Cabinet, on 12 July 2023, resolved to:

Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Development) in consultation with the Council’s Head of Financial Services / Section 151 Officer; the Head of Law and Governance; and the Deputy Leader (Statutory) - Finance and Asset Management to: (i) agree the final terms of, and enter into, the relevant contracts; (ii) agree the final scheme and submission of any planning application; and (iii) authorise any spending within the allocated budget (see Confidential Appendix 1 for more details).

To agree the final terms of the relevant contracts with the preferred development partner and operator consortium to regenerate 38-40 George Street, Oxford and to enter into the contracts.

The decision to agree final terms and sign contracts was a necessary work stage to appoint the preferred development partner and operator consortium to regenerate the site at 38-40 George Street in line with the Cabinet decision.

The decision has been made in order to agree final minor details of specific clauses in the contract documents which needed completing following the Cabinet decision.  The final details were agreed with advice from appointed external legal consultants in such a way as to protect the Council’s interests on the site.

A development partner and operator consortium has been procured for this site in order for the Council to be a good landlord and sustain income from this site to support delivery of public services.

An alternative option to the Executive Director (Development) agreeing final terms of the contract documents following Cabinet would have been to have agreed all detailed terms ahead of Cabinet approval.  However, this was not considered realistic given the number and size of the documents, and that it is extremely likely small details in a few clauses would need adjusting, some based on changing information.  So the route of delegating the agreement of final terms to the Executive Director of Development was considered by the Head of Property and the project team to be the most expedient way to secure the signing of contracts required.  The work is time critical in order to meet the programme of the development partner and operator consortium, and so realise the increased income from the site to support public services sooner.

Decision taken by Tom Bridgman, Executive Director (Development) in consultation with Nigel Kennedy, Head of Financial Services / S151 Officer; Emma Jackman, Head of Law and Governance; Jane Winfield, Head of Corporate Property; and Councillor Ed Turner, Deputy Leader (Statutory) – Finance and Asset Management.