Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2016 were signed as a true record.

To consider whether to exclude the press and public for the items of private business for the reasons shown in the report.

RESOLVED that, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 relating to the private reports on “City Centre South Development” and “Friargate Update Report”, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of information defined in Paragraph 3 of the Schedule 12A of the Act as it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and that in all of the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To be presented by the Lord Mayor and Judge Griffith-Jones, Honorary Recorder

On behalf of the City Council, the Lord Mayor presented Ms Janet Leadbeater with the Good Citizen Award. Her citation read:

“Janet is being honoured with this Good Citizen Award for the work she undertakes to improve the quality of life for those living in the Bell Green area. She has worked for many years as Chair of BATRA (Bell Green Tenants and Residents Association). By arranging ‘walkabouts’ with Councillors and City Officers she has enabled local residents to show them the issues that affect the community; she also works tirelessly to ensure that issues such as street cleanliness are reported.

Janet sat on the committee of ‘Community First’ (Government grant) and her local knowledge was invaluable.

Janet has arranged many social and community events.  Particularly of note are the Remembrance Day services which are attended by representatives of the Armed Forces, Police, schools and places of worship; she has led carol singing, arranged for stalls to be set up for local charities and liaised with Whitefriars to enable people attending to have refreshments; she has ensured that Bell Green has had its own Christmas lights and is instrumental in arranging a magnificent Christmas party every year. Janet has even brought the ‘Big Top’ to Bell Green at one of the summer festivals she organises.

Working with local businesses to support these events is another aspect of Janet’s dedication to the local community.

Janet is a bastion of the Bell Green community and rightly deserving of this Good Citizen Award.”

The Lord Mayor congratulated the following Coventry citizens who had been included in the New Year Honours list:

-  MBE to Sian Massey-Ellis, for her services to football and refereeing. 

-  BEM to Mary Hart, founder of Wyken Adventure Centre for her services to young people in Coventry and Warwickshire

-  MBE to Les Ratcliffe, Head of Community Relations at Jaguar Land Rover, for his services to business, education and the community

-  BEM to Ivor Wood, former City Secretary of the City Council, for his years of service and volunteering for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

The Lord Mayor had written to congratulate all recipients.

The Lord Mayor referred to the recent death of Mrs Judith Nolan, wife of former Councillor Nick Nolan.  Judith, also a former City Council employee in the City Treasurer’s Department, was Lady Mayoress in 1994-95, served the city with great dignity and dedication.

Members of the Council noted that the Lord Mayor had written to her family offering the City Council’s sincere condolences.

The Lord Mayor referred to the death of Mark Eaton, from the China Britain Business Council and formerly from Coventry & Warks Chamber of Commerce, who passed away just before Christmas.

Mark will be remembered for his work maintaining the cities international links with Jinan and China.  He accompanied many Former Leaders and Lord Mayors of the City Council on international visits to Jinan drawing on his business acumen and specialist knowledge of Jinan’s language, custom and practices.

Members noted that the Lord Mayor had written to his family offering the City Council’s sincere condolences.

The Lord Mayor extended the City Council’s congratulations to Honorary Alderman Mrs Joan Wright on the occasion of her 90^th birthday.

RESOLVED that the following petitions be referred to the appropriate City Council bodies:

(a)  Request to remove the upper precinct escalator – 265 signatures, presented by Councillor Bailey.

(b)  Objection to proposals to close Finham Library – 155 signatures, presented by Councillor Sawdon.

(c)  Request for double yellow lines at junction of Brandfield Road and Brownshill Green Road and improve road safety along Kelmscote Road and the junction of Keresley Road – 65 signatures, presented by Councillor Williams.

(d)  Request to upgrade Naul’s Mill Park – 9 signatures, presented by Councillor Kelly.

(e)  Request for work on the pond in Naul’s Mill Park – 221 signatures, presented by Councillor Kelly

There were no declarations of interest.

From the meeting of Cabinet held on 3 January 2017

Further to Minute 83 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources, which set out the options for appointing the external auditor to the Council for 2018/19 accounts and beyond, as the current arrangements only cover up to and including 2017/18 audits.

