Councillor Sally Longford – Council Business

Councillor Andrew Rule – Council Business

Ian Curryer – Chief Executive

None.

Last meeting held on 19 February 2019 (for confirmation)

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 February 2019 were confirmed as a true record and were signed by the Chair.

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Education and Skills  

The Board considered the report of the Portfolio Holder for Education and Skills seeking approval in advance of receipt of the funding announcement on the School Capital Maintenance Grant Allocations for 2019/20 to enable project prioritisation and delivery to commence once funding has been allocated.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Children and Adults to accept the School Capital Maintenance Funding grant allocation from the Department for Education (DfE) to Nottingham City Council;

(2)  Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Children and Adults to allocate funding from the School Capital Maintenance funding grant to the projects detailed in the published appendix A

(3)  Note that £0.173 million is set aside as a contingency fund to allow the adjustment of the number of projects prioritised in the published appendix A;

(4)  Approve £0.0025 million to allow the scoping and prioritisation fro a programme of works in 2020/21 to commence in Autumn 2019 with Nottingham City Council Design Services delivering these works;

(5)  Amend the capital Programme to include the allocation of the grant;

(6)  Delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Children and Adults to make adjustments of the number of projects prioritised in the published appendix A and the contingency should it ne necessary;

(7)  Delegate Authority to Corporate director for Children and Adults to allocate contingency funding to projects such as health and safety or condition issues which arise during 2019/20, and to adjust the funding allocation for each project once cost information is finalised, subject to value for money being demonstrated and costs being within the overall budget allocated for this programme of works.

(8)  Appoint NCC Design Services to design, procure and manage the projects

(9)  Approve the procurement of the works through the East Midlands Regional construction framework – an OJEU (the Official Journal of the European Union) compliant framework

(10)Delegate authority to the Head of Legal Services to sign contracts with the preferred contractors following procurement exercises to allow the projects to be delivered

(11)Approve a payment of £0.100m from the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Lifecycle Reserve fund to Rosehill Special School to undertake condition and maintenance works to the building.

Reasons for Decision

The prioritisation of thefundingis based on advice received and an extensive reviewofschools.There are two areas where fundinghasbeen prioritised:

·  Health andSafetyissues likely to impacton children and staff.

·  Conditionissues likelyto impactonthe operation ofthe school.

The balance of thefundingfor the School Condition grant has been identified as partof theprioritisation process and£0.173million will be held as a contingencyamount to deal with urgenthealth and safetyor condition issues thatarise duringthe financial year 2019/20.Delegatingauthorityto the CorporateDirectorforChildren and Adults toapprove theseprojects will enable a swiftresponse tourgentissues as theyarise.

It is assumed thattheDfEwill continue to allocatethe Capital Maintenance grant toLocalAuthorities. Inorderto planaheadfor thedeliveryof future schemes,£0.025million will be allocated tobegin theprioritisation fora programme of works in 2020/21. Further approvals willbe sought to allocate fundingto this programme ofworks in Spring2020 on the assumption that fundingwillbe allocated by the DfE.Thisforward planningwill ensure that the Local Authoritypreparesfor deliveryand sets out a clear programme of future works to maintain schools, subject to fundingbeing received.

Rosehill SpecialSchool was rebuilt under wave 2of theBSF programme. As part of thisprogrammeto meet the requirements of the Departmentfor Education (DfE),both the school and the City Councilhad to committo fundinga lifecycle fundso that the buildingcould be maintainedto the same standard as a newPrivateFinanceInitiative (PFI) schoolfor 25 years. Rosehill Special School has nowbeenoperationalfor eight years and the schoolare undertakingminor works to the buildingthat will improve the educationenvironment, health &safetyand security. The works willbe procured directlybythe school inline withfinancial regulations and with the supportofthe MajorProjects team

Other Options Considered

Consideration was given to combine the ConditionfundingandtheBasic Need funding.Ifcombined thisfundingcouldbeused to address the shortfallin school placesacross the city.

Consideration was also given to amalgamatingthe Condition grantwith broader CityCouncil capitalfunding.

Bothof these optionshavebeen rejected,as they would leave schools at risk of closure through healthand safetyor conditionissues. It would also mean that

schoolbuildings would continueto deteriorate, increasingthe risk of forced closure for emergencyrepairs.

