BACKGOUND Here Is a Summary of The
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BACKGOUND Here is a summary of the questions I have asked about the redevelopment of Fairfield Halls over the last 3 years – a project being managed by Brick by Brick. My notes of the questions and answers from each meeting are below. Meeting Date Question subject Answer 1 Council February 2020 Fairfield Halls overspend No 2 Cabinet February 2020 Fairfield Halls overspend Said they would get back to me. Didn’t get back to me. 3 Written Question February 2020 Brick by Brick cost of the work on No Fairfield Halls 4 Scrutiny February 2020 Source of Fairfield Halls development Partially funding 5 Council December 2019 Poor reviews following Fairfield Halls No reopening when the work was unfinished 6 Scrutiny December 2019 Council funding for Fairfield Halls No redevelopment 7 Council October 2019 Fairfield Halls overspend 3 weeks later 8 Council March 2019 Fairfield Halls overspend No 9 Scrutiny November 2018 Delay in Fairfield Halls project. No Cllr Ward asked about financial contingencies for the Fairfield project Extract from a speech in the February 2020 Council meeting: The Council seems to have lost control over the Fairfield Halls budget. Somewhere in the Brick By Brick black hole, even more millions have been spent on a project that looks like the overall cost will double to £60m. So where does the unexpected spend of £2,185,000 fit in? Is this in addition to the £60m spend. How many more additional costs are we going to see? Question at the February 2020 Cabinet meeting Secondly, In Appendix 2 on Page 142 in the Capital budget, Can you explain the line about Fairfield Halls which shows an original budget of £0 but the 2019/20 outturn forecast is £2.185m? What is this for? Answer - Will get back to me. (I’m still waiting for a response) Written Question February 2020 CQ005-20 from Councillor H. Pollard Councillor Butler “Please provide a breakdown of the ‘Land and Constructions costs’ for Brick By Brick projects as included in the Brick By Brick Business Plan at Croydon Cabinet on 24th February 2020. The aggregate figure of £431.91m should be broken down to make clear how much has been spent/due to be spent on each housing project, each major scheme (including Fairfield Halls) and other projects. Extract from the report is below Projected Development Costs ” Reply The figures attached are from the Brick By Brick Business Plan. Brick By Brick operates independently from the council and the council does not hold the information requested. Brick By Brick have provided the following information in response to this query: “The information requested is commercially sensitive information and the release of such information would prejudice the commercial interests of Brick By Brick. Notes from Scrutiny February 2020 Question: What exactly is a concessions contract? Is it a lease. Is there a contract in place? Neil: assumes it is a lease. There is a lease in place for 10 years. Question: Scope of works in the appendix includes works directly on Fairfield Halls. The fabric of the building and redevelopment of parts of it. There is no mention of the car park, new seats or the landscaping around the venue. Is this why the cost has escalated from £30m to £42.6m and then to a figure nearer £60m? If so, where will this additional funding come from? Has Coast to Capital funding been included within the £42.6m Colm says: Figure could rise. Works still underway. Final negotiations with the contractor. Council contributed £12m of capital budget. Freed up more resources during the development. Additional costs: • Sprinklers • Unforeseens • Asbestos in ceiling of Ashcroft £46.2 includes works completed on Fairfield Halls. Anticipate on going investment work. £42.6m is covered by the development value from the site. No longer require the £12m from the Council. Changed the planning application to generate more value from the site. Neil says: As the operator we expect the building to be ready for us to operate. Oliver Lewis: There may well be further works as part of the investment in Fairfield, but not covered by this sum. Nothing known to be in the pipeline for expenditure. Colm: £42.6m doesn’t include public realm or car park. Coast to Capital went to things within the £42.6m including demolition and public realm. Robert: How were decisions made: Colm: Car parking not part of Fairfield Halls work. 2016 Cabinet made decision to transfer to Brick By Brick. They developed the design and this changed over time. Ownership of land was by BxB and they made decisions about changes to plans. 