The Council’s current auditors were Grant Thornton UK LLP working under a contract originally let by the Audit Commission and that the audit fees for 2016/17 were £189.158.  Responsibility for this contract was transferred to the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) following the abolition of the Audit Commission.

The PSAA was inviting the Council to opt in, along with all other authorities, so that the PSAA could enter into a number of contracts with appropriately qualified audit firms and appoint a suitable firm to be the Council’ auditor.

The report set out the three main options available to the Council, along with the key elements of each of the options.  In summary these were to make a stand alone appointment (Option 1); establish a Joint Auditor Panel (Option 2); or to ‘opt in’ to the Sector Led Body (PSAA) (Option 3).

RESOLVED that the City Council approves Option 3, as described in the report, which is to accept Public Sector Audit Appointments’ (PSAA) invitation to ‘opt in’ to the sector led option for the appointment of external auditors for the five financial years commencing 1^st April 2018.

From the meeting of Cabinet held on 3 January 2017

Further to Minute 84 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Place, which set out the proposed response on behalf of the Council to Rugby Borough Council’s new Local Plan – Publication Draft.

Rugby Borough Council (RBC) published their Local Plan for a period of representations on 26^th September 2016, which ran for 6 weeks until 11^th November 2016, in accordance with national Regulations relating to the submission of Local Plans.  The Local Plan set out the intended development proposals for Rugby Borough to 2031 and, subject to the received representations, RBC intended to submit the Plans to the Secretary of State in early 2017.

Given the timescales involved, officers had submitted an officer representation to RBC to ensure that initial comments were provided.  This representation was attached to the report as Appendix 1 and presented for endorsement or comment.

RBC subsequently opted to re-run their consultation process, recommencing on 30^th November 2016 until the 11^th January 2017.  Whilst the officer response had already been provided within the original timescales, it was recommended that the response remain unchanged.

The response had been prepared on behalf of the Council in its role as Local Planning Authority as Coventry’s response to RBC at this important stage of its plan’s development.  The response indicated that the Council supported the Local Plan being proposed by RBC but, for reasons indicated in the report, made comments and sough clarification in relation to the following key areas:

·  The RBC Local Plan identified the sites at Pro-Logis Ryton and Ansty Park as strategic employment sites and supported their completion within the Plan period (2011-2031). This reflected the Employment Land Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) endorsed by the Council in October 2016.

·  The RBC Local Plan identified sites for approximately 2,800 homes towards Coventry’s unmet housing needs. This was in addition to the Borough Council planning positively for its own Objectively Assessed Needs.

·  The RBC Local Plan applied a development strategy and settlement hierarchy that focused growth on Rugby town, supported by a series of small developments around its satellite villages and a new town at Lodge Farm (southeast of Rugby). The RBC Local Plan did not consider the edge of Coventry within its settlement hierarchy and made no residential development proposals on the city’s eastern boundary – although this had been proposed in the previous version of the Plan.

·  The reasons for excluding the proposed development on the city’s eastern boundary (at Walsgrave Hill Farm south of Ansty Park) remain unclear.

·  A small area of land at Junction 2 of the M6 was proposed to be removed from existing Green Belt designation. This land was not proposed for any development however and reflected the fact the land in question was heavily influenced by highway infrastructure and did not support the purposes of Green Belt policy.

RESOLVED that the City Council endorse the officer representation to Rugby Borough Council’s New Local Plan – Publication Draft as set out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 97.

From the meeting of Cabinet held on 3 January 2017

Further to Minute 85 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of People, which set out the City Council’s position in respect of the Coventry and Warwickshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) and how the Council would proceed in working with NHS organisations regarding the further progression of the STP in Coventry.

