Issue - meetings

Agree outline design for both gardens before the tendering process

Resolved that:

1. Authority be delegated to the Director Operations in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Sustainability and the Council Leader, to go forward with a tendering process to undertake the first phase of the proposed works in Imperial Gardens
2. Tentage designs for Montpellier gardens be restricted to approximately 4700M2, (excluding walkways and gazebos) and authority be delegated to the Director Operations in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Sustainability to agree the exact figure.
3. At the same time, authority be delegated to the Director (Operations) in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Sustainability and the Council Leader to go forward with a tendering process for infrastructure in Montpellier Gardens.
4. Authority be delegated to the Director Operations in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Sustainability and the Council Leader, to submit the relevant sections of the scheme for planning approval and listed building consent.
5. The final decision to go ahead with works in Imperial Gardens and Montpellier Gardens are to be referred back to Cabinet for decision on the 18^th October 2011 in time for completion of works over the winter 2011/2.

The Cabinet Member Sustainability introduced the report as circulated with the agenda, which presented to Cabinet the results of the consultation process for the design proposals for Imperial Gardens. 

Proposals for the redesign had been subject to a great deal of debate through various channels.  The public consultation resulted in submissions from individuals, stakeholders and groups and the proposals had been considered by two overview and scrutiny committees (Economy & Business Improvement and Environment), as well as at Council.  Whilst a small number of alternatives were proposed, criticism was constructive and predominantly public reaction had been favourable with a number of commendations for the design, for which he paid tribute to Officers.  Having taken heed of reservations about maintenance, he gave assurances that land use agreements for all users would clearly define user responsibilities in relation to reinstatement.  Festivals were restricted to a maximum number of days tentage and charges would apply where this elapsed.  It had become clear that it would not be possible to meet the full aspirations for infrastructure in Montpellier Gardens, specifically regards the electricity.  He was minded that the Friends of Imperial Square and Gardens take forward the reinstatement of railings to Imperial Gardens, but this was subject to a number of caveats (planning permission, etc). 

The Leader confirmed that the decision was a key decision. 

The Cabinet Member Built Environment endorsed the Cabinet Member Sustainability’s commendation of the designs produced by Officers and praised all stakeholders (The Civic Society, Cheltenham in Bloom, etc) and members of the public who contributed to the consultation.  The design aimed to accommodate the requirements of Cheltenham Festivals, whilst mitigating any resulting damage to the gardens and he envisaged a reduction in damage as a direct result of the proposals.  At the same time as retaining Cheltenham Festivals in the town centre it was also tremendously important to preserve the gardens, the colourful setting of Imperial Gardens and the cherished open space of Montpellier Gardens.  

The Leader concurred that the current arrangements were not sustainable.  He congratulated the Cabinet Member Sustainability and all others involved, in achieving a positive conclusion – yet the work was still to be done.   

RESOLVED that:

1. Authority be delegated to the Director Operations in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Sustainability and the Council Leader, to go forward with a tendering process to undertake the first phase of the proposed works in Imperial Gardens
2. Tentage designs for Montpellier gardens be restricted to approximately 4700M2, (excluding walkways and gazebos) and authority be delegated to the Director Operations in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Sustainability to agree the exact figure.
3. At the same time, authority be delegated to the Director (Operations) in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Sustainability and the Council Leader to go forward with a tendering process for infrastructure in Montpellier Gardens.
4. Authority be delegated to the Director Operations in consultation with the Cabinet Member, Sustainability and the Council Leader, to submit the relevant sections of the scheme for planning approval  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5

Report of the Cabinet Member Sustainability

Resolved that:

1. Option 2 of this report be adopted, subject to a maximum area of tentage of approximately 2750 M² for Imperial Gardens.
2. The Assistant Director (Operations), in consultation with the Cabinet Member Sustainability and the Council Leader, produces an outline design for Imperial Gardens for public consultation which shall take place during Spring 2011. 
3. Following public consultation and Cabinet agreement, the Assistant Director (Operations), in consultation with the Cabinet Member Sustainability and the Council Leader, undertakes a tendering process for design or design and works in Imperial Gardens.
4. At the same time as 3, the Assistant Director (Operations), in consultation with the Cabinet Member Sustainability and the Council Leader, undertakes a tendering process for upgrades to infrastructure in Montpellier Gardens.
5. The final decisions to go ahead with works in Imperial Gardens and Montpellier Gardens be referred to Cabinet, in time for completion of works over Winter 2011/2.

