Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1) the type of interest concerned either a

(a)   personal interest

(b)   prejudicial interest

(c)    disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI)

and

(2) the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

The Committee to consider the Call-in of Executive Decision EX29/2020 ‘Proposed appropriation and disposal of open space land at Stanley Park Golf Course, Blackpool’.

Special circumstances: The Council's call in procedure states that requests for call-in should be considered within five working days of having received the request.

The Committee considered the Call-in of Executive Decision EX29/2020 ‘Proposed appropriation and disposal of open space land at Stanley Park Golf Course, Blackpool’.

The Call-In request had been made by Councillor Tony Williams, whom the Chair invited to outline his reasons for doing so. Councillor Williams informed the Committee that in his view the decision to appropriate the land at Stanley Park Golf Course had caused significant local concern amongst residents, golf course users and local businesses. He stated that in his view the consultation process prior to the decision being taken had been poor and noted that the Executive had previously stated it was not bound by any responses that were received. The Committee was also informed that the results of the consultation had not been made readily available and were not easily accessible on the Council’s website. Councillor Williams also stated that there did not appear to have been any consultation with Blackpool Victoria Hospital regarding the appropriation, despite the land being near to their Cardiac Unit. He also expressed the view that the Council had not considered alternative uses for the land. Councillor Williams therefore requested that the Committee refer the decision to a meeting of full Council for further consideration.

The original decision maker was the Executive and the relevant Cabinet Member, Councillor Mark Smith, Cabinet Member for Business, Enterprise and Job Creation, was invited to respond to Councillor Williams on behalf of the Executive and outline the reasons for the decision being made. He was supported by Mr Alan Cavill, the relevant Director who had advised the Executive.

Councillor Smith informed the Committee that the decision had been made to appropriate the land so that the site could be utilised for any alternative purpose and that the Executive could not and had not considered the merits of any proposed development in making the decision. He added that the determination of details of any development of the site was the responsibility of the Planning Committee who would have the opportunity to consider it once a planning application was submitted. Mr Alan Cavill, Director of Communication and Regeneration, added that the appropriation would change the use of the land from leisure to development land and allow anyone who wished to, to submit a planning application for its development. He added that it would be inappropriate for the Executive to pre-judge an application before a planning application was made, as this role would be undertaken as part of the planning process.

As per the Call in protocol the Chairman invited questions from Members. The Committee queried why no dialogue had been undertaken with the hospital as part of the consultation process. Mr Cavill responded that the Hospital and Blackpool Zoo had both submitted bids as part of an earlier tender process for the land and therefore were aware that there would be a development of some nature on the land. Upon purchase of the land, the Council had subsequently held a tender process to lease the land. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.