Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED to appoint Councillor Glyn Jenkins as Vice-Chair to the Committee for 2016/17.

Councillor Andrew Rule (personal)

Councillor Toby Neal (work)

Councillor Liaqat Ali (leave)

None.

The minutes of the meetings held on 18 March and 18 April 2016 were agreed as a true record and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of Director of Strategic Finance

Tom Straw, Finance Manager Capital, introduced a report of the Director of Strategic Finance, detailing the draft 2015/2016 outturn for Bridge Estate, Harvey Hadden Stadium Trust and Highfields Leisure Park Trust. During discussion, the following points were made:

(a)  Bridge Estate: the main issue to report was an investment expenditure overspend of £60,000 for the repayment of the Lister Gate loan. This was because, unlike in previous years where funding was by directly transferring out of the reserve, for transparency it was now met from the Bridge Estate’s unrestricted funds. However, there was almost £100,000 of additional external income from across the Estate’s asset portfolio;

(b)  Highfields Leisure Park Trust: in response to a Committee member’s query, Eddie Curry, Head of Parks and Open spaces explained that repairs of the pump to the Cascade were not included in the original bid. The Cascade subsequently suffered a catastrophic and unexplained loss of water which needed resolving, hence the additional cost;

(c)  Mr Curry expressed the view that the Highfields Leisure Park was competitive and had further capacity for income generation;

(d)  there were no substantive comments from the Committee on the Harvey Hadden Stadium Trust draft outturns.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Report of Director Strategic Asset and Property Management (Interim)

Bevis Mackie, Senior Estates Surveyor, introduced a report of the Director of Strategic Asset and Property Management, updating the Committee on key property events that have taken place or are proposed for the Bridge Estate since March 2016. Mr Mackie made the following points:

(a)  First Floor Century House: the tenant has vacated the property and list of dilapidations is being drawn up. A prospective tenant has expressed an interest in the property;

(b)  Century House: the lift servicing the upper floors has been in place since 1971 and is at the end of its economic life. The best long-term solution is installing a new lift and workings, and work is underway to identify how this might be funded;

(c)  22-14 Whitemoor Court: work has commenced on-site, with completion expected in October 2016;

(d)  Iremonger Road: Draft contract being drawn up with legal services input;

(e)  the Bridge Estate portfolio will be the subject of a further review to determine current and potential performance, and to consider further disposals.

The following points were made during discussion:

(f)  the leases at Century House should be checked to determine whether there were any recoverable costs. The overhaul of the lift system will help sustain its long term use and will reduce service charges;

(g)  in response to a query from the Chair, Peter Carroll, Head of Portfolio Investment and Development, expressed the view that the primary consideration for Trustees was ensuring regular, market-rate income generation from the asset portfolio, irrespective of whether it came from City Council or other public or private sector sources. There was ongoing contact with Economic Development colleagues about opportunities for small local business start-ups, but there was also increased alternative capacity for this activity in Nottingham, notably at Sneinton Market.

RESOLVED to note the report. 

Eddie Curry, Head of Parks and Open Spaces, introduced a report of the Corporate Director, Commercial and Operations, highlighting a proposal to create an adventure golf facility at Highfields Park. Mr Curry made the following points:

(a)  it is proposed to offer an adventure golf contract to the market for an external operator both to invest in and to operate;

(b)  a similar facility was originally included in the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid, but it became clear that HLF wanted such a facility to be funded by the private sector;

(c)  there are a number of national companies with experience of these operations. The proposed model is that, once built, the facility would be leased to the operator for a 10 year period, who would pay rent. The operator would be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the facility;

(d)  the tendering process is expected to take about 6 months.

The Committee welcomed the proposal, and agreed that it would be a welcome addition to the offer at Highfields. Peter Carroll, Head of Portfolio Investment and Development, suggested that it would be more consistent with the Charities Act to have the award of contract signed off by the Committee, rather than delegating sign-off to the Director of Sport and Culture.

RESOLVED

(1)  to approve the issuing of a tender opportunity to build and operate an adventure golf facility at Highfields Park for approximately 10 years;

(2)  to consider for approval the Director of Sport and Culture’s recommendation for the award of the adventure golf contract following a procurement exercise at a future meeting of the Committee.

To determine arrangements for Annual Inspection

(to take place in week commencing 27 June 2016)

The Committee briefly discussed arrangements for the Bridge Estate Annual Inspection. The Committee agreed that this will take place on Monday 27 June, and that Committee will start with a city-centre including Century House, and Wheeler Gate, followed by an inspection of Trent Bridge. The inspection will conclude with a visit to more outlying properties in the Bridge Estate portfolio.

During discussion, the Chair reiterated the need for there to be planned maintenance programme for Trent Bridge, and Mr Mackie undertook to liaise with Highways colleagues to determine areas of responsibility and planned activity.

RESOLVED to note arrangements for the Annual Inspection.

To consider meeting on the following dates:

29 July 2016

16 September 2016

25 November 2016

27 January 2017

31 March 2017

RESOLVED to meet on the following Fridays at 2pm in Loxley House:

2016:  29 July  16 September  25 November

2017:  27 January    31 March

To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item 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 the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item 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 the public interest in disclosing the information, as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Act.

RESOLVED to note the exempt appendix.