Agenda, decisions and minutes

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Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting.

To receive communications from the Chair.

The Chair explained that the thoughts of councillors and officers were with the people of Ukraine, with West Northants Council sending sympathy and support. The Ukrainian flag was being flown outside of the Council building in a show of solidarity

RESOLVED: That;

a) A new decision making timetable is set to consider the disposal of land at Sixfields by the Leader in consultation with the Portfolio holder for Finance with a view to achieving a capital receipt before the end of 2022. 

b) The Council should trigger the process under Chapter 3 Part 5 Localism Act 2011 relating to a disposal of an asset of Community Value (the Running Track Site). 

c) The Assistant Director Assets & Environment conduct a best consideration assessment of the latest offers from Cilldara and CDNL and report to a future meeting of Cabinet.

REASONS RESOLVED:  

1. To ensure that the Council complies with its legal obligations under the Localism Act 2011.
2. To meet the Council's obligations to seek best consideration in relation to land disposals, as set out in the report

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:

The alternative would be to approve the recommendations as set out in the report, however that would not meet the objectives set out in the recommendations.

At the Chair’s invitation Councillor Malcolm Longley presented the report, copies of which had been previously circulated. It was noted that, when delivering this item to full Council the objective had been to listen to views and these had been taken on board.

Councillors made the following comments.

• Recommendation 8 within the KPMG report, ‘pressures on sign off process’ advised that a decision be paused should new information come to light.
• There were various reservations and worries from members regarding this item.
• It was noted that it had been a sensible idea for the council to go down the Red Book route as opposed to the open market.
• This item was a good example of a decision that should be looked over by the scrutiny committee.
• The football club was championed for its social value to the County.
• It was queried whether WNC could have used and regenerated the land itself.

The Chair made the following comments.

·         WNC hold the freehold on the land but not the leasehold which is for 150 years, as such the council cannot develop on it without breaking the lease.

·         The information from the KPMG report is very relevant and important.

·         There had been big criticisms regarding some of decisions made by NBC in the past, specifically related to diligence and transparency.

·         The comments at full council had been very helpful.

Councillor Adam Brown noted that the Scrutiny Committee were within their rights to request to view an item and did not have to wait for Cabinet to refer a matter to them.

Councillor Malcolm Longley noted that there had been many interesting comments made and that it was important for the process to be an ethical one as well as a competitive one. Members were advised that this item would be deferred to the March Cabinet meeting with the timescale being reset.

Councillor Longley presented the new recommendations to Cabinet.

RESOLVED: That.

a)    A new decision-making timetable is set to consider the disposal of land at Sixfields by the Leader in consultation with the Portfolio holder for Finance with a view to achieving a capital receipt before the end of 2022. 

b)    The Council should trigger the process under Chapter 3 Part 5 Localism Act 2011 relating to a disposal of an asset of Community Value (the Running Track Site). 

c)    The Assistant Director Assets & Environment conduct a best consideration assessment of the latest offers from Cilldara and CDNL and report to a future meeting of Cabinet.

The Chairman to advise whether they have agreed to any items of urgent business being admitted to the agenda.

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