Minutes:
The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth introduced the report on the appointment of Capital and Centric for two of the key regeneration projects that had been brought to Cabinet and full Council earlier in the week.
Members asked questions and responses were provided as follows:
- Cllr Edgington-Plunkett asked for re-assurance that the Company, being based in Manchester, was the right one for Newcastle. – The portfolio holder confirmed that they had worked on similar projects and were specialised in re-using old frameworks which would be the case here.
- Cllr Gorton wondered about taking York Place forward and to what extent the original design could be protected. – The portfolio holder confirmed the new structure would be very similar to the previous one which itself didn’t look much different from the one that was there 50 years earlier.
- Cllr Panter wished to be reminded of the costs involved. – The portfolio holder said the initial contract had been signed for £256,000.
- Cllr Grocott asked about the land value. – The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed this would be part of the equation when working out whether the cost or the value would be the greater.
- Cllr Holland wished to know more about suggested designs. – The Deputy Chief Executive reiterated that while the building would be different, the design would be in line with what had been previously agreed and shared for planning.
- Cllr Jones wondered about how confident Cabinet members and lead officers felt about Capital and Centric capacity to translate the sort of works carried out at Stoke-on-Trent to Newcastle which was a very different town. – The Deputy Chief Executive provided a list of other small towns where projects had been undertaken by the company also out of the city centre. The contractors were very excited about working with the Council and a good proposal was to be expected. Cllr Jones requested that a copy of the proposal be shared with members.
- Cllr Jones asked how confident members should be that all aspects of the projects and with regard to all sites would be completed and what was the timeframe for each part. – The Deputy Leader confirmed he was fully confident that everything would be completed and the Deputy Chief Executive said the timescales would be provided with the initial plans and costings proposal which should come around Christmas. York Place would probably be first, then Midway with works kicking off around late 2024, early 2025 and then ongoing for 12 to 18 months over 2025 and 2026. The Ryecroft development would start around the end of 2025 or early 2026. These were however only estimates as programmes for those schemes had not been submitted yet. The Vice Chair requested that an update be provided at the December meeting.
- Cllr Grocott asked about the Kidsgrove town deal. – The Deputy Chief Executive said Chatterly Valley was progressing with a new contractor having been appointed to finish grounds work. The station works were still under discussion around the foundation works in the car park. The Sharded Services Hub was being designed and a planning permissions would be submitted shortly. The Sports Centre had been delivered.
Resolved: That the update be noted.
Supporting documents: