Meeting Details

Revolving Investment Fund Committee
27 Jun 2018 - 18:00 to 00:00
Occurred
  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Part A
To appoint a Chairman for the ensuing municipal year. 
73
RESOLVED that Councillor David King be elected as Chairman of the Revolving Investment Fund Committee for the 2018-19 municipal year. 

To appoint a Deputy Chairman for the ensuing municipal year.

74
RESOLVED that Councillor T. Young be elected as Deputy Chairman of the Revolving Investment Fund Committee for the 2018-19 municipal year.
3 Welcome and Announcements
The Chairman will welcome members of the public and Councillors and remind everyone to use microphones at all times when they are speaking. The Chairman will also explain action in the event of an emergency, mobile phones switched to silent, audio-recording of the meeting. Councillors who are members of the committee will introduce themselves.
4 Substitutions
Councillors will be asked to say if they are attending on behalf of a Committee member who is absent.
5 Urgent Items
The Chairman will announce if there is any item not on the published agenda which will be considered because it is urgent and will explain the reason for the urgency.
6 Declarations of Interest
Councillors will be asked to say if there are any items on the agenda about which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest which would prevent them from participating in any discussion of the item or participating in any vote upon the item, or any other pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest.
7 Have Your Say!
The Chairman will invite members of the public to indicate if they wish to speak or present a petition on any item included on the agenda or any other matter relating to the terms of reference of the meeting. Please indicate your wish to speak at this point if your name has not been noted by Council staff.
8 Minutes of Previous Meeting
The Committee will be invited to confirm that the minutes are a correct record of the meeting held on 6 December 2017.
75
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2017 be confirmed as a correct record.
The Committee will consider a report providing a summary of progress of key Revolving Investment Fund (RIF) projects including details of spending during the last financial year.
76

The Strategic Director, Policy and Place, submitted a report a copy of which had been circulated to each Member.

 

Ian Vipond, Strategic Director, Policy and Place, Fiona Duhamel, Assistant Director, Colchester Commercial Holdings Ltd and Holly Brett, Commercial Programme and Resource Manager, Colchester Amphora Trading Ltd, attended to assist the Panel.

 

Fiona Duhamel introduced the report and provided the Committee with an update on the progress of the key Revolving Investment Fund (RIF) schemes. The success of a number of schemes completed through the RIF, such as Sheepen Road Phase 1 and the Commercial Business Centre, were also highlighted. 

 

Significant progress had been made on a number of the projects.  Northern Gateway was the largest project and in view of its value, was reported to Cabinet.  The planning application was due to be considered by the Planning Committee on 5 July, and work was underway to allow the enabling works to begin.  The associated project to relocate the rugby and cricket clubs from Mill Road was also underway.  In respect of the town centre projects, a local tenant had been found for Sheepen Road Phase 2, and negotiations with the tenant for the former “Jacks” building were ongoing. Tenders would be issued shortly with work due to start on site later in the summer. 

 

In response to questions from the Committee it was confirmed that the tenders for the former “Jacks” building would be for the initial work to make the building safe, which would then enable the tenant to proceed to fit out the building.  In respect of the area around Jacks, members asked about the progress of the redevelopment of St Nicholas Square and the old Co-op building.  It was explained that HAT Projects, an award winning local firm, had been appointed to undertake consultation with businesses in the area, including the Co-op.

 

It was also confirmed that progress on the “Grow On Space” project would be reported to the RIF Steering Committee in July.  In respect of the digital strategy, it was anticipated that the roll out of ultrafast broadband would cover the whole borough, which would significantly improve the broadband service to rural areas.  The government voucher scheme had been operational since April 2018 and a number of businesses had used the scheme.  The importance of funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for the digital strategy was stressed.

 

It was also noted by the Committee that the vote on Business Improvement District would be held on 29 June.  If this was successful, it would be significant boost for the town centre, and would also help with the delivery of the town centre projects as it would enable the town centre businesses to speak with one voice.

 

The Committee thanked officers of Colchester Borough Council and Colchester Commercial Holdings Ltd, and the previous portfolio holder Annie Feltham, for their work on the projects funded by the RIF.  The scale of the projects showed the ambition the Council had for Colchester and its commitment to regeneration.  The role of partner organisations such as the University of Essex was also acknowledged.  This would leave a lasting legacy for Colchester.  It was also important that the public understood this ambition and were kept informed about the progress of these key projects.

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

 

REASONS

 

To provide the Committee with a timely update on progress of the key capital projects which are managed through the RIF.  A number of the larger projects have previously been reported to the Cabinet due to their value and this report seeks to provide an update on these projects alongside other RIF schemes in delivery.

 

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS

 

No alternative options were proposed, as the Strategic Director’s report was an update for the Committee to note.


10 Exclusion of the Public (Cabinet)
In accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and in accordance with The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 to exclude the public, including the press, from the meeting so that any items containing exempt information (for example personal, financial or legal advice), in Part B of this agenda (printed on yellow paper) can be decided. (Exempt information is defined in Section 100I and Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972).
Publication and Call in Arrangements

Date Published 28 June 2018

 Date when decisions may be implemented (unless ‘called in’) 5pm 5 July 2018 

 NB   All decisions except urgent decisions, those subject to pre-scrutiny and those recommended to Council may be subject to the Call-in Procedure.  Requests for the scrutiny of relevant decisions by the Scrutiny Panel must be signed by at least ONE Councillor AND FOUR other Councillors to countersign the call-in form OR to indicate support by e-mail.  All such requests must be delivered to the Proper Officer by no later than 5pm on Thursday 5 July 2018.


Part B
To approve the not for publication extract from the minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2017.
  1. Minutes 06-12-17 not for publication extract
    • This report is not for publication by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (financial / business affairs of a particular person, including the authority holding information).
77

The Committee resolved under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and in accordance with the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements)(Meetings and Access to Information)(England) Regulations 2012 to exclude the public from the meeting for the following item as they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

 

RESOLVED that the not for publication extract of the minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2017 be confirmed as a correct record.


Attendance

Name
No other member attendance information has been recorded for the meeting.
NameReason for Sending ApologySubstituted By
No apology information has been recorded for the meeting.
NameReason for AbsenceSubstituted By
No absentee information has been recorded for the meeting.

Declarations of Interests

Member NameItem Ref.DetailsNature of DeclarationAction
No declarations of interest have been entered for this meeting.

Visitors

Visitor Information is not yet available for this meeting