Agenda item

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee.

(Minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 18 March 2020 circulated with the agenda)

During the discussion, the following points were made:-

·         Councillor G Wren queried: at the briefing to councillors prior to the acquisition of the bus station, it was made clear that the decision to close the bus station was made by First Bus alone for their own commercial reasons. However, at Scrutiny Committee on 20 May 2020, the Southwest Director of First Bus, Mr Alex Carter, stated that negotiations for the acquisition had included a facility for First Bus to leaseback the bus station for a period of time. However, as the completion date neared, the offer of a lease was withdrawn by the Council.  Could the Portfolio Holder please clarify if a leaseback arrangement was part of the negotiations and if so, why it was withdrawn at the last minute?

The Portfolio Holder advised that the initial approach to purchase the bus station was made by First Bus Group as they had already made the decision to close the bus station and wondered if Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT) would be interested in purchasing the site.  That was the initial contact that had been explained at the briefing.  During the deal being finalised, discussions were had with Somerset County Council and further options were debated on whether SWT could lease back the site to First Bus Group.  Due to the regulations on the building, it meant that only a short term lease could be granted to allow them to park their buses on site.  The decision to close the bus station was that of First Bus Group.  Another complication with the negotiations was that SWT felt pressure to conclude the deal by 31 March 2020, due to time constraints on First Bus financial year end.  The final agreement was to lease back the site for 6 months to be used as a bus storage and driver layover facility.

·         Councillor B Weston requested sight of the written responses to questions raised by the public speakers about the Bus Station and alternative arrangements raised at the Executive meeting on 18 March 2020.

The Portfolio Holder would arrange for the answers to be distributed to all Councillors.

·         Councillor B Weston also took the opportunity to ask a question about the pigeon nuisance and repeated installations of failed deterrents under Kingston Road Bridge.

The Chief Executive advised from an operational stand point, the bridge was owned by the rail company, therefore, negotiations would always be required to apply any infrastructure on the bridge.  Ordinarily, the Council would have carried out operation clean sweep two, which would involve a jet wash of the area amongst other work.  However, due to the Covid Pandemic, the work had to be reprioritised and other work had been deemed to be more important during the lockdown period.  The Portfolio Holder was happy to include the work in the project being undertaken to improve the layout and concourse of the railway station.

Resolved that the minutes of the Executive held on 18 March 2020 be confirmed as a correct record.