Issue - meetings

[Report of the  Director for Planning, Regeneration and Development. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member  for Housing, Regeneration and Planning.]In June 2015 Cabinet agreed objectives and delivery parameters for the Hornsey Town Hall project and approved the site to be taken to market through a public procurement process. This report will update on the procurement and recommend to Cabinet a preferred bidder who the Council will enter into a long lease with for the Hornsey Town Hall site.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning introduced the report which set out the tendering process which had been undertaken to select a bidder that would be able to provide a financial and sustainable future for Hornsey Town Hall.

The Cabinet Member continued to provide some context for the decision going forward, with a reminder of activity undertaken by the Council and local stakeholders, including the Hornsey Town Hall Creative Trust, over the last 10 years, and reiterated the Council’s commitment to community access which required the highest scoring category in the process. He referred to the Mountview proposals, which had disappointingly not eventually proved financially viable.

The Cabinet Member emphasised that a solution for Hornsey Town Hall had to be commercially viable. He drew attention to the lengthy, detailed and robust procurement process which he had politically overseen and had been completed effectively, in line, with procurement requirements. Given the high running costs of the building and high restoration costs, the preferred bidder provided a balanced solution, maintaining community access. Therefore agreement was sought from Cabinet for the Far East Consortium International Ltd (“FEC”), the highest scoring bidder, to be appointed as the preferred bidder for HTH.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning referred to section 2.5 of the report, which had briefly tried to summarise the report and was not the basis of the recommendation to Cabinet. Instead section 6.25 clearly sets out that following an assessment of the planning strategy of the bidders, the preferred bidder put forward a proposal with lower planning risk. The Cabinet Member re-iterated that the advice of independent planning advisers had been sought when making this decision.

The Leader also reminded the meeting of some of the background to Hornsey Town Hall, in particular the Planning Committee meeting decisions in July 2010, where the main objections had been concerned with the scale of the residential development, including concerns on daylight as well as other considerations which arise from having large residential areas.

The Leader invited questions firstly from non Cabinet Members and the following information was provided in response to questions/concerns:

• Cabinet were making a decision on the procurement process which was triggered in 2015 and not on the parameters of the existing planning consent given by Committee in 2010. The number of affordable units had been set at 4 units due to the high cost of restoring the building.

• There was no information to hand on the exact square metres for use for the Hotel. However the preferred bidder was keen to have a presence in and around the Town Hall to answer detailed questions from residents and discuss detailed plans as they are developed with the community.

• The Leader referred to the Cabinet report in 2009 where residential development was seen as an enabler to refurbish the building. Knight and Frank advice on affordable housing was 70% private and 30% affordable. However, in 2010 when going to planning committee and while working with Creative Trust on a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88