Agenda item

To consider the following report scheduled for Cabinet consideration on:

•   Proposed Regeneration Vehicle Options Appraisal

The O&S Board is asked to scrutinise the reports and make recommendations to Cabinet as appropriate.

Cabinet members invited to attend for this item: Cllr P Broadhead, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Economy and Strategic Planning, Cllr D Mellor, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Finance and Transformation

The Cabinet report for this item is included with the agenda for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

The Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Economy and Strategic Planning introduced report, a copy of which had been circulated to each member of the Board and a copy of which can be found at Appendix ‘B’ to these minutes in the Minutes Book. The Portfolio Holder outlined the key points within the report and responded to questions and comments from the Board including:

·       There was a need for flexibility in the body to ensure it would give the best advice to the Council. Which would require people in a fulltime role rather than inhouse officers pulled in different directions with their time dedicated to other issues.

·       This needed to be a beacon for area and would require someone to lead the team who could inspire investors, Councillors, and other stake holders. The Portfolio Holder commented that within the function being created there is the option for direct delivery or joint ventures, and it was recognised that it was important to ensure the right people were in place.

·       A Councillor commented that the staff should not be seconded from the Council but should move permanently to work with the company.

·       It was suggested that the recommendation within the report could be expanded to include consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

·       In response to a query the Chief Financial Officer confirmed that the £1.75 million outlined in the report was already in the Council’s budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan for the three years of that plan.

·       The Board noted that there was nothing included with the report with regards to the impact on climate change.

·       The Chairman noted that there were many issues which would need to be agreed by Council and governance arrangements needed to be determined. The Portfolio Holder advised that issues could be brought back to the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

·       Whether consideration had been given to one of the Council’s existing vehicles being extended to save on costs and where the URC would sit in relation to the other Council companies. It was noted that this would be 100 percent Council owned company and would serve as an intelligent client for a lot of Council regeneration issues. The URC was not reliant on any external resource and funding would be coming directly from the Council, there was no intention that any property ownership would be moving into the company.

·       In response to an enquiry the Leader of the Council confirmed that the business case would be able to come back to the O&S Board in future.

·       The Portfolio Holder advised that he BDC sites were in the BDC masterplan and only non-BDC sites would be considered to be taken forward. Master planning in the area was important but there was a need to focus on deliverability from the beginning.

·       The Chief Executive advised in response to a question that this was the coming together of a business plan. The recommendations set out where the Council wants to be. In the next two to three weeks all information should be available to allow a decision about the company. However the bigger and more important decisions were about the individual sites to be taken forward.

Chairman summarised the recommendations within the Cabinet report advised that the Board had not raised any concerns with regards to these. The Chairman commented that the O&S Board could expect continued involvement as this progressed.

The meeting adjourned for a comfort break at 3:36 pm and resumed at 3:50 pm.