Issue - decisions

having due regard to all of the information contained within the report and the deputations, approve the following:-

2.1      TRANSPORT AND CONNECTIVITY (City Centre, Castlegate, Beach Boulevard, Beach)

 

2.1.1   notes the City Growth & Resources Committee on 24 June 2021 approved the Low Emission Zone within the City Centre;

2.1.2   notes the Council were formally notified of the success of the Partnership bid in the latter half of June 2021, confirming that up to £12,030,000 had been awarded, the full amount that the Partnership had bid for;

2.1.3   note the outcomes of Phase 1 of the Traffic Management Plan in respect of Union Street Central (CCMP report Appendices A, B and C) and agree:

(a)    the option to fully pedestrianise Union Street Central, except for cyclists and time limited servicing; and

(b)    that in order to do so, bus, taxi (and private hire) and cycle priority, will require to be implemented on Bridge Street, Market Street and Guild Street, Schoolhill/Upperkirkgate will require to be pedestrianised between Harriet Street and Flourmill Lane, and right turns prohibited except for buses, taxis (and private hire) and cycles from Union Terrace into Rosemount Viaduct, all as identified in Appendices A and B; and, pending Committee approval of 2.1.3 (a) and 2.1.3 (b) above;

(c)    instruct the Chief Officer – Operations and Protective Services to progress with the necessary Traffic Regulation Orders;

(d)    approve the detailed design principles for Union Street Central (Appendix D) and instruct the Director of Resources to proceed to the next stage of works including detailed design, stakeholder engagement, contractor engagement and applications for statutory consents;

2.1.4   note the outcomes of stakeholder engagement to date with regards accessible parking, cycle facilities, bus stops and routing, taxi ranks and servicing arrangements, and traffic management in the City Centre and Beach areas and instruct the Chief Officer Strategic Place Planning to continue to engage with stakeholders to finalise Phase 2 of the Traffic Management Plan in tandem with the evolving streetscape design for the priority intervention areas, connectivity to the Beach and Beach Boulevard and report progress back to this Committee in June 2022; and

2.1.5   instruct the Director of Resources to progress design works for public realm improvements from Aberdeen Market to Guild Street in association with ongoing design work for Aberdeen Market (recommendation 2.5) and report progress to this Committee in February 2022.

 

2.2      SPACES FOR PEOPLE

 

2.2.1   subject to approval of the various design work packages identified within the report, instruct the Chief Officer – Operations and Protective Services to remove all Spaces for People measures in the city centre with the exception of Union Street Central, the Belmont Street Back Wynd area and Schoolhill/Upperkirkgate by the end November 2021;

2.2.2   instruct the Chief Officer – Capital, following consultation with the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning and the Convener of the City Growth and Resources Committee, to:-

(a)    arrange for the temporary removal of the Spaces for People interventions at Schoolhill/Upperkirkgate in order to facilitate the Winter Events Programme; and

(b)    reinstate the interventions at Schoolhill/Upperkirkgate once the Winter Events Programme has concluded in January 2022; and

2.2.3   instruct the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning as part of the ongoing design work for the Beach Masterplan to maintain the beach Spaces for People intervention as consideration of any permanent scheme proposed for inclusion is subject to outcomes of recommendation 2.1.4.

 

2.3      ENGAGEMENT AND CONSULTATION

 

2.3.1   note the outcomes of stakeholder engagement to date with regards accessible parking, cycle facilities, bus stops and routing, taxi ranks and servicing arrangements, and traffic management in the Belmont Street/ Back Wynd and Hadden Street/ Carmelite Street areas;

2.3.2   note that a series of stakeholder engagements have taken place with those stakeholders associated with the beachfront including the Beach Ballroom, Beach Leisure facilities, Sports Users and beachfront resources (beach and water);

2.3.3   note an extensive engagement exercise was undertaken with children and young people on the beach and city centre, including workshops with P6 Primary School children followed by a presentation of their ideas to the design teams, a creative postcard exercise with secondary school students and young people outwith education, as well as a consultation through a QR code and online survey (Appendix Section Stakeholder Engagement of Beach Masterplan Report and Appendix E of the City Centre Update); and

2.3.4   instructs the Director of Resources to continue to engage with stakeholders across the city, including children and young people and the Disability Equity Partnership, in relation to the work packages contained herein.

