Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services

The Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services requesting approval to complete the asset disposal of the Meadows/Sandbrook ATC site in Ainsdale to Registered Provider, The Riverside Group. Following the disposal, the site would be redeveloped to provide affordable housing, an extra-care housing scheme, and a learning disabilities and autism short-term assessment unit (STAU), the latter to be owned by the Council.

The report set out the background to the matter and site plans were attached to the report.

Decision(s) Made:

That

(1)      the sale of the Council’s freehold interest in land at Sandbrook Road, Ainsdale, shown edged red on the plan within Appendix 2 of the report, to The Riverside Group on the basis of the Heads of Terms detailed within Appendix 1 of the report, be approved;

(2)      the transfer of the relevant section of the existing highway land, as detailed in Section 4.2 of the report, from The Sovini Group to the Council at a nominal value, which will in turn form part of the wider land sale transfer to The Riverside Group, be approved;

(3)      a supplementary capital estimate in the Adult Social Care capital budget programme of £0.987m to deliver the STAU be approved. This is in addition to the £2.580m that was previously approved by the Council following a recommendation from the Cabinet in September 2021 and is funded by the Better Care Fund – Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). This development is within the conditions of the DFG grant that permit the Local Authority to expend a proportion of its allocation on other social care projects;

(4)      the deduction of up to 4% of the eventual capital receipt to cover the professional fees and incidental costs of disposal as set out in Capital Accounting Regulations, be approved;

(5)      authority be delegated to the Executive Director of Adult Social Care and Health, in consultation with the Cabinet Member – Adult Social Care, to approve any design changes to the STAU during the delivery phase and associated cost increases as a result of varying the contract;

(6)      the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer be authorised to complete the necessary legal formalities for the transfer of the section of highway land from The Sovini Group to the Council and in turn dispose of the land shown edged red on the plan within Appendix 2 of the report to The Riverside Group;

(7)      the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer be authorised to complete the necessary legal formalities in relation to the development agreement for The Riverside Group to construct the STAU, on the Council’s retained land shown edged red on the plan within Appendix 3 of the report;

(8)      the fact that The Riverside Group’s contractor partner will commence site works immediately, and the new Short Term Assessment Unit is anticipated to be fully operational by July 2026, be noted; and

Rule 46

(9)      it be noted that the Leader of the Council and the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54