Agenda item

To consider the head of development and corporate landlord’s report. 

Councillor Andy Crawford declared an interest in this item as he was a member of Wantage Town Council.  He left the meeting during the consideration of this item and did not take part in the debate or decision. 

Cabinet considered the report of the head of development and corporate landlord.  This proposed a future direction for The Beacon in Wantage.  Officers had considered options for the ongoing development of the facility to offer best value to the council, while maximising community benefit and financial efficiency, thereby establishing The Beacon’s long-term sustainability.  The report proposed the approval of a development action plan to meet these aims. 

The report included several appendices, which investigated service provision options in detail.  These options included running The Beacon through an external organisation, an outsourced operator model, and retaining the operation in-house.  Cabinet noted the appendices, including those that were marked as exempt. 

The Scrutiny Committee had asked Cabinet to consider the following:

·       accelerating work on the action plan, particularly focussing on fundraising efforts, future commercial options, revisiting decarbonisation timescales, and discussions with Wantage Town Council, with clear time parameters for the whole action plan;

·       revisiting engagement with local ward members to meet, share ideas and contacts, and involving community groups in the Beacon’s future;

·       providing an update to Scrutiny Committee in quarter three. 

Officers had provided a response to the points raised by Scrutiny Committee; Cabinet noted these. 

The Cabinet member for community health and wellbeing thanked Scrutiny Committee for its suggestions.  It was one of the council’s priorities to review the operation of The Beacon, maximise its benefits to the community and reduce costs.  This had been discussed with other members, and specialist advice had been sought.  It was unlikely that the council would be able to recover all of its costs, but it must reduce them.  The council should do all it could to ensure The Beacon was operating to its best potential in-house.  Therefore, the Cabinet member supported the adoption of the development action plan and had asked for regular progress updates.  In terms of local engagement, the Cabinet member reported that it was intended to establish a community engagement board to define and measure the communities’ aspirations for The Beacon. 

The Cabinet member proposed amendments to the recommendations to authorise officers to agree the prioritised actions, and to progress further investigations into potential future alternative operating models for The Beacon whilst the action plan was implemented, to enable comparison with an optimised in-house operating model, and ensure best value could be achieved. 

Cabinet welcomed the action plan, and thanked Scrutiny Committee for its suggestions.  Cabinet recognised that there were improvements the council could implement to improve The Beacon’s service delivery.  Key to this was the outcome of discussions with Wantage Town Council, which had an agreement to use The Beacon.  The adoption of the development action plan should have a positive impact on its financial viability and benefit the community.  Before the council considered longer-term options, the council should do all it could to ensure The Beacon was operating to its best potential in-house.  Therefore, Cabinet supported the adoption of the development action plan. 

The Cabinet member and officers were thanked for their work on this. 

RESOLVED to:

(a)     endorse the Beacon Development Action Plan, as set out in Appendix 1 to the head of development and corporate landlord’s report to Cabinet on 16 February 2024,to optimise operation of the in-house delivery model, and authorise the relevant head of service, in consultation with the Cabinet member for communities and wellbeing, to agree the prioritised actions;

(b)     note that progression of further investigations into potential future alternative operating models for The Beacon whilst the action plan is implemented will enable comparison with an optimised in-house operating model, to ensure best value is achieved, as set out in Appendix 2 to the report;

(c)      acknowledge that the currently unbudgeted implementation costs outlined within the Development Action Plan, are subject to agreement of Council at its meeting on 21 February 2024;

(d)     request officers to enter into formal discussions with Wantage Town Council in respect of its occupancy arrangements, as set out in Appendix 4 to the report;

(e)     note that the strategic direction for the Beacon and the arts more widely will be met within the council’s new corporate plan 2024-2028; and

(f)       receive a formal progress review of the actions above, and future options, during quarter three of 2024/25.