Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet agrees to exclude the press and public under Sections 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 relating to the private reports in minute 107 below headed “City Centre South Development” and in minute 108 below headed “Friargate Update Report” on the grounds that these reports involves the likely disclosure of information defined in Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as they contain information relating to the financial affairs of a particular person (including the authority holding that information) and in all circumstances of the cases, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of People, which provided outline proposals for the City Council to become part of a Regional Adoption Agency via a shared service agreement with Solihull Metropolitan Council, Warwickshire County Council and Worcestershire County Council.

The report indicated that a policy paper from the Department for Education (DfE) in January 2013 titled ‘Further Action on Adoption: Finding More Loving Homes’ had identified the need for the re-organisation of the existing adoption system based as it was on each local authority delivering an adoption service as well as a voluntary adoption sector. The DfE’s ‘Regionalising Adoption’ paper published in June 2015 spelt out the governments expectations for all local authorities to be part of regional adoption agencies (RAA). In April 2016 the DfE published a new policy document “Adoption: A vision for Change” in which the government committed to deliver radical, whole system redesign by regionalising adoption services by ensuring all local authorities were part of an RAA by 2020.

In response Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Council, Warwickshire County Council and Worcestershire County Council had come together to work towards the creation of a Regional Adoption Agency that had been named Adoption Central England (ACE).  ACE had an established project team that was leading on the design and creation. A programme board and executive board, on which representatives from all the partner agencies and key stakeholders sat, oversaw the work.

It was envisaged that ACE would deliver excellence in practice through innovation and stakeholder engagement to become an innovative adoption service that would improve outcomes for children.

The working model for ACE envisaged that it would deliver the following services on behalf of the partner authorities:-

•  Adoption recruitment, assessment and training

•  Post adoption and Special Guardian Order support including assessment for support

•  Adopted adult support

•  Non agency adoptions, overseas adoptions

•  Fostering to adopt

•  Birth parent support

•  Specialist knowledge, consultation and advice

•  Matching recommendations

•  Adoption panels

•  Tracking children alongside the local authorities

The primary function for ACE however would be to achieve permanence for children.

There was a requirement from Central Government for Voluntary Adoption Agencies (VAAs) to play a central role in any new RAA.  ACE had been developing its approach in shadow stage in partnership with two VAAs namely Barnardo’s and After Adoption.  In addition, alongside the work between the Local Authorities and VAAs, partnership working was also operating with key stakeholders including Coventry University and adoptive parents.

Following submission of a transition plan to the DfE, ACE was invited to be one of the demonstrator sites and development work continued including the need to consider and assess different types of structures and delivery models.

The executive board of ACE was attended by the Directors of Children’s Services for each authority and considered the options around different types of delivery models and had identified a recommended and preferred model to take forward  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive, which outlined how management arrangements would ensure that the role of Director of Children’s Services and Director of Adult Services was effectively discharged alongside those key responsibilities of the Lead Members for these areas.

The statutory roles and functions of the Director of Children’s Services and Lead Member for Children Services were contained within the Children Act 2004, Statutory Guidance and the City Council constitution.  The Director of Children’s Services and Lead Member for Children Services were appointed for the purposes of discharging the education and children’s social services functions of the local authority. The functions for which they were responsible for included (but were not limited to) responsibility for children and young people receiving education or children’s social care services in their area and all children looked after by the local authority or in custody.  The statutory guidance provides the government expectations about local authorities’ role in education and children and young people services.

The Director of Adult Services was a statutory post under the Local Authority Social Services Act with the purpose to deliver all local authority social services functions other than those for which the Director of Children’s Services was responsible.

The City Council constitution provided for the Executive Director, People as the Director of Children’s Services and Director of Adult Services and the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People was designated as the Lead Member for Children Services.

The Cabinet noted that it was legally permissible for the Director of Children’s Services role to be combined with other operational functions of the local authority e.g. Director of Adult Services. However, given the breadth and importance of children’s services functions that the Director of Children’s Services covers, local authorities were advised to give due consideration to protecting the discrete roles and responsibilities of the Director of Children’s Services before allocating any additional functions to individuals performing these roles.  In particular, local authorities should undertake a local test of assurance so that the focus on outcomes for children and young people would not be weakened or diluted as a result of adding such other responsibilities.

The report indicated that local assurance reviews had been undertaken on three previous occasions as a result of new arrangements being put in place or as a review as reassurance that the arrangements remain effective.

In October 2016 a service review of the senior manager posts in children’s social care took place resulting in the appointment of three new officers. These new officers were to commence in their roles during January 2017.  The City Council had therefore considered it appropriate for there to be a further local assurance review to satisfy itself and the local community that the arrangements for the effective discharge of the functions, roles and responsibilities of the Director of Children’s Services and Director of Adult Services remained in place. Further in line with the duty to provide local assurance that the Lead Member for Childrens Services statutory role  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99.

Report of the Executive Director of People

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of People, which set out the proposed Education Service redesign.

The report indicated that the Council had a strong education partnership with the Coventry Family of Schools, putting the needs of children and young people at the heart of everything it did.  This was captured in the vision for education services: “As champions of children: Successful partnership working enables children, young people and adults to access high quality education and learning, develop resilience, make positive life choices and contribute to a vibrant Coventry city; and to lift the cloud of limitation for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and enable their entitlement to an ordinary life.”

Coventry’s overall performance continued to improve and the city now had a higher percentage of pupils in good or outstanding schools (88%) than the national average. This local improvement was set in the context of a very challenging financial environment for both the local authority and for schools. 

The redesign of Coventry’s Education Services, in collaboration with Coventry schools, was aimed at enabling services to be fit for purpose for Coventry children and young people, offering services that schools value and dealing with grant cuts in a managed way. 

