One question had been received from Members in accordance with paragraph 19.3 of Part 2 (The Council and District Council Members) of the Constitution.

Question 1: Cllr Purves

“Before we commit ourselves to borrowing £3.635 million we need to know: 

Have any cafes / drive throughs committed to take a lease or just shown an interest? 

Direct Services equipment. 4 trucks and a great mass of wheely bins, bottle banks and other associated material stored here. Where is this to go if Dunbrik depot is full and no room at Hollybush lock up depot? 

Is the contingency percentage (as specified in the Gold pages) sufficient, bearing in mind the increased costs due to unforeseen circumstances at Farmstead Drive and White Oak Leisure centre? 

Is this the time to take out more loans bearing in mind the current financial situation with many local councils with over investment? What assurances can be given that we are not going down the same path?”

Response: Leader of the Council

“There is a report in front of Members, where I believe some of these matters have been addressed but, as you’ve raised them specifically at this point in the proceedings. Your first question was regarding the borrowing and whether any café or drive-through had already committee to the lease or just shown an interest. The Council has received firm interest from drive-through operators, who had given an indication as to the lease terms they might be seeking. While generic provision is being made for such an operation for design and feasibility purposes, such an operation will need to be offered to the market on a competitive basis prior to entering into any particular lease arrangement.  So basically, yes we’ve had interest shown. No we have yet to actually sign up with anybody in particular as we’re too far away but we know that there is interest.

Your second question, the current site is not being efficiently used and officers are in discussion as to how best to optimise Direct Services’ operation on this site and the use of alternative sites. This work is on-going. At the moment this is not a priority because we’ve yet to approve it but should this scheme be approved this evening then it will go onto the list of priorities to sort, but yet to have a final solution.

Thirdly, the contingency percentage. This level of contingency is quite high given the size, type and scale of the project, but considered sensible and cautious given the early stages of design development we are at. The Council has sought advice on the level of contingency to be applied and the contingency is considered to be appropriate for this particular project. Significant due diligence work including detailed geotechnical site investigation have already been undertaken and these have helped to prepare the contingency levels that we’re working on. It is therefore prudent to have high contingencies at early stages of development and as design emerges and become fixed then that contingency can be reduced as the scheme is de-risked through design. So it is deemed that the level we have at the moment is high and considered to be right and appropriate at this stage.

You ask about whether it is right to be taking out more loans, capital and revenue budgets are treated separately by local authorities. This development will be deploying capital, and the financial and development appraisals suggest that the scheme is viable, and that the Council could deploy various exit strategies should it need to. There’s a certain amount of flexibility in there. It is also important to bear in mind that the District needs to support its businesses and provide job opportunities and there is a need for such developments.

Finance & Investment Advisory Committee have recognised the increase in size of the capital programme and the risks that brings.  This highlights the importance of the depth of due diligence that our officers carry out for each scheme to mitigate and be aware of risks. Other councils have issued S114 notices for a number of reasons.  Where they have related to property it should be noted that the scale has been considerably higher than this councils and the due diligence has not been carried out to the same degree.”

No supplementary question was asked. In accordance with the constitution no follow up discussion was allowed.