Issue - meetings

The Corporate Director of Economy & Place to present a report which provides an update on activity undertaken on the York Central development and sets out options for proceeding with further development activity, to maintain momentum and progress pending the announcement of grant funding decisions.

Resolved:  (i)      That Option 1 be approved and £2.275m be committed to progress work on the first phase of infrastructure, up to determination of the RMA, RIBA stage 4 design, with a refined fixed construction cost and submission of the WYTF+ final business case.

                   (ii)      That a £1.58m LGF grant be accepted from the North Yorkshire & East Riding (YNYER) Local Economic Partnership (LEP) and £695k be drawn down from the agreed York Central CYC capital budget, to fund this work.

Reason:     To ensure that appropriate project development progress is maintained towards delivery readiness on the York Central project in preparation for the determination of external grant funding being confirmed.

The Assistant Director of Regeneration & Asset Management presented a report which provided an update on activity on the York Central development and set out options for further progress.

On 18 July 2019, Executive had approved the release of funding for continued design work and Early Contract Involvement to the end of November, anticipating a decision on the application for Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) funding by then (Minute 15 of that meeting refers).  Good progress had been made, as highlighted in paragraphs 17-18 of the report; however, the HIF decision was still awaited.

To maintain project momentum in the meantime, the following options were available, as detailed in paragraphs 21-30:

Option 1 – commit £2.247m, funded by £1.158m York, North Yorkshire & East Riding Local Economic Partnership (LEP) grant (subject to this being available) and £695k from the council’s York Central capital budget, to progress work right through to submission of the Financial Business Case with full costings (FBC+) to secure funding for the construction phase. 

Option 2 -  commit £746k, from the York Central capital budget, to proceed as far as

Officers reported at the meeting that the LEP had approved grant funding the previous day; therefore Option 1 was recommended without the need to approve Option 2 as a back-up position.

The Chair congratulated the NRM on being awarded DCMS funding, as noted in paragraph 10 of the report, and thanked the LEP for their grant.  Having noted the comments made under Public Participation, it was

Resolved:  (i)      That Option 1 be approved and £2.275m be committed to progress work on the first phase of infrastructure, up to determination of the RMA, RIBA stage 4 design, with a refined fixed construction cost and submission of the WYTF+ final business case.

                   (ii)      That a £1.58m LGF grant be accepted from the North Yorkshire & East Riding (YNYER) Local Economic Partnership (LEP) and £695k be drawn down from the agreed York Central CYC capital budget, to fund this work.

Reason:     To ensure that appropriate project development progress is maintained towards delivery readiness on the York Central project in preparation for the determination of external grant funding being confirmed.