 

2.4 ABERDEEN MARKET, CENTRAL UNION STREET AND SURROUNDING PUBLIC REALM

 

2.4.1   funding: note the successful application for £20 million of funding towards the project from the Levelling-Up Fund for the Market, links to Guild Street and Union Street Central pedestrianisation and agree that the projects are interdependent and can only be progressed on a joint basis. As noted in the award letter from UK Government we “submitted a strong application, which performed well against our assessment criteria”.

 

FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS

2.5 ABERDEEN MARKET

2.5.1   note the progress that has been made in soft strip demolition and design development works including the submission of a planning application for the redevelopment of the site in October 2021, the purchase of the site including all copyrights, reports, development proposals and the entering into a demolition contract for the site; and

2.5.2   approve the updated Outline Business Case and instruct the Chief Officer – Corporate Landlord to progress with design development to include early contractor engagement to allow the project to be progressed to cost certainty and report progress to this Committee in February 2022.

 

2.6      CITY CENTRE MASTERPLAN

 

2.6.1   agree the indicative programme and proposed sequence of delivery as identified in para 5.6 in the City Centre Update report and Appendix F;

2.6.2   agree the design development undertaken for the Belmont Street and Back Wynd area and instruct the Director of Resources to procure the development of a full business case and operational model in consultation with local traders and report back to this Committee in February 2022;

2.6.3   note the progress made on design development for the intervention areas: Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate, Union Street East and Castlegate, Union Street West and the West End, and instruct the Director of Resources to report back with full business cases to this Committee by the end 2022, pending the outcomes of 2.3 above;

2.6.4   note the current position regarding George Street and continued uncertainty surrounding the future of the former John Lewis building and undertake public and stakeholder engagement in early 2022 and report back to this committee in June 2022;

2.6.5   note that a visual building condition survey has been completed for Union Street Central, that work continues on the preparation of a visual building condition survey for all other properties on Union Street, and that the full survey will be reported to the February 2022 meeting of this Committee;

2.6.6   note that the Union Street Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme, a combined fund of £2.4 million, funded on a fifty/fifty basis by Aberdeen City Council and Historic Environment Scotland for the improvement of buildings on Union Street, is now oversubscribed and strong interest remains from other building owners;

2.6.7   instruct the Director of Resources and the Chief Officer of Strategic Place Planning to commit £721,673.64 from the City Centre Master Plan budget to support three additional projects within the CARS Priority Zone, but note that funding will also be requested from Historic Environment Scotland which may result in the contribution from the City Council being reduced depending on the level of HES funding which is ultimately secured; and

2.6.8   instruct the Director of Resources to provisionally commit an additional £2 million to a second round of conservation-led regeneration funding from the City Centre Master Plan and instruct the Chief Officer of Strategic Place Planning to seek additional funding from Historic Environment Scotland and other sources such as National Lottery Heritage Fund, and report back to a future CG&R committee once funding arrangements have been identified on the structure of any such fund.

 

2.7      QUEEN STREET REDEVELOPMENT

 

2.7.1   instruct the Director of Resources to procure necessary services to manage demolition and site clearance of the former Police Scotland Headquarters, 6-12 Shoe Lane and at 5 West North Street (Former Creche Facilities), subject to obtaining necessary statutory consents;

2.7.2   instruct the Director of Resources to procure Market Analysis, and the preparation of a Development Appraisal and Development Brief, for the Queen Street area;

2.7.3   note the extent of Aberdeen City Council site ownership (existing and pending) and that, with the exception of the two church buildings, the Scottish Court and Tribunal Service Civil Annexe will be the only remaining element that is not within Council ownership in the Queen Street development area and, in response to this issue, instruct the Director of Resources to:-

(a)    procure and/or instruct a refreshed feasibility study of any mutually preferred location in light of post-Covid operations and report the results to this committee in June 2022; and

(b)    instruct Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to undertake negotiations with the Scottish Courts Tribunal Service to establish an alternative venue for civil court matters and to develop an outline business case for any such proposal.