With regard Rosehill School, to‘do nothing’ has beenrejected as, while this would retain the fundingwithin the Lifecycle Reserve; it would not supportthe maintenanceof theschoolas a positive environmentforeducation

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning

The Board considered the report of the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning setting out proposed new partnership agreement between Nottingham City Homes (NCH) and Nottingham City Council (NCC).

It was noted that tenant overall satisfaction is up to 90%, and satisfaction with repairs is up to 88% having been around 50% at the beginning of the existing agreement. This agreement aims to put tenants at the heart, and has gone out to tenants for consultation.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  agree the proposed heads of terms for a new partnership agreement as set out in the published appendix1

(2)  delegate authority to the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning to sign a new agreement based on these terms.

(3)  develop a numberofservice level agreements settingoutexpectationsfor the deliveryof the servicesby the Councilwhich support Nottingham CityHomesin theirwork.

(4)  develop further Service Level Agreements for those tenant-facing services carried out by the Council in and around housing estates, giving tenants greater transparency and understanding of the services for which they pay their rent.

Reasons for Decision

The existingagreement is no longerfitfor purposeand requires updatingto provideofficers with greater clarityabout responsibilitiesandexpectations

NCH nowdelivers a greater range of services via the main companyandits subsidiaries,and this is not reflected inthe current agreement

Rather than wait for the currentagreementto expire in two years’time it is appropriateto bringsome certaintyaboutfuture arrangementsnow.

The Councildelivers anumberofservices toNCH tosupport it inthe delivery of its operations – forexample, ICT,human resources,marketingand communicationsetc.The expectationsaround deliveryoftheseservices shouldbepart ofthis agreement, therefore it is necessaryto ensurethat robust service level agreementsunderpintheNCC-NCH main agreement.

In additionto theservices provided direct toNCH, there are a number of tenant-facingservices suchas groundsmaintenance,tree services, lighting etc on council-owned housingestatesand landheld within thehousing revenue account (HRA). Transferringthe oversight of theseto NCH will promotea more joined-up ‘one Council’ approachto dealingwith issues which are oftenthesubject of complaintsfromtenants tocouncillors.Theseservices alsorequireSLAs togive the necessary clarityofresponsibilityand accountability.

Other Options Considered

Toallowthe current agreementto expire in 2021: this was rejectedas this would lead to uncertainty;furthermorethere would continueto be inplace anagreementwhich doesnot properlyreflect thecurrentsituation.

Report of the Leader of the Council/Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Growth

The Board considered the report of the Leader of the Council/Portfolio Holders for Regeneration and Growth setting out the City Council’s approach to ensuring the momentum of this regeneration is maintained, whilst recognising the limits of the current Capital Programme

The document outlines the expectations of Nottingham City Council of developers ensuring a good standard of regeneration through the city, being both ambitious and forward looking for the city. The Board agreed that the design features set out are complimentary to the current progressing development projects.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Endorse the approach to master planning across the City as set out in the published report;

(2)  Endorse the approach being taken to create a vehicle to deliver regeneration in the City.

Reasons for Decision

Tofacilitate its desire to promotefurther investment and regeneration inthe Cityas part ofitsnextphase of developmentactivitythe Councilwants to deliver thefollowing:

·  Providea strongand coherentmaster planningframework to give clarityto investors anddevelopers on how theCity will continueto evolve, enablinga range of developmentsthat will underpineconomic growthin a qualityurban landscape thatprovides aclear sense of place;and

·  Supplementthis approach by givingconsiderationto usingits own land holdings tobringfurther developmentforward in certainareas, as

shown in Appendix1:Master PlanningAreas.In order to maximise the impact of these assets,the Council is keento attractprivatesector investmentto potentiallybringprojectsforwardon these sites,for example the opportunityfor circa £2billion development over0.5sqmile at NottinghamSouthside (Appendix5).

Other Options Considered

Not providea clear planningframework. This will lead toareasbeing developed ina piecemealmanner, which may be to thedetrimentof thecreation of a qualitysense of place and /or sustainable economic growth and for this reason this option was rejected.

Not bringingCouncil assetsforward. This option was rejected because it will miss an opportunityfor the regenerationof certainsites within thecity.

