Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Will Fletcher and

Jane Yates.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has

consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B)

4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to consider.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable

Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the

Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a) any business on the agenda

b) any urgent additional items to be considered

c) any matters arising out of those items and if appropriate, withdraw

from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 1^st August 2023.

Moved by Councillor Tom Kirkham and seconded by Councillor Duncan Haywood

RESOLVED that the Minutes of a Local Growth Scrutiny Committee held on 1st August 2023 be approved as a correct record.

(Members should contact the officer whose name appears on the List of Key Decisions for any further information).  NB: If Members wish to discuss an exempt report under this item, the meeting will need to move into exempt business and exclude the public in accordance with the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and Local Government Act 1972, Part 1, Schedule 12a for that part of the meeting only.

The Monitoring Officer went through the items on the List of Key Decisions and Items to be Considered in Private document. Members were also reminded of the process for referring an item to a Scrutiny Committee for consideration prior to a decision being made.

Councillor Tom Kirkham provided Members of the Committee with background

information in relation to the Skills Hub. The appendices attached to the report

contained previous Executive and Local Growth Scrutiny Committee reports and also the relevant information relating to the call in of the item.

The Vernon Street proposal was unable to proceed due to a lack of a private training supplier, and that an alternative involving Vision West Notts College delivering a green skills training and assessment centre at Pleasley Vale, had been recommended to Executive on 11th September 2023. This included the acceptance of grant funding of 500,000 from D2N2 for the creation of training and assessment centre including £150,000 in capital improvements. Full details of the proposal were contained in the report at Appendix 4.

The Director of Economic Development, Dragonfly Development Limited, clarified why there had been a change in direction and the various factors that had contributed to the Vernon Street Site being out of scope. It was also confirmed that negotiations were underway with Vision West Notts College.

Members welcomed the update, and it was hoped that there would be an increase in opportunities available as the East Midlands Combined Authority progressed.

Moved by Councillor Duncan Haywood and seconded by Councillor Tom Kirkham

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Senior Economic Development Officer – Pleasley Vale, updated Members on the progress of the Pleasley Vale Regeneration Programme.

It was noted that the Council was fully committed to ensure that Pleasley Vale Mills and parkland was preserved and enhanced for future generations. Currently the Business Park was approximately 85% occupied, however, the rents alone did not cover the extensive capital repairs required to maintain and improve the buildings and land.

The site at Pleasley Vale was located along the river Meden and contained a number of ponds and other water sources. Flood Modelling was commissioned in 2021 to identify the position of the Flood Zones in relation to the built structures and natural environment.

Following submission of the data, the Environment Agency was appointed to

commission a formal Review of the modelling to confirm the position of the Flood Plane and inform the principle of development. The first review received in August 2023 identified a number of errors in the data and confirmed that the 2021 modelling was out of date and needed to be re-run.

The two Grade II Listed Gatehouses were currently vacant and falling into a state of decline. In order to accurately assess the amount of work required to renovate the Gatehouses, a fully costed Schedule of Repairs and Improvements for Renovation document was commissioned by Smith and Roper in April 2023. This identified that the Coach House required £95,500 of repairs and Gardeners Lodge required £151,300 of repairs.

Residents of Pleasley Vale were engaged in the project and were regularly updated during their Residents Association meetings, where the project manager had attended to provide updates and listen to their views. Residents had also been actively involved in creating a digital, historic archive of Pleasley Vale, through their extensive collection of photographs, other memorabilia, and personal memories.

A feasibility study had been undertaken to confirm the costs and build implications of installing electric vehicle charging points at Mills 1 and 3 and was in the final stages of confirming the costs of delivery.

A Biodiversity Strategy would be commissioned to confirm the ecological baseline of the site, to identify areas which required improvement and to provide a management plan to ensure that enhancements were made.

Leisure Services had identified the silt levels within the Mill Pond had a potential health and safety implication for delivery of their activities. Costs and implications associated with draining the pond, removing, and disposing of the silt, carrying out repairs to the dam wall and reinforcing banks of the pond had been assessed. To date, no business case or report had been taken to Council to request the additional funding needed to carry out these works to support the delivery of the activities on the Mill Pond.

Moved by Councillor Duncan Haywood and seconded by Councillor Jeanne Raspin

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Chief Executive provided a brief update on the outcome of a recent Dragonfly Development Shareholder Board meeting.

It was noted that the Terms of Reference had now been agreed. The Chief Executive advised Members that she would be happy to bring a report to Committee after each Shareholder Board meeting had taken place. Further to this, it was noted that the Shareholder Board was not a decision-making body and any decisions would be referred to Council or Executive as required. Councillor Tom Kirkham expressed his interest in being a Member on the Shareholder Board.

Dragonfly would also provide a regular report to advise Members on what stage each project was at. Members requested that for future reports, information be included which detailed the number of Council properties lost to compared to the number of properties built by Dragonfly.

Moved by Councillor Tom Kirkham and seconded by Councillor Duncan Haywood.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Committee considered their proposed work programme for 2023/24.

Moved by Councillor Duncan Haywood and seconded by Councillor Tom Kirkham

RESOLVED that the Work Programme 2023/24 be noted.

The meeting closed at 10:59 hours.