Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies.

Cllr Marc Bayliss declared an interest in the Shrub Hill Quarter report as Leader of Worcester City Council.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case Wednesday 20 July).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed on the website and in the agenda.

None

The Minutes of the meeting of 1July have been previously circulated.

The minutes of the previous meeting on 1 July 2022 were agreed to be an accurate record of the meeting and were signed by the Chairman.

Steve Eccleston, the independent Chairman of the Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership introduced the Annual Report and gave a brief overview of the background and structure of the partnership and also the challenges and areas for development.

He explained that the safeguarding partnership replaced the Board in 2019 following a change to the legislation. The three member Partners, Worcestershire Children First, West Mercia Police and Health had equal responsibility for safeguarding. The Executive Group was made up of a representative from each of the Partners and the Chair of each of the four subgroups

The four subgroups were:

1.     Get Safe Partnership Group

2.     Quality Assurance Practice and Procedures Group (QAPP)

3.     Child safeguarding Practice Review Group, and

4.     Head Teachers Education Safeguarding Steering Group

During the discussion the following points were discussed:

·       There were various projects being undertaken by Partners such as Climb, Operation Encompass and Drive, and it was queried whether there were any gaps in the Partnership. The response was that there were no obvious gaps but it was an on-going challenge to ensure that the correct service was supplied at the correct time. A National Review Panel around Children harmed in domestic abuse settings was expected and that would be considered to see if there were any gaps in Worcestershire processes.

·       With regard to whether families had sufficient support available to them, it was quoted that the Josh MacAlister report believed that £2 billion was needed for early intervention and that Worcestershire was mindful of an increase in mental health needs, post COVID. Services needed to be used effectively and agencies needed to be aware of what support was available so they could sign-post effectively. Programmes such as Drive and Climb existed but there was a query whether everyone knew they existed and could signpost effectively.

·       Cllr Kent explained that the Get SAFE programme was doing an important job but felt that the challenges it was trying to address were growing in number and complexity, and wondered if the GET SAFE programme and the Partnership would be able to cope in future.  It was clarified that the Get Safe programme was now a broader response than the sexual exploitation and gangs response it started as. A large part of exploitation now took place online and it was estimated that as many as two out of every five incidents were not reported. There would be a future focus on online risks and providing support to professionals. The Partnership was also looking at supporting families at risk and looking to prevention before exploitation occurred and support from GET SAFE became necessary.

·       When asked about the media report of a Worcestershire Child being placed in at a campsite 100 miles away, it was explained that was the responsibility of Children’s Social Care, however in general, the Josh McAllister report suggested that Early Help could mean there would be around a 30,000 reduction in the number of children who were looked after and a reduction in demand would mean that more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2108.

The Cabinet Member for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills introduced the report, explaining that in the past the college had been owned and operated by the County Council and Malvern Hills District Council, and most recently by Warwickshire College Group. After the 2020 lockdown the college did not re-open due to there not being enough mainstream students. A local campaign group had been set up with the aim of delivering arts-based courses in Malvern.

The County Council would allocate a grant of £400,000 to the project, which would be matched by the District Council as well as £600,000 from the Bransford Trust. Worcestershire Local Enterprise Council (WLEP) had carried out an independent review of the Business plan, which concluded the plans put forward warranted support.

It was hoped that once funding was in place, a service could be provided as soon as possible. Arrangements had been put in place to ensure that the Council could get the majority of its money back if the college failed to open or ceased to operate. The County Council had been offered a place on the Board but there would be no on-going financial responsibility.

It was recognised that the Council would be showing their support for regeneration and partnership with the local community and that it was what the local community wanted.

A Local Member thanked the Cabinet Member for his commitment to a project which would not lead to financial gain for the Council but was passionately supported by the local community. It was pointed out that the college had links to international artists of great renown. The Councillor was impressed that the Council should support a newly formed group but noted that she had been impressed with the experience and professionalism of the Executive Directors of the new company. Harriett Baldwin was also thanked for her support.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

(a)            Allocated £0.4 million from the Open for Business reserve as a grant to a third party, Malvern Hills Arts & Community College Limited,in order to enable that Company to purchase the Malvern Hills Community College site on condition that the limited company provides an arts skills programme from the site to meet the need of the community.  Funding will be committed in partnership with Malvern Hills District Council and an external funder;

(b)            Authorised the Strategic Director of Commercial and Change in consultation with the Cabinet Member of Economy Infrastructure and Skills to negotiate and agree security on the property with the other funders in order that the Council is able to reclaim any (or part) of the County Council’s investment, should the Malvern Hills Arts & Community College enterprise not be delivered or ceases delivery at a future point; and

(c)            Authorised the Strategic Director of Commercial and Change in consultation with the Cabinet Member of Economy Infrastructure and Skills to agree Heads of Terms with the partners engaged in purchasing the site and building.

The Cabinet Member with responsibility for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills introduced the report and explained that the Shrub Hill Quarter was a development project of significant scale and opportunity. The site had been bought, a steering group formed made up of representatives from the County Council, City Council and the LEP and a vision for the site created. The project would allow Shrub Hill Station, designed by Brunel and having significant architectural merit, to be linked to the rest of the city. The City Council had won £10 million of funding which it had committed to the refurbishment of the area and bids were also being put in for funding to refurbish the station and engine shed.

The initial stage of the project would be to develop the Isaac Maddox triangle and a report would return to Cabinet after market testing had taken place. It was estimated that it would take 20 years for the full realisation of the project. The project offered huge opportunities but was diverse and complex with issues such as listed buildings to consider, however, the area could become a real asset to Worcestershire.

This project supported one of the key areas of the Corporate Plan – Open for Business and it was confirmed that one of the original reasons the Council became involved in the project was for all the transport opportunities which could be gained such as active travel and increased modal choice. It was hoped that the canal network could be included, perhaps opening up the canal side to greater biodiversity as well as the potential for a heritage project to be considered with the history of the Brunel line and engine shed.

In response to a written query which had been received from a Member outside the Cabinet, the Chairman explained that the project had been started after a report to Cabinet regarding the land acquisition and the project was included on the Scrutiny work programme. Strong governance was important to the project and the Leader and Cabinet Member were on the steering group. Expertise would also be brought in where necessary.

Members from outside the Cabinet supported the development of that area of Worcester as it was a gateway into the city from the station. It was hoped that as it was a long-term project, that efforts would be made to improve the less attractive buildings next to the station and future proof the project as much as possible by making the buildings carbon neutral. It was pointed out that some of the buildings were privately owned but within the project it was hoped that buildings could be improved rather than removed.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

a)        noted

          i.        progress since the last report on the acquisition and ongoing management of Shrub Hill Industrial Estate (SHIE) pursuant to the Gamechanger 2 initiative;

        ii.        progress with master planning and preparation of a development vision of a Gamechanger 2 Site; 

      iii.        the support given to Worcester City Council on their Towns Fund Business Case  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2110.