Agenda item

Attached is a report on the eleven presentations given to Members on Bognor Regis Regeneration so that the Council can identify what steps it wishes to take to advance this project.

 

(Prior to the discussion on this item, Councillors Coster and Goodheart redeclared their interests made at the start of the meeting).

 

            The Leader of the Council, Councillor Dr Walsh, outlined that the Council had received the presentations which had been summarised in the documentation included as part of the report.  What was now needed was to set a clear way forward.  He confirmed that Group Leaders had decided that a Members’ Seminar be organised where all the presentations and Member impressions from these would be considered in much greater detail than what could be achieved tonight. Councillor Dr Walsh therefore proposed that a Members’ Seminar be organised in the very near future allowing all Members of the Council to have the opportunity, virtually, to take part in that debate which would allow for Officers to sit in and provide advice as necessary and from that to prepare a report for Full Council distilling Members views into a series of options or an option for the Council to consider.  This was his proposal which was an alternative to having a very long debate on the presentations now which might not lead to an easy conclusion.  Councillor Dr Walsh concluded by thanking those who had attended and given presentations to the Council and had provided summaries setting out the detail of their presentation.

 

            Councillor Oppler then seconded this proposal.

 

            The Chairman then invited debate on this proposal.  Councillor Goodheart confirmed that he had a proposal to put forward.  This was “that the Council commissions an independent consultant, working alongside officers, to devise a shortlisting selection criterion and to mark the presentations against the criteria and report to the next Full Council with a recommendation on which scheme to take forward and project initiation plans.  Councillor Goodheart confirmed that he had a list of fundamental areas that should be covered by the consultant and officers. 

 

            A Point of Order was then raised, and clarification sought as it was felt that Councillor Goodheart’s proposal could not be classed as an amendment, as it was a completely new proposal. Advice from the Interim Monitoring Officer was sought.

 

            The Interim Monitoring Officer referred to the Director of Place’s report which had no set recommendation, it was asking Full Council to provide a steer on what type of regeneration activity the Council might want to pursue in Bognor Regis following debate. Councillor Dr Walsh had proposed a separate motion and Councillor Goodheart’s proposal was an amendment to Councillor Dr Walsh’s motion.

 

            Councillor Dendle then seconded Councillor Goodheart’s proposal.

 

            In view of the length and detail of Councillor Goodheart’s amendment, a request was made to share this to the meeting. Councillor Goodheart’s amendment was then shared to the screen.

 

            The wording of Councillor Goodheart’s amendment was confirmed as follows:

 

 

 

 

            “Commissioning an independent Consultant working alongside Officers to devise a shortlisting and selection criteria to mark the presentation against that criteria and to present a report to the next Council Meeting with a recommendation on which scheme to take forward and a project initiation plan.

 

            The wording below sets out the content for proposing the motion:

 

(1)  Based on this, the Officers are asked to prepare reports for the next Full Council dealing with:

 

·         Timetable and implementation

·         Planning consent

·         Due diligence

·         Funding by/to the Council (including Leases)

·         Willingness/ability to accommodate other proposals

·         The position regarding Whitbread Plc and Arun Arts

·         Economic and environmental impact statements

 

(2)  Options to be discussed on development such as Sole Developer, Joint Venture or Partnership

 

(3)  Logic would suggest that Councillors might well now consider which of the presentations they would wish to take forward.  This means creating some form of short-list based on:

 

·         Perceived appropriateness and viability

·         Financial sustainability

·         Each proposal can satisfy an independent consultant on each aspect of the projects including financial aspects and delivery of final projects.

 

            The Interim Monitoring Officer was invited to provide advice. He outlined that the original recommendation set out in the report had a form of words which when Councillor Dr Walsh had made his presentation appeared to be different from the recommendation as set out in the report. Councillor Goodheart then made an amendment to what Councillor Dr Walsh had proposed.

 

            Councillor Dr Walsh should be invited to move and second his proposal again with Councillor Goodheart then being invited to confirm if he would wish to amend further that clarified motion.

 

            The Chairman then called a short adjournment to allow Officers time to write up the amendments so that these could be shared to the meeting.

 

            Having seen the detail of Councillor Goodheart’s amendment shared to the meeting, the Interim Monitoring Officer confirmed that this amendment could only include the first three sentences, not the remaining content.

 

            This was:

 

Commissioning an independent Consultant working alongside Officers to devise a shortlisting and selection criteria to mark the presentation against that criteria and to present a report to the next Council Meeting with a recommendation on which scheme to take forward and a project initiation plan.

           

            For clarity purposes, Councillor Dr Walsh’s proposal was shared to the meeting.

 

            Councillor Dr Walsh reconfirmed his proposal which read as follows:

 

            “Officers are asked to prepare a Members’ Seminar to discuss the presentations and provide guidance for Officers to prepare a report for a future meeting of the Full Council regarding what type of regeneration activity the Council might want to pursue in Bognor Regis, and any relevant procurement requirements and associated funding issues”.

 

            This proposal was seconded by Councillor Gunner however he questioned the establishment of a Working Party as part of this proposal.

 

            In response, Councillor Dr Walsh added the following words to his proposal to read as follows – the additional wording has been highlighted in bold.

 

            “Officers are asked to prepare a Members’ Seminar to discuss the presentations and provide guidance for Officers and engage with the Levelling Up Working Party to prepare a report for a future meeting of the Full Council regarding what type of regeneration activity the Council might want to pursue in Bognor Regis, and any relevant procurement requirements and associated funding issues”.

