Democracy in Crawley

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Issue - meetings

Town Hall Site Redevelopment: Revised Budget for the District Heat Network

Meeting: 11/03/2020 - Cabinet (Item 11)

11 Town Hall Site Redevelopment: Revised Budget for the District Heat Network

The Leader’s Portfolio

 

Exempt Paragraphs 3 & 5

 

To consider report DCE/05 of the Deputy Chief Executive, which was referred to the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission held on 9 March 2020.

 

In accordance with Urgency Notice 13.2 has been enacted in agreement with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission.

 

 

This report will be included in a supplementary agenda.

 

Minutes:

Exempt Paragraphs 3 & 5

 

The Leader of the Council presented report, DCE/05 of the Deputy Chief Executive. The purpose of the report was to set out the changes to the District Heat Network scheme that have created the additional cost and to seek agreement on the way forward that avoids increasing the overall budget for the Town Hall Site Redevelopment project.

 

Councillor Rana presented the Overview and Scrutiny Commission’s comments on the report to the Cabinet following consideration of the matter at its meeting on 9 March 2020, which included that the Commission had given its broad support in principle for the report. Also that the Commission unanimously supported option 3 within section 6 of the report DCE/05, with the addition of discreet progress and expenditure tracking against the DHN within that area.

 

Councillor Irvine spoke on the report.

 

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Cabinet

 

a)         notes the recent design changes to the design of the District Heat Network (DHN), the cost implications and the underlying reasons for this

 

b)         notes the level of expenditure incurred to date on the DHN project

 

c)         agrees the continuation of the DHN project, subject to Full Council agreement that the budget allocations for the Town Hall Site Redevelopment can henceforth be treated as a global budget

 

d)         agrees for officers to pursue recompense for erroneous advice received should investigations reveal that course of action to be appropriate

 

That Full Council be recommended to:

 

a)         Note that the budget for the New Town Hall contract contains a high level of contingency

 

b)         Agree that the budget allocations for the Town Hall Site Redevelopment can henceforth be treated as a global budget under the delegations to the Deputy Chief Executive as agreed by Full Council in the February 2017.

 

Reasons for the Recommendations

 

In February 2017, the Council agreed the deliverables of the Town Hall Site Redevelopment, the budget lines to achieve this, and the delegated powers to develop and proceed with the development (set out in more detail in Section 4 of report DCE/05). In December 2018, the Council agreed to amend the budget for the District Heat Network, taking account of the benefits of the scheme (also set out in Section 4 of report DCE/05)). The recommendations above will allow both schemes to proceed without impacting on the combined budgets previously agreed.

 

Whilst it could be argued that given no further funding is being sought, there are sufficient delegations already in place to treat the individual budgets as a global figure, and to use the quarterly finance monitoring to vire funding; it is also arguable that this would not be sufficiently transparent for a project of this type and profile. Furthermore, it is appropriate to set out any changes to the rate of return anticipated from this investment given that these will have changed since the December 2018 report. 

 

 


Meeting: 09/03/2020 - Overview and Scrutiny Commission (Item 8)

8 Town Hall Site Redevelopment: Revised Budget for the District Heat Network

Exempt Paragraphs 3 & 5

 

To consider report DCE/05 of the Deputy Chief Executive.

 

This report will be included in a supplementary agenda as agreed in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair.

 

Minutes:

Exempt Paragraph 3 & 5

 

Information relating to financial and business affairs of any particular person (including the Authority holding that information)

 

Information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

 

The Commission considered report DCE/05 of the Deputy Chief Executive.  In finalising the design of the District Heat Network (DHN) and prior to appointing a contractor for the scheme it has become necessary to make budget changes for the DHN. The purpose of this report therefore provide background, to set out the variations scheme and to seek agreement on the way forward that avoids increasing the overall budget for the Town Hall Site Redevelopment project.

 

During the discussion with the Deputy Chief Executive, the following comments were made:

 

·        Confirmation that the District Heat Network would provide heating and electricity to the buildings included within the wider Town Hall re-development, and other developments within Crawley Town Centre. 

·        Crawley Borough Local Plan 2015-2030 (Policy ENV7) highlighted the site as a priority area for the delivery of District Energy Network as identified on the Local Plan Map.

·        Confirmation that the Town Hall Working Group had received updates at key stages within the project, with the last such being opened up as an all-member seminar prior to the signing of the contract with Keir to build the new Town Hall.

·        Confirmation that the risk register was regularly reviewed and was included on the Audit Committee agenda. The risk register had recently been reformatted and updated to reflect the move to the next stage of the new Town Hall project.

·        Confirmation sought and provided on the financial implications and future arrangements.

·        Acknowledgement of the design changes, budget allocations and rationale.

·        Clarification was sought over the global budget. The Commission indicated its support for option 3 within the report.  There was further support for the addition of discreet progress and expenditure tracking against the DHN within that area.

 

The Cabinet is advised that the Commission:

 

1.     Indicated its broad support in principle for the report.

2.     Unanimously supported option 3 within section 6 of the report, with the addition of discreet progress and expenditure tracking against the DHN within that area.