Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director of City Development advising of a request from the Homes and Community Agency (HCA) that the Council accepts the transfer of four Listed Buildings into its ownership at Tower Works, Globe Road, Holbeck. The transfer of the buildings will be accompanied by a financial dowry funded by the Department of Communities and Local Government and will result in the City Council and HCA working in partnership to bring forward the redevelopment of Tower Works and the wider Holbeck Urban Village. In addition, the report details the reasons and terms for the transfer and recommends that the Council accepts the freehold transfer of the buildings, and how the buildings should be managed in the future.

Appendix 1 to this report is designated as exempt under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4(3).

The Director of City Development submitted a report advising of a request received from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) that the Council accepted the transfer of four Listed Buildings into its ownership at Tower Works, Globe Road, Holbeck. The transfer of the buildings would be accompanied by a financial dowry funded by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and would result in the Council and the HCA working in partnership to bring forward the redevelopment of the Tower Works and the wider Holbeck Urban Village. In addition, the report detailed the reasons and terms for the transfer and recommended that the Council accepted the freehold transfer of the buildings, and how the buildings should be managed in the future.

Following consideration of Appendix 1 to the submitted report, designated as exempt under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4(3), which was considered in private at the conclusion of the meeting, it was

RESOLVED –

(a)  That approval be given for the Council to accept the freehold transfer of

ownership from the HCA of buildings known as the Engine House, Giotto Tower, Verona Tower and Little Chimney at Tower Works, Globe Road, Holbeck, subject to the financial dowry offered by the HCA being of a sufficient sum and no less than the amount identified in exempt Appendix 1 to the submitted report.

(b)  That approval be given to the principle of the Giotto Tower, Verona Tower and Little Chimney being placed within a trust, established to maintain the buildings in perpetuity, with the Council acting as full trustee.

(c)  That in the context of paragraphs 6.1 and 6.2 of the submitted report, in the event that any matters require formal approval between Executive Board approval of the transaction and completion, then authority be given for these matters to be dealt with by the Director of City Development under the appropriate scheme of delegation, with the concurrence of the Executive Member for Development and the Economy and the Director of Resources.

(The matters referred to within this minute were not eligible for Call In as the HCA had requested that the buildings be transferred to the Council by the end of the 2012/13 financial year, this being 28th March 2013. The HCA had imposed this deadline as the dowry available from DCLG to accompany the transfer was only available until the end of the financial year. In the event of such decisions being Called In, then it would not be possible to meet the HCA deadline and the dowry would be lost. Therefore, this matter was deemed urgent, on the basis that any delay would seriously damage the Council’s, or the public’s interests).