Issue - meetings

This item will be pre-scrutinised by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at a meeting on 21^st March 2019.  Any recommendations arising from the meeting will be reported to the Executive Committee for consideration alongside the report for this item.

The Town Centre Advisor explained that the report followed a previous decision made by Members in January 2019 to permit officers to undertake soft market testing in respect of the redevelopment of Matchborough and Winyates district centres.  The Council had approach five organisations from a range of backgrounds about the potential to redevelop the district centres.  Four organisations had responded and had indicated that they would be interested in working with the Council in the future in respect of this matter.

In their feedback the four organisations had commented on the potential for housing and commercial units to be provided in the redevelopment.  The majority had suggested that between 250 and 300 houses could be built, subject to planning permission.  A range of ideas about the centres had been suggested in the feedback, including retention of two district centres, having one smaller district centre and one larger centre and retaining just one district centre. The organisations had all wanted to work not just with the Council but also with the public in respect of the redevelopment.  Members were asked, however, to note that no decisions had yet been taken by the Council about the redevelopment of the district centres.  A further report would be presented for the consideration of the Executive Committee in June 2019 which would provide more information that would enable Members to make decisions that would lead to the Council going out to tender in July 2019.

Following the presentation of the report Members discussed the matter in detail and in so doing noted that there was a need to engage with the community in respect of the redevelopment of the district centres. The Council needed to ensure that an effective communications plan was in place as residents and local businesses would be keen to learn about the project as it progressed.

During consideration of this item Members noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had pre-scrutinised the report at a meeting on 21^st March.  At the end of their discussions the Committee had endorsed the recommendations detailed in the report.  However, a number of questions had been raised by Members about the informal groups that had been established to discuss the redevelopment of the district centres and concerns had been raised that some ward Councillors had not been involved.  A briefing note had subsequently been circulated amongst Members of the Overview and Scrutiny and Executive Committees which provided clarification about the various groups. Members noted from this briefing note that:

·                There had been an informal meeting at Christ Church, Matchborough, where Officers had met with business tenants to discuss the redevelopment.  All ward Members had been invited to attend.

·                There was an officer working group that was reviewing areas such as communications arrangements and legal requirements.

·                There was a stakeholder group involving a range of stakeholders including the Leader of the Council in his capacity as the relevant Portfolio Holder.

·                No minutes were taken at any of these meetings as they were only informal,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 112