Issue - meetings

The Portfolio Holder for the Wincanton Regeneration Project advised that following the receipt of tenders for the public realm scheme the request for additional funding from the capital contingency budget would allow them to focus on delivering the public realm project and the building repair grants. 

The Regeneration Programme Manager advised that the funding requests were based upon the tenders received where previous figures presented had been based on estimated figures at that time.  The tender price would be held by the preferred supplier until the next month and consent for the spending was being sought from the SCC Executive under the Section 24 Direction.

A member of Wincanton Town Council spoke in support of the report.  He said there had been considerable lobbying by local ward members to scrap the regeneration project and reallocate the existing funds to the Wincanton Town Council direct. He said they recognised this was impractical and the Town Council wished to record their ongoing support for the regeneration programme.  Although the scope of the project was less ambitious than originally envisaged in 2019, it was hoped the current plan would continue in the new Unitary era. He concluded by asking for better communication between SSDC and the Wincanton Town Council.

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee advised that most of their questions had been answered by the Regeneration Programme Manager but they had expressed concern at the risk that the funding may not be agreed by the SCC Executive under the Section 24 Direction.

During discussion, the following point was made:

·       The Wincanton Regeneration Project had some complex issues but the current proposal was simple.  The previous reduction in funding had caused some local concern but the additional funding would help to resolve this.

The Portfolio Holder for the Wincanton Regeneration Project proposed that Option 2 of the recommendations: To allocate the full £260,000 requested from the capital contingency budget be agreed by Members.  This was seconded and unanimously agreed by Executive members.