Minutes:
The Board considered a report of the Corporate Director of Regeneration Economy and Growth which provided a summary of the Business Case for the Tindale project.
By way of background Mark Jackson reminded the Board that the Town Investment Plan (TIP), developed and agreed by the Board and subsequently approved by Government, included a project to undertake traffic capacity enhancement works to facilitate adjacent commercial and housing development, tourism trips and to improve general traffic conditions.
The Board subsequently agreed the expansion of the project to provide financial support to enable the delivery of the nearby leisure-retail park, including allocations from the original Tindale Triangle and Town Centre Diversification Stronger Town Fund allocations.
The junction improvements and enabling works to facilitate the leisure-retail park were set out in the report.
The Section 278 agreement brought by the developer met the requirements for the Tindale Crescent/Maude Terrace junction and A688/Watling Road roundabout, to mitigate the traffic impact of the leisure-retail park. The Section 278 design of the A688/West Auckland Road junction was insufficient to deliver wider traffic capacity, and needed upgrading.
The Council undertook a costing estimate exercise for the S278 junctions, which had been validated by the developer. These costs had been included in the Business Case and were set out in the report, together with the estimated costs for the larger West Auckland junction, and the enabling works.
A total £4.5m STF would be allocated to the developer and their contractor(s), on condition they would be responsible for the delivery of two S278 junctions, the larger West Auckland Road junction, and the on-site enabling works to guarantee the full build of the leisure-retail park. The funding profile, including the private sector contributions were detailed in the report.
Viability gap funding of £1,987,976 in STF grant support had been confirmed to make the site commercially viable for the developer.
The economic benefits achieved from the junction improvements and enabling works would contribute to an initial BCR of 3.19 offering High Value for Money, and this would increase to 3.48 if distributional impacts were added.
Durham County Council would be responsible for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the junctions, and the developer would be responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the enabling works and the remainder of the leisure-retail site.
A legal agreement was required between DCC/Stronger Town Board and the developer of the leisure-retail park, to ensure the proposal was delivered as agreed.
In terms of timescales, delivery of the highway improvements and enabling works were due to commence in Spring-Summer 2023.
Jonathan Gilroy confirmed that a project variation request would be considered alongside the Business Case and did not envisage any difficulties with the BCR.
Following a question from Rob Yorke, Craig MacLennan confirmed that a micro-simulation model of the transport design had been completed and it was suggested that this be presented at the next Board meeting.
AGREED that
(a) the Business Case be approved and submitted to Government for combined transport and enabling works; and
(b) the funding profile of £4,500,000 STF and £1,072,276 private sector match in the Business Case, which would enable £33,399,521 of further private sector investment, be noted.