In December 2015, NHS England outlined a new approach to help ensure that health and care services were built around the needs of the local populations with the introductions of STPs, based upon integration and joint working across the Health and Wellbeing system.  They were intended to provide the method by which the NHS Five Year Forward View was translated by the NHS into practice by closing the quality, cost and wellbeing gaps.  Although the STP process was governed by NHS England, it was being undertaken with the support of the Local Government Association and required local health and care organisations across the country to come together to form 44 STP footprints with Coventry and Warwickshire being one footprint.  STP footprints were collective discussion and planning forums which brought together health and care leaders to plan services for the populations they served.  The Cabinet noted that the Coventry and Warwickshire STP did not have delegated authority for decision making from its member organisations.

The involvement of the key leads from the local authority alongside elected member input and scrutiny would enable the City Council to ensure that the STP could deliver what was required for the citizens of Coventry, and particularly in areas relating to Public Health and Social Care.  The City Council would be required, by virtue of its constitution, to make decisions relating the elements of the STP that impact on the City Council through its normal decision making processes.

The Coventry and Warwickshire footprint had submitted its STP to NHS England in October 2016 and following feedback, the plan was released publicly on 7^th December 2016.  The plan focussed on five key transformational programmes which would be subject to more detailed design so that impacts and benefits could be better understood in order to enable decisions to be made regarding implementation.

It was indicated in the recommendation that the Cabinet had stressed that, whilst the Council recognised and endorsed the aim of health and social care organisations working closer together to improve services for local people, it did not support the approach taken in developing the STP, specifically in relation to transparency and involvement of both the public and local authority members.  The Council’s involvement to date did not constitute it signing up to the Coventry and Warwickshire STP.  Although a number of transformation work streams existed under the STP, the detail and implications of these were not developed, and therefore the City Council would not be in a position to make decisions regarding progressing the implementation of any work stream until more detail is developed and this has been considered through the appropriate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98.

Further to Minute 101 of Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Place, which provided an update on the Coventry Station Masterplan.

The Coventry Station Masterplan programme was set to deliver transformational improvements to Coventry Railway Station. The Coventry Station Masterplan was developed in response to a 2014 study that looked at the city’s future rail needs. It was initially approved at Cabinet in March 2015, funded by Local Growth Deal. Since then, the scheme had developed extensively in terms of design and scope to meet the needs of an aspirational and growing city. This report submitted detailed the current proposals that had been developed over the last 18 months, in partnership with the rail industry and other stakeholders.

It was noted that Coventry Station had experienced the highest growth in rail passengers in the last 5 years outside of London.  It was one of the busiest stations on the West Coast Mainline, after London and Birmingham New Street, but since opening in 1962 it had seen little investment or updating.  It was given Grade II listed status by English Heritage in 1995, due to its modern architecture.  Apart from the generally tired nature of the existing buildings, there were genuine capacity issues and it was essential that a fitting gateway to the city be created to underpin the redevelopment at Friargate and the wider city regeneration.  It was also vital that a station be created that supported continued growth in patronage to underline the City’s case for the retention and enhancement of rail services post HS2.  The Station Masterplan was an integral part of the City Centre Area Action Plan and the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP’s Strategic Economic Plan, and was central to the City Council’s economic regeneration and improving connectivity to the wider region, including UK Central and HS2.

?

The City Council, working with Friargate LLP, had established a collaborative approach between Network Rail, the Department for Transport, the wider rail industry and Coventry and Warwickshire LEP to develop proposals to meet these objectives. As a consequence of this work the scope of the scheme had extended and the total programme had increased to £82.4m, which included £11.8m contingency which was good practice for rail schemes.

Coventry Station Masterplan would deliver extra capacity, accessibility and a better first impression of Coventry, within the station through the following new infrastructure:-

•  A second footbridge connecting all four platforms and extended platform canopies;

•  A second station entrance building, facing outwards onto Warwick Road and providing step free access to platforms;

•  A 644 space multi-storey car park;

•  A bus interchange connected directly to the station building via a new access tunnel under Warwick Road;

•  Highway improvements;

•  Bay platform (NUCKLE 1.2)

The highway improvements would provide the bulk of the infrastructure required to deliver the Friargate Masterplan and make provision for future Rapid Transit services via the railway station. A detailed summary of the scheme changes and enhanced programme from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99.

Further to Minute 102 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Place, which set out a strategic transport investment strategy ‘Connecting Coventry’ and the opportunities for achieving this including working with Midlands Connect, Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). 

The report indicated that Coventry was a dynamic and rapidly growing city where transport investment was essential to keep pace with continuing change. In 2004 the city’s population was under 300,000.  It had grown steadily since to 345,000 and was forecast to reach over 415,000 in the next 20 years.  In the proposed next Local Plan period up to 2031 it was forecast that investment and development in Coventry would create 50,000 jobs, with a consequential growth in housing to meet the needs of the growing city. 

The Council had been very successful in obtaining funding and delivering schemes from a number of sources for investment in the city’s transport infrastructure, with £150m of improvements delivered over the last 5 years.  There was now an opportunity to continue to build on this success.  However in order to maximize the economic potential of the city and to take full advantage of developments such as High Speed Rail (HS2), it was essential that the Council look to get investment both directly within the city and also in strategic cross boundary transport schemes  that support Coventry’s growth aspirations.

The principal objectives of this strategy include improving the resilience of the road network (so the strategic road network does not come to a halt when a motorway has to be closed); ensuring connectivity to HS2 and job opportunities around the new station and linking key developments and employment sites to HS2 including Friargate and Jaguar Landrover; and an expansion of railway capacity and reconnecting Coventry to the East Midlands by rail.  The strategy was summarized in Appendix 1 of the report submitted.

One major opportunity to help deliver this strategy was the £247m strategic transport package agreed as part of the WMCA Devolution Deal package approved by Council in May 2016.  Although an outline package of schemes was included at the time, it was for the City Council to determine which schemes went forward for funding.  The WMCA had an ‘assurance framework process’ which all schemes would have to go through, the main purpose of which was to ensure that all schemes across the region were aligned to the policies of the adopted West Midlands transport strategy entitled ‘Movement for Growth’.  The main aims of this strategy were to drive job creation and growth and were in line with the City Council’s own priorities.

This report submitted outlined the schemes that it was proposed to take forward as part of this package, which were summarised in four programmes:

·  Coventry South – major highway and rail proposals to facilitate growth, especially around Jaguar Land Rover and the University of Warwick and to provide connectivity to HS2 and UK Central;

·  City  ...  view the full minutes text for item 100.

Further to Minute 103 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Place, which set out the business case for the construction of a multi-storey car park in the city centre.

The Council adopted the City Centre Parking Strategy in August 2016, which recognised the need to manage off-street parking provision in the city centre and that over the next decade there would be a significant shortfall of available parking in the right locations as a result of the planned and on-going developments. The Strategy identified that an appropriate level of investment would be required to redress the projected shortfall in order to alleviate future pressures on the demand for parking.

The Council was responsible for 15 public car parks in and around the city centre which could accommodate 3,140 cars. In addition, circa 400 cars can be accommodated on-street within the city centre. Other privately operated car parks have capacity for a further 2,838 vehicles.

During recent years the city centre had been subject to considerable change including the transformation of Broadgate Square, the Railway Station to Bull Yard public realm improvement works and the de-cluttering of traffic signals on several of the key traffic corridors into the city centre (e.g. Little Park St, Gosford St, New Union St, Lidice Place and Corporation St). The transformation would continue at pace throughout the next decade with a number of major development schemes already underway as part of the regeneration of the city centre, all of which, coupled with a projected 3% year on year growth in the local population and economy, would result in a significant increase in demand for parking during the next decade. 

The growth in car ownership continued to escalate as did the demand for off-street parking. The City Centre Parking Strategy recognised that projected demands for parking were expected to exceed supply during the next decade and that there would be a significant under provision of approximately 500 spaces by 2025/26 if no action were to be taken to redress the situation.

It was therefore proposed to develop and construct a new multi-storey car park to be built on the site currently occupied by the existing Salt Lane surface level car park. Furthermore, the report submitted sought approval in principle for a potential development of a multi-storey car park on the site of the existing New Union Street multi-storey and Cheylesmore surface car parks.  As well as being located on significant gateway sites, these locations were strategically well placed and ideally located to serve the Waterpark and Leisure facility and other planned developments to the south of the city centre.

