Agenda item

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 24.7 twelve Members requested that the decision of the Full Council held on 12 October 2021 in relation to Minute No. 32 – London Road Car Park be subject to reconsideration.

Therefore, Councillor K. Girling will propose and Councillor R. White will second that:

‘At the meeting of Full Council held on 12 October 2021, it was agreed to proceed with the London Road car park extension scheme (referred to as Option B in the report). Following the receipt of an improved offer to the Council to buy the land on which the extension is proposed to be built, it is proposed that the previous decision taken by the Council on 12 October 2021 be rescinded. It is further proposed that the Council agrees to purchase the freehold of the land known as the London Road car park extension for the sum of £450,000, and to retain the land as green space.’

Councillors signing the motion to rescind the previous decision of the Full Council:

Councillor K. Girling

Councillor R. White

Councillor Mrs R. Crowe

Councillor M. Skinner

Councillor J. Lee

Councillor N. Mison

Councillor R. Holloway

Councillor S. Haynes

Councillor K. Walker

Councillor J. Kellas

Councillor P. Rainbow

Councillor I. Walker

Note – accompanying report of the Chief Executive to be published and circulated in due course.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 24.7, twelve Members had requested that the decision of the Full Council held on 12 October 2021 in relation to Minute No. 32 – London Road Car Park be subject to reconsideration.  Councillor K. Girling moved and Councillor R. White seconded the motion that:

‘At the meeting of Full Council held on 12 October 2021, it was agreed to proceed with the London Road car park extension scheme (referred to as Option B in the report). Following the receipt of an improved offer to the Council to buy the land on which the extension is proposed to be built, it is proposed that the previous decision taken by the Council on 12 October 2021 be rescinded. It is further proposed that the Council agrees to purchase the freehold of the land known as the London Road car park extension for the sum of £450,000, and to retain the land as green space.’

In debating the motion, the Council considered the accompanying report of the Chief Executive, which provided supporting information. The report advised that since the decision of the Full Council on 12 October 2021, to proceed with Option B, officers had made progress to implement the car park extension.  An updated ecology survey had been undertaken and fencing had been installed around the perimeter of the site.  This was in preparation for the removal of the trees and the implementation of planning permission.

In the periods before and after the last meeting of the Full Council, campaigners had continued to press for the trees to be protected and for the proposed car park extension to be abandoned.  An online petition “Stop the Chop and Save our Trees” had gathered 60,081 signatories.  The petition, which was presented to the Chairman, called for the Council to:

§    Pause the felling of the trees;

§    Undertake, and publish the findings of, the promised car parking review with stakeholders including the Newark Civic Trust and Protecting Newark’s Green Open Spaces;

§    Hold the promised consultation on the development of the site, given its high value to local people; and

§    Undertake a full bat survey next spring in May 2022 when the weather is warm enough for bats to fly at night.

The report further advised that on the day the Council’s ecologist visited the site, Friday 12 November 2021, the Council received a revised offer from Datch Properties Limited for the Council to purchase the freehold of the site earmarked for the extension. The site was shown in the plan at Appendix B to the report. The previous best and final offer which was reported to the Full Council at the 12 October 2021 meeting was a sum of £600,000 to purchase the site. The revised offer was a reduced price of £450,000 on the condition that the Council did not implement the planning permission to create the car park extension and retained the land as green space.

The total cost to the Council in purchasing the land was the asking price of £450,000 together with SDLT, legal costs and land registration fee totalling £467,540.  In addition to the costs of purchasing the land, the Council would not be receiving any future income from constructing the car park.  This lost income, net of the abortive and additional development costs was £115,139.  This future loss in anticipated income had not been incorporated into the medium term financial plan and therefore there would be no immediate impact on the financial plans of the Council.

It was noted that if the motion was agreed, the necessary changes would be made to the General Fund Capital Programme and in year General Fund expenditure.

On being put to the meeting, the motion was agreed with 28 votes for and 2 abstentions.

A recorded vote was taken as follows: