Agenda item

The Chairman, Councillor Dr Walsh, will present the Minutes from the meeting of Cabinet held on 16 November 2020.  There are a range of recommendations at:

o    Minute 285 [Place St Maur, Bognor Regis] – to view the Officer’s report, please click on this link – Report and Appendix

o    Minute 286 [Sunken Gardens, Bognor Regis] – to view the Officer’s report, please click on this link - Report and Appendix

The Chairman, Councillor Dr Walsh, presented the Minutes from the Cabinet Meeting held on 16 November 2020. 

            Councillor Dr Wash alerted Councillors to two recommendations at Minute 285 [Place St Maur, Bognor Regis], which formally proposed.  The recommendations were then seconded by Councillor Stanley.

            Debate commenced with one Councillor stating that he felt that these recommendations were premature and so should be delayed until Councillors had had the opportunity to view all of the Bognor Regis Presentations planned next month as there could be an opportunity that could remove the need to spend tax payers money.  Councillors were asked to express their views and thoughts on this suggestion.

            There were other Councillors who agreed stating that it made sense to wait and see what ideas the presentations might bring, and that any refurbishment of the Place St Maur should be undertaken in conjunction with all other regeneration projects.  There was real concern that this project could prevent other regenerations projects from taking place.

            Following some further discussion, Councillor Cooper confirmed that he would be happy to second this proposal and defer consideration of the recommendations until after the presentations had been heard.

            It was explained to Councillor Cooper that a formal proposal had not been properly moved and the Chairman sought advice from the Interim Monitoring Officer and the Officer team in terms of the factual background involved with this project. 

            The Director of Services explained that any further delay or deferral would jeopardise the £1.2m worth of funding that the Council had successful bid for from the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership.  Councillors were reminded that this was amazing opportunity for the District and the Town and that the project was well under way as it needed to be in terms of the project timescales that had to be adhered to, in spending the £1.2m funding. Councillors were asked if they really wanted to pass up on the opportunity to commence a superb scheme for all residents and they were reassured that in no way did this project prevent any other schemes from coming forward as this was a self-contained site of regeneration and in no way did it prevent other regeneration schemes from coming forward.

            Various Points of Order and Points of Clarification were then made where the Director of Place was asked to give her reassurance that the continuation of the Place St Maur project would in no way effect other opportunities that could be presented for other sites or which could possibly overlap into this site.  The Director of Services reconfirmed what she had already said in that this project did not prevent regeneration in anyway around the Place St Maur and the boundary up to the Regis Centre, it would be a real attraction for events and tourism.

            Councillor Roberts then confirmed that he wished to propose that consideration of this item be deferred. This was because he wished to hear first the content of the regeneration presentations planned as it was hoped that at least one of these would include covering the entire cost of the project. Councillor Roberts asked the Chief Executive if he could write to the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership to see if the award of funding could be delayed for a short time to allow the presentations to take place and to ensure that the Council would not lose the funding that had been confirmed.

            Councillor Cooper then confirmed that he wished to second this proposal.

            The Chairman then invited debate on this amendment to defer. There were Councillors who felt that this presented a dilemma as the Council had received confirmation that it would receive £1.2m funding for this project, which if delayed, could mean that this funding was at risk of being lost. It was also felt that the forthcoming presentations could also provide funding to regenerate this and other areas.

            There were Councillors who were astonished at the prospect of suggesting any form of delay that could put the funding achieved at risk. Questions were asked as to how Councillors could consider turning down £1.2m of funding that would refurbish in a major way the Place St Maur, a project that had the support of the Bognor Regis Business Improvement District; Butlins and local traders.  The funding would transform the site into a multi-purpose outside venue with a splash point and at a time when hopefully restrictions would be lifted and would encourage people to visit Arun and Bognor Regis. It was vital for the Council to be able to offer visitors a further attraction in the District and residents and visitors had waited long enough for regeneration to start, any delay would mean that the Council could potentially lost that improvement. 

            Councillor Roberts then raised a Point of Order outlining that if it was guaranteed that any deferral would mean that the Council would lose the £1.2 m of funding, then he would be prepared to withdraw his proposal.  Councillor Cooper as seconder to the proposal to defer agreed to this withdrawal.  The amendment put forward by Councillor Roberts was therefore withdrawn.

            The Chairman then returned to the substantive recommendation and

            The Council

                        RESOLVED – That

(1)          Approval be given to a supplementary estimate of £370k for the Place St Maur project, funded from the unallocated Capital Project earmarked reserve; and

(2)          Authority be given for the Council to enter into a funding agreement with Coast to Capital and approve the drawdown and expenditure of external funding, with the terms and conditions of the funding agreement to be reviewed and agreed by Legal Services in consultation with the Monitoring Officer.