Management proposals were outlined at the start of a consultation on 3rd October 2016 and the consultation ended on 23rd November 2016. This provided the opportunity for staff and other stakeholders to feedback views. The proposals for implementation outlined in the report took account of this feedback. There had been strong collaboration with schools on the development of the model throughout and the final proposals were discussed with the Primary and Secondary Executive Headteacher groups who gave full support and agreement to the outline proposals.

Appendix A of the report set out detailed descriptions of the teams and services in scope, alongside the original proposals.  Appendix B, provided a summary of consultation feedback, the corresponding management response and the final proposals and recommendations for implementation, which reflected the outcome of the consultation process.

The proposals summarised in the report were in relation to the Hospital Education Service (including Pregnant School Girls Unit); Coventry Extended Learning Centre; Coventry Performing Arts Service; Work Related Learning Team;  School Improvement; Minority Group Support Services; Special Educational Needs (SEN) Statutory Assessment and Provision Team; Educational Psychology; SEN Early Years Foundation Team; Social Emotional Mental Health and Well-being Team; Complex Communication traded offer; and the Sensory Team offer.

The Cabinet noted that the report had been considered by the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee at their meeting on 18^th January 2017, and that a briefing note outlining their recommendations was circulated.  In particular, in addition to endorsing the recommendations to Cabinet, they recommended that scrutiny be kept updated of any further changes as a result of evaluation, especially those services traded with schools and expressed their thanks and appreciation to the Director of Education, Libraries and Adult Education and all the team involved in the successful consultation process which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 100.

Report of the Executive Director of Place

The Cabinet 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 March 2015 to date was set out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.

Report of the Executive Director of Place

The Cabinet 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 Centre – a major increase in capacity at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.

Report of the Executive Director of Place

The Cabinet 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 is expected that the following factors would contribute to the pressures on parking in the city centre during the next decade:

·  The continued regeneration and development of the city centre;

·  The development of the new Waterpark and Leisure Centre;

·  The development of the Friargate Business District;

·  The City Centre South retail development;

·  The development of a 1,000 bed student accommodation building on the site of Cox Street car park;

·  Continued growth and expansion of Coventry University;

·  Aspirational and expected levels of growth of the population, tourism and the economy;

·  More effective management of on-street parking within residential areas on the periphery of the city centre which will increase the usage of off-street parking facilities. 

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  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

Report of the Executive Director of Place

(NOTE: Pursuant to Part 3e, Paragraph 19, of the City Council's Constitution, the Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee or her nominee, has been invited to attend for the consideration of this matter and to agree the need for urgency such that call-in arrangements will not apply. The reason for urgency being, that the decision has already been delayed pending resolution of Combined Authority funding.  If the project is to complete by 2022 work needs to commence as soon as possible.)

The Cabinet 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.

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 Cabinet:-

1.  Accept the bid and award the contract to Bidder A as the Preferred Bidder for the delivery of the City Centre South scheme, subject to the detailed information contained in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104.

Report of the Executive Director of Place (to be circulated)

The Cabinet 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.

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 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 Cabinet noted that the report had been considered by the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee at their meeting on 18th January 2017, and that a briefing note outlining their recommendations was circulated.  In particular,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105.

There were no other items of public business.

Report of the Executive Director of Place

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

(NOTE: Pursuant to Part 3e, Paragraph 19, of the City Council's Constitution, the Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee or her nominee, has been invited to attend for the consideration of this matter and to agree the need for urgency such that call-in arrangements will not apply. The reason for urgency being, that the decision has already been delayed pending resolution of Combined Authority funding.  If the project is to complete by 2022 work needs to commence as soon as possible.)

Further to Minutes 104 above, the Cabinet 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.

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 Cabinet:-

1.  Accept the bid and award the contract to the company identified within the report submitted as the Preferred Bidder for the delivery of the City Centre South scheme.

2.  Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Place and Executive Director for Resources following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration and Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources to undertake the necessary due diligence, finalise and complete the process of entering into the contract with the Preferred Bidder.

3.  Approve in principle to use its Compulsory Purchase powers pursuant to sections 226 and/or 227 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) and/or section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 for the acquisition as necessary of the land outlined in red on the indicative plan at Appendix 1 (“the Land”) for planning purposes in order to enable the development of the City Centre South scheme.

4.  Authorise the Executive Director for Place to grant written authority to officers to enter onto the Land or other land for the purposes of carrying out surveys pursuant to section 172 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

5.  Authorise the Executive Director for Place to issue notices requisitioning information from persons in relation to the Land or other land pursuant to section 16 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

6.  Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Place, after consultation with the Legal Services Manager (Place & Regulatory) (or their nominee), to complete and settle the land referencing exercise to identify all owners, tenants, occupiers and others with a legal interest affected and which may be included in any future Compulsory Purchase Order and/or become eligible for compensation under section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

7.  Note that a detailed report in relation to the proposed Compulsory Purchase Order setting out the justification and a statement of reasons will be presented to Cabinet in due course.

8.  Note that a full Equalities Impact Assessment will be undertaken into the potential impact of the proposed Compulsory  ...  view the full minutes text for item 107.

Report of the Executive Director of Place (to be circulated)

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

Further to Minute 105 above, the Cabinet 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 Cabinet noted that the report had been considered by the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee at their meeting on 18th January 2017, and that a briefing note outlining their recommendations was circulated.  In particular, in addition to endorsing the recommendations to Cabinet, they recommended that Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee be provided with assurances about any future rolling programme for building developments on the Friargate site.  The Cabinet agreed to accept these recommendations.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet recommend that the 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.

There were no other items of private business.