Agenda item

To receive an update report on Meridian Water.

RECEIVED an update from Peter George, Programme Director, Meridian Water.

The Leader Councillor Nesil Cazimoglu left the meeting at this point but advised the committee that she was happy to take any further questions from Councillors regarding Meridian Water outside of the meeting and she would respond to them accordingly.

NOTED:

i)             Background information was provided on the Meridian Water project. It will deliver 10,000 homes and thousands of jobs. The council has acquired 35.5 hectares of land within the site to date.

ii)            Following the withdrawal of Barrett and subsequently PCPD (as reserve bidder) the procurement process for a master developer partner was concluded by Cabinet on 25^th July 2018 (KD4022). The Council has since taken on the role of master developer and will lead the development of Meridian Water.

iii)           The Council will lead the phasing of the development by creating contiguous plots of land that can then be developed. The first phase of development is Meridian One on the Willoughby Lane site.

iv)           The new Meridian Station is part of the wider £170m Lea Valley Rail Programme. It is set to open on 19^th May 2019 and will take up to four million passengers per year directly south to Stratford, with onward connections to Liverpool Street, City Airport and Heathrow, and north to Stansted and Cambridge.

v)            Angel Road mainline service is currently 0-2 trains per hour (tph), this service will commence at Meridian Water Station in May following the existing timetable. From September services will commence on the 3^rd track which will layer an additional 2 trains per hour through day service. This will realise a 2-3/4tph. Construction is progressing well, and delivery of the station is on time and on budget.

vi)           The Council has submitted a bid in December for £156M of the MHCLG Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF).  The bid is seeking funding for strategic infrastructure in Meridian Water to unlock the site for housing development. If successful, the funding will provide infrastructure required for the 10,000 new homes in Meridian Water.

vii)          The bids are currently being assessed by central government and the announcement of the schemes that have successfully secured funding is expected in March 2019.

viii)        Procurement of a developer partner for Meridian One is progressing. Tenders are returned on 15^th February and the Council is expecting to enter into contract during the summer subject to Cabinet approval.

ix)           Further information was provided on Meridian Two as well as employment uses. The ambition is to secure two thirds of ground floor space as non-residential space, this is likely to be a mix of retail, community and workspace.

x)            If the Council is successful in securing the HIF funding and delivers key strategic infrastructure, the attractiveness of the site will be greatly increased to developers of employment offers.

xi)           The Council is progressing with its major meanwhile project Meridian Works with support from the GLA. The Council is marketing two meanwhile sites: Teardrop and Stonehill and further information was provided on these.

xii)          The Council is working in partnership with the Vibration Group to activate the Orbital Business Park site as a cultural and creative hub. Notably this involves Meridian Water hosting Field Day Festival in June this year, one of the UK’s leading festivals this summer.

xiii)        With regards to Project Management the restructure report detailing the resourcing of the Meridian Water Team is in the final stages of approval. The restructure will provide the team with additional resource to deliver projects.

xiv)        The Meridian Water Team has project management support from Stace, including a full-time programme manager. The team regularly reviews the strategic and urgent risk registers to monitor the main risks concerning Meridian Water.

Following Peter’s update, the following comments/questions were raised:

·         The project is still viable without the success of the infrastructure bid but viability becomes more marginal. In the event that the investment is not secured Peter advised Members that he will bring forward a report to Cabinet in July outlining the intentions to move the project forward and providing details of what other funding opportunities can be explored.

·         Discussions took place regarding the Risk Register (Appendix 5 of the report) and explanations were provided.

·         Concerns were raised regarding the size of Field Day Festival. The Chair, Councillor Levy advised that there is a licensing application coming forward in relation to this music event. Any decision will be underpinned by a Safety Advisory Group. If they feel it is an unsafe event it cannot go ahead despite whether a license is granted.

·         80,000 people are expected to attend the music event across the weekend of the 6^th/7^th June 2019. Meridian Water station is scheduled to open on 19^th May this year, therefore visitors to the event can access the site via the station. Contingencies are also in place with a coach drop being set up. The site is also only a 25-minute walk from Tottenham Hale station therefore within walking distance. The operators of this event, Vibration Group are leaders in their field and successfully run multiple festivals across England and Europe.

·         With regards to the tenders for a developer partner for Meridian One, Peter said that overall the council is looking for good design quality, speed of delivery, best price and the highest number of affordable housing.

·         The Strategic Planning Document that governs Meridian Water has been for inspection and will be adopted shortly. This plan sets out the Planning Policy Framework for Meridian Water in determining the numbers of affordable housing at Meridian water.

The Chair thanked Peter for attending the meeting and looked forward to receiving further updates as and when they became available.