Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27th March 2014 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes be approved as a correct record.

Please note the information on validation of Car Parking figures will follow

The Cabinet considered a report on the proposals for the development on the Council owned assets at George House and Hanover Street, Bromsgrove. The report had in the main been considered in detail at the meeting of the Cabinet held on 27th March 2014. At that meeting however a decision on the proposals had been deferred in order to enable validation work to be undertaken on the car parking data on which the projected income had been based.

It was reported that since the previous meeting officers had undertaken the validation of the car parking income data. Attached to the report was a letter from the Lead Auditor of the Worcestershire Internal Audit Shared Service confirming that the calculations were based on reasonable information and the assumption based on occupancy was prudent in the current economic climate.

The Section 151 Officer reported that during the Internal Audit review a number of revisions had been made which had resulted in slight increase to the total estimated income. Assumptions made included:

·         An actual hourly rate of 80p rather than an average of £1 per hour;

·         Sunday parking to be assessed at a similar level as Monday to Thursday;

·         Income generated from occupancy between 17.00 and 09.00 to be at standard trip rates;

·         Income generated from occupancy between 09.00 and 17.00 to be at 50% capacity

It was further reported that the estimated net income was now £196k p.a. with the revised valuation of the retained car parking area rising to £1.45m. Details were contained in the report from the District Valuation Service attached to the report.

Members noted the updated position and it was

RESOLVED:

(a)       that the grant to Opus of a 250 year lease, for the sum of £700k, of the land at Hanover Street, marked in red for identification purposes on the plan at Appendix 1 to the report , on the basis of the revised proposals for a food retailer, cinema and restaurant units be approved;

(b)       that the proposed car parking arrangements be approved as follows:

            (i)         that the Council retains the area of the car park marked in blue 

For identification purposes on the plan at Appendix 2 to the report and operate it as a shoppers’ car park retaining the income; and

(ii)        that the Council enters into a Car Park Management Agreement with Opus for the provision of up to 135 car parking spaces for an initial term of 25 years.

(c)        that delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director of Finance and Resources in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Business Transformation  and Regeneration to agree the final terms for the disposal of the land to the developer; and

(d)       that delegated authority be granted to the Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services to enter into the necessary legal documents for the purposes of implementing (a) and (b) above.