Issue - meetings

A report from the Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Growth is attached.

Councillor Eamonn O’Brien, the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance and Growth, presented the report which sought delegated authority to undertake a procurement process to identify a suitable development partner to bring forward the development of phase 2 of Chamberhall Business Park.

Decision:

1.   That a procurement exercise is now undertaken on Chamberhall phase 2 in order for a private sector developer partner to be appointed.

2.   The disposal be in the form of a Council standard long lease and subject to a bespoke development agreement to ensure that Bury achieves maximum benefits from the project.

3.   That the Director of Regeneration & Capital Growth be given delegated authority in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer and the Leader of the Council to consider all of the bids received and to approve the agreement of the terms of the most advantageous bid in accordance with the award criteria.

4.   That details of the preferred developer and the wider updated development proposals be submitted to Cabinet not later than December 2021.

Reasons for the decision:

The procurement will ensure that a high-quality sustainable development is brought forward as well as ensuring best value is achieved for the site.

Other options considered and rejected:

Option 1 - Do Nothing

In this scenario the site will be left vacant.

This option has been dismissed as the Council is prioritising its redevelopment so as to bring forward new employment land to meet the needs of businesses.

There is also an opportunity cost for not seeking new development in that the ability to secure a sustainable income flow through new business rates will be lost.

Option 2 - Direct Development by the Council

Under this option the Council would undertake the development directly.

The Council would masterplan the site, undertake all further due diligence work and secure the relevant planning permissions. The Council would then tender the works contract and manage the construction of the new units. Once practically complete the Council would then take on full responsibility for the lettings.

This option would mean that the Council would have to secure all of the funding for the scheme.

This option has been dismissed as although a lot of this work could be done by external consultants it would still require significant internal resource from the Council. Furthermore, the Council would have to bear all the risk associated with funding a property development of this nature.

Option 3 - Straight land sale through private treaty

The Council could simply market the site and dispose at best value.

Whilst there is likely to be strong interest in the site, this approach does not allow the Council to have controls over the subsequent development. The risk here being that a purchaser could ’land bank’ the site and / or undertake a sub optimal regeneration scheme.

As such, this option has been discounted.