To receive any announcements from the Leader.
Minutes:
The Leader made the following announcements:
“Thank you, Mr Mayor.
The voting process for whether we should introduce a Business Improvement District (BID) covering Staines-upon-Thames runs from 1st November until 29th November. The Council supports the development of the BID as we believe that it will enhance economic prospects of our main town centre.
At our last Council meeting in July you gave authority for the Council to increase its prudential borrowing limit and approved an additional supplementary capital estimate for property acquisitions within the Borough of £400m for 2016/17. At that time we were able to advise you of a significant property investment opportunity we were actively pursuing, although we were unable to provide you with all the details of the proposed deal as we had signed a non-disclosure agreement with the vendor.
By now you will be aware that this deal involved the purchase of the BP International Campus at Sunbury-on-Thames. Despite fierce competition from a number of significant institutional investors from both the UK and abroad, we completed the purchase of the site on 29 September, which encompasses the entire campus, excluding the South West corner.
This is an outstanding deal for Spelthorne, the like of which has not been seen before in the UK. The BP International Campus is the largest privately owned office park in the UK and is currently home to approximately 3,000 employees. The site comprises 11 office buildings which provide 620,000 sq ft of accommodation, with surrounding land and 2300 car park spaces. Under the terms of the agreement, BP will remain as tenants at the Sunbury site, leasing back the offices from the Council for a minimum period of 20 years. According to the publication Property Week, our acquisition of the site is the largest ever commercial property investment by a local authority in the UK.
You will be aware that Spelthorne faces significant cuts to the grants it currently receives from central government over the next few years. The acquisition of the BP International Campus will provide approximately £3m net revenue surplus per year to support the Council’s finances and this deal alone will essentially enable us to balance the Council’s budget for the next two years. By signing this deal we are in a far stronger financial position, enabling us to protect the vital services which our residents and businesses need and deserve.
I would like to thank my fellow councillors and the small team of officers who worked tirelessly, together with our expert external advisors to ensure that we won the race to acquire this site. This was truly a team effort which we should be very proud of. I am very proud of!
Securing the Council's financial stability is our highest priority at this time. Although this deal is a monumental step in enabling us to protect key Council services we still need to do more. The acquisition of the BP Campus forms a key part of our long term strategy to develop new ways of generating sustainable income streams and make us a self-funding Council. Under my Leadership we will work tirelessly to achieve this for our Borough.
Without this approach we would face some very difficult decisions about the future funding of some of our services. As a caring Conservative Council we care passionately that we should continue to provide the essential services our communities need. One service which is highly valued by many of our residents is our Spelride community transport service. I am delighted to announce that far from cutting this service we have recently purchased and taken delivery of four new replacement Spelride vehicles at a cost of £218,000. These vehicles are specially designed for passengers with mobility problems who struggle to use public transport, providing a lifeline for the elderly and people with disabilities, enabling them to get around the borough and live independently within their own homes. I would like to thank Cllr Attewell, Portfolio Holder for Community and Wellbeing, for her hard work in delivering this.
Colleagues, I’m sure you will agree that the sheer magnitude of the BP deal and improvement it makes to the Council’s finances shows that Spelthorne means business. In completing this deal we have announced that we are a serious investor in our community, capable of taking on some of the biggest institutional investors and winning. We want people to know how serious we are in growing our asset base, how we are strongly focused on providing sustainable income streams for the Council; how we can directly influence the economic development and prosperity of the Borough; how we can deliver much needed housing for our residents and how we pride ourselves on a clean and safe borough. With this in mind I am introducing a new strap line for the Council that tells the world just that - ‘Spelthorne Means Business’.”