27th February 2022 - Message from PC Chair Tom Newcombe
Dear All,
I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and have enjoyed the sunshine following the recent storms.
The Parish Council has, as ever, been working hard on a number of issues and we have been reporting on issues at our monthly meetings, the minutes of which are circulated and any queries arising we are very happy to answer.
Sadly, due to COVID-19 we have been unable to have an Annual Village Meeting for the last 2 years, which is usually the opportunity for the Village to come together and discuss key issues and receive an update form the Parish Council. Thankfully, this year, we are now able to do that. A date in late spring (March if possible) will be announced shortly.
In the mean-time it will not be lost on many of you that in the main, updates on the new Nursery Building have been in “Part 2” of our monthly meetings, and thereby excluded from the public. That has been for two reasons: (1) we were in a legal process with the previous developers of the site, and (2) we have been in sensitive negotiations with the relevant stakeholders to get the project back up and running.
The PC is, at last, in a position to provide a detailed report on progress to-date and this email is an update as to where the PC is with its discussions with ECC working towards a solution.
The PC has been in active discussion and negotiation over many months with Essex County Council (and they in turn with the Department of Education) regarding the development.
In order to understand fully the current position it is necessary to set out the background facts in some detail. In 2016 there was a s106 settlement between UDC and a local land owner where land was transferred to the PC with a covenant that the land requires an educational use and hence the preschool project is being progressed. That land is where the allotments, orchard and adjacent field are situated. The PC issued an invitation to tender for a nursery provider and also to build the nursery. Expressions of interest were received and independently vetted. A company already known to ECC providing childcare facilities and expertise was chosen. Once appointed that company applied for then available government funding, which was delivered through ECC through a funding agreement. A lease to be entered into with the company concerned was in the course of being negotiated, and heads of terms had been agreed. A build contract was entered into by a build delivery company for the nursery provider and work commenced in 2018 under a licence as the lease terms were being finalised. Unfortunately it then became apparent to the PC towards the end of 2018 that the relationship between persons within both the nursery provider and the nursery delivery company had irreparably broken down. In addition, also at the end of 2018 there was a very serious archaeological issue on site which resulted in breaches of planning requirements. ECC intervened and work on the building was abruptly stopped. As a result of the breaches of planning and the breakdown of relationships within the nursery providing company, the PC, in consultation with ECC, had no alternative but to terminate the licence permitting the build works and the site was taken back under control by the PC. ECC terminated the funding agreement they had with the nursery provider.
One of the parties involved with the nursery provider company challenged the termination of the licence by the PC. A negotiated resolution was tried but not ultimately possible to the PC commenced proceedings in August 2019 at Cambridge County Court for a Declaration that all rights that the nursery provider or any associated company may have had in the nursery were validly terminated. Supported by ECC, the dispute was resolved at mediation in February 2020 where any and all rights were relinquished by the nursery provider or any associated company. The terms of the mediation settlement agreement contain a confidentiality provision so cannot be disclosed further.
Following resolution of the legal dispute, the PC and ECC commenced a full review of the condition of the part constructed building. This process was delayed and slowed dramatically by the impact of the pandemic during a large part of 2020. Surveys took place in June and July 2020 by a firm of surveyors appointed by ECC. A report was published in late 2020 which listed a number of serious defects in the building. Costings were obtained for the completion of the building including the rectification of the defects found during the surveys. It was identified that the costs of completion were at least the estimated cost of replacement with a new building. One further considerable difficulty with completing the existing building would be obtaining warranties and insurance, which would effectively not be possible to obtain. In all the circumstances, as advised by ECC’s surveyors, it was concluded that the only realistic course of action was to proceed with a replacement building. Discussions have continued with ECC to develop replacement building plans and specifications.
There are two other issues to mention to complete the picture , namely archaeology and storage. As mentioned above, one of the reasons the PC was forced to terminate the licence to continue to build the nursery was that there were grounds works carried out (to install a ground source heat pump system) in breach of planning requirements to have such works monitored by an archaeologist. The ground works resulted in about 30 roman skeletons being destructively unearthed. There is still significant archaeological work to be completed at the nursery site and analysis of the skeletons already recovered. The PC has remained in close conduct with the archaeologist involved initially and also ECC with a view to completing the work and also to reinstate the remains respectfully at the site. The second issue is that of storage. In order to allow the initial works to commence at the nursery garages used for storage were demolished. That storage space has been replaced with containers at the Recreation Ground. Apart from the impact of the nursery build, storage space for a number of parties and groups around the village has always been an issue and the thinking is that a dedicated storage block be built next to the recently revived scout hut (which is to be expanded and we are delighted to have back in use by the community).
So – where are we now? The PC is dealing with: (i) new nursery provider in course of being identified, (ii) building and (iii) funding/borrowing to complete the project. The planning is that all three will progress quickly in the near future. The PC and ECC are in advanced discussions in relation to the procurement requirements for the nursery provider and building which will take place with the assistance of ECC and on their platforms. There is residual funding available from ECC. Borrowing will be required to be undertaken by the PC. The outline business plan is for the borrowing costs to be matched at least by the rent obtained from renting the building to the nursery provider with no impact on the precept. The application for borrowing requires consultation with the village and this will take place shortly.
In conclusion for now, hopefully it will be appreciated that the PC has been dealing with a very complex set of problems that were not of its making (compounded very heavily by COVID) and has been working very hard with ECC towards a solution. A large number of those discussions have been commercially sensitive (including the legal dispute and assessment of the building) resulting in the PC having to be careful about what it could say. Hopefully we are over this period now. As mentioned above the intention is to have a post COVID village meeting this year and the subject of the nursery will be on the agenda. Once delivery takes place the Village and local residents will have a first-class facility of which they can be proud, providing 56 nursery and pre-school places for the next generations.
We are tirelessly trying to resolve the issues faced, and particular thanks have to go to Mike Mitchell and Julie Redfern who have given up huge amounts of their time on your behalf over many, many months.
We will separately provide an update on other village matters over email, and at the Annual Village Meeting, but I hope the above is useful to you.
Kind regards
Tom
Tom Newcombe
Chair
Great Chesterford Parish Council