Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

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Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Audit, Pensions and Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 30^th June and 14^th July 2020.

Stephen Waley-Cohen, Co-opted Member requested that the following amendment be included to the 30^th June minutes.

The Committee discussed options on moving towards a new management agreement and to enable contractors to tender for the Wormwood Scrubs contract independently of any other parts of the borough-wide contract, although there was no restriction on contractors tendering for all the elements of the contract.

RESOLVED

The minutes of the previous meetings were agreed as a correct record

The Committee is asked to note and approve all matters in the report.

Steve Hollingworth, Advisor to the Trust, presented the report.

HS2 Bill Alternative Ecological Mitigation (AEM)

Steve Hollingworth noted that the AEM works were progressing. A conservation management plan had been circulated to the Friends for comments. A subgroup needed to be set up to discuss and agree the masterplan presented at the last Committee.

HS2 – Compensation Code Temporary access to Trust Land

Steve Hollingworth noted that the current programme was for HS2 to access the site in November to carry out visual surveys with clearance work on site commencing in December/January. Patricia Thompson was the community engagement manager for HS2 and had been meeting with the wider community to explain the impact of the proposals. A meeting had been proposed with the Friends and Patricia would also be able to attend a meeting with the Trust to make a presentation if required.

The Chair requested that a meeting be arranged to meet with Patricia Thompson.

Action: Steve Hollingworth

Update on leases

Steve Hollingworth explained that the draft Heads of Terms and a service agreement had been agreed by Kensington Dragons Football Club (KDFC). The Council had appointed a legal advisor to formalise the appropriate agreements.

The licence to use the old tennis courts behind the Linford Christie Stadium allowed the hospital use of this space for a limited period. It was noted that asbestos had been discovered during early mobilisation works. The cost of the remediation of the asbestos works would be offset against the income to be received for the licence.

Park Lodge – details of the lease and the extent of the repairs were being explored. An options paper would be brought to a future Committee.

The licence to Kensington Aldridge Academy (KAA) had been renewed on the same terms.

The Chair requested that residents continued to be kept updated and informed of any planned changes to the KAA lease.

Implementing Strategic Governance Review recommendations

David Burns, Advisor to the Trust noted that at the July 2020 meeting, the Committee approved a report which included proposals for a governance and strategy review.  Currently there was no dedicated officer with the day to day responsibility for supporting the Trust Committee or to help the Trust develop its vision and strategy. Officers therefore recommended approving a budget allocation of £75k a year for two years (£150,000 in total) to fund an appropriate manager role to support this.

Miriam Shea, Co-opted Member asked if there was any scope for Members to feed into the job description. In response David Burns explained that the job description would be co-produced with Trust, including the full remit of the role and annual objectives.

Councillor Helen Rowbottom asked for clarification to be provided on some of the duties that would be carried out by the project manager. David Burns provided an overview of the responsibilities that would be carried out, these included working closely with Council officers to ensure all actions were followed up after Committee meetings. In addition, the new project manager would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

This report presents the outline business case and recommends redevelopment of the site to produce replacement community facilities funded through disposal of the stadium site.

Any discussion on the contents of an exempt appendix will require the Committee to pass the proposed resolution at the end of the agenda to exclude members of the public and press from the proceedings for that discussion.

David Burns, Advisor to the Trust, presented the report and provided an overview of the outline business case and recommendations as to how to proceed. The outline business case (OBC) had been completed and recommended redevelopment of the site to produce replacement community facilities funded through disposal of the stadium site on a long lease for enabling development. This should be secured through a developer partner and procurement process should be undertaken to select the partner.

David Burns provided a brief summary of the OBC and recommended next steps as set out in the report.

The shortlist of options was refined to the following:

1.     Business as Usual (BAU)/Do Nothing

2.     Do Minimum

3.     Athletics & sports centre including pitch hub

4.     Athletics and major indoor arena

5.     Athletics and professional sport stadium

It was noted that options 3, 4 and 5 were all projected to have a more significant impact and be more financially sustainable/ generate potential revenue for the Trust. However, all of these options necessitate the development of new buildings on the Stadium site, which run contrary to the current MOL designation and as such would require a clear planning case based on Very Special Circumstances (VSC) that might be supported on this site.

David Burns explained that the Trust was asked to select a procurement process and if approved Council officers would develop an evaluation in further detail.

Councillor Helen Rowbottom asked who would be developing the social and community benefits in more detail and how would we ensure people were consulted as widely as possible, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. In response David Burns provided an overview of the timelines and the consultation process. He noted that the Committee Members would have an opportunity to feed into the criteria and objectives for the consultation.

Members noted that it would be useful for a detailed timeline of the different stages of the process to be provided, including the time required to overcome the Metropolitan open land arrangements.

Action: David Burns

Stephen Waley-Cohen outlined his concerns around the options recommended in the business case. In addition, he felt that the ecological impact on the hospital and the pony centre and also needed to be considered.  He requested that a separate meeting be held with officers, allowing more time to review the comprehensive documents received in more detail.

The Chair requested that a meeting be arranged with Stephen Waley-Cohen and Miriam Shea to discuss any concerns with Council officer’s relating to the report.

Action: David Burns

RESOLVED

That the Committee agreed to delegate approval of the recommendations in the report to the Chair.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 – ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Proposed resolution:

Under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, that the public and press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business, on the grounds that they contain the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the said Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Stephen Waley-Cohen, Co-opted Member requested an update on the procurement process for the future management and maintenance of the Scrubs and that the Heads of Terms be sent to the Committee. Richard Gill, Advisor to the Trust noted that we were currently procuring the grounds maintenance contract, noting that Wormwood Scrubs contract would be tendered as a separate lot which can be independently let or let as part of the main contract. In addition, an overview of the timelines for the procurement process was provided.

Action: Richard Gill