Agenda item - The future of BCP FuturePlaces Ltd, investment and development

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.

[PLEASE NOTE: Should the Cabinet wish to discuss the detail of the confidential appendix at Appendix 5, the meeting will be required to move into Confidential (Exempt) Session].

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.

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

Cabinet was advised that the 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.

Cabinet was informed that the paper had been presented and discussed at the Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee the previous week, and that there had been a robust discussion.

Councillors addressed the Cabinet and a question was raised in terms of when the report would be presented for discussion by Full Council. In relation to this Members were advised that recommendations (a-g) were decisions which were delegated to Cabinet to resolve as they fell within the remit of the Cabinet, and that recommendation (h) as set out on the report would require approval by Full Council.

Concerns were raised with regards to the capacity of the team if bringing the service in house, and the need to get the structure and capacity right.

The Chairman of the Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee addressed the Cabinet highlighting the comprehensive discussion on this item which had taken place at the recent meeting of the Committee. In relation to this Cabinet was advised that the following recommendations had been made at the meeting.

The Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommend to Cabinet that:

1) recommendations a) – g) as outlined in the report be approved by Cabinet;Voting: 9:0 (2 abstentions)

2) recommendation h), as outlined in the report for recommendation to Council, be deferred by Cabinet, to enable further work to be undertaken on the subject of the future of the civic offices in Poole and Christchurch. This deferral is recommended to enable all councillors to fully understand the options for the civic offices, particularly around leasehold and freehold options, and to address issues around that part of the former Poole Civic Centre known as ‘the vertical slice’, whilst recognising that there is a need to progress this whole issue as quickly as possible.

Voting: Unanimous

Members not on the Cabinet addressed the meeting in support of the recommendations from the Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

In relation to the recommendation from the Corporate and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee the Cabinet discussed supporting the potential deferral of the decision relating to the disposal of the former civic offices to enable more time to assess the options relating to the Poole site further.

Members raised the possibility of bringing back the disposal of the civic offices in Christchurch to the November Cabinet meeting with the Poole element coming back in early 2024 to enable more interrogation around the options.