Agenda and minutes

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RESOLVED: That Councillor Gidney be appointed Vice Chair of the Panel for the Municipal Year.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Councillors Bone, Whitby and de Whalley (Councillor de Whalley was present remotely under Standing Order 34).

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of 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.

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

There was none.

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

There was none.

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

Councillors Kemp, Moriarty, Parish and Rust.

If any.

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The Chair referred to the Terms of Reference of the Guildhall Complex and Creative Hub Task Group which had been established by the Regeneration and Development Panel and Corporate Performance Panel jointly.

The Task Group would meet soon and the Chair assured Members that the Task Group would work with the Town Board to contribute to detail, scrutinise and look at the Guildhall and Creative Hub project going forward.  However the role of the Task Group was not to look at additional projects or revisit decisions which had already been taken forward.

Councillor Moriarty and Councillor Collingham would discuss the arrangements for the Task Group as appropriate.

To consider the report and make any appropriate recommendations to Cabinet.

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The Assistant Director presented the Cabinet report which provided an update on the progress made to develop detailed Business Cases for the projects approved by the King’s Lynn Town Deal Board and Borough Council (as accountable body) under the government’s Towns Fund programme.  A copy of the presentation is attached which provided information on the status of projects, the revised Town Deal Programme, and the next steps.  The Panel was informed that the project adjustment process was set out by Government.

Members of the Town Deal Board were also present at the meeting.

The Chair thanked officers for their report and invited questions and comments from the Panel, as summarised below.

Councillor Morley referred to the Guildhall and asked about priorities, scope, proposed outputs, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NHLF) Bid.  The Assistant Director explained that it was important to recognise how far the projects had developed in the last twelve months since the heads of terms were prepared, and this had expanded the outputs and outcomes and changed the priority level.   The Assistant Director also explained that the NHLF supported the development of the stage 1 submission for funding.

Councillor Morley asked why the Guildhall had been made a higher priority.  Graham Purkins, Chair of the Town Deal Board explained that the projects were run against a series of metrics to determine their priority and the Guildhall Project had met a lot of the objectives of the Towns Fund and provided opportunities for economic prosperity which put it at high priority.  The increase in budget was because the scope of the project had been broadened and more details of the specifics of the project were now apparent.  The Assistant Director stated that the benefit cost ratio for the Guildhall Project had significantly improved now detail was available.

Councillor Ryves referred to the information provided in the presentation relating to reprioritisation and asked if there was an alternative to the proposals as he felt there were a lot of risks involved.  He referred to projects that other Local Authorities were undertaking and raised concern that training, and skills had not been included.  The Chair reminded Members that now was not the time to be looking at new projects, the Panel should be considering the reprioritisation proposals.  She also reminded Councillor Ryves that training, and skills were included in the Guildhall and Multiuser Hub.

The Portfolio Holder for Business, Culture and Heritage explained that the traffic light system used for the projects would evolve and be reviewed to ensure that the projects continued to meet their objectives.  He also referred to the two projects which were already underway, the School of Nursing and the Youth and Training Pledge which were all about skills and training.

Councillor Jones referred to recommendation four and raised concern that authority had been delegated to Portfolio Holders who were also Members of the Town Deal Board and was concerned that this may cause  ...  view the full minutes text for item RD7:

To note that the next meeting of the Regeneration & Development Panel is scheduled to take place on 14^th June 2022 at 4.30pm in the Town Hall.

The next meeting of the Regeneration and Development Panel would be held on Tuesday 14^th June 2022 at 4.30pm in the Town Hall.