Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillors L A Bentley and T Barr.

None.

Members are reminded that any declaration of interest should be made having regard to the Members’ Code of Conduct. In particular, Members must make clear the nature of the interest and whether it is 'pecuniary' or ‘non-pecuniary'.

None.

The Committee gave consideration to the reports and appendices (at pages 1- 2 and 3 - 25) as jointly-delivered by the Director of Services and Mr Benjamin Whitaker, Chartered Surveyor at Andrew Granger & Co, which should be read together with these minutes as a composite document.

Mr Whitaker directed Members’ attention to particularly significant and noteworthy paragraphs contained in his report (at pages 3 -24) regarding the land at Oadby Country Park, Oadby. He summarised the instructions given and the subsequent assessments undertaken in respect of both the lease area (at paragraphs 3) and the whole site (at paragraphs 4) with reference to their respective locations, descriptions and uses. He further summarised the condition of the whole site (at paragraph 5), maintenance issues (at paragraphs 6) and miscellaneous matters (at paragraph 7).

Mr Whitaker reported that the agent for the landowner had made several comments on the report, namely that:

(i)            the floor-relief basin had been designed to redirect water to the brook via the weir (at paragraph 4.1.2);

(ii)          the pasture fields on site were not, nor have been, rented out to accommodate horses (at paragraph, 4.1.4);

(iii)         the collapsed bridge was a culvert which the Council sought to retain to allow access to the woodland (at paragraph 5);

(iv)         no WW2 ammunitions or undetonated bombs were, to the best of his knowledge, present on site nor did any creators or excavations suggest so (at paragraph 6.4);

(v)          the resurfacing of the car park and access track with tarmac and the erection of gates did not feature in any original discussions (at paragraph 6.1).

Mr Whitaker stated that the flood-relief basin and the associated works thereto posed the largest liability to the Council. The remainder of the site was said to be relatively straight-forward to control and maintain. With reference to the breakdown of anticipated costs for both the lease area (at page 24) and whole site (at page 25), he concluded that a large capital sum was nevertheless required in order to bring the land upto a reasonable standard for public admission and that the Council should proceed with the lease area of the land as opposed to the purchase of the whole site.

Councillor B Dave requested clarification as to whether recommendation 2.2 of the report (at page 1) referred to renegotiations in respect of the whole site or lease area.

The Director of Services advised that recommendation 2.2 sought to take account of the significant added costs, as outlined in Mr Whitaker’s report, primarily in respect of the whole site whilst keeping the option open to renegotiate with the landowners. She directed Members to first consider whether they wished to either continue with the purchase of the whole site or part-lease of the same.

The Member enquired as to whether any renegotiations, in respect of both the whole site and lease area, sought to maintain the status quo of current discussions with the necessary financial adjustments made or to substitute an entirely new agreement.

The Director  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.