Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director Finance.

Agreed:

RECOMMENDED that Council approve:-

(1) the disposal of land at Mary Arches Street Car Park as shown on the site boundary plans in Appendix 1, the multi-storey car park site for co-living use, and the surface carpark for residential use.

(2) the disposal of land at Clifton Hill as shown on the site boundary plans in Appendix 2, for use as residential homes on the existing site (shaded blue), retaining the green shaded area for existing use as an open space, and retaining the yellow and purple shaded areas for existing uses.

(3) the granting of delegated authority to the City Surveyor, in consultation with the Leader and the Director Finance (S.151 Officer) to approve the final terms of the disposals, in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972, Section 122, to appropriate the sites which belong to the Council (shown on the plans at Appendices 1 and 2), for planning purposes to facilitate the carrying out of development, re-development or improvement on or in relation to that land; and

(4) a budget of £800,000, funded by a mix of the earmarked reserve set aside for this purpose and the surplus income from the Guildhall Shopping Centre, to cover the costs of preparing the sites for disposal and the facilitation of best consideration for the Council’s assets.

Reason for Decision: As set out in the report and amended at the meeting.

The Executive received the report, which following an Assurance Review of Exeter City Living (ECL) and Council approval in October 2023, would receive a report setting out a site disposal strategy in the likely event of a shortfall on the ECL loan after the Council acquires ECL’s assets.

The report proposed a programme of disposals as set out below:-

(1) the unrestricted disposal of land at Mary Arches Street Car Park as shown on the site boundary plans in Appendix 1 of the report;

(2) the unrestricted disposal of land at Clifton Hill as shown on the site boundary plans in Appendix 2 of the report;

(3) the granting of delegate authority to the City Surveyor, in consultation with the Leader and the Director Finance (S.151 Officer) to approve the final terms of the disposals, in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972, Section 122, to appropriate the sites which belong to the Council (shown on the plans at Appendices 1 and 2), for planning purposes to facilitate the carrying out of development, re-development or improvement on or in relation to that land; and

(4) a budget of £800,000, funded by a mix of the earmarked reserve set aside for this purpose and the surplus income from the Guildhall Shopping Centre, to cover the costs of preparing the sites for disposal and the facilitation of best consideration for the Council’s assets.

Members were advised that the S151 Officer had a legal duty to act in the best interest of the taxpayer of the city and the City Surveyor had a duty to obtain the best consideration for the Council in respect of all property transactions, which formed the officer recommendations, outlined in the report.

Particular reference was made to the Council’s owning and responsibility for maintaining 100 operational properties, 28 bridges, 50 parks, 90 play areas, alongside footpaths, a river, canal, and a Roman wall. Currently, there was £22 million of works identified in the latest condition survey that were unfunded, and the generation of capital receipts was a means of addressing the backlog without incurring service cuts.

The total cost of funding the works to the revenue budget required £1.75 million of cuts to the revenue budget on top of the unidentified £4.4 million of cuts already required in the Medium Term Financial Plan. Officers had recommended the unrestricted sale of two assets at Mary Arches car park due to the sufficient spare capacity in the city to absorb the loss of this car park. Clifton Hill had also been recommended for disposal as it was the asset being recovered from ECL and would be most appropriate for disposal.

The Leader moved and Councillor Wright seconded an amendment to the recommendations to read as follows:-

2.1 the disposal of land at Mary Arches Street Car Park as shown on the site boundary plans in Appendix 1, the multi-storey car park site for co-living use, and the surface carpark for residential use.

2.2 the disposal of land at Clifton Hill  ...  view the full minutes text for item 110