Appendix B – Barleythorpe College site redevelopment options

Option Description Comment 1 Disposal of the site on the open Whilst it would generate a one-off Capital Receipt it would preclude the opportunity market – with or without demolition for the Council to generate an ongoing revenue stream. In order to make a positive of buildings contribution to the councils MTFP best option would be one that would either reduce costs or generate income on an ongoing basis.

The nature of the buildings on the site limits its alternative use. Any prospective purchaser may consider demolition as a preferred option to facilitate residential development. This would seem a waste of the investment made by the council to create facility that has alternative uses. The council could of course choose to demolish and sell the site un-encumbered.

This option is not recommended. 2 Long-term lease of whole available In the period since the Council was given notice of surrender of the lease, a soft site marketing exercise of the site has been undertaken using property agents Innes and commercial property website boxpod.co.uk. There has not been the level of interest that would indicate sufficient interest in the whole site. It could take some time for the site lease to be taken up and in the meantime the Council would bear responsibility for holding costs including business rates etc. Demand for business premises in the county would not indicate sufficient demand for a single site and building like this. This option is also likely to generate a lower level of income albeit with lower conversion costs. However, it could be re-considered in the event of firm interest being received in the future.

This option is not recommended. 3 Creation of a business centre Experience at Enterprise Park and the current high levels of demand for office and office -type premises for small medium enterprises (SME’s) would indicate strong demand for this type of facility. Appendix C to this report is a more detailed explanation of how a business centre at this site might work including a business plan and an estimate of the costs of conversion. This report also includes an assessment of the financial impact on our medium-term financial plan of the proposal and how the project works might be funded.

The business centre would allow for existing and new businesses ventures to be located and supported as they develop. It would allow for an entrepreneurial approach to research and development within an environment conducive to innovation.

A visit to nearby Harborough Innovation Centre which opened in 2011 at a cost of £4.2m has been conducted and has provided a useful insight into how such a centre might be developed and operated. The Harborough facility includes:

 Standard leased offices – each one independently alarmed  Shared offices – for micro businesses & those looking for dedicated desk away from home  Virtual offices – provides business address plus basic admin support – tailored packages  Hot desking – available to hire by the hour, day or week (desk + fast internet connection)  Communications – each office has its own internal high speed network system with dedicated patch panel/cabinet for rapid reconfiguration by each tenant  Telephones – DDI available for all tenants/hot desks – answered by front desk as though they were PA for that business  On-site showers, social & sports clubs (football, badminton, cycling etc.) – boosts sense of community & collaboration  Full admin support service for all tenants, includes post, mailshots, copying, secretarial services etc.  Room hire – conference, meeting, interview etc.

This option is recommended 4 Educational use As the site is currently designated for educational use consideration has also been given as to whether this use could\should continue. There are a number of potential uses including as a primary school, an SEN facility, as a post 16 facility, an adult learning facility or a combination of those.

Provision in the Oakham area for primary and secondary has been addressed in Report 219/2016 considered by Cabinet 20th of December 2016. This report and the funding decisions associated with it secured pupil places for the foreseeable future. In relation to the Barleythorpe primary free school application now supported by the council consideration was given to using this site for that school and was rejected by the Principal and his team as not suitable.

SEN provision: Cabinet is considering a report on SEN provision at the meeting of 17th of January 2017. The report will not recommend the site as being suitable for SEN provision.

Post 16: The site was previously used by a post-16 provider. This use has now been relocated to Casterton business and Enterprise College site. Alternative provision is also located within Oakham as Harrington free school on the Catmose Campus. It is therefore unlikely that additional facilities will be required to support post-16 learning.

Adult learning - this is provided successfully at Oakham Enterprise Park and it is unlikely to require additional facilities in the foreseeable future. There has been significant investment at OEP to create the facility and it would be sensible to build on that investment at that location.

This option is not recommended 5 Suggestions made by Barleythorpe A Meeting took place on 16th of December 2016 between representatives of the Neighbourhood Forum Barleythorpe Neighbourhood Forum, Leader and Deputy Leader of the council and the Director for Places (Development & Economy). Discussions took place on the future use of the Barleythorpe site and to address issues arising from the open space, highways and planning elements of the Oakham North development. Following the meeting a note was provided by the Barleythorpe Neighbourhood Forum group to clarify what they considered to be potential uses for facility at the Barleythorpe site.

It is perhaps helpful at this point to remind Cabinet that whilst the Barleythorpe site is located within the Oakham Northwest Ward it is a wholly owned County Council asset and has never been intended to meet the needs solely of the Barleythorpe community. During the growth and development of Oakham North consideration was given to the development of community facilities to support the increased population. This was rejected on the basis of the number and range of already existing facilities in the vicinity including Victoria Hall, Rutland Agricultural Society, Catmose College, a number of Primary Schools etc.

Funding associated with growth at Oakham North is held by . It is not section 106 funding or community infrastructure Levy. It is entirely un-ring fenced. Where infrastructure pressures directly related to growth emerge, the Council will consider these. For example the Council has recently committed resources to support the provision of primary and secondary school places in Oakham.

Barleythorpe Community Hub: The group proposed the creation of a Barleythorpe community trust that could utilise the buildings for a range of activities including:

 Dances  Community social events  Children’s parties  Keep fit  Judo  Karate  Bistro  Over 60s club  U3A interest groups  Preschool groups  Meeting rooms  Barleythorpe parish offices  Scouts and guides

Whilst there is merit in all of the above, consideration was given to many of these options when the original proposal for a community centre was considered. It was rejected based on the fact that much of the above duplicates existing provision nearby and would be unlikely to generate sufficient income to meet the running costs of the facility.

The Barleythorpe neighbourhood forum also suggested that the formation of a joint enterprise with Oakham United Football Club might also be an option. I.e. to share the costs associated with the existing lease for the football club and use of the facilities.

The scale of the buildings and site at Barleythorpe are in excess of what might be viable as a community facility and on that basis:

This option is not recommended 6 Relocation of the Council Offices This has been considered but it is doubtful if the Barleythorpe site is big enough. from Catmose The Catmose site despite being soft marketed has attracted no interest. Catmose offices have a gross floor area of around 47,000 sqft so the Barleythorpe site (with a net internal floor area of around 12,000sqft) clearly does not have sufficient capacity. There would also be a significant negative economic impact for the local area if the majority of Council staff were to be relocated out of Oakham to the Barleythorpe site.

This option is not recommended 7 Children’s Centre This site was considered when identifying a new location for the Children’s Centre now being moved from Catmose Campus to a new extension at Oakham Library. This location was not considered suitable on access grounds and would be significantly larger than the identified requirement. The agreed solution also capitalises on the integration of the Children’s Centre and the Library which would not have been possible at this site. A decision has now been taken to locate the Children’s Centre at the Library site.

This option is not recommended. 8 Other alternatives including use of All have been suggested and discounted as being unable to support and the site as an arts centre, theatre, contribute to the MTFP going forward for the future and that either existing cinema, hotel or for relocation of provision is sufficient or in the case of a theatre, cinema or arts centre, they are Voluntary Action Rutland and unviable in the current financial climate. relocation of Oakham Town Council This option is not recommended. 9 Do nothing If the council was to take no further action upon the surrender of the lease in 2017 Council would become liable for holding costs associated with the site. With no income generated the whole costs would fall to existing budgets within our medium-term financial plan whilst there might be some entitlement to property rate this would be for a limited period only and a maximum of six months. Experience of multiple sites in this location would indicate they become targets for vandalism and theft. This is damaging for adjacent owners and tenants including Oakham football club, Barleythorpe Hall and local residents.

This option is not recommended