The Executive Director (Development) has submitted a report to seek approval of a public realm improvement scheme on Council owned land in the City Centre, including approval of planned works and required property and legal procedures to deliver the scheme.

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.          Approve the public realm improvement scheme on Council owned land in the City Centre, including approval of planned works and required property and legal procedures to deliver the scheme(see Confidential Appendix 1 for more details);

2.          Recommend to Council to approve acapital budget of £297K for delivery of the public realm improvement scheme(see Confidential Appendix 1 for more details);

3.          Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Development) in consultation with the Council’s Section 151 Officer, the Head of Law and Governance and the Deputy Leader (Statutory) - Finance and Asset Management to agree the final works details, budget changes, and submission of any planning application for this public realm improvement on Council owned land in the city centre (see Confidential Appendix 1 for more details).

The Executive Director (Development) had submitted a report to seek approval for a public realm improvement scheme on Council owned land in the City Centre, including approval of planned works and required property and legal procedures to deliver the scheme.

Councillor Ed Turner, Deputy Leader (Statutory) – Finance and Asset Management informed Cabinet that the report proposed significant improvements to the character and appearance of the site referred to, which could be secured at a reasonable cost to the Council.  Further detail was contained in the Part 2 appendix, which was exempt by reason of commercial confidentiality.  It was currently an opportune time to pursue this, due to forthcoming lease expiries.

In response to a question about a discrepancy in the capital budget referred to at recommendation 2 and the cost of the scheme given in paragraph 7 of the report, Carri Unwin, Regeneration Manager, clarified that the cost of the scheme was £327k; however, £30k already existed in the project budget, so that the additional budget request was for £297k.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.       Approve the public realm improvement scheme on Council owned land in the City Centre, including approval of planned works and required property and legal procedures to deliver the scheme;

2.       Recommend to Council to approve a capital budget of £297k for delivery of the public realm improvement scheme;

3.       Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Development) in consultation with the Council’s Section 151 Officer, the Head of Law and Governance and the Deputy Leader (Statutory) – Finance and Asset Management to agree the final works details, budget changes, and submission of any planning application for this public realm improvement on Council owned land in the City Centre.