208 parking spaces part of original plans for Fairfield Halls, Changes to Colleges affect the plans. BXB responsible for delivering the car parking spaces. Subcontractor commissioned to deliver the spaces. Fall out from the College was a change in design, e.g. gallery, car park. To free up value from the scheme. Car parking available for patrons in about 8-10 weeks i.e. 200 spaces. All spaces available end of this year for the rest of the spaces. Council responsible for the main public realm scheme, not BXB. Shifa: Permanent public realm work is probably 2 years away. Question: Welcome the refurbishment and reopening of Fairfield Halls. Also welcome the residencies of the various theatre and music companies. Visitor numbers are roughly half the level set in the business plan. What do you think are the reasons for this and what is being done to build up visitor numbers? Reaching beyond Croydon? Ticket prices for school visits? Current Challenges Neil: Lack of trust from the public. No database to start with. Got growing database. 90k tickets Sep to Jan. Occupancy lower than expected. Realistic chance of getting back on to business plan. Delays wouldn't have helped. No car park. Works not completed in time, and still being finished after it opened. Sold 104k tickets in last year open. Fewer events, and better quality now. Also need to add community workshops and conferences. 50% from CR postcodes. Robert: How is performance monitored? Neil: Within lease there are KPIs. Audience nos, community engagement, community hires (up to 50% off for Croydon-based charities, ticket pricing and general trading conditions. I imagine it will be made public. Shifa: As a partnership, KPIs will be in contract. Agree a set of outcomes as part of this partnership agreement. No reason why we wouldn't publish this info, but would need to get a year's date to start with. Sean: Phone booking difficult. Council needs to make the case that the £42.6m is money well spent. Neil: Online sales - we need to keep moving forward. Being addressed by BH Live Group. Often get asked where did the money go and where are the car parking spaces. Most of the work was behind the scenes. Might have an exhibition on the subject. Concert Hall is air conditioned. Shifa: £42.6m is regeneration. About more than the building itself. Has also helped culture and reputation of Croydon. Culture is at the heart of regeneration. Oliver Lewis: Shortlisted for London Borough of Culture. Wouldn't have been shortlisted if hadn't invested in Fairfield Halls. Leila: Cost of membership is high. Need to articulate the benefits a bit better. Neil: Have about 300 members. 50 came to a new member's evening. OLIVER LEWIS PRESENTATION ON PORTFOLIO Question: Can the Cabinet Member tell me why the £270k s106 money that was allocated to be spent on three parks in January 2019 has still not been spent on the parks? Supplementary: Assurances were given to park users throughout 2019 that the work was due to be completed in September 2019. You keep complaining that there isn't enough money, and yet, when money is actually available, you still fail to invest in our parks. Can you tell me when this project is finally going to be delivered? Thank you for that overview. Thank Paula for all her work on culture in Croydon and look forward to seeing her back again soon. Welcome the upgrade to the library in my ward of Selsdon. Thinking about the parks challenges. What is happening to the £270k that was set aside for investment in three parks, one of which is closed because it's dangerous. The money was set aside in January 2019, but no work has taken place yet. How do you set priorities for parks investment? Lewis: Selsdon library doesn't have a café. Norbury will have a café. Will see if works. Delay in cricket pitch development incl at Norbury. Open Plus will allow libraries to be open out of hours. Monitored and trialled in Selsdon as it is close to Sainsbury. Playspaces. Working through procurement process. Austere times, impacted on staffing numbers. 128 parks. Sometimes programmes can't progress at pace they would have done previously. Procurement process. Engagement events planned in next few months. New playspaces in all three parks by end of the Summer. £1.35m if we get borough of culture award. Sean: Asked for a review of bylaws and is disappointed with lack of progress on this. Riesco sold off. That £12m was for cultural projects at Fairfield. Now heard it's not needed for Fairfield. You talk about the future of the ClockTower. Isn't there a moral case that the £12m should be spent on cultural improvements to the borough. Lewis: Selling off this was a disgrace. Still stuck in a storm cloud of this across the sector. My understanding that the £12m wasn't set aside, it just went into the general pot.