The Cabinet Member Sustainability introduced the report. The strategy was born of two elements, the first, Cheltenham Festivals (CF) requests for a review of the design and usage of the Gardens to allow expansion due to increased demand and the second, concerns of residents about the increased use of Imperial Gardens and resulting standards of the gardens.

This culminated in a public petition which was debated at Council in December and resulted in a request that Cabinet attempt to resolve the issues, which in turn should be reviewed by the relevant O&S Committees (Environment and Economy & Business Improvement). 

There were no easy answers, simply saying yes to one and no to the other was not an option given how important both CF and the gardens were to the town. 

In consideration of all the issues, as set out in item 3 of the paper, two options were developed.

Option 1 favoured the primary use of the gardens as a public garden and denying CF increased usage of Imperial Gardens.  Restricting CF to the lower tier of ImperialGardens and reducing tentage would resolve resident concerns but would not address CF’s issues. 

Option 2 provided an opportunity to redesign Imperial Gardens to accommodate CF, achieving a ‘festival within a garden’ feel and allowing use of Montpellier Gardens.  Whilst offering a lower capacity in ImperialGardens, it would allow expansion into Montpellier Gadens and the positioning of flowerbeds between tents would ensure the retained look and feel of the garden whether the tents were up or down.  This would be beneficial to festival goers too.

The Cabinet Member Sustainability stressed that at present there were no detailed designs ready to be rolled out.  At this stage Cabinet was purely trying to set parameters for the design and appropriate limits which could then be put out for public consultation.  The results of this public consultation may then result in further changes.  He referred to an amendment to the recommendations which would bring back a further report to Cabinet before any designs were put out to tender. He hoped that any solution would be sustainable for some years to come but there also needed to be an acceptance that no solution could provide for unlimited expansion by the festivals.  Therefore there would be a need in the future to look at the usage of other council owned land or other sites on the outskirts of town.

He explained that £140,000 of funding had been made available in the budget to spend on the gardens.  The allocation set out in the appendix to the report proposed that this was spent on improving the infrastructure of both Imperial and Montpellier Gardens and would enable wider usage of both sites by a number of organisations.

He indicated that Cabinet favoured option 2 and recommendation 1 in the report had been amended accordingly with appropriate safeguards. Option 1 had been rejected as it didn’t meet the requirements of Cheltenham Festivals and it would not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9

Report of Cabinet Member Sustainability (45 mins)

The chair introduced this agenda item by reminding members that the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee had reviewed this report with a focus on the environmental aspects. The focus of this committee should be to look at the economic aspects of the options presented. However he highlighted the lack of financial information contained in the report.  For example a figure of £5.2 million was quoted for the economic benefits that the festivals brought to the town but there were no details on how this figure was calculated. The impact on tourism was also a factor but again there were no details in the report. He also highlighted that only two options were given in the report but there should be a third option which was to maintain the status quo. He had circulated a breakdown of the costs for option 2 which had been made available with the Cabinet agenda for 15 March 2011 but there were no comparative figures available for option 1. The report was also light on the views of residents.  In view of this it was going to be difficult for this committee to give a considered opinion on the economic aspects.

The Leader apologised on behalf of the Cabinet Member Sustainability who had not been able to attend this meeting. He emphasised that Cabinet had made a commitment to bring back a report on the strategy at the March meeting.  In meeting this commitment they acknowledged that full details were not yet available but these would be worked up during the next stage. He stressed that there had been consultation with stakeholders and there would be further consultation during the next stage. Referring to the figures that had been circulated, he stressed that the £140,000 being spent was for a package of improvements which would benefit all users of the gardens. In particular it was hoped that the improvements made would enable Cheltenham Festivals to stay in the town centre.

In the discussion that followed members made the following comments:

• The report contained no feedback from the Chamber of Commerce or the Town Centre Manager.
• Consideration should be given to other options beyond the two described in the report such as using the the racecourse or the Pittville Pump Rooms and PittvillePark
• A detailed assessment should be made regarding the impact on the town centre if the festivals moved to the racecourse. During Race Week, businesses in the town do get a boost from the evening trade even if the retail trade was down during the day.
• The council should be supporting the Festivals and accommodating their needs. There was also an opportunity for the council to open up new income streams on the back of the Festivals.
• The cost of reinstating the gardens after a Festival must be a factor. The damage to Imperial Gardens had not been rectified following the most recent festival and the gardens were still currently in a poor state.   

The Chair moved to bring the discussion to a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7