Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Christopher Malpas (Councillor Bottwood substituted) and Alan Bottwood (Councillor Golby substituted) and Councillor Elizabeth Gowen (Councillor Birch substituted).

The Chair to note public address requests.

The public can speak on any agenda item for a maximum of three minutes per speaker per item.  You are not required to register your intention to speak in advance but should arrive at the meeting a few minutes early, complete a Public Address Protocol and notify the Scrutiny Officer of your intention to speak.

There were none.

There were none.

Called in by Councillors Danielle Stone and Julie Davenport (copy attached.)

Item 8:  Delapre Abbey Restoration Project:

Decision

Cabinet approved the additional capital expenditure of up to £490,000 in order to meet the costs of additional works that need to be undertaken to enable the full public opening of Delapre Abbey.

Cabinet agreed to amend the capital programme for 2017/2018 in order to provide for additional capital expenditure of up to £490,000 for Delapre Abbey funded by £120,000 of 2016/17 underspends and a reduction of £370,000 to the block capital programmes 2017/18 as detailed in 4.2.3 of the report.

Cabinet delegated authority to approve, control and monitor expenditure to the Director of Regeneration, Enterprise and Planning, as appropriate, acting in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer.

Procedure for the Call-In Hearing

Public speakers will be asked to address the Committee; a maximum of three minutes is given to each to make comment.

The Call-In Authors, Councillors Danielle Stone and Julie Davenport, will be invited to expand upon their reasons for concern, following which the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will question the Call-In Authors.

Councillor Jonathan Nunn, Leader of the Council, and Councillor Tim Hadland, Cabinet Member for Enterprise, Regeneration and Planning, will be invited to make a presentation outlining his main reasons for the decision.  The Committee will then put questions to the Cabinet Member and Officers. 

Officers will be invited to give evidence and respond to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s questions.  The Officers will be asked to give their reasons for any recommendations or advice to Members. A question and answer session will follow.

The Call-In Authors will then be given the opportunity to add any points of clarification before any resolution or recommendation is moved.

The Chair will then sum up the findings regarding the Cabinet decision. If there are still concerns, the Chair will lead in the determination of the recommendation with reasons for consideration by Cabinet. At the conclusion of the debate and following response to all matters raised, the Chair will ask the Committee to vote to determine whether or not it upholds the decision of the Cabinet.

Upon the advice of the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer, this Call-In request had been through the appropriate channels and it was confirmed that procedure had been followed. The Call-In Authors, Councillors Danielle Stone and Julie Davenport, would be invited to expand upon their reasons for concern, following which the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would question the Call-In Authors.

Councillor Jonathan, Leader of the Council, Councillor Tim Hadland, Cabinet member for Regeneration, Planning and Enterprise, would be invited to give evidence and respond to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s questions. The Cabinet Members would be asked to give their reasons for their recommendations or advice.  A questions and answer session would follow.

The Call-In Authors would then be given the opportunity to add any points of clarification before any resolution or recommendation be moved.

The Chair would then sum up the findings regarding the Cabinet decision. If there were still concerns, the Chair would lead in determination of the recommendation with reasons for consideration by Cabinet. At the conclusion of the debate and following responses to all matters raised, the Chair will ask the Committee to vote to determine whether or not it would uphold the decision of Cabinet.

Councillor Danielle Stone, Call-In Author, and Councillor Julie Davenport addressed the Committee and expanded upon their reasons for Call-In: -

Key points:-

Councillor Stone commented:

·         The Call In had been raised regarding how the decision had been made for the additional capital expenditure of £490,000 and queried how this figure had been arrived at.   There is a need for good governance and good management in decision making.  The Call In Authors felt that there had been inadequate management control and queried what management controls are in place.

·         The Call In Authors were concerned why costs were climbing for the restoration of the Abbey and queried why the project had been overspent.

·         There is a need for proper checks to ensure the Project is value for money.  Councillor Stone referred to the Committee to the Call In that detailed the recent history of the additional capital costs approved by Cabinet.  There had been an additional £2 million allocated to the project.

·         Councillor Stone queried whether the Delapre Abbey Preservation Trust (DAPT)’s business case had been revised, and if so how many times?  She went on to query what consultation had been undertaken. 

·         Concern was raised regarding the health and safety requirements; Councillor Stone commented that health and safety should be present in all project plans. She queried whether the initial safety audit was adequate. Councillor Stone referred to the Consultants that had been engaged to produce the Funding Plan for the Project.  Its cost had been around £20,000.  None of the strategies proposed by the Consultants had been implemented.

§  The project is still in Phase 1 but this further expenditure relates to Phase 2.

·         Councillor Stone asked for responses to the following questions:

Ø   Whether there had been revisions to the Business Plan

Ø   Information regarding income generation vs bookings and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.