Agenda item

The Panel received a report which provided an update on Wards Corner, in response to a request from the Panel for assurances on the Council’s approach to ensuring the right scheme and assurances about the viability position. The report was introduced by Cllr Ruth Gordon, Cabinet Member for Council House-building, Placemaking and Development as set out in the agenda pack at pages 35 to 38. Peter O’Brien, the AD Regeneration and Economic Development was also present for this item. The following arose during the discussion of this item:

a.    The Panel noted that the Wards Corner acquisitions was agreed by Cabinet in July 2022, which involved the acquisition of 43 third party properties and land interests within the Wards Corner site. This included 36 owned by Grainger and six held by private third party owners, as well as one parcel of land owned by TfL.

b.    The Cabinet Member set out that TfL had advised that health and safety works were progressing and that she was looking forward to TfL announcing the Chair of the new joint partnership board. As far as the Council was concerned, the next steps were carrying through with the acquisitions that had been announced and then developing the site on the back of this. The Cabinet Member advised that the key task was to get the temporary market up and running and to get traders back on site. The Council was seeking to work closely with the local community in order to achieve this.

c.    The Panel sought clarification about how the Council would be able to deliver on the aspirations of the Community Plan if the Community Plan bid to operate the market was not successful. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that the Council had made it clear that it supported the aspirations of the Community Plan and that it was hopeful that they would submit a strong bid. The Cabinet Member set out that the ideal solution was that that all parties came together and submitted a joint bid. The Cabinet Member welcomed the commitment from TfL that the site would be leased on the basis of it being a community asset, rather than a commercial lease.

d.    In response to a question about a council representative on the partnership board, the Cabinet Member advised that she had asked for this but that no final decisions had been made. It was cautioned that the Council would have to recuse itself from the award of the lease. In response to whether it would be an officer or a Member on the partnership board, the Cabinet Member advised that she had not had this discussion with TfL yet and that she would need to see the terms of reference for the board.  

e.    The Panel welcomed the report setting out that the Health and Safety works were the responsibility of TfL, as it was their site and promulgated the need for continued emphasis of this to the wider community. The Cabinet Member set out that the Council would be seeking to engage with local business owners in Seven Sisters and would work to ensure that they were involved in the process going forwards.  

f.     The Panel sought clarification around whether the Council portion of the site would be Council owned or whether it was envisaged that there would be a partnership with developers, for example. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that she had no plans to work with developers and that she expected the site to be developed as had been done with other similar sites in the borough. The Panel noted that each site had its own viability to meet. The Council was currently at the stage of purchasing leases  and the Cabinet Member had not got to the stage of working out the granular detail yet. It was envisaged that the site would be a mixed site of residential and commercial units, possibly with some work spaces included as well.

RESOLVED

Noted