Agenda item

Decision:

a)    That the current financial position of WUV at the planning committee meeting gateway be endorsed.

b)    That the Director of Strategic Services,in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Lead Councillor for Regeneration, be authorised to finalise heads of terms in accordance with those attached to the report and thereafter to negotiate, sign and complete the legal agreement with Surrey County Council in accordance with the finalised heads of terms and to proceed with implementation of the relocation of the Waste Transfer Facility accordingly.

c)     That the Director of Strategic Services, in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Regeneration, be authorised to enter into such other contracts and legal agreements connected with the Weyfield Urban Village (WUV) project as may be necessary at reasonable costs within the approved budget.

d)    That the commencement of infrastructure procurement following receipt of a satisfactory planning consent pursuant to Hybrid planning application submitted on 15 December 2020 (Reference No 20/P/02155) be endorsed. 

e)    That the transfer of £67.185m from the provisional capital programme to the approved capital programme for payments which the Council is obliged to make to Thames Water under the TW Agreement for 2021/22 and 2022/23, for costs necessary to meet the milestones set within the Homes England HIF agreement and design cost necessary to prepare the planning application for the SCC waste transfer facility be approved.

Reasons:

a)    It was agreed that the project team would report the financial position of WUV at the planning committee meeting gateway.

b)    To ensure that there is sufficient funding in the approved programme to cover the phase 1 Infrastructure costs, SCC waste transfer design cost and the payments which the Council is obliged to make to TWUL under the TW Agreement for 2021/22 and 2022/23.

c)     To inform the Executive of the Commencement of Infrastructure Procurement following receipt of a satisfactory planning consent. 

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

None.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None

The Leader reminded the meeting that all of the appendices attached to the report before the Executive were designated as exempt by the Monitoring Officer. Consequently, if the exempt material were to be discussed the press and public would need to be excluded from the meeting.

The Lead Councillor for Regeneration introduced the report as the latest update on the 41-hectare brownfield regeneration scheme that the Council anticipated could deliver approximately 1,500 homes across a range of tenures as well as 2,000 square metres of community space and 6,500 square metres of employment space.  The Council owned 44% of the site. At the full Council meeting on 10 February 2021, a total capital budget of £334.947 million had been approved to enable the infrastructure phase of the project to proceed. The updated cost was £328m. 

The Executive was asked to endorse the current financial position of the project at the planning application gateway stage and to agree to transfer £67.185m from the provisional capital programme budget to the approved capital programme budget for payments which the Council was obliged to make for costs necessary under the Thames Water Agreement and to meet the milestones set within the Homes England HIF agreement and design cost necessary to prepare the planning application for the SCC waste transfer facility. The Council had been awarded £52m in grants from Homes England Housing Infrastructure Fund and £7.5m from the M3 Local Enterprise Partnership with a further £500,000 awarded for the relocation of community facilities.

On 15 December 2020 a hybrid planning application had been submitted to the Council seeking outline consent. The ‘hybrid’ application was so called as part of the application sought outline permission for housing, employment and community space etc. whilst full permission was sought for access roads and associated utilities etc. Heads of terms with Surrey County Council was in the process of being agreed and once agreed the new waste facility could proceed. The budgeted costs were set out in the report.

The Executive agreed that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and Regulation 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, the public be excluded from the meeting for consideration of the exempt Appendices referred to in agenda item 9 on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the 1972 Act.

The meeting discussed the restricted material and returned to public session for the vote on the recommendations.

The Executive

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the current financial position of WUV at the planning committee meeting gateway be endorsed.

(2)   That the Director of Strategic Services,in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Lead Councillor for Regeneration, be authorised to finalise heads of terms in accordance with those attached to the report and thereafter to negotiate, sign and complete the legal agreement with Surrey County Council in accordance with the finalised heads of terms and to proceed with implementation of the relocation of the Waste Transfer Facility accordingly.

(3)   That the Director of Strategic Services, in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Regeneration, be authorised to enter into such other contracts and legal agreements connected with the Weyfield Urban Village (WUV) project as may be necessary at reasonable costs within the approved budget.

(4)   That the commencement of infrastructure procurement following receipt of a satisfactory planning consent pursuant to Hybrid planning application submitted on 15 December 2020 (Reference No 20/P/02155) be endorsed. 

(5)   That the transfer of £67.185m from the provisional capital programme to the approved capital programme for payments which the Council is obliged to make to Thames Water under the TW Agreement for 2021/22 and 2022/23, for costs necessary to meet the milestones set within the Homes England HIF agreement and design cost necessary to prepare the planning application for the SCC waste transfer facility be approved.

Reasons:

a)    It was agreed that the project team would report the financial position of WUV at the planning committee meeting gateway.

b)    To ensure that there is sufficient funding in the approved programme to cover the phase 1 Infrastructure costs, SCC waste transfer design cost and the payments which the Council is obliged to make to TWUL under the TW Agreement for 2021/22 and 2022/23.

c)     To inform the Executive of the Commencement of Infrastructure Procurement following receipt of a satisfactory planning consent.