Agenda item

To receive and consider a report from the Director of Law and Governance outlining details of a call-in received on the Cabinet Decision taken on Genotin Road Car Park, Enfield Town (Report No. 56)

The decision that has been called in was a Cabinet Decision taken on 25 July 2018 and included on the Publication of Decision List No: 11/18-19 (List Ref: 6/11/18-19) issued on 27 July 2018.

It is proposed that consideration of the call-in be structured as follows:

·         Brief outline of the reasons for the call-in by representative (s) of the members who have called in the decision

·         Response to the reasons provided for the Call-in by a Cabinet Member responsible for taking the decision

·         Debate by Overview and Scrutiny Committee and agreement of action to be taken

Please also see the Part 2 agenda

The Committee received a report from the Chief Executive outlining details of a call-in received on the Cabinet decision taken on Genotin Road Car Park, Enfield Town.

NOTED that this report was considered in conjunction with the information in the part 2 agenda.

The Chair invited Councillor Laban to outline the reasons for call-in.

It was noted that this discussion was held in public under Part 1 section of the meeting.  Further discussion took place under the Part 2 section of the meeting.

Councillor Laban outlined the reasons for call-in:

• That the report agreed by Cabinet at its meeting on 25 July 2018 to enter into a development agreement with Metaswitch Networks Ltd set out risks involved in carrying out the proposed office development.  Although some of the points were covered in the response from officers, Councillor Laban felt that some issues still needed to be ‘ironed out’.  She agreed that it was important for Metaswitch to remain in Enfield, however she would like reassurance that agreements would clearly set out who would be liable for any risks involved. This included any risks should Metaswitch  leave following the end of the 15 year lease period.
• The report did not give details of any alternative locations considered for the development other than the Genotin Road car park site.
• As Genotin Road is the most popular of the town car parks there needed to be consideration of how the public could be persuaded to make use of other car parks in the town. Councillor Laban suggested whether using the Portcullis car park had been considered and said it was important there are sufficient spaces around the Christmas period. She said there does not appear to be a clear parking vision for the town.
• The report does not make reference to the Enfield Town Centre, Framework Master Plan’s proposals around Enfield Town station i.e. the possibility of the station frontage being repositioned in the future.
• Reassurance was needed that financial details including the rental figures referred to in the report were sound.

The Chair stated that this issue had been the subject of pre-decision scrutiny by this committee and he noted that many of the points raised by OSC had been given consideration in the Cabinet report.  It was confirmed that mention had previously been made that the Genotin Road car park was the most popular car park used in the town. 

The Chair invited Councillor Oykener as Cabinet Member for Property and Assets, Place to respond to the points raised by Councillor Laban:

Councillor Oykener said the report to Cabinet had reflected comments made by OSC during pre-decision scrutiny.  He felt that most of the points raised by Councillor Laban had been covered in the report and for reasons of transparency they have been included in the Part 1 report. He said it was important that Metaswitch remains in Enfield and that the scheme has the potential to help revive the town centre. 

Sarah Cary referred to ongoing negotiations and discussions concerning risks and said that the council were seeking to mitigate against any risks involved. She reminded the meeting that in any lease agreements the issue of penalty clauses would be examined.

Gary Barnes said discussions with Metaswitch had focused on potential sites in Enfield Town, this included the possibility of using the Enfield police station which is sited next to the Civic Centre, however, the timing for a possible move here would not have been viable.  There were limited options for other sites.  The Genotin Road car park has 115 spaces, and he mentioned that surface parking is more popular for the public to use than multi storey car parks.  He stressed that there is spare capacity within our remaining car parks. 

He said the development represents a good asset management proposal.  It would not be a bespoke building for Metaswitch. The design would allow the building to be let on a floor by floor basis should this be necessary.

Further discussion was held under Part 2 of the agenda.