Decision Reference Number: WPCC4-0049
Lead Officer: Calum Walmsley
Chief Officer approval: DCC David Gardner and ACC Claire Armes
Date: 13/03/2024
Publication: Information in this form is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act) and other legislation. Unless the information provided is covered by an exemption and stated to be either confidential or partly confidential, the information contained in the form will be published on the OPCC website.
Status: Partially-confidential
If partially-confidential or confidential please detail the FOI exemption applied and specify which parts are confidential: Section 3. Paragraph 3 along with appendix 2 and appendix 3- exempt under S43 Commercial Interests
Decision summary:
A decision to enter a memorandum of understanding with Stratford District Council for the delivery of a new community facility with a provision of Police facilities. The project utilises an existing allocation of S106 funding.
I confirm that my register of interests declaration is up to date and that none of my interests preclude me from making this decision.
Signature: P.Seccombe
Date: 19/03/25
Supporting information
1. Background information: why do we need to make this decision?
Planning consent was granted for land adjacent to Lighthorne Heath for the development and provision of over 3000 new dwelling houses. As a planning and development requirement, Stratford-on-Avon District Council (SDC), are party to a S106 agreement with the site owners (Hinton Group) that requires the provision of community infrastructure and facilities in Upper Lighthorne to be provided.
As part of the S106 a community hub is to be provided. The definition within the S106 agreement states the provision should be:
“ a building with an approximate gross internal floor area of 740 square metres (of which 240 square metres is to be allocated to the Warwickshire Police for the premises which are to be provided using the Warwickshire Police Premises Contribution which is payable pursuant to Part 13 of schedule 3) such building to be provided within the Site to use for the provision of community services and facilities and for other uses by the local community.
And a Primary Healthcare facility – a multi-purpose primary medical care facility which comprises floor space up to approximately 464 square metres in gross internal area, being an amount of floor space which is reasonably sufficient to accommodate up to four general practitioners, to be located upon the site;
Or
- Such other improvements to existing off-site primary healthcare facilities within the normal catchment area of the site.
- An equivalent combination of on-Site primary healthcare provision and improvements to off-site primary healthcare facilities within the normal catchment area of the site. “
It has been agreed between SDC and the Integrated Care Board that all healthcare facilities will be provided within the same community hub building.
Warwickshire Police were successful in securing £870,277 in S106 contributions for the provision of new premises on the development.
A project team, made up of OPCC, SDC, the ICB and a GP provider has been established with the key objectives outlined below:
- To provide a newbuild community hub with appropriate facilities for community use
- To provide a GP surgery meeting current requirements for such health facilities
- To provide office space for the police to facilitate community policing in the new development
A design team has been appointed by SDC to progress the design of the community hub. Freehaus Architects were selected as the approved supplier, following a full tender process. Freehaus have been working on RIBA stages 1 and 2, to get to an initial scoping document for the design and layout requirements of the community hub. Attached in Appendix 2 is a copy of their initial design documentation.
Work is progressing on the development of the site and the land for the community facility has been identified. SDC have started to receive S106 funds from developers, which is paid in instalments based on the number of property completions.
The MOU is an agreement of principles for the management of the project going forwards, agreeing terms of reference for the governance of the project.
It is proposed that the building will be let on a long leasehold basis of 999 years, with a community group or Parish Council being appointed as the freeholders. SDC will work with interested parties to secure this agreement, which will come forward for review in due course.
2. What additional documents are relied upon? Please provide a link or separate attachments.
Appendix 1 – Extract from S106 Agreement – definition of contributions
3. What benefits will this bring, including financial, social or environmental benefits?
The management of the project by SDC, with OPCC as a key stakeholder in the development, SDC are not taking a fee for this work.
The identification of a suitable project for the spending of already allocated S106 funds which would otherwise be lost if no provision was built on this site. There is no additional capital cost as existing agreed funding is being utilised for the project.
The scheme would be built to a minimum of BRE-am Good standard meaning low environmental impact delivering on the Police and Crime plan’s objective to be more sustainable ensuring low future running costs.
4. What is the impact of not approving the application?
Not entering into an agreement with Stratford District Council as the lead party of the development of this site will result in the non-delivery of the project on behalf of Warwickshire Police, resulting in the S106 funds not being spent, unable to be spent elsewhere and repayment to the developer.
5. How much will it cost? (please provide cost breakdown, including any identified savings, and include where they have been approved)
There is no direct additional cost to the OPCC or Force for the project as all expenditure will be from the £870,277 in funds already allocated via the S106 to Warwickshire Police facilities to be spent on the design and construction of the community facility.
There is an agreement that there will be no overspend above the allocated S106 funds. Any underspend of the WP element of the funding would not be able to be claimed and would be redirected into the wider community project.
The project will be subject to full tender processes to ensure best value is achieved.
It is proposed that SDC will hold the funds on behalf of all parties and manage the payment processes to contractors and consultants. No interest on funds will be paid by SDC to OPCC for funds held, as they will be forward funding any shortfalls in cashflow during the project if the build work progresses, whilst awaiting developer contributions and not charging OPCC interest on these amounts. It is likely, based on current developer forecasts that SDC will be forward funding the project.
6. Who has been consulted on this proposal?
Deputy Chief Constable David Gardner and Assistant Chief Constable Claire Armes, who have both confirmed agreement to the principle of the development of the hub, agreed the specification and requirements for the police element of this project.
The Finance team within the Force have been contacted to ensure the current allocation has not been spent/identified for expenditure. They have confirmed this is the case.
7. Will this decision have an impact on any specific individuals or groups or communities?
The site will be built to current building regulations accessibility standards ensuring access for all.
It is a requirement as part of the S106 that the new community at Upper Lighthorne has this dedicated community facility with Police space, therefore benefiting the newly developed community.
Co-location with community services and the NHS support services will offer an opportunity to work cohesively in dealing with some local cases. Any multi-agency referral processes could hopefully be improved by teams being located in a shared space.
8. Does this decision have legal implications? Has legal advice been sought?
This decision relates to a Memorandum of Understanding
Comments from the Chief Finance Officer
The S106 funding will provide an opportunity to develop a bespoke policing facility as part of the community hub. The Warwickshire police S106 funding allocation should be sufficient to meet all capital development costs. Whilst there will be some ongoing revenue costs arising from the use of this site, the anticipation is that these can be met from savings arising from relinquishing other leased properties, that will no longer be required, when this site is available for use.
Comments from the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer
This is a sensible approach to delivering this project with the acquired s106 monies.
