Guildhall future

A July deadline has been set for the publication of detailed design, project costs and lease / financing proposals for the Guildhall.

The complex has been largely unused for over 2 years now.

York Guildhall

York Guildhall

The current plans involve refurbishment and part redevelopment of the Guildhall complex.

Ongoing use of the Council chamber – by the Council – has been agreed, but the proposals also involve the “creation of a business club, serviced office venue and associated cafe / restaurant units”.

The retention of public access to the historic parts of the site has been generally welcomed.

However, the failure of the new coalition administration, 12 months ago, to seek open market interest in the modern part of the site has led to widespread concern.

An opportunity it to maximise income by providing residential accommodation on the site appears to have been lost.

 Taxpayers therefore still face a potential bill of up to £7 million.

Residents will be hoping that the final proposals will eliminate this subsidy and transfer any risk to commercial developers

Crunch time for Council as officials recommend borrowing £7 million to spend on Guildhall project

Heritage Lottery Fund refuses financial help

Senior York Councillors are being recommended to let York taxpayers bear the bulk of the risk in a  new Guildhall office project.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Although the redevelopment has shed its pretentious “media centre” label – attached by the last Labour administration as they adopted a £9 million development scheme – the new project seems to be a case of the “Mayors new clothes”.

Little has changed as the rookie administration is asked to plunge the City further into debt. Each York residents already owes £1326 each  following previous Council decisions.

The Council have clearly failed to find a public sector partner who was willing to bear the financial risks involved in converting the complex into a “serviced office venue with virtual office and business club facilities”.

There is welcome news that the Councils traditional civic headquarters – the Guildhall itself and adjacent Council chamber – will continue to be publicly accessible.  Officials project income of £80,000 a year from these facilities although this is likely to be dwarfed by ongoing maintenance, energy and caretaking costs.

The project also incorporates a restaurant and café/bar.

The main criticism, of the new Council approach is likely to be that it has failed to test the market for the site. While for many,  retaining the historic building in public ownership was a “given”, the so called review process undertaken in the summer turned out to be little more than a cosmetic exercise. Despite the obvious access difficulties for commercial use, alternatives such as hotels or residential were neglected.

York Guildhall

York Guildhall

Apartments in the City centre are fetching astronomical prices and the offer of a river view would be irresistible for many. In Clifton Moor the owners of offices have found it impossible to let them. Ironically, many are now being converted into flats.

If the Council has to borrow £7 million to fund the scheme, then debt repayment costs of around £600k a year – for 30 years – will have to be paid. The recommended scheme generates only an estimated £362k in annual rental income and that assumes a high occupancy level.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has now formally turned down a request for a grant so that is one source of funding which has disappeared.

So York residents will be hoping that subsidies from the LEP and similar bodies will offset the burden.

Without them – and a lot of luck – the project could be a burden on generations of York taxpayers for decades to come.

Guildhall future – coalition under pressure?

Guildhall drawing

It appears that one of the first acts of the new coalition led Council was to submit (on 22nd May 2015) a Heritage Lottery Funding bid for the creation of a visitor attraction incorporating the Guildhall and Council Chamber together with Common Hall lane.

There was no consultation prior to the bid being submitted.

The bid is for £1.8 million.

A previous application for funding had been turned down by HLF on the grounds that the project was too “commercial”.

Who authorised the new bid is unclear.

It is claimed that it would create a “heritage” destination attracting 30,000 visitors a year and would “tell the story of York”. In that respect it has echoes of the “York Story” exhibition which was available for public view in St Mary’s Castlegate until about 25 years ago. That project collapsed due to reducing visitor numbers. St Mary’s currently is operated by the York Museums Trust and stages a variety of exhibitions.

The bid talks in glowing terms of the digital media hub. “The planned digital media arts hub based within the heritage complex provide a remarkable symmetry”. This despite the £9.2 million expenditure on the media centre having been clearly rejected by electors only 3 weeks previously.

The bid document fails to include any kind of business plan for the “heritage attraction”. The impact on Council taxpayers is unclear. Ongoing revenue costs are likely to be high.

