Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Posnett and Webster.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 April 2022.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 5 April 2022 were approved.

Members to declare any interest as appropriate in respect of items to be considered at this meeting.

No declarations of interest were received.

The draft Town Centre Vision is to be presented to the Committee.

The Regeneration Manager, Lee Byrne, introduced the Draft Town Centre Vision to the Committee with a presentation. Through the presentation, Members were informed of the background, context, content of the Vision, timeline and next steps.

Following several references, a discussion ensued regarding the use of consultants for feasibility studies for projects proposed within the Vision and, in response, it was explained that consultants would be procured using the correct procedure and would only be used where the Council does not have the appropriate skill set within the authority.

Members questioned the funding source for the projects within the Vision and, in response, were informed that external funding would have to be sourced for the projects. In addition, it was explained that if there was no funding then the projects wouldn’t proceed.

At 6:55pm, the meeting was adjourned to allow the Portfolio Holder for Growth and Prosperity to attend the meeting.

At 7:29pm, the meeting was reconvened with the Portfolio Holder for Growth and Prosperity in attendance.

For the benefit of the Portfolio Holder for Growth and Prosperity, the query regarding the use of consultants was repeated. In response, the Portfolio Holder informed Members that feasibility studies are important and valuable for ascertaining whether a project is viable. In addition, the Portfolio Holder added that consultants are needed as the Council does not have the expertise required to carry out the work.

In response to the question of funding, the Portfolio Holder stated that the funding source would depend on the project coming forward. Some projects would use the UK Shared Prosperity Fund funding, however other projects will receive funding from other sources. Members were informed that it is important to prioritise the projects because the Council can’t complete all the projects at once.

Following a query, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that the Council are attempting to discuss with the owners of the Bell Centre to build on the site. Members were concerned that the owners had not been consulted prior to the project being included within the Vision document. It was explained that because the project had been identified through the stakeholder sessions, and highlighted as being located at a key town centre location, it was therefore included in the document. Members were reassured that Officers are actively attempting to contact the owners of the Bell Centre, however it was recognised that this should have been done prior to the projects inclusion in the Vision.

A Member commented that youth services should be considered more explicitly within the Vision, however it was explained that the Council had consulted with the students of Melton Brooksby College as a part of the consultation process and therefore the wishes of the youth had been considered.

The comment was made that that there had been two stakeholder meetings but not one meeting that had been attended by all stakeholders. In response, the Portfolio Holder stated that he had attended two of the stakeholder meetings and found that the answers in both were different, therefore  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To consider any other items that the Chair considers urgent.

There was no urgent business.