Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee APPENDIX C
12 August 2024
King Alfred Leisure Centre Regeneration Project
Appendix 1. Call in request submitting by opposition members
From: Cllr
Ollie Sykes <Ollie.Sykes@brighton-hove.gov.uk>
Sent: Friday, July 26, 2024 8:14 AM
To: Jess Gibbons <Jessica.Gibbons@brighton-hove.gov.uk>
Cc: Elizabeth Culbert <Elizabeth.Culbert@brighton-hove.gov.uk>; Cllr Steve Davis <Steve.Davis@brighton-hove.gov.uk>; Cllr Sue Shanks <Sue.Shanks@brighton-hove.gov.uk>; Cllr Raphael Hill
<Raphael.Hill@brighton-hove.gov.uk>; Cllr Chloë Goldsmith
<Chloe.Goldsmith@brighton-hove.gov.uk>; Cllr Alistair McNair
<Alistair.McNair@brighton-hove.gov.uk>; Cllr Kerry Pickett
<Kerry.Pickett@brighton-hove.gov.uk>
Subject: IMPORTANT Call-in request: King Alfred Leisure
Centre Regeneration Project, Cabinet of 18th July
Importance: High
Dear Jess
I understand the deadline for call-in of this decision is today.
The undersigned request that the Decision on Item 29 in Cabinet of 18th July 2024 (King Alfred Leisure Centre Regeneration Project) be called in on the basis of the following grounds as described in the Council Constitution Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules:
13.1.2 the absence of sufficient evidence on which to base a decision.
Reasons for use of these grounds for call-in are as follows:
We hope this provides sufficient basis on which to call this item in for consideration at a meeting of Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Kind regards
Steve Davis (Green)
Ollie Sykes (Green)
Alistair McNair (Conservative)
Kerry Pickett (Green)
Chloë Goldsmith (Green)
Raphael Hill (Green)
Sue Shanks (Green)
Additional information received from Cabinet on 18th July 2024:
To develop the business case, we engaged specialist consultants who have developed many Green-book businesses cases that have successfully secure grant funding for many local authorities. The project’s team also includes officers who have developed Green Book business cases for local authorities that have successfully secured millions of £ pounds of funding from the Town Deal, Local Growth Fund, and Housing Infrastructure Fund. I am therefore content that the approach used was rigorous, thorough, and compliant with HM Treasury requirements. Particular attention was given by the consultants to ensuring that the business case would be best oriented to securing any potential future government grant funding.
The business case includes detailed analysis of costs and the value of the social benefits (nominal and Net Present Value) which have been summarised for brevity in section 4 of the paper. To briefly respond to some of the councillor’s specific points:
Table 1 is taken from the economic case and shows the value of the costs and benefits in net present value (NPV) terms. These NPV figures have been converted from the nominal figures in the financial case by (i) stripping out background inflation, (ii) adjusting for optimism bias, and (iii) discounting for present values. The economic benefits shown in the table are made up of the social benefits and land value uplift as set out in paragraph 4.3.
The Green Book recommends an optimism bias of between 2% and 24% for standard buildings. For this business case, a value at the higher end of that range (20%) was chosen as construction contracts are not yet in place.
Quantity surveyors (Stace) were engaged during the production of the business case and provided detailed cost estimates for each delivery option on which the capital build costs a are based. The revenue estimates have been calculated based on well-framed assumptions about the future levels of use and running costs for the facility, as advised by our specialist consultants Continuum Sport and Leisure.
Tables 2 and 3 are taken from the financial case, and these therefore use nominal figures rather than the NPV values used in the economic case and in table 1.
The critical success factors of strategic fit, value for money, supplier capacity, affordability and achievability have all been considered in forming the decision on the preferred option.
The detailed business case has been shared with cabinet members but due to reasons of commercial sensitivity has not been shared more widely.
Ollie Sykes (Green Party)
City Councillor, Brunswick and Adelaide ward
Brighton & Hove City Council
07394843182