Agenda, decisions and minutes

·                The Chairman formally opened the Hearing and the Panel, along with Officers, were introduced.

·                The Chairman advised that the meeting would be audio recorded and made available on the NHDC website.

Audio recording – Session 1 - 0.00

•        The Chairman formally opened the Hearing and the Panel were introduced.

•        The Chairman advised that the meeting would be audio recorded and made available on the NHDC website.

·                The Chairman explained the format of the hearing and the purpose of the Panel.

Audio recording – Session 1 -  40 seconds

·                The Chairman explained the format of the hearing and the purpose of the Panel.

The following witnesses had been invited to attend Day 2 to give evidence based on their written statement:

·                Jackie McDonald (invited by the Chairman to read her statement recurved on 17 July 2019);

·                Hitchin Initiative;

·                David Morgan;

·                Stephen Pike;

·                David-Leal Bennett;

·                Lynda Needham.

John Richardson informed all present that a third day of hearing would take place on 2 August 2019 at 10.00 am in the Council Chamber and that details would be published on the website.

The following witnesses had been invited to attend Day 2 to give evidence based on their written statements:

•        Hitchin Initiative;

•        David Morgan;

•        Stephen Pike;

•        David-Leal Bennett;

•        Lynda Needham.

With the permission of the Chairman, Jackie McDonald was invited by the Chairman to read a statement received in response to the proceedings of Day 1 on 17 July 2019.

Audio Recording – Session 1 – 4 minutes 12 seconds

A.      Statement of Jackie McDonald

The Chairman agreed that Jackie McDonald could read a statement that had been submitted the previous night in response to comments made by an individual that had been invited by the Panel on 17 July 2019. The statement included the following:

•        John Robinson had made comments regarding Ms McDonald and The Future of Hitchin Town Hall & Museum social media group.

•        These comments were not included in Mr Robinson’s written statement.

•        The comments implied that she was involved with alleged threats but were untrue and had no foundation.

•        Ms McDonald stated that she had integrity and was ethical and had never been part of any threats to anyone involved in the project

Audio Recording – Session 1 – 8 minutes 53 seconds

B.      Statement of Morag Norgan (Hitchin Initiative)

Having welcomed Morag Norgan (Hitchin Initiative), the Chairman explained the format and purpose of the Panel.

Morag Norgan gave a verbal presentation on behalf of Hitchin Initiative drawing attention to the following:

•           The statement made by Ms McDonald demonstrated how relations had deteriorated

•           Need to focus on what went wrong with the partnership.

•           NHDC wanted to save money on a failing building but the community wanted to save it.

•           The community wanted to run the building, which ended up being operated by NHDC.

•           Hitchin Initiative had a plan that would derive an income from the building.

•           There had been a good partnership between NHDC & Hitchin Initiative.

•           There were political issues from the start and Officers had to work in a difficult situation.

•           A larger stage was required if Mountford Hall was to be used as a performance space.

•           Page 93 of the Design and Access Statement illustrated that the wall would be a removable stud wall on the stage.

•           HTH Ltd said that when the size of the stage was permanently reduced, it was a breach of the Agreement

•           A partnership is one thing. However, a £5million contract is a contract.

•        The architect had implied that the Development Agreement needed to be changed as the developer could not deliver. If this was true, then the Development Agreement was signed off with the knowledge that the project could not be delivered to the community.

•        This was where the partnership went wrong.

Questions to Morag Norgan were asked by the Panel.

John Richardson asked:

•        What should a partnership look like?

Morag Norgan responded that:

•        A partnership would be NHDC and the community working together to get a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.