 

            Councillor Edwards and Councillor Dendle asked Councillor Dr Walsh if some minor changes could be made.  These were to confirm that the Members’ Seminar would be held in private session and to confirm the date for the Seminar so that a report could be brought back to the next meeting of Full Council.  Councillor Dr Walsh agreed to these requests and so his proposal was amended further to read [additions shown in bold].

 

            “Officers are asked to prepare a private Members’ Seminar at the earliest opportunity for Members to discuss the presentations and provide guidance for Officers and engage with the Levelling Up Working Party to prepare a report for a future meeting of the Full Council regarding what type of regeneration activity the Council might want to pursue in Bognor Regis, and any relevant procurement requirements and associated funding issues”.

 

 

 

 

 

            Further clarification was sought on the above wording from Councillor Dixon.  He stated that Group Leaders had talked about a seminar followed by a briefing on the procurement rules [which would have changed following Brexit] and that a Working Party be set up to bring proposals back to Full Council. It seemed from this proposal, that this Working Party had been abandoned and so he asked for confirmation as to whether this was the intention.

 

            Councillor Dr Walsh stated that he did not think that this Working Party was abandoned, it would be up to the Members’ Seminar to confirm how this would be taken forward and if it was felt that the establishment of a Working Party was needed, then this is what would happen.

           

            Councillor Gunner was asked to confirm, as seconder, if he could accept the further changes made.  He confirmed that he agreed with the points that had been made by Councillor Dixon and would like the proposal to be amended to reflect this.

 

            Following further discussion, Councillor Dr Walsh’s proposal was amended further to read as follows [deletions are shown using strikethrough and additions are shown using bold:

 

            “Officers are asked to prepare a private Members’ Seminar at the earliest opportunity for Members to discuss the presentations and provide guidance for Officers and engage with the Levelling Up Working Party and set up a Working Party to prepare a report for a future meeting of the Full Council regarding what type of regeneration activity the Council might want to pursue in Bognor Regis, and any relevant procurement requirements and associated funding issues”.

 

            Having been formally amended by Councillor Dr Walsh, this further amendment was seconded by Councillor Gunner.

 

            The Chairman then asked Councillors Goodheart and Dendle, as the proposer and seconder of the amendment to Councillor Dr Walsh’s proposal if they could accept this proposal. Councillor Goodheart confirmed that he could accept this revised proposal but would have liked to have had included the appointment of an external consultant to assist with this work.  He also had concerns over the timing element in undertaking this work.

 

            The Chief Executive provided some clarification confirming that if Council might choose to pursue the appointment of a consultant, details of the level funding required would need to be known.  He confirmed that having agreed the establishment of the Levelling Up Fund Working Party earlier, that this work would need to commence first before the arrangement of a Seminar on Bognor Regis regeneration presentation proposals.

 

            The Chairman confirmed that she was now inviting debate on this new motion.

 

            In discussing the amendment, a question was asked as to why the Gardens by the Sea proposal had not been included in the list of presentations forming the report. A request was made that this be included in the Seminar to be organised.

 

            Other points raised were over the timings involved in organising the Members’ Seminar having heard that the work of the Levelling Up Fund Working Party would take priority. Strong views were expressed that both projects should have equal priority and that a strict time limit should be confirmed for when the Seminar would be held.

 

            Councillor Roberts confirmed that he therefore wished to make an amendment to include the points raised above; to address Officer capacity and the membership of the Working Party.

           

            Councillor Dendle seconded this further amendment.

 

            Advice was sought from the Monitoring Officer as the amendment put forward by Councillor Roberts formed three separate amendments. Councillor Roberts was asked to confirm out of these three amendments he had proposed which was his first amendment.

 

            Councillor Roberts confirmed his first amendment to be as set out below [additions have been set out in bold].

 

            “Officers are asked to prepare a private seminar, with the same priority, resource and time allocation as that to be invested in the levelling up fund project at the earliest opportunity  for Members to discuss the presentations and provide guidance for officers and set up a Working Party to prepare a report for a future meeting of Full Council regarding what type of regeneration activity the Council might want to pursue in Bognor Regis, and any relevant procurement requirements and associated funding issues”.

 

            Councillor Dendle, as seconder, confirmed that he agreed with this wording.

 

            The Chairman then invited debate on Councillor Robert’s amendment.  Many Councillors spoke confirming that they could not support this amendment and felt it to be unnecessary.

           

            Following further debate, Councillor Roberts confirmed that he wished to withdraw this amendment and that he would not be proposing his second or third amendment.

 

            The Chairman then returned to the substantive amendment and invited debate. This debate asked for confirmation that the Gardens by the Sea project would be included as part of the Members’ Seminar.

 

 

            Councillor Gunner, as seconder to the proposal, confirmed that he and Councillor Dr Walsh had liaised with the Chief Executive about presenting the Gardens by the Sea project to Members and he confirmed that this would take place. In response to queries raised on the timing of this work, Councillor Gunner believed that stipulating that this would be at the earliest opportunity would achieve a confirmation date soon. In terms of the establishment of a Working Party and political make-up, this would be discussed by Group Leaders who would decide how this would be apportioned.

 

            Councillor Dr Walsh, as proposer of the proposal, confirmed what Councillor Gunner had said and he stated his viewpoint that the membership of this Working Party would need to be larger as it would be focusing on larger scale issues.  

 

            The Council

 

                        RESOLVED

 

That Officers are asked to prepare a private seminar, at the earliest opportunity, for Members to discuss the presentations and provide guidance for Officers and set up a Working Party to prepare a report for a future meeting of Full Council regarding what type of regeneration activity the Council might want to pursue in Bognor Regis, and any relevant procurement requirements and associated funding issues.

 

            The Chairman then adjourned the meeting to 24 March 2021 at 6.00 pm confirming that Agenda Items 15 to 31 would be considered at that meeting.