Minutes:
The Head of Planning and Regeneration delivered a presentation in respect of the One Public Estate (OPE) exercise (Appendix 1). During the delivery of this presentation the following matters were highlighted for Members’ consideration:
· The Town Centre Regeneration Prospectus, included within the report, was an ambitious document focused on promoting Redditch town centre.
· There were issues in Redditch in terms of connectivity between old and new parts of the town.
· The ring road around Redditch town centre could be regarded as a barrier to areas surrounding the town centre, in terms of preventing those areas from taking advantage of access to the centre.
· There was quite a lot of land at Church Road that was under-utilised and would benefit from regeneration.
· Improvements could also be made to the area of the town centre in which the Redditch Railway Station was located.
· HOW College had invested in Redditch, having established a Redditch campus.
· In recent years improvements had been made in the town centre, with a gym, restaurants and the cinema all now accessible in the town centre and public realm improvements having recently been undertaken on Alcester Street.
· Some Section 106 funding was available that could be utilised on regeneration works in Church Green.
· The Executive Committee would be considering the report the following evening and would be asked to consider investing a further £50,000 to support the development of proposals contained in the Town Centre Regeneration Prospectus.
· The OPE focused on the potential to make more constructive use of public sector assets.
· The OPE report identified various parcels of public land and public sector assets and suggested alternative ways in which these could be used.
· One of the suggestions made in the OPE was that the area around Church Road should be the location of a multi-agency public sector hub as it was suggested that this would help to increase footfall in the area.
· There was the potential to make efficiency savings as a result of co-locating with other public sector organisations.
· The Executive Committee would be asked to empower Officers to investigate these options further and it was important to note that no decisions had yet been taken on how to proceed with any of the ideas that had been suggested.
Following the delivery of the presentation Members discussed a number of points in further detail:
· The financial support that had been provided by the Government to enable local authorities to regenerate town centres.
· The exciting opportunities that could be made available to help regenerate Redditch town centre in the foreseeable future.
· The organisations involved in the OPE exercise. A number of partner organisations had been involved including Worcestershire County Council, various branches of the NHS, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, West Mercia Policy and Homes England.
· The focus of the Town Centre Regeneration Prospectus and the extent to which any further ideas, not detailed in this document, could be raised. Members were advised that the prospectus focused on concepts and ideas, rather than specifics, and no decisions had yet been taken.
· The need for additional work to be undertaken before final decisions were taken in respect of specific regeneration projects.
· The potential for this report to be discussed at a meeting of the Planning Advisory Panel (PAP). Officers confirmed that this matter had not been considered at a PAP meeting, though OPE contained information relating to a range of matters, not just Planning, and therefore would not necessarily be suitable for discussion at a PAP meeting.
· The implications of suggestions detailed in the prospectus and OPE report for the Local Plan, and the extent to which the ideas corresponded with requirements set out in the plan. Officers explained that changes in use of land and assets in the town centre complied with requirements set out in the Redditch Town Centre Strategy.
· The areas that would be covered in the additional work for which £50,000 would be requested from the Executive Committee. Officers clarified that this would be used on matters such as exploring ideas to develop the railway quarter and on developing a comprehensive master plan on the opportunities available in the town centre.
· The suggestion in the report for a board to be established to progress projects detailed in the OPE documentation.
· The work that had initially been undertaken by the Place Partnership Ltd, which had informed both the prospectus and OPE exercise.
Members noted that the development of the Town Centre Regeneration Prospectus and OPE exercise had been officer-led to date. Some Members raised concerns about the limited involvement of elected Members. Concerns were also expressed about the lack of engagement with the public regarding this matter to date. In this context it was proposed that a Task Group should be established, to investigate all opportunities available to regenerate Redditch town centre.
A proposal was made to recommend to the Executive Committee that Officers should be granted £50,000 to support the development of ideas detailed in the Town Centre Regeneration Prospectus. However concerns were raised that this would mean that work on a Task Group in respect of this matter would have no value as this would represent duplication and provide limited time for the scrutiny group to investigate the matter in detail or to contribute suggestions that could help to enhance regeneration work in the town centre. As such this proposal was defeated.
These discussions led Members to conclude that the timing of a Task Group exercise in respect of this subject would be crucial. As such it was proposed that the Executive Committee should be asked to postpone any further work in respect of the Town Centre Regeneration Prospectus and the OPE exercise until a Task Group exercise had been completed into the subject. This proposal received support from the majority of the Members present.
RECOMMENDED that
further work in respect of the Town Centre Regeneration Prospectus and the One Public Estate Review be postponed to allow time for an Overview and Scrutiny Task and Finish exercise to be undertaken to investigate this matter in more detail.