Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director of City Development which seeks in principle agreement to measures to help secure the timely delivery of new workspace within the Temple District area. The report also seeks in principle approval of an amended and initial potential Compulsory Purchase Order boundary within this zone, which relates to activity to secure the future of Temple Works and is within the context of supporting the city’s post-COVID economic recovery.

(Please note that Appendix 5 to this report is designated as being exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4 (3))

The Director of City Development submitted a report which sought in principle agreement to measures to help secure the timely delivery of new workspace within the Temple District area. The report also sought in principle approval of an amended and initial potential Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) boundary within this zone, which related to activity to secure the future of Temple Works and was within the wider context of supporting the city’s post-COVID economic recovery.

Following consideration of Appendix 5 to the submitted report designated as being exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information

Procedure Rule 10.4(3), which was considered in private at the conclusion of the public part of the meeting, it was

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the ongoing efforts to secure comprehensive development within the Temple District, as detailed at appendix 1 to the submitted report, to contribute towards the economic, social, or environmental wellbeing of the area, be noted;

(b)  That the amended initial and potential Compulsory Purchase Order boundary, as shown in appendix 2 to the submitted report, which relates to the strategy to secure the reuse of Temple Works, be agreed;

(c)  That the Director of City Development be requested to bring back a report later in 2021 on agreements to secure the future of Temple Works, the scope and progress on the British Library North, and on the potential of a formal CPO resolution, should private treaty negotiations not succeed;

(d)  That the principle of the Council exercising its statutory powers and entering into the proposed land transaction under Section 203 Housing and Planning Act 2016 and section 227 Town & Country Planning Act 1990, as per the proposal contained at paragraphs 3.38-3.39 of the submitted report, be supported, and which is subject to the conditions outlined at paragraph 3.50-3.51, and also the development of legal agreements as per exempt appendix 5; with the Board’s agreement also being given for the Director of City Development to consult with each of the affected landowners;

(e)  That the Director of City Development be requested to report back with a further report on the section 203 proposal, with recommendations on the formal resolution for the Council to utilise these powers.

(It was noted that whilst Councillor Robinson was attending the Board meeting in a non-voting capacity, were he able to, he would have abstained from voting on the decisions referred to within this minute, under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 16.5)