To approve the allocation of budget to deliver the mobilisation phase of the procurement programme following the appointment of a developer to work in partnership with the council in delivering the development and regeneration programme.

That:

(a)  legal and commercial support to finalise the contract (development and regeneration programme overarching agreement) with the development partner be procured at a cost of not more than £90k;

(b)  subject to satisfactory completion of contractual arrangements the appointed development partner be requested to develop within 3 months of the formal request being made, a stage 1 submission, including a business case and estimated timescales for housing on the Bromyard depot land and paddock site;

(c)  subject to satisfactory completion of contractual arrangements, to include the tranche 1 projects – county bus station and car park; Model Farm, Ross-on-Wye; Hildersley SUE, Ross-on-Wye – onto the programme subject to the council completing its internal (stage 0) approval, including options appraisal, for each site;

(d)  the council’s client side revenue costs, estimated at £155k annually, be funded from within existing operational budgets; the client side capital costs, including externally commissioned professional services, are estimated at £503k annually and are included in the council’s capital programme; and

(e)  the programme director growth be authorised, following consultation with the chief finance officer, to take all operational decisions necessary to allocate the above client side resources in accordance with contractual and client side requirements.

1.    The council could determine not to proceed to the mobilisation phase. This is not recommended as Cabinet has agreed to award the contract to the preferred or the reserve bidder and has confirmed the first batch projects – Bromyard depot and Station Approach – onto the programme.

2.    The council could determine not to approve the allocation of funding to enable the delivery of the mobilisation phases of the programme. This is not recommended as failure to secure expert legal and contract mobilisation support would significantly increase the timescales of mobilisation of the development partnership and legal support will be required to ensure we have a comprehensive contract which adequately reflects the council’s requirements.