Decision details

For the Head of Programme Management – Regeneration and Economic Development to approve the implementation of Contract Standing Order 9.07.1c, the manner most expedient to the efficient management of the service, and award a contract for planning and heritage consultancy services to Planning Potential, in the sum of £9,500.00, excluding VAT, from June 2024 to December 2025

In October 2021, Planning Potential (PP) were appointed to provide planning and heritage consultancy services for a suite of projects under the High Streets Heritage Action Zone (HS HAZ) programme. The original contract sum was £67,045.



Contract and PO extensions were subsequently approved, raising the sum to £86,045 in August 2023. That contract ended in March 2024, in line with the anticipated closure of the programme, and the PO has now been exhausted. The programme has, however, overrun, due to a number of factors, including lack of resource in the Major Projects team; the need to identify and secure additional sources of funding to cover budget shortfalls; slow responses from and inflexibility in negotiations with a third party; and lack of resource in the Planning and Conservation teams. As a result, additional planning and heritage consultancy services are required to ensure all outstanding planning matters relating to the incomplete projects are resolved.



This report is a request to approve the amount of £9,500 + VAT for additional consultancy fees, thus extending the contract value from £86,545 to £95,545.



This commission forms part of the wider Tottenham HS HAZ regeneration scheme, which aims to make the high street in Bruce Grove Town Centre a more attractive, engaging and vibrant place for people to live, work and spend time and provide the catalyst for change and additional investment from private owners. In this way, it seeks to improve the long-term viability of the town centre to serve its local residents and broaden its appeal to visitors.



This work would be wholly funded from match-funding, which is contractually committed to the Tottenham High Streets Heritage Action Zone.

The following alternative options were considered:



‘Do Nothing’ - This option would be for the Council not to create a new contract for planning and heritage consultancy. This would limit the Council’s ability to follow through on a number of live planning applications and submit further applications needed as part of the construction phase of critical elements of the HS HAZ programme.



New RfQ Process - The option of carrying out a new RfQ process to appoint a planning and heritage consultant to deliver the remaining services required was considered. This would significantly extend an already much-delayed programme, whose funding is increasingly at risk if projects cannot progress. Furthermore, as the existing consultants, who have been working on the HAZ project since 2021, PP are best placed to be able to deliver the necessary work in a timely and cost-effective manner