Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 4 March, 2020 were agreed and signed as a true record.

There were no matters arising.

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

RESOLVED that approval be given to exclude the press and public under Section 100(A) 4 of the Local Government Act 1972 for the consideration of the private matter referred to in Minute 8 below relating to “Land Disposal at Parkside, Paradise Street and Re-provision of Newgate Court Industrial Estate” on the grounds that that item involves the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12 A of that Act as it contains information relating to the financial and business affairs of an organisation and the amount of expenditure incurred.

Report of the Director of Business Investment & Culture

The Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration considered a report of the Director of Business and Investment which indicted that the Council has successfully raised £2.2m funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to support the refurbishment of St Mary’s Guildhall and had achieved a Stage One award of £78,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund which will enable officers to develop a Stage Two application for revenue and capital funding of £1.7m. In February 2020, Cabinet approved up to £3 million capital support for the project to be funded through prudential borrowing to bridge any remaining funding gap on the basis a financial return would be achieved on this investment. 

The report sought approval to submit a Stage Two National Lottery Heritage Fund application; the preferred scheme for capital works; arrangements for the closure of St Mary’s Guildhall to enable work to take place to deliver the associated refurbishment; and the delegations necessary to implement these decisions.

The main elements of the Phase One funded scheme were detailed in the report. It is expected that re-opening will be phased starting in March 2021 with a full opening scheduled for Summer 2021 and initial programming will contribute to the delivery of the City of Culture activities and key events. The decision on the award of the £1.7m National Lottery Heritage Fund grant will be made in December 2020 and if approved the project is expected to commence in January 2021. If successful, the National Lottery Heritage Fund revenue activity programme will commence delivery in July 2021 and will continue until March 2024. The National Lottery Heritage Fund capital works will commence when the Phase One capital works are near completion and will be completed by June 2021. Details of the works to be undertaken were contained in the report.

Should the National Lottery Heritage Fund application be unsuccessful, the report indicated that the Council will proceed with a scheme without this support. The capital scheme would require slightly scaling back, value engineering of the education learning space and some of the proposed interactive and Augmented Reality experiences.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration:-

(1)  Approves the detail of the preferred capital scheme for the refurbishment /modernisation of St \Mary’s Guildhall set out in the £5.6m preferred option

(2)  Delegates to the Director of Business, Investment and Culture, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration and the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, authority to approve and submit a Stage Two funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for £1.7m to support the project outlined in the report

(3)  Delegates to the Director of Business Investment and Culture, following consultation with the Director of Finance, authority to obtain the necessary consents, procurement, contractor appointment and contract extensions for the professional design team.

(4)  Delegates to the Director of Business, Investment and Culture, following consultation with the Director of Law and Governance, authority to enter into the necessary legal agreements to give effect  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report of the Director of Property Management and Property Services

The Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration considered a report of the Director of Project Management and Property Services which indicated that, building on the recent success of promoting residential developments which are attracting people to come and live in and around Coventry’s city centre, the disposal of prominent land at the corner of Parkside and Paradise Street has been identified as the next phase in delivering this key corporate priority.

This part of the city, adjacent to Coventry University’s campus and their industry facing Technology Park, has seen large scale residential accommodation in recent years and the Council is keen to test the development market’s appetite for further residential development in the area. As such and in an attempt to look to expand the type of housing in the area, the Council has sought expressions of interest and tenders from developers keen to deliver new Private Residential accommodation including the Private Rented Sector (PRS) and / or Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA). 

The land identified for development already has eight small but very popular industrial units located within it and the balance of the development land has been created by the relocation of offices into new accommodation within the immediate area. To maximise the sites’ development potential, it was recognised that these industrial units may need to be moved. It was, however, a precondition of any development proposal that these industrial premises and the businesses which occupy them, should be retained and relocated to new facilities within the wider site.

The Council, acting as planning authority, is in principle supportive of opportunities to promote urban regeneration throughout Coventry and has indicated that this site may be acceptable for residential development subject to full consideration through the planning application process. As such all tenders received are conditional on securing a planning consent.

