Agenda item

Financing the Yeovil Refresh

Meeting of District Executive, Thursday 1st July 2021 9.30 am (Item 29.)

Decision:

RESOLVED:	That District Executive recommend that Chief Executive agrees to:-
	a.	an increase of the Yeovil Refresh net budget of £2,604,168.
	b.	an increase in long term borrowing of £2,604,168 to fund the project.
	c.	an increase to the gross budget by £367k from the current approved budget (see Appendix A for more detail)
	That District Executive recommends that the Chief Executive agrees to ask Council to note:
	a.	that a future Council meeting will consider the Business Case for establishing a cooperative working space at Yeovil.
	b.	that in the worst case scenario the Council may need to increase its long term borrowing to £4,529,168m in total (ref. Para 26)

Reason:	To outline the current position relating to delivery of the Yeovil Refresh and the additional funding to be unlocked if SSDC wish to fully benefit from the successful Future High Streets Fund (FHSF) bid.

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder for the Yeovil Refresh said that unless grant funding was forthcoming then areas of the Yeovil Refresh scheme would have to be deleted and SSDC would have to re-apply to the Future High Streets Fund. Doing this then ran a risk of not meeting future criteria of the Future High Streets Fund and so also risked losing the £9.75m granted by them. He said that town centres were changing and they needed the support of their local councils to survive, as they were being supported by various local employers and national companies. He also thanked officers for their commitment to the projects and he proposed that the recommendations be agreed by Members.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Legal Services noted that Councillors had benefitted from a confidential appendix which detailed the additional costs which could not be made public without compromising the Council’s commercial position. He noted that development costs had increased in some areas and all the possible savings had been reviewed. The town centre workspace project was not included and it would come forward as a separate business case. He said it was an unavoidable cost to move forward with the Yeovil Refresh and it was affordable. It would attract attention from developers and businesses who were looking for places to invest and he seconded the recommendations.

During discussion, Members voiced their support for the Yeovil Refresh and to support long term regeneration across the district.

It was clarified that the Yeovil Vision had covered the whole of the town and surrounding area whereas the Yeovil Refresh was specific to the town centre.

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee thanked the Portfolio Holder for the Yeovil Refresh and the Portfolio Holder for Protecting Core Services for attending their meeting and answering Members questions. He said they had questioned the repayment period of 50 years for the loans and also whether there would be developer contributions or business rates pooling funding in the scheme. They had also asked what would happen if the funding detailed in the report recommendation was not agreed and how much of the scheme would be scaled-back.

The recommendation, having been proposed and seconded, were unanimously agreed by Members.

RESOLVED:	That District Executive recommend that Chief Executive agrees to recommend that Council agrees:-
	a.	an increase of the Yeovil Refresh net budget of £2,604,168.
	b.	an increase in long term borrowing of £2,604,168 to fund the project.
	c.	an increase to the gross budget by £367k from the current approved budget (see Appendix A for more detail)
	That District Executive recommends that the Chief Executive agrees to ask Council to note:
	a.	that a future Council meeting will consider the Business Case for establishing a cooperative working space at Yeovil.
	b.	that in the worst case scenario the Council may need to increase its long term borrowing to £4,529,168m in total (ref. Para 26)

Reason:	To outline the current position relating to delivery of the Yeovil Refresh and the additional funding to be unlocked if SSDC wish to fully benefit from the successful Future High Streets Fund (FHSF) bid.