Disposing ofsiteson an individual basis. Ongoingindividual disposals will stilltake place when the circumstances areright todo this.However havingthis as a soleapproach will mean that some ofthe less viable sites maynot be takenforward as theymaynotbe as attractive tothe market, therebymissinga regeneration opportunity.

Report of the Leader of the Council/Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Growth

The Board considered the report of the Leader of the Council/Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Growth regarding the proposed development at Crocus Place of Grade A Offices supporting the regeneration of the Southern Gateway.

The Board heard that there is a shortage of Grade A office space within the city, and this development will bring forward plans to address that. It is hoped that developers can submit plans in later March starting the planning application process.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Commita fundingenvelopeas identifiedin exemptAppendixB fromwithinthecapital programmeand tofurtherprogresstheproposeddevelopmentofGradeA officespace accommodation inNottingham;

(2)  Continue with theadoptedapproach,forprogressingdesigndevelopment,asoutlinedin theLeaders KeyDecision 3309dated30October2018,including theextensionofadvisors contractsthroughthePerfect CircleframeworkbeyondRIBA Stage4, thusallowingthe project to moveforward with due diligence.

(3)  Delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Development and Growth, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Growth, to enter into contracts for both design development and construction, subject to expenditure being within the Project Financial Model and subject to the Business Case being signed off by the project appraisal group (PAG).

(4)  Delegate authority to the Director for Strategic Assets & Property, in consultation with the Corporate Director for Development and Growth and the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Growth, to negotiate and agree an appropriate pre-let commercial lease(s) for the

proposed office development that meets the requirements within the Project Financial Model and in advance of the Business Case being signed off.

(5)  Ensure that the proposed office development, once completed and occupied in accordance with the approvedbusinesscase,sits withintheProperty Trading AccountPortfoliooftheCounciland be managedundertheDirectorforStrategicAssets &Property,togetherwithall incomeand budgetsfor the propertybeingallocatedto the PropertyTradingAccountPortfolio.

(6)  Ensure that the proposed office development becomes a project within the Strategic Asset Management (SAM) Big Ticket programme and that the SAM Big Ticket income targets are re-profiled accordingly as detailed within the exempt appendices A & B;

Reasons for Decision

Thefeasibilityexerciseforthe SouthsideGradeA Office Development has been developedto amaturestageanda dateof22March2019is beingtargetedforthe submission of aPlanningApplication.

Advancedtalkswithpotential tenants are progressingwelland potentialspacerequirements could see leasesbeing agreedfor substantial,if not allthefloor space within thebuilding.

Furthercontracts, for construction, project managementand designwillneed to be entered into to take the project beyond the currentlyapproved RIBAStage4.

Thecurrent feasibilitystagecostestimateshavebeenincludedwithintheProjectFinancial Modelandthesedetails,togetherwiththeprojectedincometothePropertyTrading Account and SAM BigTicketare set out within the exempt AppendixA and B

Other Options Considered

Donothing– tonotcommitfurtherfundingfortheSouthsideOfficeDevelopment,at this stage,could leadto missedopportunitieswithleasingthebuildingand impacton the Council’s income and so this option was rejected.

Sitedisposal– thiswouldgeneratea capitalreceipt forthelandvaluebut wouldnot maximisethepotentialvaluefromthesite. This option was rejected because theinvestmentvalueand revenueincome generated through completingthe development is significantlygreater.

Thedo nothingand sitedisposaloptionshavebeenrejectedas theCouncilis in negotiation with potential tenantsand the Project Financial Model indicates ahealthyyield.

To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item(s) in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs in the public interest in disclosing the information

RESOLVED to exclude the publicfrom the meeting duringconsideration ofthe remaining item inaccordancewithSection 100A(4) ofthe Local Government Act 1972 on the basisthat, having regard to all thecircumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the publicinterest in disclosing the information as defined in paragraph 3 of part 1, Schedule12Aof theAct.

Report of the Leader of the Council/Portfolio Holders for Regeneration and Growth

The Board considered the exempt appendices for the report of the Leader of the Council/Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Growth.

RESOLVED to approve the recommendations in the report.

Reasons for decisions

As detailed in minute 92

Other options considered

As detailed in minute 92