In line with the agreed principle of seeking to generate revenue the Council, for granting a long leasehold, is looking to receive a percentage of rent generated from the completed development instead of a capital receipt. This new revenue would be used to help fund Council services.

Within the three shortlisted tenders received, each party approached the development differently with regards the type of residential accommodation proposed. One was a pure student housing led scheme, the other a mix of student and private housing with the third being a purely private housing led development. In assessing the tenders, the aspiration of the Council to encourage a greater diversity of residential accommodation across the city centre was balanced against the income generated from each proposal. 

The tender, recommended for approval, proposes to deliver 494 private, residential dwellings to rent, of which 25% would be affordable housing. This provides the strategic mix of residential accommodation and tenures the Council is seeking to compliment existing accommodation in the area, in addition to the re-provision of the industrial estate units. This scheme generates a significant additional annual income to the Council. Although the net new income is lower than the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

There are no outstanding issues.

There were no outstanding issues.

The Director of Transportation and Highways reported that the City Council has recently been awarded £334,307 from the High Street Safety Fund by the Department of Communities and Local Government. The Fund provides funding to support the business communities with measures that enable safe trading in public places, particularly focuses on high streets, as well as other public places that are at the heart of towns and cities gearing up to reopen as safe, welcoming spaces following the coronavirus pandemic.

The Fund is focused on three main areas of activity:

–  Developing an Action Plan on how to re-open the local economy within High Street environments

–  Temporary public realm changes (these would need to be in place for a maximum of 12 months)

–  Communications and public information campaigns

Proposals for the Fund include:-

·  The reallocation of road space to allow social distancing to take. Locations currently identified for measures, include:

–  High Street (Installed) 

–  Trinity Lane/ The Burges

–  Ball Hill

–  Foleshill Road

·  Installation of signs to reinforce the 2 metre social distancing message at busy location

·  Reallocation of road/ open space to allow businesses to expand outdoor seating area. Work is being undertaken with the BID on a number of proposals, including:

o   Broadgate, Belgrade Plaza, Hay Lane, Millennium Square, Spon Street.

·  Undertake street dressing to improve their attractiveness (including lighting, flags ect.) Work is being undertaken with the BID on a number of proposals, including:

·  Hertford Street  and Spon Street

All the proposals taken forward will need to meet the requirements of “The Safer Public Places for Urban Centres and Green Spaces” guidance. The proposals will backed up by a clear communication message that the City is opening up for business, but will look and operate differently due to the need to continue to observe the 2m social distancing requirement.

The proposals will also include:-

•  “A Reason to visit” Proposals for temporary installations and activities to encourage public to return to the city, spend money and enjoy the city will be included to create areason to visit c.180k

•  A Task Force to lead a cross Service agenda for remobilisation, recovery and social recovery.

•  A “Confidence Coventry” accreditation scheme which will build on the current advice for re-opening business and be followed by an inspection/evidence gathering process creating public confidence and creation of temporary city safe space for social contact creating a “city outdoors”offer c. £85k

In accordance with the Constitution, Councillor R Brown, Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee attended the meeting for this item and agreed the need for urgency so that call-in arrangements would not apply. The reasons for urgency, which the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration had also agreed to enable the item to be considered at this meeting as an item of urgent public business, were that work needed to be undertaken to develop and implement measures under the Fund at the earliest opportunity, particularly in light of shops potentially opening on 15  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report of the Director of Property Management and Property Services

(Listing Officer: Azim Walimia Telephone: 024 7697 2104)

Further to Minute  5 above, the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration considered a report of the Director of Project Management and Property Services which detailed confidential financial matters in relation to a the long leasehold disposal of land at Parkside, Paradise Street and the re-provision of Newgate Court Industrial Estate.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration:-

1.  Declares the part of the land at Parkside, Paradise Street shown edged red in Appendix 1 of this report surplus to requirements.

2.  Approves the grant of a long leasehold interest of Parkside Paradise Street as shown edged red in Appendix 2 to Tenderer 1.

3.  Delegates authority to the Director of Project Management & Property Services following consultation with the Director of Finance and the Director of Law and Governance to agree the final terms of the lease and complete the necessary legal documentation

There were no items of urgent private business.