Issue - meetings

The Corporate Director of Economy & Place to present a report which asks Members to consider the council’s response to the public announcement by English Heritage not to proceed with the Visitor Centre element of the proposals for Clifford’s Tower.

Note:This item has been added to the agenda under formal urgency procedures, as it involves a key decision and has been listed on the Forward Plan for less than 28 days.  An urgency notice was published on 20 June 2018.

Resolved:  (i)      That the offer of a long lease for the land requested by English Heritage for the construction of a Clifford’s Tower visitor centre (shaded light blue on the plan at Annex 1) be retracted.

                   (ii)      That the offer of a two year lease for the adjacent land for the associated public piazza proposed as part of the visitor centre project (shaded orange on the plan at Annex 1) be retracted.

Reason:     To reflect the decision of English Heritage not to proceed with the visitor centre.

The Assistant Director for Regeneration and Asset Management presented a report which asked Members to consider the council’s response to the announcement by English Heritage (EH) that they would not be proceeding with the Visitor Centre element of their proposals for Clifford’s Tower.

This item had been added to the agenda under urgency procedures because, due to the timing of the announcement, it had been listed on the Forward Plan for less than 28 days before the meeting date and a swift decision was needed in order to provide certainty in respect of the proposals.

Since EH received planning permission for their proposals in October 2016, the planning decision had been subject to Judicial Review, the result of which was still being appealed. In June 2018, EH had announced they did not intend to take forward their plans for a visitor centre but would work with the council to consider other options.  It was therefore recommended that the Executive withdraw its previous decisions to lease to EH the land required for the visitor centre and associated public plaza, as indicated on the plan attached as Annex 1 to the report. 

Having noted the comments made under Public Participation on this item, it was

Resolved:  (i)      That the offer of a long lease for the land requested by English Heritage for the construction of a Clifford’s Tower visitor centre (shaded light blue on the plan at Annex 1) be retracted.

                   (ii)      That the offer of a two year lease for the adjacent land for the associated public piazza proposed as part of the visitor centre project (shaded orange on the plan at Annex 1) be retracted.

Reason:     To reflect the decision of English Heritage not to proceed with the visitor centre.