Agenda and minutes

The Committee was advised of apologies from Councillors Geoff Davis, James Jones, Katie Steel, and Catherine Young.  There were no substitutes.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda. Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

In relation to item 3, G Live Contract Award, Councillor Jane Tyson disclosed a non-pecuniary interest due to running a group at G Live and indicated it would not affect her objectivity in relation to the matter.

For the Committee to comment on the proposed G Live contract award.

The Chairperson welcomed the Lead Councillor for Commercial Services, Councillor Houston, the Assistant Director, Commercial Services, and Mr. Julian Russell, Consultant.

The Assistant Director, Commercial Services, introduced the item.  He indicated that the G Live contract was one of the Council's largest and most high profile contracts.  The meeting was advised that the report submitted to the Committee summarised the outcome of the procurement process and made recommendations to the Executive on a type of contract for the next phase of G Live.  The Assistant Director, Commercial Services, informed the meeting that the exempt appendix to the Committee’s report contained a detailed technical breakdown and summary of the procurement process for the project.

Mr. Russell gave a presentation outlining the G Live contract procurement process, its outcomes, and the recommendation being made to the Council’s Executive.  As part of this presentation the meeting was given a brief history of G Live, followed by summaries of the minimum requirements of the procurement process, the operator market, the scoring of submissions, and the conclusion of the process.  The Committee was informed that the recommendation to the Executive would be appoint Trafalgar Entertainment Group as the operators of G Live for a twenty-five-year contract. 

Mr. Russell advised the meeting that under the proposed new contract arrangements the Council would receive a guaranteed annual rent of £240,000 increasing in line with RPI over the twenty-five-year term.  He highlighted the additional annual gain share that would be paid to the Council should profit exceed a certain level, and over £5m of capital investment in G Live by Trafalgar Theatres over the contract term to protect the asset and improve audience experiences.  In addition, the Committee was advised that under the new contract terms the Creative Learning & Education function at G Live would be strengthened, asset management risk transferred to the operator and, in return for relinquishing some sovereignty of the venue’s programme, there would be an improvement in revenue contribution of approximately £500,000 per annum for the Council. 

The Lead Councillor for Commercial Services praised officers, Mr. Russell, the operatorsparticipating in the invitation to negotiate, and members of an overview and scrutiny working group for their involvement in the project.

The Chairman referred to the designation of financial information within the appendix of the report submitted to the Committee as exempt due to its commercial sensitivity. 

The Committee,

RESOLVED:  That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of information contained within the Appendix to the report on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act; namely, information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

The Committee questioned elements of the exempt information; namely, the commercial scores of both tenderers, net present value, the fixed rent to be received, the projected profit share, and the capital  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSS3