Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of City Development which seeks support for the proposed Opera North works to refurbish the vacant shop units at 34-40 New Briggate for restaurant/bar use, to improve access to the Howard Assembly Room above (properties in the ownership of the City Council) and the adjacent Premier House (owned by Opera North) which forms the headquarters for Opera North. In order to progress such proposals, the report also seeks related specific approvals. 

(Please note that Appendix 1 to this report is designated as exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4(3))

Further to Minute No. 85, 19^th October 2016, the Director of City Development submitted a report which sought support for proposed Opera North works to be undertaken in order to refurbish the vacant shop units at 34-40 New Briggate for restaurant/bar use, in order to improve access to the Howard Assembly Room above (properties in the ownership of the City Council) and the adjacent Premier House (owned by Opera North), which form the headquarters of Opera North. In addition, the report also sought related, specific approvals from the Board in order to enable such proposals to be progressed.

In response to a number of enquiries made by a Member, it was highlighted that the purpose of the submitted report was to agree the Council’s position on the shop units it owned and also on the nature of the support that the Council would be prepared to provide for the proposed scheme. The Members also received further information on how scheme looked to contribute towards the improvement of the cultural offer in that area of the city centre, whilst clarification was also provided that in order for the scheme to be progressed, Council approval was required as the freeholder of the Grand Theatre, and consent of the Grand Theatre Board of Management was also required as leaseholder.

Following consideration of Appendix 1 to the submitted report designated as 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 meeting, it was

RESOLVED –

(a)  That approval be given to the leasing of 34-40 New Briggate to Opera North Ltd. at a market rent, and that approval also be given to the offer a rent free period from the commencement of the new lease: the rent free period being determined against the landlord’s improvements that Opera North make, relative to the rental value of the premises once the scheme has been developed on the terms as detailed within exempt Appendix 1 to the submitted report, with the remaining areas to be leased to Opera North at a peppercorn rent as per their existing lease;

(b)  That approval be given to the payment of a reverse premium of up to £750,000 to Opera North, in order to make the future occupation of the shop units at 34-40 New Briggate commercially viable, on the terms as detailed within exempt Appendix 1 to the submitted report;

(c)  That ‘Authority to Spend’ up to £750,000 from Capital Scheme No. 32615 as the reverse premium payable to Opera North, be approved;

(d)  That subject to the agreement of both Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House Ltd. and Opera North, approval be given to authorise variations to their respective leased areas in order to allow the delivery of the proposed Opera North works;

(e)  That subject to consultation with the Executive Member for ‘Economy and Culture’, the necessary authority be delegated to the Director of City Development in order to enable the Director to negotiate and approve the final terms of all legal agreements associated with the proposed delivery of the Opera North capital project, in accordance with the Council’s officer delegation scheme;

(f)  That the following be noted: the actions required to implement the Board’s decisions; the proposed timescale to progress the proposed works, as detailed within the submitted report; and that the Director of City Development will be responsible for the implementation of such matters.

(With regard to the resolutions made by the Board on this matter, as Councillor B Anderson was in attendance as a non-voting Member, he drew the Board’s attention to the fact that if he were able to, he would abstain from voting on the decisions referred to within this minute)