It is unlikely that the HLF would grant any funding without being confident that they project could be sustained.

Although worthy of further development, it is unlikely that any responsible member would formally commit to the project on the basis of the figures so far made public.

A draft revenue account income and expenditure forecast should be made available to the meeting.

A report on the future of the Guildhall site more generally is being considered by the Council’s Executive next week.  
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Guildhall  future – early decision for new Council

The chronic under use of York’s’ iconic Guildhall is set to be considered by the new Council when it meets in June.

The building has been empty now for over 2 years.

How we reported the plans on 15th December 2011

How we reported the plans on 15th December 2011

A few months ago Labour – with Green party support – decided to go ahead with a £9.2 million project to turn the historic building and adjacent offices into a Digital Media Centre.

Anything other than a Lab/Green majority after the May 7th election is likely to see that decision rescinded.

Even if the project does go ahead, and funding can be found, any new use will not commence before 2017.

In the interim around £100,000 is to be spent on essential repairs to the buildings

Even an empty Guildhall costs taxpayers £120,000 a year with much if it going on Business Rates, heating and lighting.

In the interim the building has mostly been empty with limited public access. It appears that the renovation and increased public access at the adjacent Mansion House will not prompt a similar approach to the historic Guildhall itself.

According to the Council Leader most of the temporary uses for parts of the Guildhall buildings have been restricted to the provision of accommodation at taxpayers expense for partner organisations such as the “consultancy JMP who are delivering a council itravel contract, Adult Education who used the annex between Sept and Dec 2014, the Tour d Yorkshire team have an office there and space is used for theatre group rehearsals ahead of performances booked in the main hall / council chamber”. 

All in all, a highly unsatisfactory fate for such an important and ideally located asset.

At the moment officials are believed to be hawking the building around the City in the hope of finding a short term occupier.

Another blow for transparency as Greens back Labour’s £9.2 million Guildhall plan

The Green party representative voted with Labour Councillors last night in favour of the plan to turn the Guildhall into a Digital Arts and Media centre.

York Guildhall

York Guildhall

The scheme was passed by 6 votes to 5 with Tory, LibDem and Independent Councillors voting to require other uses for the complex to be more fully explored.

The project could eventually cost York taxpayers as much a £9.2 million.

The meeting became a farce when a presentation of key figures was made which could not be viewed by members of the public.

It will, therefore, remain a mystery to many why the Green party supported the extravagant plan – the latest of a series of “vanity” projects which have seen the Council plunge deep into debt.

 

 

 

Guildhall future – review meeting scheduled for 19th January

Labour’s plans to spend £9.2 million creating a “Digital Media Centre” (DMC) at the York Guildhall will be up for review on 19th January

York Guildhall

York Guildhall

The Guildhall has been largely unused for 2 years.

The Council first proposed to fund a DMC in July 2012  when “only” £1.4 million was earmarked for a partnership project. The figure has “grown like topsy” since then. The preferred site in 2012 was the Bonding Warehouse.

Labour have been pouring money into the scheme since the summer of 2013 – when they still enjoyed an overall majority on the Council. They failed to secure broad backing for their plans and a bid for Lottery Funding subsequently failed.

A hastily convened Cabinet meeting on 16th December 2014 agreed to spend another £500,000 on design work plus financial, procurement and legal support.

 Up to £100,000 is also to be spent on interim repairs to the Guildhall as it is clear that any new DMC use could not be operational for at least 3 years.

The argument for providing space for digital industries (which are a modest, but expanding, part of the local economy) is that the private sector will not fund offices where there is no guarantee of long term use. Some digital companies expand and contract the amount of space that they use on a regular basis.

Lack of a stable rental income is also the reason why the Council should not plunge further into debt to subsidise what would be a high risk venture.

It was presumably also the reason why no revenue budget for the DMC was published with the Council committee papers in December.  “Don’t know” is a poor basis on which to make an investment decision.

The original reports, which sought to forecast demand for this type of casual use, are out of date (DMZ report 2011 for Science City). There is a lot of office space available in the City not least that associated with Higher Education facilities. The workshops, established by the private sector, in partnership with the last Council, at Clifton Moor,  often have vacant spaces.