The aim of the proposal was to provide high quality, sustainable car park facilities that support the aspirational and expected growth of the city centre, whilst complementing the new Waterpark and Leisure Centre, City Centre retail, the Friargate Business District, and a steadily rising growth in the local economy and demands for parking.

RESOLVED that the City Council approves the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.

Further to Minute 104 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Place, which sought approval of the proposed appointment of a Preferred Bidder to deliver the City Centre South scheme and permission to formally enter into a contract with the Preferred Bidder for the delivery of the scheme, subject to satisfactory completion of the legal processes.

A corresponding private report detailing confidential aspects of the proposals was also submitted to the meeting for consideration (Minute 110 below refers).

Investing in the city centre and creating a new mixed use retail led scheme was a top priority for the Council.  Over recent years significant grant funding, mainly from Europe, had been invested in improving the city centre, including the new bridge deck at junction six to create an impressive pedestrian link to the railway station, the transformation of Broadgate and improved settings for some of the city's finest buildings, including the Council House and Holy Trinity church. Work was also underway to demolish Spire and Christchurch House ready for the water park and leisure centre, which will open in 2018.

City Centre South would transform some of the most tired and out dated areas of the city centre, including Bull Yard, Shelton Square, City Arcade and Hertford Street. The vision for the scheme being recommended was for a vibrant mixed use redevelopment, including a new anchor store and other shops, car park, restaurants and leisure provision and new homes. The scheme aimed to better connect the city's much loved, circular market which currently feels cut off from the shopping area and the use of high quality materials to create a nice environment for local shoppers and visitors. 

Following on from a recent procurement exercise using the Competitive Dialogue route, officers were now in a position to make a recommendation to appoint a developer to proceed with the scheme. Furthermore, funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority had been secured specifically for this project.

The report submitted set out a number of issues that were considered in order to identify the preferred bidder and those to be considered as part of the proposals for the City Centre South Development, including Council funding to the proposed scheme; Heads of Terms; and further matters in relation to the case for a Compulsory Purchase Order.

It was noted that the decision had already been delayed pending resolution of Combined Authority funding and that, if the project is to complete by 2022, the Council would need to commence as soon as possible.  Due to this timescale requirement, in accordance with Part 3e, Paragraph 19 of the City Council’s Constitution, Councillor Lancaster, Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, attended the meeting for the consideration of this matter and agreed the need for urgency such that call-in arrangements would not apply to the decisions made by the Cabinet.

RESOLVED that the City Council:

  i.  Approve the grant funding in the sum of £98.8 million pounds from the West Midlands Combined  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.

Further to Minute 105 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Place, which provided an update on the Friargate development and sought approval to sub-lease part of the Friargate building.

A corresponding private report detailing confidential aspects of the proposals was also submitted for consideration (Minute 111 below refers).

In 2013, the Council approved starting the Friargate Business District to regenerate the City, transform the Council and deliver savings, through the purchase of the first building on Friargate for occupation by the Council, The Councils operational office buildings would be reduced and agile and flexible working arrangements introduced to support productivity and efficiency gains from Council staff.

The report also recognised the importance of a second tenant and gave approval to negotiate with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to help secure them as the second tenant on Friargate.

The RICS were the institution governing Chartered Surveyors globally and both strategically important nationally and as a second tenant to the Friargate scheme were likely to provide confidence to other potential private sector tenants.  The RICS currently had major offices in London and Coventry. The Coventry office was becoming obsolete and the RICS had been looking to relocate to new offices for a period of years. Many of the options under consideration were outside Coventry.

In 2013 discussions commenced between the Council, Friargate Coventry LLP and the RICS to secure the national HQ of the RICS as the second occupier of Friargate and build further space for letting to other occupiers.

In the absence of a second building under construction at Friargate there was an opportunity for the Council to negotiate terms directly with the RICS in order to sublet space in its building at Friargate and secure the RICS as the second tenant on Friargate rather than losing this strategically important business occupier to both Friargate and potentially the City.

If these negotiations proved successful this would require the Council to retain operational building capacity within its existing building portfolio for a quarter of the staff (470) intending to move to Friargate, whilst further discussions continued in order to try and secure early delivery of Building 2.

To that end the opportunity had now arisen for the Council to make a formal application to the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to secure up to £50m to bring forward development opportunities around Friargate to supplement the £100m already secured from the WMCA for City Centre South.

It was proposed that authority be delegated to officers (in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member) to make such variations to the Collaborations Agreement (and other associated documents) that may be required to achieve the objectives set out in the report submitted. The Cabinet had noted that such delegation would be limited only to the extent required to secure the sub-leasing of part of the Council’s building at Friargate to the RICS.

The report had been considered by the Scrutiny  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The City Council considered a report of the Chief Executive which detailed amendments to the polling district and polling review scheme which had been approved by Council on 13 October 2016.  The amendments were required due to some of the locations no longer being available and comments received at the polls in May and June 2016.  The Electoral Arrangements Advisory Panel and Ward Members had been consulted and a consultation document was published on the Council’s website as required by legislation.

RESOLVED that the City Council:

1)  Approves the revised polling district and polling place scheme as set out in the report.

2)  Agree that, should further polling places become available prior to the election, the Chief Executive following consultation with the Leader and Deputy Leader and the appropriate Ward Councillors, may make amendments to the scheme as required.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources in respect of amendments to the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership Board (CWLEP).

The (CW LEP) had reviewed their structure in order to better reflect public sector representation within Coventry and Warwickshire on the Board.  To achieve this and maintain the necessary balance on the Board of private and public representation, the Board has asked both Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council whether they would be prepared to reduce their current representation of two to one.

Given the structure and integrity of the Board it is considered that the reduction in numbers of Coventry City Council Directors would not disadvantage Coventry and will enable a more representative public sector element of the Board. 

RESOLVED that the City Council:

a)  Agrees the reduction in their representation on the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership Board from two to one.

b)  Appoints Councillor Jim O’Boyle as the City Council representative and Councillor Abdul Khan as the substitute.

Councillors Duggins provided a written answer to the question set out in the Questions Booklet together with oral responses to supplementary questions put to them at the meeting.

The following Members answered oral questions put to them by other Members as set out below, together with supplementary questions on the same matters:

(a)  The Leader of the Council made a statement in respect of “Progress on the Combined Authority”

Councillor Blundell responded to the statement.

(b)  The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People made a statement in respect of “Children’s Services Improvement Plan”

Councillor Lapsa responded to the statement.

The following motion was moved by Councillor Crookes and seconded by Councillor Sawdon:

“This council welcomes the recent release of employment figures which show: Employment running at a record high; unemployment falling and job creation rising.”

Councillor O’Boyle proposed the following amendment, which was seconded by Councillor Welsh and carried:

After “This Council” delete the word “welcomes” and insert the word “notes”.  After the word “show” delete the remainder of the sentence and insert the following with “numbers stalling for the second month running.  Further notes and welcomes Coventry City Council's job strategy which links up and secures jobs for often forgotten would be employees with prospective employers in the city."

The amended Motion now to read:

*"This council notes the release of recent employment figures which shows numbers stalling for the second month running.  Further notes and welcomes Coventry City Council's job strategy which links up and secures jobs for often forgotten would be employees with prospective employers in the city."

RESOLVED that the amended Motion as set out at * above be adopted.

Coventry city council recognises and pays tribute to the hard work and dedication of the health and social care teams in Coventry who are working tirelessly to try care for sick and vulnerable people across the city this Winter.

We note that Government cuts to the NHS are having a devastating impact on health and social care services across the country and calls on Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt to provide the NHS and Social Care with the increased funding needed to deliver services that are so urgently needed.

The following motion was moved by Councillor Abbott and seconded by Councillor Gannon:

*“Coventry city council recognises and pays tribute to the hard work and dedication of the health and social care teams in Coventry who are working tirelessly to try care for sick and vulnerable people across the city this Winter.