The Chairman then alerted Councillors to the next recommendation at Minute 286 [Sunken Gardens, Bognor Regis] which sought the approval of a supplementary estimate of £500k for the Sunken Gardens project funded from the £316k balance of the earmarked reserve identified for unallocated project funding and essential capital maintenance and the balance of £184k. It was explained that this project had received widespread residential support and that it would open up a new route from the seafront to the Town Centre providing a much-needed upgrade to the area.  Having been formally proposed by Councillor Dr Walsh, the recommendation was then seconded by Councillor Stanley.

            A request had been made that the voting on the recommendation be recorded.

            Those voting for the recommendation were Councillors Batley, Bennett, Blanchard-Cooper, Brooks, Buckland, Mrs Catterson, Coster, Dixon, Mrs Erskine, Mrs Gregory, Mrs Hamilton, Mrs Haywood, Huntley, Lury, Miss Needs, Northeast, Oppler, Smith, Stanley, Tilbrook, Ms Thurston, Dr Walsh, Mrs Warr and Mrs Yeates (24).  No Councillors voted against,  Those who abstained from voting were Councillors Bicknell, Bower, Mrs Caffyn, Chapman, Charles, Clayden, Mrs Cooper, Cooper, Mrs Daniells, Dendle, Edwards, Elkins, English, Goodheart, Gunner, Kelly, Mrs Madeley, Oliver-Redgate, Mrs Pendleton, Miss Rhodes, Roberts and Mrs Worne (22).

            The Council therefore

            RESOLVED

That approval be given to a supplementary estimate of £500k for the Sunken Gardens  project funded from the £316k balance of the earmarked reserve identified for unallocated project funding and essential capital maintenance and the balance of £184k which equates to a Band D equivalent Council tax of £2.97.

            Councillor Chapman then asked a question in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.2 in relation to Minute 276 [Question Time] in terms of whether the Leader of the Council had written to HE as minuted, and if so, could Councillors be supplied with a copy of that correspondence and any response received. Councillor Dr Walsh responded stating that he would arrange for the letter he had sent to be circulated but that as far as he was aware, no response had been received.

            Councillor Northeast then asked a question in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.1 in relation to Minute 287 [Kingley Gate Development, Littlehampton – Community Facilities and Section 106 Funding] stating that it was his understanding that in relation to the commuted sum he understood that there was a significant shortfall in funding for this project.  Councillor Northeast ask the Leader of the Council if this was an accurate assumption and if so, were additional funds being sourced? Councillor Dr Walsh responded stating that he was not aware of that suggestion and he invited the Director of Services to respond. She asked Councillor Northeast if he could confirm the source of this information.  Councillor Northeast confirmed that it had come from another Councillor.  That Councillor was asked via Councillor Northeast to contact the Director of Services.

            Councillor Gunner asked a question in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.1 in relation to Minute 284 [Beach Access, Bognor Regis] and requested an update on progress and as some level of concern had been expressed by Councillors and residents that the proposals only related to Bognor Regis and no other parts of the District. Councillor Dr Walsh confirmed that Options 4, 5 and 7 were still being explored. 

            Councillor Huntley then made a personal statement in which he apologised for interrupting the recorded vote that had taken place on Minute 286 [Sunken Gardens, Bognor Regis] and for the comment he had made about a Councillor.

            Councillor Roberts then asked a question in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.1 in relation to Minute 288 [Establishment of a Planning Review Working Party] asking when the Hannaby report would be published as residents wanted to view it. The Chief Executive responded confirming that there were two parts to this report.  The first part involved recommendations that affected Councillors with the second part involving recommendations that affected Officers.  As Chief Executive he was pursuing the Officer recommendations as a separate issue, and it was accepted that the two issues needed to be brought together though there was no timeframe to report on this yet.  The second meeting of the Planning Review Working Party would be taking place in February 2021.

            Councillor Buckland then asked a question in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.1 in relation to Minute 284 [Beach Access, Bognor Regis] which was why the options being explored only related to Bognor Regis when there was both the need and interest for similar reviews to take place for Littlehampton.  He asked Councillor Stanley, as the Cabinet Member, why his approaches made to Officers and the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member had not been pursued and why Littlehampton had not been included as part of any type of study. Councillor Dr Walsh confirmed that the request on this occasion had been in respect of Bognor Regis and that no request had been made in respect of Littlehampton. He urged Councillor Buckland to pursue his case with Officers to consider which could then be considered by Cabinet.

(During the course of the debate on this item, Councillor Buckland declared a Personal Interest when talking to Minute 284 [Beach Access, Bognor Regis] in his capacity as Vice-Chairman of the Arun Access Group).