Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Andrew Fry and Rita Rogers and it was confirmed that Councillor Paul Wren was attending as Councillor Rogers’s substitute.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and / or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests, and any Party Whip.

There were no declarations of interest nor of any party whip.

To invite members of the public who have registered in advance of the meeting to speak to the Committee.

There were no registered public speakers on this occasion.

The minutes of the meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee from 25^th July 2024 will be considered at this meeting.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on Thursday 25^th July 2024 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chair.

“That, under S.100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following matter(s) on the grounds that it/they involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant paragraphs (to be specified) of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) of the said Act”.

These paragraphs are as follows:

Subject to the “public interest” test, information relating to:

·         Para 3 – financial or business affairs;

                     and may need to be considered as ‘exempt’.

RESOLVED that:

Under S100 A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following matters on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 of the said act, as amended.

Minute Item No. 24 – Award of a Contract to Upgrade the Town Hall and Update on Towns Fund – Pre-Scrutiny

The report will follow in a supplementary pack for the meeting.

The Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer presented a report concerning the awarding of a contract to upgrade the Town Hall and providing an update on the Towns Fund award to Redditch.

The Committee was advised that, following the Executive Committee’s decision to endorse the proposals detailed in the previous report on the subject of the Town Hall Hub, which had been considered in July 2024, Officers had completed a number of actions.  This had included notifying Worcestershire County Council that the library would no longer be moving into the Town Hall Hub.

The floor designs in the Town Hall Hub had been reviewed.  The Council Chamber and civic suite would now remain on the ground floor, rather than moving to the second floor of the building.  Some aspects of the previous designs, including the new entrance and additional stairwell, had been removed from the plans, although the building would still be upgraded.

Seddons, the Council’s contractor, could continue to undertake work on behalf of the Council under a framework agreement.  This would entail a strip out of the building.  The Council had also arranged for Seddons to undertake design work for the authority moving forward, as this was considered to be more cost effective than involving additional architects.  Final designs were expected to be available by mid-October 2024.

A significant portion of the Towns Funding that had been allocated to Redditch had been due to be allocated to the move of the library into the Town Hall.  As this would no longer be happening, alternative potential uses of that funding needed to be considered.  A number of options had been considered and use of a portion of the funds on public realm works had been identified as a potential suitable route forward.  As part of this process, Members were asked to note that up to 20 per cent of the Towns Funding could be allocated to public realm works without the need for further Government approval.

Other options that had been suggested by the former Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) had been:

·             To invest the £4.2 million funding in the Digital Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (DMIC).

·             To invest in a building that would result in similar outputs to those that had been intended when the library had been due to move into the Town Hall Hub.

The Towns Board was in the process of considering the available options.  Members were represented on this Board by Councillor Bill Hartnett.  Consideration was being given to requesting an extension for use of the funding and the MP for Redditch was liaising with DLUHC in respect of this matter.

Once the report had been presented, Members discussed the following points in detail:

·             The value of the loss of revenue for the Council arising from the decision not to move the library into the Town Hall Hub.  Officers clarified that the Council’s present ongoing loss of revenue was valued at £220,000 per annum.

·             The potential design costs (up to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.