Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King's Lynn PE30 5DQ

Contact: Wendy Vincent, Democratic Services Officer, 01553 616377, Email:  wendy.vincent@west-norfolk.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

A42

Appointment of Vice Chair

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  In the absence of Councillor J Collop, Councillor A Ryves be appointed Vice-Chair for the meeting.

 

A43

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs J Collingham, J Collop and S Dark.

 

 

A44

Declarations of Interest

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

 

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on any item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

A45

Urgent Business Under Standing Order 7

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposed to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Minutes:

There was no urgent business.

 

A46

Members Present Pursuant to Standing Order 34

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before a decision on that item is taken.

Minutes:

Councillors Miss L Bambridge, C Joyce, J Moriarty and C Morley.

 

 

 

A47

Chair's Correspondence

Minutes:

There was no Chair’s  correspondence.

 

A48

Exclusion of Press and Public

To consider passing the following resolution:

 

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act”.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  The Committee resolved to consider the report in open session.

 

A49

Report of the Cross Party Group to Review the King's Lynn Innovation Centre (KLIC) Project pdf icon PDF 279 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Vice-Chair chaired the meeting for this item.  As the Chair of the Audit Committee had also chaired the Cross Party Working Group she handed the proceedings to the Vice Chair for the remainder of the meeting, in order that she could present the report and answer questions.

 

The Chair of the Cross Party Working Group presented the report on the Review of the King’s Lynn Innovation Centre Project. 

 

The Chair of the Cross Party Working Group drew attention to page 9 of the report:-  “Nautilus is also a member of the NALEP” - and advised the statement was incorrect and was therefore withdrawn from the report.

 

The Vice Chair invited comments and questions from the Audit Committee.

 

Councillor Kemp commented that it was a detailed report, but expressed concern that the lessons learnt had not yet been implemented in particular with regard to due diligence when considering major projects.

 

In response, the Chair of the Cross Party Working Group explained that, as stated in the report, not all the terms of reference had been addressed and that the remaining two areas (to consider the Terms of Reference for the Major Projects Board and to consider the role of Council appointed Directors to an outside body) would be the subject of a separate report.  The Chair of the Cross Party Working Group advised that work was ongoing and a meeting of the working group would be convened as soon as possible to complete the remaining two areas of the terms of reference.

 

In response to a question from Councillor Jones on the options for the future management of the KLIC building, the Leader advised that it would be a Cabinet decision.

 

Under Standing Order 34, Councillor Joyce addressed the Committee. 

 

Councillor Joyce stated that the cost of the building and associated car parking had cost £6m, which was £2m over budget and added that questions had yet to be answered, including where the money went and that £150,000 was not a good return on £6m cost.

 

In response, the Chair of the Cross Party Working Group explained that the working group were not in a position to comment on the cost of the building but commented that the rate of return was based on the value of the asset and land and not on the cost of the KLIC building.  The Interim Financial Services Manager (s151 Officer) explained that the rate of return was calculated as a percentage of the value of the asset on the Council’s Balance Sheet, not the cost of the building which is standard accounting practice.

 

Councillor Joyce commented that officers working on the project had not carried out due diligence checks and a charge had not been placed on the building.  Councillor Joyce also asked why the Councillors involved had been so naïve.

 

Following the comments made by Councillor Joyce, the Leader advised that at the inception of the project, NWES had a track record of delivering similar projects across East Anglia and that  ...  view the full minutes text for item A49

A50

Date of Next Meeting

To note that the date of the next meeting of the Audit Committee will take place on 11 March 2020 at 5 pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Audit Committee will take place on 11 March 2020 at 5 pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.