Issue - meetings

Members of the Committee are invited to disclose any interest they may have in any of the items appearing on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interests.

NOTED

At this point in the proceedings the Chair informed the Committee that at his invite, Councillor Cooke – Chair of the Alexandra Palace and Park Board was in attendance to briefly address the meeting in respect of the future of the asset. The Chair advised that Councillor Cooke had a further meeting to go to and would therefore only be able to stay in attendance until 20.00hrs.

Councillor Cooke, in thanking the Chair for his invitation, commented to the Advisory Committee that he felt that it was important for him to come to the meeting as there were obviously a number of questions that the Advisory Committee would wish to ask, and hopefully he would be in a position to respond.  He also stressed that he was not speaking on behalf of the Board but in his capacity as Chair of the Board.

Councillor Cooke referred to recent events in respect of the future of the Palace and the fact that the preferred bidder and partner – the Firoka Group had, on 18 August 2008, withdrawn its interest in the development of Alexandra Palace.  

Councillor Cooke further informed the Committee that the Board, on 26 September 2008, had considered an independent review of the licence entered into with the Firoka Group – the Walklate report, which was readily available on the Council’s web.  The Board had endorsed the recommendation/findings of the review, as well as an action plan arising from the review in respect to governance arrangements.

With regard to the future of the Palace Councillor Cooke commented on the opportunty now open to the Board, given the history of the Palace over the past 25 years, to look at the pure potential of the Palaceand he felt that there was an exciting prospect for the Board during the next 6 months, in conjunction with the Local community, residents, statutory bodies and interested groups, to look at a whole range of isues in respect of the future of the Palace. Councillor Cooke also commented that by having an open and frank dialogue this would not preclude any idea or proposal and he was confident that this process would be a positive and successful one.

Councillor Cooke further commented that issues such as existing trusteeship would need to be looked at, and whether there were options for the transferof trusteeship in the future, and recognising what was the best interest of the Palace. Councillor Cooke concluded that he looked forward to hearing any comments of Advisory Committee.

The Chair thanked Councillor Cooke for his succinct comments and asked if there were any questions from the Committee.

Mr Aspden expressed his thanks at Councillor Cooke’s attendance, and that in part, as Chair, he was receiving ‘flack’ for a whole range of decisions that had been taken prior to his becoming Chair of the Board.  In his view it was evident that Councillor Cooke was clear in what he would like the Board to concentrate on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14