 

2.8      BEACH MASTERPLAN

 

2.8.1   consider the 3 Masterplan Options and agree which to proceed with, noting that the evaluation conducted weights the Ropes option the highest;

2.8.2   subject to the decision at 2.8.1, instruct the Director of Resources to proceed with all relevant technical and professional studies associated with the Beach Masterplan in order to inform the Outline Business Cases;

2.8.3   with reference to the Diagram in the Appendix Section 10.0, the Committee agrees that the following Short-Term items from the Masterplan are progressed to Outline Business Case, and report back progress on design and programming to the February 2022 meeting of this Committee:-

(1)    New Amphitheatre;

(2)    New Events Field;

(3)    New Urban Park areas;

(4)    New Sports Areas;

(5)    Pump Track;

(6)    Landscaped Mounding Features;

(7)    Reconfiguration works/Beach landscaping;

(8)    Interventions /Upgrades Along Beach;

(9)    Broadhill (Public Realm/Landscape);

2.8.4   with reference to the Diagram in the Appendix Section 10.0, the Committee agrees that the following Medium-Term items are progressed towards Detailed Design/Planning Consent stages, and report back progress on design and programming to the February 2022 meeting of this Committee:-

(10)  Beach Ballroom;

(11)  Gateway Building;

(12)  Hub Building;

(13) Beach Pavilion Building;

(14) New Canopy Features;

(15) New Amphitheatre (Canopy Structure);

(16) Beach Ballroom Plaza;

(17) Secret Garden;

(18) Broadhill (Structures);

2.8.5 with reference to the Diagram in the Appendix Section 10.0, the Committee agrees that the following Long-Term items are progressed to Detailed Design/Public Consultation/Planning Consent stages, and report back progress on design and programming to the February 2022 meeting of this Committee:-

(19) New Stadium;

(20) New Leisure Facility;

(21) Boardwalk;

(22) New Slipway; and

2.8.6   subject to the decisions above, the Masterplan and associated developments are to be further progressed as a Council-approved Development Framework, including ongoing engagement with key stakeholders (which would sit as a sister document to the City Centre Masterplan 2015) and report back to this Committee in June 2022.

 

2.9      FUNDING

 

2.9.1   to approve the budgets for all projects within the above recommendations, as detailed in the exempt Financial Appendix and funded from the City Centre and Beach Masterplans Capital Budget; and

2.9.2   to delegate authority to the Director of Resources, in consultation with the Convenor of City Growth and Resources, to prepare and submit future grant applications for any appropriate funding streams that may arise.

 

In Addition

(1)      agree, that in relation to providing this committee with an Outline Business Case (OBC) for a potential new joint facility with Aberdeen Football Club, that the OBC considers a funding model that requires both the Council and Aberdeen Football Club to fund their share with no cross subsidy;

(2)      agree to include the next phase of development at Mither Kirk, up to £358,000, and a project to upgrade hospitality and reception facilities at His Majesty’s Theatre (HMT), up to £225,000, in the City Centre and Beach Master Plan (CCBMP) budget, and for the Chief Officers Corporate Landlord and Finance, to engage with the Openspace Trust and Aberdeen Performing Arts respectively in securing the appropriate documentation and business plans to support grant funding being paid in the current financial year; and

(3)      instruct the Chief Officer – Corporate Landlord to evaluate options and prepare a costed business case for improvements to lighting in the graveyard at Kirk of St Nicholas and report back as a part of the 2022/23 Budget report in March 2022, with any feasibility costs in to be met from the CCBMP budget.

(i)       to note the positive cash position that has been achieved for the General Fund and HRA to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 1;

(ii)       to note the Common Good financial performance to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 3;

(iii)      to note that the General Fund full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, is expected to show a balanced position for 2021/22 through the mitigations contained within the report;

(iv)      to note that the HRA full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, is on target to achieve the approved budget, making a contribution to HRA reserves for 2021/22;

(v)      to note that the forecast for General Fund capital expenditure is that there will lower spend than has been profiled for 2021/22, and for Housing capital expenditure this will be on budget, as described in Appendix 2;

(vi)      to agree the financial resilience framework that has been described in Appendix 5 and note that this will be developed further and incorporated into the refreshed Medium Term Financial Strategy, which will be presented to the Committee at its November meeting;

(vii)     by supporting the ongoing promotional campaigns to attract people back into the city centre, to instruct the Chief Officer - City Growth in consultation with the Convener of the City Growth and Resources Committee, to procure street banners to be installed on Union Street to promote arts, museums, exhibitions and events, up to a maximum of £40,000 to be met from the current year City Growth budgets;

(viii)    to instruct the Chief Officer - Operations and Protective Services and the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to undertake increased cleaning, pavement washing, graffiti and fly posting removal and small maintenance works including repainting of railings on and around Union Street up to a maximum of £100,000 in 2021/22 to be met from Common Good cash balances, which have increased in Quarter 2; and

(ix)      that in relation to (viii) above, to instruct the Chief Officer - Operations and Protective Services to consider light cleaning works of statues, where appropriate.