Agenda item

To consider the Chief Executive’s Report No. CEX1903(copy attached), which sets out proposals for the governance and oversight of both the Rushmoor Development Partnership LLP and the associated decision making activities of the Council. 

The Committee considered the Chief Executive’s Report No. CEX1903, which set out the Council’s proposed governance and oversight arrangements for the Rushmoor Development Partnership LLP and the associated decision making activities of the Council.  It was also proposed that this model could be used for future joint venture or company arrangements. 

The Report advised Members that the Rushmoor Development Partnership Board consisted of three directors from Hill Investments Partnership Limited and three from Rushmoor Borough Council.  The Council’s directors were currently the Leader of the Council, the Major Projects and Property Portfolio Holder and the Executive Director (Customers, Digital and Rushmoor 2020).  Both parties had an equal say in decision making and governance processes, with each partner having one vote each in decision making.  If any matters under disagreement were not able to be resolved within a fixed period then this entered a deadlock process where the matter would be escalated to the Council’s Chief Executive and the equivalent Hill Investments Partnership Limited Senior Officer for resolution with the support of experts or specialists as appropriate. 

It was noted that Members would be engaged and updated on the work of the Rushmoor Development Partnership through regular seminars, the Policy and Project Advisory Board, together with six-monthly reports to the Council’s shareholder (the Chief Executive). The Chief Executive would enable consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee of appropriate reports on progress and the Licensing, Audit and General Purposes Committee on any governance matters.   The Report set out a flowchart to illustrate the annual cycle of Rushmoor Development Partnership LLP/Rushmoor Borough Council governance and approvals.  The Report also advised Members on the Rushmoor Development Partnership’s site development process and associated land transfers.

The Report stressed that the Council had to ensure that its business was conducted in accordance with the law and proper standards and that public money was safeguarded, accounted for and spent economically, efficiently and effectively.   This applied equally to the Council’s partnerships, which had become an increasingly important way of delivering strategic objectives and services but which also produced particular risk and governance issues.   The Council had to ensure that partnerships were linked to the Council’s democratic processes to give assurance that the Council was not exposed to unacceptable or unforeseen risks.  It was noted that, for the majority of matters arising from the establishment of, and proposed site development processes for, the Rushmoor Development Partnership, the Council’s established arrangements for decision making, as set out in the Constitution, together with statutory guidance from Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and other guidance from CIPFA were considered sufficient.  However, if any changes to the Constitution were required, these would be picked up during the current review. 

During discussion, the Chief Executive answered Members’ questions regarding the agreement of the value of Council land to be transferred to the Rushmoor Development Partnership, the resolution of deadlock disagreements[1] and the history to the creation of the Partnership.

RESOLVED:  That

(i)        the proposed governance arrangements, as outlined in the Chief Executive’s Report No. CEX1903 be approved; and

(ii)       the governance arrangements be reviewed in twelve months’ time.