Meeting documents

Council
Thursday, 22nd November, 2012 7.30 pm

  Printer Friendly
 Date: Monday, 15th October, 2012 Time: 7.30pm Place: Council Chamber, Council Offices, Gernon Road, Letchworth Garden City
 PRESENT: Councillor Joan Kirby (Chairman), Councillor Jane Gray (Vice-Chairman), Councillor Mrs A.G. Ashley, Councillor Alan Bardett, Councillor Clare Billing, Councillor David Billing, Councillor John Bishop, Councillor John Booth, Councillor Tom Brindley, Councillor Dave Chambers, Councillor Paul Clark, Councillor Tricia Cowley, Councillor Bill Davidson, Councillor Jean Green, Councillor Gary Grindal, Councillor John Harris, Councillor Fiona Hill, Councillor T.W. Hone, Councillor A.F. Hunter, Councillor R.E. Inwood, Councillor Sal Jarvis, Councillor David Kearns, Councillor Lorna Kercher, Councillor David Leal - Bennett, Councillor David Levett, Councillor Bernard Lovewell, Councillor Ian Mantle, Councillor Alan Millard, Councillor Gerald Morris, Councillor M.R.M. Muir, Councillor Mrs L.A. Needham, Councillor Lawrence Oliver, Councillor Mike Rice, Councillor Deborah Segalini, Councillor R.L. Shakespeare - Smith, Councillor Mrs C.P.A. Strong, Councillor R.A.C. Thake and Councillor M.E. Weeks.
 IN ATTENDANCE: Chief Executive, Strategic Director of Customer Services, Strategic Director of Finance, Policy and Governance, Head of Revenues, Benefits & IT, Acting Corporate Legal Manager (and Monitoring Officer), Acting Senior Lawyer, Contracts Solicitor, Property Solicitor, Democratic Services Manager and Committee and Member Services Manager.
 ALSO PRESENT: 11 members of the public.
Item Description/Resolution Status Action
PART I
46 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors D.J. Barnard, Judi Billing, P.C.W. Burt, Lisa Courts, Cathryn Henry, S.K. Jarvis, I.J. Knighton, Deepak Sangha and A.D. Young.
 Noted   
47 MINUTES
Data/Council/201211221930/Agenda/Minutes

It was moved by Councillor Mrs L.A. Needham, seconded by Councillor T.W. Hone, and

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 6 September 2012 be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
 Agreed   
48 NOTIFICATION OF OTHER BUSINESS

No additional business was presented for consideration by the Council.
 Noted   
49 CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

(1) Civic Service / Supper Dance

The Chairman thanked those Members who had supported her by attending the Civic Service on 30 September 2012 and the Supper Dance on 6 October 2012. She thanked all who attended for their charitable donations, which had been gratefully received by the Gigs and Wigs for Kids charity.

(2) Councillor David Miller and Former Councillor Richard Lee

The Chairman announced with sadness that Councillor David Miller had passed away recently. She had also been informed that former Councillor Richard Lee (who represented Cadwell Ward from 1988 to 1996) had also passed away recently.

The Chairman invited all present to stand and observe a minute's silence in memory of Councillor Miller and former Councillor Lee.

(3) Declarations of Interest

The Chairman reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.
 Noted   
50 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Council was addressed Mr John Keene (Hitchin Forum) in respect of the North Hertfordshire Museum and Community Facility.

Mr Keene stated that, as the project had now reached the "end of the beginning", the Hitchin Forum would like to take the opportunity to thank councillors for their support, and the Strategic Director of Customer Services and the other NHDC officers involved, particularly the legal team, for the doubtless huge amount of work involved.

Mr Keene also paid tribute to Keith Hoskins and the Hitchin Initiative, the Hitchin Town Hall Limited team, and the legal support provided by Foreman Laws, all of whose heroic efforts had made this joint enterprise possible.

Mr Keene commented that there was, of course, much more still to be done, but that the resulting facility would surely be a great credit to North Hertfordshire.

The Chairman thanked Mr Keene for his presentation.
 Noted   
51 NORTH HERTFORDSHIRE MUSEUM AND COMMUNITY FACILITY
Report
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Appendix 5
Appendix 6

[Prior to the consideration of this item, the following interests were declared:

(1) Councillors Bernard Lovewell and Mrs C.P.A. Strong declared that they were Members of the Cabinet Sub-Committee (Hitchin Gymnasium and Workmans Hall Trust). Accordingly, they both withdrew from the Chamber for the remainder of the meeting.

(2) Councillor David Leal-Bennett declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, in view of his role as a Director of Hitchin Town Hall Limited. He withdrew from the Chamber for the remainder of the meeting.]

