Decision details

RESOLVED: That Cabinet;

a)    Approved the Outline Business Case (OBC) for the 35-45 Abington Street Project, to draw down on £9.7m of Towns Fund funding.

b)    Approved the Procurement and Delivery Strategy (Appendix B) that sets out the recommended delivery route for the 35-45 Abington Street Project (which recommends using a form of Development Agreement to deliver the project).

c)    Authorised the purchase of each of 35-39 Abington Street and 20-28 Wood Street, in each case subject to a red book valuation and satisfactory due diligence on the site, a resultant acquisition being made at no more than a fair commercial price taking account of all relevant factors.

d)    Confirmed it is willing in principle to exercise its compulsory purchase powers to facilitate the development, if necessary.

e)    Noted a further Cabinet report would be brought back upon the completion of the procurement process to seek approval for the preferred bidder.

REASONS RESOLVED:

1)    Allowed the 35-45 Abington Street development site to proceed and to ensure the grant award is spent within the award timescales.

2)    Maximised the opportunities for the effective use of public money.

3)    Reduced the likelihood that current owners will attempt to ‘ransom’ the Council’s aspirations for regeneration of the town centre by seeking excessive prices for their properties.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:

If this is not approved, this would mean looking at other options that would not meet the objectives in delaying the project which is likely to then result in losing the allocated Government funding which in turn would mean the project would not be brought forward