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Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Room A - Civic Offices. View directions

Contact: Vicki Plytas 02392 834058  Email: vicki.plytas@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

11.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Councillor Donna Jones, Leader of the Council with responsibilities for PRED welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Chowdhury.

12.

Declarations of Members' Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of members' interests.

13.

Victoria Park Action Plan pdf icon PDF 122 KB

The purpose of this report is to seek approval of the Victoria Park Action Plan.

 

RECOMMENDED that the Leader of the Council with responsibilities for  Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development approves the Victoria Park Action Plan.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(TAKE IN REPORT)

 

The Assistant Director of Culture and City Development introduced the report stating that it was a framework/guidance document not a hard and fast plan. The Action Plan was being brought to PRED as Victoria Park is seen as an important part of the city.  The document would form part of a larger plan going forward which would go to the full Cabinet with recommendations.

 

Written representations had been received from Janice Burkinshaw and Martin Chalk. Deputation requests had been made by Ms Hilary Reed, Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson and Councillor Lee Hunt.

 

Ms Hilary Reed made her deputation which included the following points;

·         A request that the item be withdrawn

·         An assertion that the Equality Impact Assessment was defective and non-compliant

·         That community involvement and consultation should be carried out before any decision was taken

·         Requested an explanation of why this had been separated from the Public Realm Strategy.

 

Councillor Vernon-Jackson made his deputation which included the following points:

·         that the item should not be decided today so that consultation could take place as happened for the Seafront Strategy

·         Failing that, he requested that the paragraph entitled Project Description on page 13 of the report and the paragraph headed "Aviary Removal/Band stand Facility" be deleted

·         That Art & Soul Traders be offered a renewal of their lease.

 

Councillor Lee Hunt made his deputation which included the following points:

·         He supported all the points made by Councillor Vernon-Jackson.

·         He said it would be helpful if the letter sent to Mr Lewis was withdrawn

·         He suggested that perhaps students could help with the consultation as they had with the Seafront Strategy

·         He thought the paper was premature and hoped it would be withdrawn

 

Councillor Donna Jones thanked those making deputations and invited questions from opposition spokespersons.

 

In response to a query about why the original Equality Impact Assessment had been withdrawn, the Assistant Director of Culture and City Development said that because this was a guidance/framework document, it was not possible to assess the impact. If this was taken forward today, the next step would be to seek authority from Cabinet to go out for public consultation - usually 6-8 weeks.  The process would be similar to that used for Supplementary Planning Documents and once the results of the consultation were known, an Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) would be done at that stage.

The legal adviser, Mr Robert Parkin, said that although the Council has a public sector equality duty,  he explained that the law does not require an EIA on every occasion.  The decision today is to adopt a framework so there are no consequences yet that would enable an EIA to be carried out at this stage.  The original EIA distributed with the papers had therefore been withdrawn. 

The Assistant Director of Culture and City Development said that the document was intended to set out ideas that would help developers in the future.

Councillor Jones said that she recognised this was an emotive subject and said that full consultation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Update on Building Control Partnership

A verbal update will be provided by the Assistant Director of Culture and City Development.

 

Minutes:

A verbal update was provided by the Assistant Director of Culture and City Development, Claire Upton-Brown.  She reported that the Council Building Control team joined the Gosport and Fareham Borough Council Partnership last Summer.

The Partnership is working well though there have been some problems around recruitment and retention. The Partnership management team are now looking at a revised staffing structure to address these issues.  Initial discussions about expanding the Partnership are taking place and the possibility of  setting up a Trading Company is being considered.

 

15.

Exclusion of Press and Public

(NB Please note that appendix 1 of this report is Exempt and if Members wish to refer to it, there is provision to do so following the exclusion of the press and public)

 

That in view of the contents of the following item on the agenda the Leader of the Council with responsibilities for PRED is RECOMMENDED to adopt the following motion:

 

“That, under the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act, 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act, 1985, the press and public be excluded for the consideration of the following item on the grounds that the appendix to the report contains information defined as exempt in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972”.

 

Under the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) England Regulations 2012, regulation 5, the reason for exemption of the listed item is shown below.

 

(NB     The exempt/confidential committee papers on the agenda will contain information which is commercially, legally or personally sensitive and should not be divulged to third parties.  Members are reminded of standing order restrictions on the disclosure of exempt information and are invited to return their exempt documentation to the Senior Local Democracy Officer at the conclusion of the meeting for shredding.)

 

The public interest in maintaining the exemption must outweigh the public interest in disclosing the information.

 

Item

 

 

Exemption Para No.*

6.

Northern Quarter: Termination of Development Agreement

 

3

*Paragraph 3 - Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

 

 

 

 

Minutes:

Councillor Jones said that although there is provision to move the meeting into exempt session, she hoped to keep proceedings in open for as long as possible which could be achieved if Members did not need to refer to the exempt appendix to the report.

16.

Northern Quarter: Termination of Development Agreement pdf icon PDF 102 KB

The purpose of the report is to provide the background to the recommendation to terminate the development agreement and agreement for lease between Portsmouth City Council, and Centros Portsmouth Partnership Limited (CPLP).

 

RECOMMENDED

 

(1)  That the development agreement and agreement for lease be terminated.

(2)  That a report is prepared for the S151 Officer and Deputy Chief Executive for action in consultation with the Leader of the Council with responsibilities for PRED on:

 

i.              any sums outstanding between the parties and the rights of recovery,

ii.            property implications regarding the transfer of titles or otherwise of the properties currently held in trust on behalf of CPLP.

 

Minutes:

(TAKE IN REPORT)

 

 

Tom Southall, Property & Investment Manager introduced the report which provides background to the recommendation to terminate the development agreement and agreement for lease between Portsmouth City Council and Centros Portsmouth Limited Partnership (CPLP).

 

Councillor Vernon-Jackson was invited to make his deputation which he then did including the following points

·         the delays in developing the Northern Quarter caused by a number of factors (including from one protestor who significantly delayed the compulsory purchase order), then the economic downturn

·         it would be useful to have clarification on the ownership of the land and also how others owning property in Commercial Road will be affected.

·         He advocated the City Council should look at investing in a scheme to move the development forward as part of the Council's investment portfolio as that may generate a profit and also would lead to more business rates being received by the Council.

 

Tom Southall explained the land ownership and said that public documents were available that detail the ownership.

 

Councillor Jones said that matters had moved on since the Northern Quarter development had first been considered.  The scheme had effectively been dead for at least five years and there was now a need to formalise the situation.  A good relationship between the Council and the Land Agents had now been established with the intention of formulating a cohesive plan going forward. She said that the recovery of costs mentioned in s 6 of the report will be the subject of a further report for the s151 officer and Deputy Chief Executive for action in consultation with the Leader of the Council with responsibilities for PRED.

 

DECISION:

 

(1)       To terminate the development agreement and agreement for lease.

 

(2)       That a report is prepared for the S151 Officer and Deputy Chief Executive for action in consultation with the Leader of the Council with responsibilities for PRED on:

i.          Any sums outstanding between the parties and the rights of recovery,

ii.         property implications regarding the transfer of titles or otherwise of the properties currently held in trust on behalf of Centros Portsmouth Partnership Limited.