Agenda item

To receive and consider report 74/05 of the Strategic Director.

(Time:  2.36pm to 3.03pm)

The Executive received and considered report 74/05 of the Strategic Director which appraised Members of the findings of the Feasibility Study commissioned into the redevelopment of the Old Gaol as a combined Arts and Cultural Centre.  A copy of the Feasibility Study prepared by ABL Cultural Consulting Limited had been circulated to all Members of the Executive.

In introducing the report, the Assistant Director (Estates Management) updated Members in respect of the table set out in paragraph 5.1 to the report – Vale Revenue Position.  He advised that under Option 3B the estimated net revenue cost per annum should be -£53,016 and that the estimated total revenue cost per annum was £501,000.  The Assistant Director placed on record his thanks to the Consultants and the partners involved in the consideration of this matter for their hard work in producing the Feasibility Study report.

Councillor Tony de Vere also acknowledged the work undertaken by the consultants, the Council’s partners and officers into the study and expressed his disappointment that the cost of the scheme to redevelop the Old Gaol had doubled since the initial study, undertaken in November 2002.  He expressed disappointment at the lack of external funding opportunities for the redevelopment of the site and accepted with reluctance that no financially viable scheme to develop the Old Gaol as a cultural centre had been identified.  He referred to Oxfordshire County Council’s consideration of the consultant’s report at its Cabinet meeting on 6 September 2005 and advised that the officer recommendation was that the creation of a cultural centre at the Old Gaol was not viable on the grounds that the capital costs could not be afforded by either the County Council or the Vale of White Horse District Council.  In speaking to the Consultant’s report, Councillor de Vere recognised and accepted that there was an identified need for a cultural facility in Abingdon and referred to a letter from the Abingdon Performing Arts Group Enterprise (APAGE) confirming this view.  Finally, Councillor de Vere requested the Officers to report back to the Executive as soon as possible on options for the future use of the Old Gaol site retaining some public use of the building.  Furthermore, he referred to a report on the Civic Halls’ Procurement of Trust Management, which would be considered later in the meeting, in which it was recommended that the Guildhall, Abingdon be redeveloped to better meet the cultural needs of the District.

The Chief Executive confirmed that the County Council’s Cabinet would be meeting on 6 September 2005 to consider the Consultant’s report on the future of the Old Gaol and that the County Officers had recommended that the creation of a cultural centre was not financially viable.  He explained that the County Council had advised that its capital programme was committed up until 2008/09 and that in terms of library improvements, there were higher priorities than Abingdon across the County.

Other Members of the Executive expressed their disappointment at the outcome of the Feasibility Study and the recommendation to the County Council’s Cabinet that the redevelopment of the Old Gaol as a cultural centre was not financially viable.  The Executive Members stressed the need that this Council undertook further work to meet the cultural needs of the District, which had been clearly identified in the Consultant’s report and to retain some public use of the Old Gaol building.

RESOLVED

(a)       that the Council accepts the report’s content and findings on the feasibility of developing the Old Gaol site as a mixed cultural/heritage/social centre;

(b)       that the Council does not proceed to commission the redevelopment of the Old Gaol as a cultural heritage social centre;

(c)       that the Executive receives a further report at its November 2005 meeting on the future use of the Old Gaol site in order to consider the possible options;

(d)       that, subject to the agreement of Oxfordshire County Council, the Feasibility Study commissioned into the redevelopment of the Old Gaol as a combined Arts and Cultural Centre prepared by ABL Cultural Consulting Limited be released into the public domain.