So what now?

The Council should not throw good money after bad. It needs to pause and ensure that other options are fully explored.

The Guildhall complex could be offered on the open market to see what interest is generated. It is a prime site and could accommodate a range of shopping, hotel and office uses.

The historic (listed) Guildhall itself must be properly conserved and accessible to the public. While this might inhibit some potential uses the approach can be similar to that which has seen the Assembly Rooms, De Grey Rooms and (most recently) the Theatre Royal building being successfully taken over by a local conservation charity.

Such an approach would not rule out small office space being provided which is suitable for digital media arts  use but the risk, and cost, to Council taxpayers would be reduced.

It is only when these avenues have been explored that the Council will know what viable options are available and an informed choice can then be made.

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It is unfortunate that, at a time when the DMC issue is coming to a head, the Councils involvement in the successful bid to become a UNESCO City of Media Arts is coming into question.  

The problems arise from an apparent lack of candor about the amount that the bid, and the subsequent programme of activities, will cost taxpayers. Freedom of information requests have revealed some surprisingly high consultancy fees and opaque appointment processes  while two years ago the cost of trips to south east Asia had raised eyebrows.

Time for some public accountability on this issue we think.

Lib Dems challenge £9.2million ‘media hub’ plans

Councillor Andrew WallerCllr Andrew Waller

Liberal Democrat councillors say plans to spend £9.2million on a ‘Digital Media Hub’ at York’s Guildhall should be reconsidered.

The proposals were rubber-stamped by the Labour Cabinet last night despite concerns raised at the meeting by Lib Dem Cllr Ian Cuthbertson. Under the plans, City of York Council will spend an initial £500,000 on the project. The overall scheme is due to cost £9.2million with cash coming from council capital funds, borrowing and the council’s ‘Economic Infrastructure Fund’. £1.7million in funding is yet to be found.

The Lib Dems say there is not enough evidence on income to justify the spending and have ‘called-in’ the decision for review. The proposal will now be reconsidered at a cross-party scrutiny meeting in January.

Cllr Andrew Waller, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Finance and Performance, commented:

“It is astonishing that the Labour Cabinet has brought forward these proposals without a proper business case which shows how the council hopes to get a return on its investment to justify the spending. There is also currently a £1.7million black hole in Labour’s plans.

“If this plan proceeds, York taxpayers will be asked to underwrite £9million of risk on the project. As well as a huge upfront capital cost the plans would greatly increase the council’s long-term borrowing commitments, a burden which has already increased under Labour.

“The report passed presents no evidence that other options for the Guildhall have been properly considered, that this is the right location for the use being proposed or that the private sector will take on any of the risk of this project.

“At a time when Labour are cutting frontline services for ordinary residents and considering moving to monthly rubbish collections, we cannot support this sort of speculative spending on vanity projects in the city-centre.”
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Guildhall future

Despite representations from Liberal Democrat and Independent Councillors at last nights Cabinet meeting, Labour decided to press ahead with their £9.2 million scheme to remodel the Guildhall complex as a “Digital Arts and Media Centre”

Guilhall entrance

Guilhall entrance

The same meeting considered plans which could see major cuts made to the quality of the environment in the City, reductions in social care regimes,  charges introduced for emptying waste bins and reduced highways maintenance standards.

The new Council leadership’s claim – that they would concentrate available resources  on basic service standards and respond positively to public priorities – now looks rather less than convincing.

The “business as usual” attitude also confirms that the Council has yet to find a governance system which truly reflects the new “balanced” make up of the Council.

The simplest way to get a broader view would be to run all draft reports through the weekly public “urgency” meetings which take place. Reports could the be refined to meet the majority view before going through the formal decision taking process.

Until that happens, it seems that all controversial items will be “called in” for further consideration. This is a laborious process which doesn’t necessary result in a change in the original decision.

Ultimately, if Labour don’t respect the majority view, then a special Council meeting could be called and the Leader of only a few weeks could be kicked out of office.

