Members were reminded that at the Extraordinary Council Meeting 7th April 2014, it was agreed that a consultation be carried out on the potential development of the William Hunter Way car park site.

Since then and before the issue of the consultation, the William Hunter Way Working Group (WHWWG) met on three occasions.  At all (and subsequent)

meetings invitations were issued to all members. The meetings were also

open meetings, where participation from residents was actively encouraged by the Chair and members of the WHWWG.

The consultation was carried out between 1st September 2014 and 5th

November 2014 and  30,516 resident questionnaires and over 1,400 business questionnaires were issued either into homes, business addresses or via email.

The  report before Members was  based upon the receipt of 5,695 resident questionnaires and 106 business questionnaires returned to the council.

Officers had been able to consolidate large elements of the raw data from

the consultation, and there were also over 5,000 rows of comments that were

analysed and categorised into supporting themes.

Members received the final report on the findings of the consultation which  contained the full analysis of the data collected, the consultation documents sent to households and businesses and details of the Council’s approach to the consultation notes, also the William Hunter Way Procurement Task and Finish Group report approved at the November 2014  Audit & Scrutiny Committee meeting.

Cllr Quirk MOVED and Cllr Mynott SECONDED the recommendations in the report with a minor amendment and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:

1. To re-market the site for development using a refreshed development brief. The development brief to allow for the receipt of both capital and a regular income for the Council.

2. That the Head of Planning for the Council prepares a refreshed development brief taking into account the outcome of the consultation exercise and this is brought back to Ordinary Council for approval.

3. That a competitive tender be prepared and issued for the expert additional resources that will be required to deliver the project and provide assistance in the preparation of the development brief.

4. Should the Ordinary Council subsequently approve the development

brief then the following actions will be undertaken:

I. That the governance of the project be overseen by the Asset and Enterprise Committee who are to ensure that all key stakeholders are involved and that key Ward members are engaged and kept informed of the process.

II. To ensure that the development is not prejudiced, the Brentwood Car Wash licence to occupy part of the site should not be renewed at expiry on the Licence Agreement on the 6 April 2015. The Licensee should be provided with appropriate notification, at least 3 months before the expiry date of the 6 April 2015 , to give them adequate notice to vacate the site.

III. That negotiations between Barclays Bank and officers, in relation to the Car Park owned by Barclays Bank currently sited in the area of development, be concluded, subject to a maximum cost to the Council of £250,000 including legal costs

IV. That members note that a maximum sum of £1.2 million has been earmarked within the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2014/15 – 2016/17 for this project.

Officers were thanked for their work in relation to the William Hunter Way development.