cabinet meeting of 27 September, or indeed the full Council meeting of 5 October?

Response

Cabinet and Council will be provided with a copy of the Outline Business Case as produced by BCP FuturePlaces Ltd with a covering statement from the Estates Team to reflect the new recommendation in recognition of the change in circumstances.  Ahead of any disposal the Estates Team will carry out a process of due diligence to ensure that the Council achieves best consideration for these sites. This includes whether a long leasehold should be sold or whether the sites should be broken down into smaller plots.

Public Statement from Gail Mayhew, Managing Director, ‘FuturePlaces’

Statement

I am extremely proud of the work that FuturePlaces has done in raising the aspirations for regeneration and placemaking in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. This work has attracted interest from national public and private investors alike. 

I recognise that the ongoing financial situation of the council requires a different solution. BCP FuturePlaces has played a part in setting a new agenda and proposed structures for placemaking and high-quality development delivery which may be taken forward positively by the Council as it takes over the lead role on key sites such as Holes Bay and the BIC.  

FuturePlaces drive has been to deliver the highest quality development for communities and people in BCP.  It is therefore regrettable that the DLUHC report raised questions around governance which may have been wrongly interpreted as attaching to the FuturePlaces team.

This report makes recommendations following a review of BCP FuturePlaces Ltd’s (FuturePlaces) work programme and business plan to enable BCP Council to deliver financially sustainable investment and development.

The Leader of Council presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Leader of Council introduced Members to the scrutiny of the report to Cabinet. The Leader emphasised that the proposals within the report had arisen from the decision of the Council to progress work on regeneration in a way that was more fitting for the Council within the context of the new Political environment since May 2023 elections and within the context of the rapidly changing economic environment generally. The Leader explained that the new proposed approach intended to focus resources upon areas of work that the Council had identified as its key priorities. It was emphasised, however, that, although the suggestion was to bring the operations and activities of ‘FuturePlaces’ into the Council, the report should not be considered as a commentary upon the quality and value of the work already undertaken and produced by ‘FuturePlaces’. This was also endorsed by Karima Fahmy, the interim Non-Executive Chair of ‘FuturePlaces’, who had been invited and was in attendance at the meeting and the Non-Executive Board members had been closely involved with discussions. The Committee recorded there thanks to the Board and their appreciation of the role undertaken by them.

Members of the Committee raised questions about the implications of the proposals in terms of Human Resources and were assured that staff currently employed directly by ‘FuturePlaces’ had been closely involved in the discussions so far and with Human Resources representatives also involved. It had been made clear that all staff would have the opportunity to transfer into the employment of the Council with their terms and conditions of employment protected in accordance with legislation.

The Committee explored the relative merits of the in-house option compared to the existing ‘FuturePlaces’ model. There was recognition that through bringing the operation in-house the Council would have more direct control of the operations than was currently the case and that, because of that, the desired focus upon delivery of priorities for the local community would be more effectively achieved. There were also expected to be advantages in bringing the Council’s Housing Delivery and Commissioning teams into the same in-house Directorate. Similarly, there was an expectation of lower office accommodation and resources costs arising from using office space which was available within the Council offices rather than incurring costs of sourcing office space externally. In response to questions, it was confirmed that notice to terminate the lease of external office space had already been given.

The Committee considered and questioned estimates of the financial costs of closing ‘FuturePlaces’ and it was hoped that it would be possible to more accurately express the closedown costs. In response, it was explained that ‘FuturePlaces’ were currently carrying out a process of providing a summary of each specific project and that once this was complete, very much more accurate assessments of value was expected to become  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.