To consider the above report

Members considered Capital expenditure required to pay an overage sum that was due to the vendor of the land at Thriftwood, Ockwells Road, Cox Green, which the Council purchased in 2016 and formed part of the contractual agreement of sale.

Councillor Hilton introduced the report. He explained that in 2016 the council purchased at auction Thriftwood Farm, Ockwells Road, Cox Green. The total cost of the project was £813,500 comprising:

·       Purchase price £725,000 which was a modest £8,700 an acre

·       Auction Fee £750

·       Stamp Duty £25,750

·       Legal / agent fees £12,000

·       Initial Site Works £50,000

The agreement for sale included an overage clause that would be triggered by any planning application relating to the land. The land was designated as agricultural land, but it was purchased by the council to be added to Ockwells Park as Public Open Space. To achieve the Public Open Space status, an application for change of use was required which meant that at the time of purchase the council was aware that the overage clause would be triggered and further payments required, however, this was not included in the report to Council in August 2016.

At that time the council could have reached an amicable agreement on the overage with the vendor and paid it up front, or it could have registered the liability in the contracts directory which was periodically reviewed. In this pre- CIPFA financial governance era, neither option had been adopted. Councillor Hilton had been informed that an application for a change of use was made in 2017 but at the time neither the vendor nor the council recognised the significance.

However, in 2021, the vendor approached the council to seek payment and an independent expert valuer was jointly appointed to complete the revised valuation and overage calculation. Throughout this process advice was sought from Legal Services to ensure the council met it contractual obligations. To avoid any further interest payments the balances due were paid as soon as the valuation work was completed, and the overage and interest payments were confirmed.

Councillor Hilton explained that urgency powers were used as it was not practicable to convene a full meeting of the Council and as there was no elected Chairman of the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel, the Mayor was asked to give consent in accordance with the requirements of the constitution.

The purchase of the 86 hectares of land at Thriftwood matched the published shortfall in natural and semi-natural greenspace of 85 hectares in Maidenhead. Councillor Hilton emphasised that it was at the time and remained a sound strategic decision which at the time had been welcomed by all.

A sensible decision had been taken to move Part II of the report into Part I. This disclosed the value of the virement of capital funds within the approved capital programme from CC60 Hostile Vehicle Mitigations Measures to CX36 Purchase of land at Thriftwood. To cover the overall payment, interest and the council’s share of the expert surveyor’s fee the virement was £223,100. The issue had been raised by the Chairman of the Audit and Governance Committee and Councillor Hilton had supported an investigation into the decision making, not as a witch hunt but to confirm that the much-improved governance arrangements would have provided the safety net to prompt more appropriate action.  

Councillor Davey commented that more capital funding had been agreed in a contract but not put aside based on the principle that theadministration believed they could just keep borrowing forever and pick up the mere £250,000 later. He suggested, while undertaking the virement, the shortfall on the Windsor Coach Park bridge refurbishment quotes be picked up before they too were found to have doubled or trebled in cost and the work did not get commissioned. He also questioned what was happening about the Castle Hill transformation, which must now have passed its funding date.

Councillor Baldwin commented that it was a ‘curate’s egg’ recommendation as it was good in parts. He was not against the basic proposition but was very concerned about the details. He apologised as he had had considerable discussions with officers that afternoon and had given an undertaking that he would not raise the concerns that he had, and would give them an opportunity to explain some of the holes in the paper at a later date. However, unfortunately Councillor Hilton had made a couple of comments that left him extremely concerned. Firstly, he had mentioned that back in 2017 such a matter would not have even been brought before Council. Councillor Baldwin felt this was a terrible statement given Councillor Hilton had been a Member, perhaps even a Cabinet Member, at the time. Councillor Hilton had also stated that he had been informed that an application for a change of use had been made in 2017. Councillor Baldwin questioned who had told him that because there was no such application on the portal. If there had been no application for a change of use, then the clause in the contract would not have been triggered. If it was known at the time that the clause existed and the land was specifically bought to be transferred from agricultural land to public open space, he questioned who would have agreed the clause in the contract. Councillor Baldwin was also concerned about where the money was coming from as CC60 was about protecting the safety of residents in Windsor.

Councillor Walters commented that 86 acres of land for public open space had been bought at a reasonable price for the benefit of residents. Overage clauses were common practice in such agreements. He saw no reason not to agree the proposal; the council had kept to its contractual obligations.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the change of use application had been made under the reference Ockwells Park 16/03461/Full. It had been received in October 2016 and determined in March 2017.

Councillor Hilton thanked the Monitoring Officer for the clarification. He explained that the use of CC60 was appropriate as the Hostile Vehicle Mitigation measures had already been put in place in Windsor. Councillor Hilton apologised for the omission of the overage detail from the 2016 report, although he had not been Cabinet Member at the time.

It was proposed by Councillor Hilton, seconded by Councillor Walters, and:

RESOLVED: That Council notes the report and:

i)               Approves the virement of capital funds from the approved scheme CC60 Hostile Vehicle Mitigations Measures to CX36 Purchase of land at Thriftwood as set out in Appendix 3.

ii)             Notes the decision taken under the Urgent Powers within the Constitution to make the payment to seek to stop further interest payments

The vote was taken by a show of hands. 32 Councillors voted for the motion. No councillors voted against the motion. 1 Councillor abstained.

Councillor Baldwin requested to speak to apologise to Councillor Hilton. The Mayor advised this could be undertaken outside the meeting.