We note that Government cuts to the NHS are having a devastating impact on health and social care services across the country and calls on Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt to provide the NHS and Social Care with the increased funding needed to deliver services that are so urgently needed.”

Councillor Sawdon proposed the following amendment, which was seconded by Councillor Taylor and lost: 

After paragraph 1, delete the 2^nd paragraph. In place of the 2^nd paragraph insert the words: -

‘Council, recognising the funding difficulties facing the NHS and Social Care, instructs the leader of the Council to demonstrate leadership at a local level by organising a healthcare ‘summit’ to create an opportunity for local providers to explore ways to better utilise the limited funds available.’

The amended Motion now to read: -

‘Coventry City Council recognises and pays tribute to the hard work and dedication of the Health and Social Care teams in Coventry who are working tirelessly to try care for sick and vulnerable people across the city this Winter.

Council, recognising the funding difficulties facing the NHS and Social Care, instructs the Leader of the Council to demonstrate leadership at a local level by organising a healthcare ‘summit’ to create an opportunity for local providers to explore ways to better utilise the limited funds available.’

RESOLVED that the Motion as set out at * above be adopted.

 (Listing Officer: D Cockroft, tel: 024 7683 3964)

Further to Minute 102 above, the City Council considered a private report of the Executive Director of Place that set out confidential aspects of proposals for appointment of a Preferred Bidder to deliver the City Centre South scheme and permission to formally enter into a contract with the Preferred Bidder for the delivery of the scheme, subject to satisfactory completion of the legal processes.

RESOLVED that the City Council:

  i.  Approve the grant funding in the sum of £98.8 million pounds from the West Midlands Combined Authority and delegate to the Executive Director for Place and Executive Director for Resources in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration and Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources, the authority to enter into the necessary grant funding agreement to secure the funding.

  ii.  Approve that £98.8 million is added to the Council’s capital programme, all funded from the West Midlands Combined Authority,

Further to Minute 103 above, the City Council considered a private report of the Executive Director of Place that set out confidential aspects of an update on the Friargate development and sought approval to sub-lease part of the Friargate building.

The report had also been considered by the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee at their meeting on 18th January 2017 and Cabinet, at their meeting on 24 January 2017 had agreed recommended that Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee be provided with assurances about any future rolling programme for building developments on the Friargate site. 

RESOLVED that the City Council

1)  Agree to amend the approved Kickstart strategy to co-locate 1830 staff to Friargate, by retaining existing operational buildings to house 470 of those staff and invest in these buildings in the event that the Council agrees to grant a sub-lease to the RICS

2)  Approve that officers be mandated to negotiate terms with the RICS to allow the Council to grant a sub-lease to the RICS to occupy space within its building at Friargate on terms as broadly outlined in this report and delegate authority to the Executive Director of Place and Executive Director Resources in conjunction with the Cabinet members for Finance and Jobs & Regeneration to conclude terms, make minor amendments or corrections and complete the necessary legal documentation.

3)  Delegate authority to the Executive Director Place and Executive Director Resources, in consultation with Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration, to enter negotiations with the WMCA in order to secure a grant of up to £50m to secure further Friargate related development and to negotiate a new delivery framework with Friargate LLP subject to the terms of any such agreements being the subject of a subsequent formal report to Cabinet.

4)  Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Place and Executive Director for Resources in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration and Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategic Resources to negotiate and make any necessary amendments or variation to the Collaboration Agreement and associated document between the Council and Friargate LLP only to the extent required to achieve the sub-leasing of parts of the building to the RICS.

5)  Approve the Council grant a lease extension to the RICS on their current premises at Westwood Business Park subject to a deal for the occupation of Friargate being finalised.

6)  Request officers to bring back a further report on buildings to be retained and investment required to maintain them in use for operational purposes and any other mitigation measures.

7)  Authorise officers to negotiate a variation of the building contract to split a floor between the Council and RICS and to minimise any non-recoverable costs from not taking two and half floors.