To receive apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on this agenda.

Councillors Mrs P.A. Andrews, A.C.R. Chappell, D.J. Fleet, Mrs M.D. Lloyd-Hayes and J.P. Thomas declared personal interests in agenda item 4: Call –in of Cabinet decision on office accommodation.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 28th April, 2005.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 28th April, 2005 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider the Cabinet decision to agree an office accommodation strategy and business case for centralising office accommodation.

This item discloses any terms proposed or to be proposed by or to the Authority in the course of negotiations for a contract for the acquisition or disposal of property or the supply of goods or services.

(The Committee had been recommended to exclude the public and press during consideration of this item.

A discussion took place about the balance to be struck between the presumption that scrutiny of the executive should take place in public and the need to preserve the confidentiality of commercial negotiations.  A view was expressed that the general strategic principles of the office accommodation strategy could be debated in public, with the press and public subsequently being excluded during discussion of any commercially sensitive details, and with the report itself not being made public.

The Chief Executive formally advised that it would be difficult for officers to provide answers as full as they might wish to the Committee’s questions if the meeting were to be held in public.  He further advised that whilst he would seek to assist the Chairman as best he could, the responsibility to avoid disclosing commercially sensitive information rested on individual Members.  The likelihood of it being possible to pre-empt inappropriate disclosure was necessarily remote.

The County Secretary and Solicitor advised that Members of the Committee had a duty of confidentiality, both to third parties with whom the Council was negotiating and to the Council, being mindful that there was a risk that disclosure of information could damage the Council’s negotiating position to the Authority’s financial detriment.

A motion that the public and press should be excluded was defeated.)

The Committee considered Cabinet’s decision on 19th May, 2005 to agree an office accommodation strategy and business case for the potential centralising of office accommodation at Plough Lane, Hereford, which had been called-in by five members of the Committee, in accordance with the Scrutiny Committee Rules.

The stated reasons for calling in the decision were:

·         Inadequate Business Case

·         Lack of Detail

·         Lack of independently costed (alternative) proposals

·         No proper assessment of traffic implications

In the ensuing discussion in public the following principal points were made:

·         There was consensus that the Council did need to centralise its office accommodation.  However, it was asserted that the report to Cabinet was lacking in detail and had not offered sufficient alternatives to Plough Lane for consideration.

·         That the decision should have involved more Councillors and was not transparent.

·         Evidence from a recent consultation exercise had shown public support for a centralised headquarters on the Edgar Street Grid and this appeared to be being ignored.  There was a strong argument that the Civic Centre should be in the City Centre.

·         That whilst it was perhaps inappropriate to describe one section of the report as a business case the document did appear to present a reasonable case for the move to Plough Lane, although the substantive evidence was not included.

·         The opportunity to accommodate the Council and partners such as the Police, the Primary Care Trust and Voluntary Sector bodies on one site appeared to have fallen by the wayside.   There seemed to be limited flexibility to respond to structural and organisational changes which might befall the Council and its partners.

·         Whilst some concerns were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.