Agenda item

Decision

RESOLVED:

To approve the award of contract for the build phase of the Fakenham Leisure and Sports Hub project by appointing Alliance Leisure Services Ltd from a framework agreement, who will appoint DDI Projects Limited and any necessary complementary appointments within this Stage.

Reason for the decision:

To enable the award of contract for the build phase of the Fakenham Leisure and Sports Hub project

The Chair advised members that there was an exempt appendix for this item and said that the meeting would have to go into private session if they wished to discuss anything within that document. He then welcomed Chris Ames, Business Development Manager at Alliance Leisure, to the meeting.

He invited the Portfolio Holder for Community, Leisure and Outreach, Cllr L Withington, to introduce the item. She began by thanking everyone involved in the project, especially the Design and Development Team. She said that this was a very exciting stage of the project and she asked the Director for Service Delivery to outline the current status of the scheme. He began by saying that the project began in July 2022, following approval by Full Council and there had been a further report agreeing to proceed, following confirmation of funding from the Government. The last report included a ‘gate’ point, which stated that before the award of contract was made, it should come to Cabinet for decision.as to whether to proceed. This report set out the progress that had been made and sought authority to proceed with the award of contract. He went onto say that costs were £56k over the budget but it was anticipated that this could be managed and he was confident that it would remain within the agreed budget envelope, which included contingency funding.

The Chair invited members to speak:

Cllr C Cushing thanked everyone for their hard work on this project and said that he welcomed its progression and hoped to see it completed over the next 12 months.

He went onto say that he had received a question from a Fakenham Town Councillor, regarding the Trap Lane lease that NNDC had to re-sign. He said that they were very frustrated about how long it was taking to resolve the various issues that had occurred. He said that he had two questions, firstly did the delay in signing the lease jeopardise the work being progressed and secondly when would the Town Council receive a lease that they could sign.

(the meeting was interrupted by a fire alarm. It recommenced at 10.45am)

In response to Cllr Cushing’s questions regarding the lease of the Trap Lane site, the Director for Service Delivery said that the Town Council (TC) had been provided with a standard lease agreement initially and they needed to reach a point where they were comfortable with the terms being offered. Essentially, the current lease had to be surrendered and a new lease was required for the extended area. In addition, there were a number of sub-leases within this due to the arrangements with the leisure operator. He acknowledged that it was a complicated situation but added that the TC had sought to introduce a number of new clauses to the lease to fully protect themselves and he shared their frustration around the amount of time it was taking to resolve. He added that it was not the lease itself that was being discussed at the moment but the agreement to lease and it was important that the TC understood the decision around the agreement. Regarding any delay, he said that there was a ‘standstill’ period following the decision by Cabinet, so there would not be an immediate impact, however, there would be a point at which it would start to have an effect but the TC was aware of this and he hoped that they would work to this timetable. He added that the Council was applying for funding from the Football Foundation and the lease document would need to comply with their standard format. This was the next stage of work.

In response to a further question from Cllr Cushing, as to when the TC would see the final version of the lease, the Director for Service Delivery, said that they had seen the final agreement to lease several times now. He added that he would contact them again after the Cabinet meeting to see if the matter could be progressed.

The Chair said that the TC was a key driver in ensuring the project was progressed and he was hopeful that the issues would be resolved soon.

It was proposed by Cllr L Withington, seconded by Cllr T Adams and

RESOLVED:

To approve the award of contract for the build phase of the Fakenham Leisure and Sports Hub project by appointing Alliance Leisure Services Ltd from a framework agreement, who will appoint DDI Projects Limited and any necessary complementary appointments within this Stage.

Reason for the decision:

To enable the award of contract for the build phase of the Fakenham Leisure and Sports Hub project