Guildhall

The future of the Guildhall and nearby buildings was last discussed in July 2013.

In a controversial decision the Labour Cabinet decided to allocate £400,000 towards developing a business case to create a “Digital Media Centre” on land to the side of the old Guildhall building.

The report at the time relied heavily on plans to get Lottery funding for the project. Such funding has never materialised and now a Council report to be considered next week reveals the costs and obstacles to the plans.

Proposed layout click for floor plan details

Proposed layout click for floor plan details

The Council has published details of how a new Guildhall might be reconfigured (right).

Apart from the small matter of hijacking the historic public building for use by a special interest group, an additional floor could be added to the south annex to form a restaurant and bar.

Just what that part of York doesn’t need!

There are no guarantees of continued casual access to the Guildhall which is an important part of the City’s heritage and tourist offer.

However it is the “business case” which will raise most eyebrows.

There isn’t one!

As previously reported, the council is being recommended to invest £9.2 million in the development. The capital costs break down like this:

Capital costs. click to enlarge

Capital costs. click to enlarge

Although the Council claims that £4.6 million could be repaid from rental income, no projected revenue budget has been provided.

There is no indication of the potential rental prices and no anchor tenants have been identified.

The complex wouldn’t even open until 2018.

All in all, the way that this has developed looks very similar to the muddled thinking that linked – in Council official’s minds – the need to lose the costs of running swimming pools by aggregating them into the Community Stadium contract.

The result was 2 years of delays, while a £12 million fully funded plan for a stadium ballooned into a £38 million – high risk – mega scheme, producing an additional £8 million bill for taxpayers.

York simply can’t afford this reckless approach to its economy or to the prioritisation of its limited resources.

The scheme should be scrapped before good money joins the hundreds of thousands of pounds already wasted.

Instead the Council should look to sell on the non listed parts of the site to the private sector and negotiate a zero risk option for taxpayers.

That might involve some provision for digital arts but it might also mean residential units in what is a prime site or failing that some retail/hotel use (or a combination of all of these).

The resultant capital receipt could then be used to maintain the Guildhall Listed buildings to a good standard, to ensure its continuing role as the civic centre of the City and provide a fulcrum point valued by all residents not just the techno elite.

York Council still dithering – “spend, spend, spend” strategy to continue?

The election of a new Leader doesn’t seem to have brought much realism to the York Council Labour Group.

True new Leader Williams is sacking 2 members of the Cabinet – which will operate with 6 members in future – in a gesture towards financial prudence.  At the same time he is trying to “bounce” residents and opposition Councillors into accepting a £9.2 million scheme aimed at providing new offices, a riverside walkway and a restaurant on a site adjacent to the Guildhall site.

Williams slipped out the announcement to the local newspaper 24 hours before the agenda documents for a hastily convened special  Cabinet meeting (scheduled to take place on 16th December) are due to be published.

York Guildhall

York Guildhall

 It means that residents can’t even view the business case for the project at the moment.

…and there will be minimal time for consultation before the Cabinet signs off £500,000 in expenditure on design work for what it describes as a “digital media centre”.

We’ll reserve comment on the project until the full business case has been published, but if it is as lacking in detail as similar proposals – to invest £8 million in replacing the Waterworld swimming pool and £10 million on a bridge into the York central site – then we will know that the new Council is as financially imprudent, as the Alexander regime was reckless.

York Taxpayers – and their children – could be paying over £2 million a year just servicing the debts on these “vanity” projects.

£30,000 to do a job part time?

Meanwhile the new Labour Leader is likely to be asked to make clear his intentions about how much time he could be expected to spend on York Council work if he were to become the its Leader on Thursday.

A full time £30,000 a year salary has been attached to the post since local government reorganisation in 1997.

The expectation is that the Council Leader will be putting in around 50 hours of work each week,

Some of the holders of the post have worked  longer hours. ……but Cllr Williams has, so far, declined to confirm that he will be giving up his (day) job with Yorkshire Water.  

Failure to do so would be to short change York Council taxpayers (or Yorkshire Water customers).

So he needs to make his intentions clear before Councillors are ask to endorse his nomination.