Councillors will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

No declarations of interest were made.

a)    It was queried if Councillor Hulme should be allowed to sit on the Committee, if he was one of the Councillors who called in the decision;

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) advised that –

b)    Reminded Members that declarations of interests were for Members and so it was up to Councillor Hulme whether he felt it was an interest or not;

c)    There was nothing in the Call-In procedures that prevented members from sitting on a Committee if they called in a decision;

d)    The Committee would be making recommendations, not decisions, and therefore Councillor Hulme could not be predetermined, as no decisions were to be made at the meeting;

e)    If Members wanted this subject to be looked at as part of a review of the Constitution, this could be done through the Audit and Governance Committee.

To receive reports on business which in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

The Committee will consider the decision called in by Councillors Kelly, Mrs Beer, Hulme and Singh.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) explained that the Call-In had been accepted on the grounds that “the decision maker did not take into account relevant factors only. The Barbican Landing Stage is a platform that used correctly could open up the coastal waters to many more users, therefore encouraging greater participation of the National Marine Park (NMP), one of the Council’s objectives for the NMP.”

Councillors Mrs Beer, Kelly and Singh introduced the reasons for the call-in and highlighted -

a)    The Barbican Landing stage was a public asset with a book value of £441,469 with an 84 Year lease remaining;

b)    The income to the Council was £14,576 in 2021, with a cost to Plymouth City Council of £24,328; a deficit of £9,752 which if divided into the asset value represents 45 years before the incurrence of the giveaway of the book value;

c)    The Council has been seen in the past by the public to ‘giveaway’ or sell public assets at a very reduced, or nil rate such as The Civic Centre, Airport, Pavilions or The Dome and the only benefit to public of this decision was the saving of £10,000 a year;

d)    Plymouth had the first National Marine Park and part of the Corporate Plan was to encourage cruise ship visitors and this landing stage could have been used for tender’s transporting tourists from the ships and back;

e)    The shortfall in 2021 would have been impacted by the COVID19 pandemic;

f)     The Cattewater Harbour Commissioners were able to raise their prices on their segment of the Barbican Landing Stage as they saw fit , and once the section in the decision was handed back, the trust could choose to rise prices and generate a healthy profit; they couldn’t see why the Council could not do the same;

g)    The Barbican Landing stage would be an ideal space in the heart of Plymouth for boat operators for fishing, dolphin watching and more, but it was restricted to commercial operators only;
 

h)    If it was opened up to a wider range of users, for some as a lower fee, Plymouth City Council could enable more users to access the water and make a profit, rather than lose control of an asset;

i)     In 1895, The Lord Mayor of Plymouth declared that Phoenix Wharf should be designated a free landing point, the Mayflower Steps are designated a free landing point, but were currently closed, and other public landing platforms and stations had been lost, even though on the other side of the City, Mutton Cove remained free, so could a cap of charges be imposed on the Cattewater Harbour Commissioners;

j)     The Corporate Plan aimed to create a friendly and welcoming city with a varied, efficient and sustainable transport network and the Barbican Landing stage could have been utilised for Water Taxi’s to take pressure off of the road network and provide a more environmentally friendly way for visitors to experience Plymouth’s coastal landmarks;

k)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.