Cabinet Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda. 

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive questions from the public in accordance with the Constitution.

Questions, of no longer than 50 words, can be submitted to the Democratic Support Unit, Plymouth City Council, Ballard House, Plymouth, PL1 3BJ, or email to democraticsupport@plymouth.gov.uk. Any questions must be received at least five clear working days before the date of the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public.

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.

Councillor Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)     The report sought formal approval for the final land requirements for The George Scheme which would enable the Council to progress with the necessary compulsory purchase order (CPO) and side road order to complete the project;

b)    The funding for the scheme was already in place;

c)     The goal was to reach an agreement with affected land owners through negotiation;

d)    The CPO was a last resort;

e)     The scheme would have a direct impact on a number of residents;

f)      Plymouth City Council had received representations from land owners opposing the CPO which had been distributed to Cabinet;

g)     After reviewing the scheme and producing further design work, four properties previously affected by the scheme had been removed and the amount of permanent land required for the scheme had been reduced by a further 21 properties;

h)    The decision Cabinet would come to in this meeting would be carefully considered to ensure that the Council were satisfied that the benefits of the scheme outweighed the interference of the land owned by third parties, and therefore justified the CPO to proceed;

i)      The benefits to the scheme included:

i) Transport improvements which would make a different to everyone who relied on the route, including local businesses, bus passengers, pedestrians and cyclists;

ii) More than 30,000 vehicles used Tavistock Road every day and it was regarded as a pinch point in the network; the scheme would help improve this;

iii) Journey times for buses and general traffic would be improved which would help improve bus service reliability;

iv) Pavements and cycle paths would be new and improved which would ensure the public considered alternative active and sustainable transport options;

j)      The scheme was a critical part of the programme to provide better links to and from the north of Plymouth as it grew and would complement the Derriford Hospital Interchange, the Derriford Hospital Transport Scheme and the Forder Valley Link Road;

k)     The scheme was part of the Council’s adapted Statutory Planning Framework for the city;

l)      The Joint Local Plan (JLP) identified the Northern Corridor as one of the three priority growth areas due to it’s potential to deliver a regionally significant number of new jobs and homes;

m)   The scheme would provide part of the critical infrastructure needed to deliver the new homes that had been identified for the Derriford and Northern Corridor growth area, around 2000 of which would be part of the Woolwell Urban Extension;

n)    The JLP delivering growth in Derriford and the Northern Corridor specifically supported the provision of the transport infrastructure and the scheme directly supported a number of other JLP policies.

Sally Farley (Strategic Transport Manager) added:

o)    The fourth recommendation delegated powers to Paul Barnard (Service Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure) the ability to negotiate and make minor amendments;

p)    The scheme had worked to ‘design out’ four land plots, altogether reducing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 140.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) introduced the item the highlighted the following points:

a)     It had been 10 years since the Council had left the Civic Centre and relocated to Ballard House, during which time work had been underway with Urban Splash to find a way to bring the listed building back into use;

b)    Urban Splash had secured the planning consent for the conversion and reuse of the Civic Centre for apartments, which aligned to the Council’s vision to build 5000 new homes in the city centre;

c)     The Civic Centre opened in 1962 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II;

d)    In 2021, the estimated cost of the development of the 114 new homes in the Civic Centre was £35 million, but due to inflation the current budget estimate was over £50 million, which meant a further £10 million of High Street Finding for the regeneration would be used for this project;

e)     The Council had secured a further £8.5 million Levelling Up Grant for the regeneration of the Civic Centre which meant the regeneration was now largely a public sector funded project, meaning it was appropriate for the Council to recover the building from the current owners and take on the works;

f)      The Council would now oversee the project and had appointed a consultancy team;

g)     Concrete stabilisation works would commence shortly and needed to be complete by March 2025;

h)    The funding for the external renovation works would, in part, be met by funding secured and income generated from the new leave and the car park;

i)      A report would be brought to Cabinet in Autumn 2024, clarifying the programme and options of the projects going forward, including the conversion and fit out of the internals of the tower.

Councillor Cresswell (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships) added:

j)      Through shared vision the Civic Centre would not only be a city centre regeneration project, but a transformational skills project;

k)     Nearly 60% of all employment in Plymouth was in STEM sectors;

l)      Investment in the Freeport and Naval Base would continue to see the growth in highly skills and highly paid roles;

m)   There was an estimate of 8000 new jobs by 2023, 70% of which would require higher level educational qualifications;

n)    The Civic Centre investment would enable City College to have a new city centre campus, focused on blue and green skills;

o)    The Civic Centre investment would also allow City College to deliver 60 new courses to 2000 New Learners per annum, as well as 2500 apprenticeship starts;

p)    At its heart, the Civic Centre project was about inclusive growth; ensuring all residents in St Peter and the Waterfront, Stonehouse, Devonport. Keyham, Ernesettle, Whitleigh, Honicknowle and Ham had the opportunity to get the high value jobs created by Babcock, Oceansgate, and the Freeport;

q)    The investment in the Civic Centre would ensure the workforce is fit for the new jobs of the 21^st century, that citizens would have the opportunity  ...  view the full minutes text for item 141.