Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies of absence.

An apologies for absence was received from Councillor Housden.

To receive declarations of interest.

There were none.

To approve the Minutes of the meetings held on 4 March 2021.

Resolved        That the minutes of the meeting held on the 4 March 2021 were approved as a correct record.

The Chair of the Committee will answer questions from members of the public submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

There were none.

A petition has been received as follows:

“We want a lease extension until January 2022 for Rush Skatepark et al”

We, the friends of the Brimscombe Port Community Interest Businesses, want Rush Skatepark and other Brimscombe Port businesses to be given a lease extension until January 2022.

Stroud District Council recently successfully applied to Stroud District Council (no that isn't a typo) to demolish all the buildings at Brimscombe Port including Rush Skatepark to prepare the site for possible developers.  This has resulted in the businesses at Brimscombe Port being given notice to quit by 30th June 2021.

This will mean Rush Skatepark and the other businesses will only have been able to fully open for a few weeks since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted. We believe it is very unfair to users of the skatepark and on local children, in particular, given that the closure will come just before the school holidays. We also believe that Rush Skatepark can offer a 'slice of normality' to many people in particular our families and children who have had a very disrupted year.

Although all the businesses have been aware that they would be asked to vacate, no allowance has been made for the impact of the pandemic on efforts to find alternative homes for the businesses and to protect jobs.

Since opening, Rush Skatepark has become established as a big player within the international skatepark community, offering a world class facility that has catered to riders of all levels, from grass-roots beginners all the way up to active, competing professional riders from the now Olympic sports of Skateboarding and BMX as well as up and coming action sports, scootering and inline skating which have seen an incredible surge in popularity since Rush opened in 2013. Rush skatepark has hosted national and international competitions including the World Championships in 2014, 2015 and 2019, attracting thousands of people to the Stroud area from all over the world.

Rush Skatepark and The Grace Network, who run the Stroud District Furniture Bank, The Long Table, Stroud District Kids Stuff, Kick Off Stroud and other social businesses which are also facing the end of their lease and are on notice to quite, have been looking at options for a joint site which could benefit both organisations in terms of footfall, funding and overheads.

All these businesses continue to work hard looking for new homes either together or separately.

Please note we understand that at the time of writing (25th May 2021) Stroud District Council do not currently have a developer engaged or ready to carry out the building work at the site. We believe that there is a high likelihood that the site will be empty and development won't go ahead for a number of years once the buildings have been demolished.

In accordance with the Council’s Petitions Scheme, the petition is to be debated by Committee. The petition organiser will be given 3 minutes to present the petition.

Debbie Bird introduced the petition which had been signed by 3570 people. She advised that children’s lives had been disrupted due to the pandemic and that people should be working to make sure the facility stayed within the district. She asked the Committee to consider the community support that the facility had received and informed Members that before the pandemic Rush had welcomed over 1,000 visitors a week. She requested that the council allow Rush Skatepark and the other businesses at Brimscombe Port an extension on their lease until January 2022.

The Chair advised that the report regarding Brimscombe Port would be brought forward on the agenda and Members would be able to ask questions and debate the item further at this stage.

A decision is sought from Committee to confirm when vacant possession is required from tenants currently occupying units that are due to be demolished; forming the start of redevelopment at the Port.

The Appendices for this item contain exempt information by virtue of Paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 and a resolution may be passed to exclude the public during consideration of this item.

The Head of Property Services introduced the report and provided an update from the Parish Council which advised that they wished to see the continuation of social enterprises on the site for as long as possible and that concerns had been raised. The concerns raised included the timescales for demolition and the ending of leases to early on in the process, the risk of increased anti-social behaviour and the addition of another derelict industrial site along the valley. The Head of Property Services advised that the redevelopment was about bringing the canal back into the community as the centrepiece to a new sustainable and exciting, exemplar development. It was highlighted that further delays to the programme could have an impact on the council’s credibility and ability to secure high quality bids from interested partners and jeopardise the project as a whole. It was confirmed that the council had already extended the end dates for occupying the units for tenants and had liaised with them and advised them of the anticipated programme regularly since 2015. The Head of Property Services advised that the report and equalities impact assessment acknowledged the importance of Rush Skatepark and Grace Network and the facilities and services they provided to some of the most vulnerable members of the community. Officers and partners had worked towards securing new premises for all of the sites before vacant possession was required however an extension to the leases would not guarantee that new sites could be secured for the tenants.

Councillor Pearson asked for clarification over the timelines, it was confirmed that demolition would start in September or October and that work had already begun starting with demolition and asbestos surveys. It was also advised that due to bats being present some buildings would need to be demolished between October and February.

Councillor Braun asked whether any interest had been received from potential developers. The Head of Property Services advised that they had received interest which included approximately 6 emails from interested parties.

Councillor Hurst asked officers to confirm whether timescales included in the report would favour national developers rather than local consortia who may wish to create a joint venture. The New Homes and Regeneration Manager stated that they would do everything they could to ensure that as many developers as possible were aware of the opportunity.

In a response to a question about the support that had been provided to the Grace Network and Rush it was confirmed that the Council had offered council premises to Grace Network and Active Gloucestershire had been supporting Rush. Active Gloucestershire would be able to increase the level of support provided if this was the Committees request.

Councillor Aldam, Ward Councillor, asked if there was scope for Rush or other tenants to be included on the new site as part of the proposed mixed use facilities. It was advised that the site required housing to make it viable and the community facilities proposed would not be suitable in terms of size  ...  view the full minutes text for item SRC.6

To appoint two performance monitors for Civic Year 2021-22.

Councillors Pearson and Housden were appointed as Performance Monitors

A report had been circulated. The Head of Property Services confirmed that many of the reviews had been delayed due to the Pandemic.

The Chief Executive advised that there had not been a meeting since the last Committee and an update would be brought to the next Committee.

The Leader confirmed that the Committee had met yesterday and provided a verbal update confirming that they had looked at the economic recovery across Gloucestershire and that the County had produced a data dashboard. A decision was also made with regards the business rates pool to allocate funding to support the local plan and transport, the district would be receiving funding towards this.

Councillor Turner provided an update confirming that GFirst LEP had introduced the Committee to the Local Industrial Strategy and the priorities around the shift to net zero and the work they were carrying out with local businesses. The Committee also discussed the strands of the post Covid recovery and future transport plans.

A report had been circulated. The Strategic Director of Place provided further updates to the Committee regarding the Canal Corridor Strategy which had begun and the One Public Estate funding which a further opportunity had arisen to secure further funding for 4 sites across the district which were already in the New Homes Programme.

A report had been circulated. Councillor Pearcy asked for clarification as to how much of the business rates pilot fund had been used to fund elements of recovery work. The Strategic Director of Resources advised that there was approximately £500k left in the business rates pilot fund but did not have the exact figures to hand.

A report had been circulated. No questions were asked.

Support of the Leisure Contract Provider in Stroud (Sport and Leisure Management) A report had been circulated. In a response to a question from Councillor Davies the Strategic Director of Resources advised that the Council had helped the Leisure Centre up to the end of November and the National Recovery had helped them from December to March.

See Agenda Item 4 for deadlines for submission.

There were none.