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs (Councillor Tricia Cowley) presented the report of the Strategic Director of Customer Services in respect of the North Hertfordshire Museum and Community Facility. The following appendices were submitted with the report:

Appendix 1 - List of previous decisions relating to this project;
Appendix 2 - Plans;
Appendix 3 - Development Agreement;
Appendix 4 - Lease;
Appendix 5 - Community Use and Management Agreement;
Appendix 6 - Management Agreement between the Council and the Trust.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs began by re-iterating that this was an innovative project for the Council and Hitchin Town Hall Limited (HTHL) to undertake and had not always been a smooth process. However, she sincerely hoped that this was the beginning of a new and exciting project, not only for Hitchin in the form of a revitalised Town Hall, but of a new Museum for the whole of North Hertfordshire.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs stated that a lot of hard work and long arduous hours had been devoted to the project both by NHDC Officers, who had worked tirelessly on the scheme since May 2012, but also all those involved on behalf of HTHL. She thanked them all.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs advised that the report dealt with the outstanding issues identified in the previous report to Council on 10 May 2012. Details of the Development Agreement, Lease and associated Management and Community Use Agreement, amended and appended to the report, were now presented for approval.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs explained that, since the Council's decision on 11 November 2010 to progress the project, there had been several Members' Information Service notes updating Members on progress, and the Part 1 and Part 2 resolutions of Council made at its 10 May 2012 meeting were set out in Paragraph 3.2 of the report. A further point of note was that Future Builders England Limited was now known as the Adventure Capital Fund (ACF), and therefore that all future references to the fundholders would be as ACF.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs stated that progress which had been made since the 10 May 2012 Council meeting was set out in Section 4 of the report. In early September 2012, ACF advised HTHL that the continued failure to draw down the grant/loan was potentially depriving other projects of funding, and therefore that they required HTHL and, by implication, the Council to conclude the Development Agreement by 15 October 2012 and that the construction contract must be awarded by 31 March 2013. This had resulted in an anticipated date for project completion in November 2014.

The Council noted that, in order to achieve the award of construction contract deadline, the Chief Executive had authorised the engagement of a Supervising Architect, on a day works basis, in accordance with the rates submitted.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs advised that the other requirements of ACF were dealt with at Paragraph 4.6 of the report, with further detail at Paragraph 5.6, and also that Paragraph 4.7 dealt with the requirement from ACF that the Council entered into a Deed of Agreement with them, supplementary to the Development Agreement, which was also included in the agenda papers.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs explained that HTHL had reviewed the Development Agreement and had asked f or a number of changes, the most significant being:

- A new Clause 5.1(f) which confirmed that the Council would use its reasonable commercial endeavours to incorporate HTHL's development requirements; in essence, to ensure that HTHL were delivered a facility which could deliver their business plan and ensured the future vitality and viability of the project;

- HTHL had requested further financial support to bridge the gap between their business plan being put into operation and the new expected date of completion, calculated to be 7 weeks. This would be in the form of a loan to them to cover loan interest, holiday period interest and capital loan repayments due to ACF for that period; and

- The potential to include 15 Brand Street in the scheme, which had required additional working in Recital D and a new clause inserted at Paragraph 4.7 to reflect the commitment of the parties to this potential.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs referred to Paragraph 4.9 of the report, which dealt with the concerns of the owner of 14 Brand Street and the necessity to enter into a Party Wall Agreement to ensure that works connected to 14 Brand Street were completed.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs drew attention to Paragraph 4.10 of the report, which outlined a request from HTHL asking the Council to consider the grant of a loan to cover legal expenses for which they did not currently have the resources - their plan being to repay these when the fundraising activities commenced.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs commented that two other significant matters were that HTHL had recently gained charitable status, and that subject to a suitably qualified, experienced and capable Manager being appointed, she and the Strategic Director of Customer Services were assured that HTHL could deliver the sustainability of the Town Hall.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs stated that Section 5 of the report dealt in detail with the Legal Agreements, which were attached in full as appendices. The bullet points in Paragraph 5.6 of the report were important to note, as they set out the changes since the Council meeting on 10 May 2012, and placed more risks on NHDC, as illustrated in the table in Paragraph 7.7 of the report. The Lease, Community Use and Management Agreement and the Management Agreement between the Council and the Hitchin Gymnasium and Workmans Hall Trust remained unchanged.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Rural Affairs concluded that the financial risks for the project were complex. It was noted that a low risk was unlikely; a medium risk was possible; and a high risk was likely. Therefore, a figure of £444,000 would be considered as part of the General Fund minimum balance recommendation in the Council's 2013/14 Budget.

It was moved by Councillor Tricia Cowley, and seconded by Councillor Mrs L.A. Needham, that the recommendations contained in the report be approved.

Following debate, and upon being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED:

(1) That a loan to Hitchin Town Hall Limited be agreed on the terms set out in Paragraph 4.10 of the report;

(2) That the changes to the Development Agreement and associated documents set out in Paragraphs 4.7, 4.8, 4.9 and 5.6 of the report and other minor changes incorporated into the Development Agreement, Lease, Community Use and Management Agreement and Management Agreement between the Council and the Trust, be agreed; and

(3) That Officers be authorised to enter into the necessary legal agreements.

REASON FOR DECISION: To reflect the conclusions drawn from the analysis of the negotiated position with Hitchin Town Hall and their funders following Council's decision on 10 November 2010 to take the scheme forward.
 Agreed   
Published on Monday, 5th November, 2012
8.03pm