Issue - meetings

To consider a report from the Director for the Economy, a copy is attached as item 9.

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for the Economy, copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 9.

The report advised the Committee on the outcome of a successful marketing exercise for the Union Place site and sought the Committee’s approval to progress negotiations with Roffey Homes regarding the development of the site for the purpose of delivering new homes, cinema, parking and employment space.

The report recommended that members approved Roffey Homes Ltd as the preferred development partner and that the scheme should be progressed by way of a Joint Venture Partnership between the organisations.

The report also outlined the key areas of negotiation, business case development and financial implications of the proposal that needed to be resolved in a further report to the Committee. 

A Member questioned whether there was evidence to support the suggestion that residents wanted extended cinema provision at Union Place. Officers advised that there was strong support for a cinema on the site.  A study had identified there was demand for a further 3 to 5 additional screens in the town and that there were 100,000 trips taken by Worthing residents, out of the town, to access similar cinema provision in Brighton and Chichester. It was noted that the average spend of a cinema goer was £35 per trip, so it had been estimated that for the number of trips identified, £3.5m was leaving the Worthing economy. The option put forward enabled the Council to keep the cinema option on the table whilst providing an opportunity to review the demand for cinema post pandemic.

It was also noted that Worthing Theatres and Museum strongly supported the provision of a cinema at Union Place.

Clarification was sought in relation to the impact of not taking back the NCP car park and the lack of hotel provision in the plans. Officers advised that the scheme was deliberately phased in two parts. It was recognised that getting hold of the NCP part was a costly challenge for the Council. It required NCP to come to the table and negotiate, as an organisation, NCP were known to be difficult to negotiate with. As a result, the Council had undertaken two viability appraisals, both of which had been shown to stack up. The hotel was a strong aspiration for the site, however, a number of hotel operators had been approached and there was no real strong interest in the site. It was felt that demand was taken up by existing hotels in the town.

The Committee also gave consideration to LCRs role in the proposals, the length of NCPs lease and the number of affordable units delivered through the proposals.

It was noted that the site had been vacant for a considerable period of time and that Roffey Homes had a strong record of delivery in the town. Support was expressed for the Joint Venture approach proposed and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88