Agenda and minutes

Venue: Buckland Athletic Football Club, Kingskerswell Rd, Newton Abbot, TQ12 5JU. View directions

Media

Items
No. Item

60.

Declarations of interest

Minutes:

Cllr J Petherick declared an interest as a member of the Planning Committee and stated that he would abstain from voting on the item to be considered.

 

Cllr Daws declared that he was a member of the conceptual Community Benefit Society for the Alexandra Theatre and had been granted dispensation to speak on the matter under consideration but not vote.

 

61.

Future High Street Fund - Capital budget increase to mitigate cost inflation related to the Newton Abbot Cinema construction and fit out pdf icon PDF 168 KB

Minutes:

The Executive Member for Economy and Jobs proposed the recommendation. This was seconded by the Leader who proposed an amendment as follows:

 

The Council resolves to:

 

(1)            Commission its external auditors Grant Thornton, or another appropriately skilled and qualified external audit provider to review and report on the governance of the Future High Street Fund in relation to the commissioning, construction costs, and contracting for the proposed new cinema and the information provided to Council to make informed decisions.  The report to be commissioned as a matter of urgency and presented to the Audit Scrutiny Committee for consideration and any further recommendations;

 

(2)            With effect from October 2022 Officers present a comprehensive written report for each Executive meeting (whether held or not) on delivery of the Future High Street Fund (FHSF) and its various projects.  The report will set out key objectives and timelines, progress towards them, identify when decisions will need to be made by Council / the Executive and all other necessary and relevant information about the FHSF to keep councillors fully informed.  If necessary the report may be a Part II or ‘exempt item’; and

 

(3)            Pending receipt of the Report commissioned in (1) above, the Council now adjourns to a date to be confirmed when it will consider the Officer recommendation for an additional capital budget of up to £600,000 in relation to the Cinema construction and fit out costs.

 

This was seconded by the Executive Member for Corporate Services.

 

Cllr Mullone proposed an amendment to the Leader’s amendment to add a fourth recommendation to engage consultants who specialise in cinemas and the night time economy in the South West as a whole in order to establish how viable a new four screen cinema is. This was seconded by Cllr Patch.

 

The Chair proposed, seconded by the Executive Member for Corporate Services that because of the financially sensitive information to be discussed the Council go into Part II session and exclude the press and public. This was carried.

 

RESOLVED  that under Section 100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 that press and public be excluded from the meeting for the discussion of the financial sensitive information on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of part 1 of schedule 12 A of the Act.

 

The Chair proposed, seconded by Cllr Bullivant that the meeting return to Part I with press and public present. This was carried and the meeting resumed in Part I.

The Head of Place and Commercial Services addressed Members. He stated that the purpose of the recommendation today was to secure additional funding that will enable Scott Cinemas to sign their lease with the Council, to allow the Council to progress the project. Without Scott Cinemas being legally committed the Council could not move forward.

 

If the decision today was to defer this presented a significant risk to delivery. Necessary actions, required to move the project forward would need to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.