Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2014 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 35.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5).

There were no urgent items for consideration.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

No such declarations were made.

There were no declarations of the party whip.

A copy of the report to be submitted to the Cabinet at its meeting on 14 January 2015 will be available and circulated to members of this Committee on 6 January 2015. The Committee will be invited to comment on the proposals. The views of the Committee will be reported to the Cabinet.

The report and associated appendices can be viewed through the following link, Agenda Item 8 refers: http://politics.leics.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=135&MId=4223&Ver=4

The Committee considered a joint report of the Director of Adults and Communities and the Director of Corporate Resources to be considered by the Cabinet on 14 January. The report outlined the additional information received from the Friends of Snibston (FOS) in support of their business case and the evaluation of the FOS Business Case and the County Council’s proposals in relation to Snibston. A copy of the report marked 'Agenda Item 8' is filed with these minutes.
 
The Chairman advised the Committee that since the report had been published a number of minor errors had been identified in relation to figures contained in paragraphs 20, 36 and 92 of the report. A paper showing those errors as track changes was tabled at the meeting and is also attached, marked 1.

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Mr Richard Blunt CC, the Cabinet Lead Member for Libraries, Heritage and Arts and officers from the Adults and Communities, Corporate Resources and Chief Executives Departments who were attending to present the report and answer questions. The Chairman also welcomed to the meeting, Dr T. Eynon CC, the local member and Mr B. Vollar, Chairman of the Friends of Snibston who had asked to address the meeting.

The Chairman then invited officers to present the report. The Director of Adults and Communities and Director of Corporate Resources in introducing the report highlighted the following points:-

(i)              In light of the decision in the MTFS taken on 19 February 2014, the Cabinet agreed in April 2014 to undertake formal consultation on the proposed new offer from the County Council of a mining museum and invited other options. On 19 September 2014 the Cabinet received the outcome of the consultation and information from the FOS and a proposal from Mr Suleman of the Derby Museums Trust. As a consequence, officers were asked to assess the Business Plan put forward against the framework of the Localism Act, conduct a feasibility study and equalities and human rights impact assessments as well as an assessment of the implications of either offer on the collections. On 11 December the Cabinet was advised that, on the basis of information provided by the FOS, it could conclude that the business case presented by the FOS was not a valid expression of interest. The Cabinet accepted that the FOS proposals could be considered as an alternative to the County Council’s offer and agreed to give the FOS additional time to respond to the concerns raised in the report. The report now before the Committee and the Cabinet included an assessment of additional information submitted by the FOS;

(ii)             With regard to the business case submitted by the FOS, officers advised that the key deficiencies related to the following:-

1)    It did not adequately reflect the costs to the County Council as the landlord of the site and the lease back of part of the property at a full market rental;

2)    It failed to address the issue of match funding which would be a requirement of any Heritage Lottery Fund bid. Linked to this would be the issue of contingent liabilities for the County Council as landlord;

3)    The business case was built on an unrealistic assumption of an 80 percent (£540,000) increase in income over a three year period. This was largely based on a 60 percent increase in visitor numbers with no clear indication of how and why this should be the case;

4)    It had unrealistic estimates of reductions in expenditure;

5)    It required significant Capital Investment at the site. It assumed that all capital costs  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place at 2.00pm on Tuesday 20 January 2015.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday, 20 January at 2.00pm.