Issue - meetings

To consider a report of Cabinet on the Romford Market Transformation Programme (attached).

Amendment by the Residents’ Group NOT CARRIED by 33 votes to 13; deemed motion by the Administration AGREED without division.

A report of Cabinet asked Council to approve the allocation of £1 million capital funding and the appointment of architects to develop full proposals for the development of Romford Market Place. A recent requisition of the matter by the Overview & Scrutiny Board had been upheld and Cabinet acknowledged the concerns of the Board. Cabinet wished however to proceed on the basis of the original recommendations, whilst acknowledging that Overview and Scrutiny would have a significant role to play in the project.

Deemed motion on behalf of the Administration

That the report be adopted and its recommendation carried into effect.

Amendment by the Residents’ Group

Amend report recommendation to read:

Given the widespread concerns by the Overview and Scrutiny Board, as demonstrated by the upholding of the requisition of the decision made by Cabinet on 18th November 2016, this council recommends that before engaging Architects to take this project forward, that a cross party group is formed, together with appropriate stakeholders, to carry out a comprehensive review of what is being proposed and to ensure that it is fit for purpose and to review the terms of the grant agreement with the GLA.

Following debate, the amendment by the Residents’ Group was NOT CARRIED by 33 votes to 13 and the deemed motion on behalf of the Administration was AGREED without division.

RESOLVED:

That the appointment of architects to cost and develop full proposals for the physical development of the Market Place be approved along with the allocation of £1m Council capital funding of the programme subject to securing sufficient match-funding from other sources and subject to a business case being signed-off by the Finance Business Partner and Group Director, Communities & Resources in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment.

Councillor Robert Benham, Cabinet member for Environment, introduced the report

Cabinet was reminded that it had considered and agreed the Romford Market Transformation Programme report on 18 November.  Cabinet was informed that this decision had subsequently been requisitioned and that on 8 December it had come before the Overview & Scrutiny  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35

Councillors Ray Morgon and Keith Darvill addressed the Board and gave the reasons for the call-in of the Cabinet decision.

Councillor Morgon commented that the report lacked considerable detail and did not show that the money would be well spent. Councillor Morgon also commented that the Market continued to decline as shopping habits were changing with more purchases now made online rather than from bricks and mortar stores.

Councillor Darvill commented that the aim was to achieve a successful market and Members needed to ensure that the proposals represented value for money. Councillor Darvill also commented that the timescale for the implementation of the proposals appeared to be fairly rapid and that the report did not contain a lot of important information. Councillor Darvill concluded by commenting that the surveys that had been carried out appeared not to show where respondents had come from and showed a lack of engagement with the current traders. Improvement to the Market was needed but Members needed to see more detail of the proposals.

The Chairman advised that she had submitted a number of questions to officers which had been responded to and Members would be emailed a copy of the replies following the meeting.

The Council’s Head of Economic Development and Business Development Manager then took members through a presentation of the proposals for the transformation of the Market.

The presentation highlighted the current market profile and the opportunities that were available for members to consider. The presentation also highlighted how the Market could establish a brand identity and vision for the future and also how the operational management of the Market would be handled in the future and how the market could attract new traders.

The requisition had stated that no evidence had been provided that clearly demonstrated that changes to the Market would attract new shoppers and traders and in response officers provided statistics that had been compiled from surveys that had been carried out in the town centre.

The presentation showed that the statistics had been taken from 690 face to face interviews and Members questioned as to why the number of respondents was so low from a borough with a population of nearly a quarter of a million people. Members also wished to know how many of the respondents lived within the borough as it had previously been stated in similar surveys that approximately seventy percent of visitors to the town centre were from outside of the borough.

Officers advised that from surveys carried out by Cosgrave Property Group, the owners of the Liberty Shopping Centres, showed that the town centre received approximately 22 million visitors a year and that the aim of the transformation was to get visitors into the Market from the town centre. 

The presentation also showed Members examples of transformations that had taken place at other markets across the country.

The requisition had queried that there was no evidence that the consultants employed by the Council, 20.20, had a track record in improving markets and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33

Councillor Robert Benham, Cabinet member for Environment, introduced the report

Cabinet was informed that the report before it outlined proposals for the transformation of Romford Market.  These fell under four main headings: branding identity and vision; operational management and business development; physical transformation and improved use of space.

Work on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26