Council and democracy
Home > Council and Democracy > Decision details
Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Open Spaces and City Services
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
To facilitate the redevelopment of the University Arms Hotel the developer (Melford Capital) has asked to use a small section of Parker’s Piece (2% of its total area) as a site compound for a 2 year duration.
CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL
Record of Executive
Decision
Licence to
Grant the Temporary Use of Part of Parker’s Piece to Facilitate the
Demolition and Rebuild of the University Arms Hotel |
Decision of: |
Councillor
O’Reilly, Executive Councillor
for City Centre and Public Places |
||
Reference: |
14/URGENCY/CCS/10 |
||
Date of
decision: |
25/11/14 |
Recorded
on: 25/11/14 |
|
Decision Type: |
Non
Key Decision |
||
Matter for Decision: |
To facilitate the redevelopment of the University Arms
Hotel the developer (Melford Capital) has asked to
use a small section of Parker’s Piece (2% of its total area) as a site
compound for a 2 year duration. This
is partly to address health and safety issues but also to speed up the
redevelopment period and therefore reduce the disruption period. This is a large project and will be
disruptive to the surrounding area due to noise, traffic disruption
(pedestrian, vehicular, cycle) on Parker’s Piece, Park Terrace and Regent
Street as well as the visual appearance. |
||
Why the
decision had to be made (and any alternative options):
|
Officers’ from the
City and County Council have discussed the use of other sites with the developer
which could be used to minimise the disruption to the City. All of these options have now been
discounted apart from two, one to rebuild on site and two, to allow the
temporary use of a small part of Parker’s Piece. |
||
The Executive Councillor’s decision(s): |
The Executive
Councillor resolved to: a) note
the points raised through the public consultation and how these have been
clarified and addressed: and b) instruct Officers to
proceed with the granting of the Temporary Licence for use of the defined
section of Parker’s Piece. |
||
Reasons for the decision: |
As detailed in the officer’s report. After the extended period
which provided opportunity for public comment on the granting of the licence the
report summarised the key feedback and made a response to each of the issues
raised. The report is taken out of
cycle given the commencement of enabling works and decision required by the
developer on the use of the land. |
||
Scrutiny consideration: |
The chair and spokesperson of community services scrutiny committee were consulted prior to the action being authorised.
|
||
Report: |
A report detailing the background and financial considerations is
attached.
|
||
Conflicts of interest: |
None
|
||
Comments: |
Councillor Reiner raised the following concerns (summarised): 1.
She was not convinced that the contractors
really need this licence to complete the construction, or that granting the
licence will speed up the construction. 2.
The fee does not come close to reflecting the
value of the land to the contractor or the hotel. 3.
City council should go back and re negotiate
the fee with the help of professional advisors. 4.
There should be a large step up in fees if the
project runs over 2 years. Officers answered her questions
and her concerns were noted. |
||
Link to report |
|
Publication date: 25/11/2014
Date of decision: 25/11/2014
Accompanying Documents: