Agenda item

Cabinet AGREED:

1.    The design and viability assessment for the new library.

2. The making of a Compulsory Purchase Order to acquire any further interests required for the new library

3.    The delegation to the Property Strategy Manager and Assistant Director - Legal and Democratic Services to take whatever action required under the CPO process, or other processes, to achieve vacant possession of remaining properties and temporary rights

4.      The appropriation of the library site from commercial premises within the general fund to that of held for ‘planning purposes’, to include areas to the north and south of the library building needed for the library construction process.

Councillor Steven Kelly, Deputy Leader of the Council with special responsibility for Harold Hill Ambitions, and Councillor Andrew Curtin, Cabinet Member for Culture, Towns and Communities jointly introduced the report.

At its meeting on 19 November 2008, Cabinet gave broad authority to progress arrangements for the design and construction of a new library facility for Harold Hill.

The report before Members sought formal authority to make a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to secure the remaining property interests required to facilitate the development in the event that existing negations were to fail, plus associated appropriation procedures.

The report also contained the design and viability assessment for the new library. It was noted that the proposed scheme would provide a 60% larger floor space than the current library including a large multi-use room which does not exist in the existing building. The two storey height of the structure provides scope to install a mezzanine floor at some later date, if required.

            Reasons for the decision

The compulsory purchase, appropriation and stopping up procedures were required to ensure delivery of the new library facility as a key component of the Harold Hill Ambitions programme delivering the Council’s regeneration objectives for Harold Hill.

Other options considered

In the evaluation process, a number of alternative sites had been considered for a site of the proposed new Harold Hill Library in, or near, the Hilldene Shopping Centre.

The preferred site option at East Dene Arcadewas owned freehold by the Council, vacant possession had already been obtained for most of the site and the site was in the heart of the Hilldene shopping centre which would help draw increased footfall to both the new library, and to the shops in the Centre. Other site options did not offer this range of benefits.

Cabinet AGREED:

1.    The design and viability assessment for the new library.

2.    To the making of a Compulsory Purchase Order to acquire any further interests required for the new library

3.    The delegation to the Property Strategy Manager and Assistant Director - Legal and Democratic Services to take whatever action required under the CPO process, or other processes, to achieve vacant possession of remaining properties and temporary rights

4.      The appropriation of the library site from commercial premises within the general fund to that of held for ‘planning purposes’, to include areas to the north and south of the library building needed for the library construction process.