Agenda item

Report of the Director of Transportion and Highways

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Transportation and Highways which indicated that, since 2019, the Council has transformed the city centre through a £44m programme of investment in the Public Realm. The impact of this work has been significant, attracting developers to invest in the city and preparing the city centre to become host of UK City of Culture 2021. This investment will be complemented by the next phase of the Public Realm improvements due to be completed later this year, using Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) Local Growth Deal grant and West Midlands Combined Authority funding.

Palmer Lane is a proposed regeneration scheme located within St Michaels Ward and within the City Centre boundaries, it is noted for being the point within the city that the River Sherbourne can be viewed. The Palmer Lane regeneration scheme aims to turn a part of the city centre into a visitor experience, deculverting the Sherbourne, supporting the repurposing of the Illingworth building and creating a new public space to spend time near the river. The scheme will include extensive landscaping, enhanced lighting and sustainability improvements to the area. It ties in with the works which have recently taken place on the Burges. Concept designs were detailed in an appendix to the report.

The scheme was approved in principle by Cabinet as part of the Public Realm Phase 5 report in March 2018. As a complement to the Public Realm 5 (PR5) works taking place in the city centre as a result of the approvals in that report, there is a need for an additional £0.95m to fund the regeneration of Palmer Lane and take advantage of external funding.  This gap funding of £0.95m has been identified from Council Corporate Capital Receipts.  The delivery of the Palmer Lane scheme has a total cost of £1.659m.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change:-

1.  Approves the addition of £0.95m to the Capital Programme to fund the overall estimated £1.6m scheme.

2.  Delegates authority to the Director of Transportation and Highways to conclude negotiations and enter into legal agreements with various landowners for parcels of land to be acquired or leased by the Council and/or for licences to be entered into to enable works to be carried out and for agreements to be entered into and/or for leases to be granted by the Council to third parties over land in the Council’s ownership in order for the scheme to be viable.

3.  Notes the exercise of the delegated authority to commence the procurement exercise to appoint a works contractor for the delivery of the infrastructure requirements of the project and to award the contract to the successful tenderer.

4.  Delegates authority to the Director of Transportation and Highways, following consultation with the Director of Law and Governance, to approve grant expenditure to any such external body, third party or person as is deemed necessary for the delivery of the Palmer Lane project up to a maximum sum of £250,000.