Agenda item

To receive an update on the Salisbury Recovery.

Cllr Pauline Church

Councillor Pauline Church, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and South Wiltshire Recovery, Cllr Richard Clewer, Cabinet Member for Housing, Corporate Services, Arts, Heritage and Tourism and Richard Walters, Head of Service for Major Projects were in attendance to provide an update to the Board.

Salisbury Recovery – Cllr Pauline Church

·       Now thinking more strategically in Southern Wiltshire – we want to look forward to the amazing things that are going on.

·       The Christmas Market and ice rink were a great success. We have been trying to do a lot to keep Salisbury economically active. There were 44 chalets sold this year, in addition to the ice rink which sold over 12k sessions. Very positive feedback from this.

·       Since the 4^th March incident to 31^st December, we lost over 1m visits to the city, with an average decrease in footfall of 11%. This is why we continue with the strategic work, and have a dedicated team.

·       The Cabinet is committed to providing a flagship library and art gallery in the city.

·       The high street is changing and we need to keep up with the trend. The funding of £6.1m has to be spent by 2021, otherwise it would be taken from us.

The Maltings – Richard Walters

I have been involved for a good number of years in the Maltings project. The site is a significant brownfield site in the middle of the city. TH Real Estate (THRE) owns the Malting site. We have been working with them to bring forward a comprehensive scheme for that site. The March events were also played out within the area of the site.

There was always the intention to have a comprehensive development on that site.

We have secured funding for £6m to facilitate the first stage of the development. It has been a driver in us taking this development forward comprehensively.

There are 4 key components to the development, and we are proposing to use the £6m funding by 2021. To move that forward we have come forward with an application for plot 1, along with a Master Plan for applications for the other plots in due course. The Phase 1 application was submitted in December 2018.

Travelodge had been secured as an anchor tenant for phase 1. We would retain the continuity of a library service within the city.

An application for the Market Walk area would be presented in spring 2019, subject to ongoing dialogue with THRE.

Cllr Clewer

The Young Gallery would be my area. There was a commitment to retain a flagship library with a reference library, and art gallery.

Moving the library was always on the cards, back to Salisbury District Council days. As part of the desire to improve the Market Walk development the library has to move.

The proposed site is a decant location, and not the final site for the library. There will not be any lack of library provision in the city. The cultural quarter is being developed.

A plan for the final location of the library will be emerging through the ongoing development process. We want a modern library, with more IT facilities.

The Young Gallery will need to relocate at the same time, however we are not sure where that will go at the moment.

Questions  from the Board:

·       The Maltings development used to be a standing item on this Board’s agenda, how it got lost I do not know. Can the Chairman be included in future briefings on the progress of this. This Board should have the role that was given to us after the demise of Salisbury Vision. Why is the Board not involved with the new THRE Group? Answer: Cllr Church - The speed at which we have been progressing on this has been quite fast. We are now at the stage where our presentations are forward thinking and will take this approach in the future. The Civic Society was consulted and had a presentation and so did the Salisbury City Council, where all of their members were invited. Richard - Things were moving quite fast and we needed to get an application in. We do recognise we do need to engage with you and consult you in the future phases. This application is due to be considered by SCC at its planning meeting on 4^th Feb.

·       I am interested to hear that where you are putting the library is not the final destination of the library. You need to move the game up a bit to provide more information to the people, as we don’t know these things until now. Answer: Cllr Church - This application will come to Strategic Planning and there would be an opportunity for public involvement.

·       I am glad the communication error has been picked up. Grateful for the £6.1m awarded to Salisbury, however I have concerns over the size of the library. Had not realised that the site was temporary. I would welcome some clarification on floor space. Answer: The current library has 995.91m2 of library space in the building at present. The ground floor 576.1m2. The decant site is roughly about the same as the ground floor at the moment. The computers would probably end up in the decant library provision.

·       What was the planned timescale in terms of split reference library.  The library design may or may not be changing, but many people may not be changing, it would be better to look at usage of current users. Answer: Timescale may be a couple of years.

·       Would it not be a waste of public money, to move twice? Answer: Cllr Church - This is our opportunity to get this right for Salisbury, and there is no other way.

·       It is a big site, once the library has moved on what will fill that space, will it be empty for a number of years? Answer: It may be a space that the Travelodge feel they can use, or maybe a restaurant.

·       We all want Maltings redeveloped. It has taken too long to get to this point, on land that the Council owns. The library is a popular place and well used. Salisbury Library is the second busiest library in the south west region. Seems now that we have the £6m, the Council is rushing to spend it, and mistakes can happen when you act in haste. Answer: Cllr Church - I think this is a really forward-thinking development for Salisbury, and we should embrace it. The library is not fit for purpose and not modern, and our community deserves better than this. The new one will be a flagship library.

·       I am disappointed that this is being held by Strategic Planning, as Southern Area Planning Committee has local Members that know the city and what is best for it.

Questions from the floor:

• Is the first public forum other than this on 4^th February at SCC Planning? Answer: Yes.
• I am dismayed that the planning application for the first phase that has come forward has come before the production of a Master Plan. One of the aspirations was for the cycle path continuing across Salisbury. Answer: I agree that a piecemeal approach is not appropriate for this site. In the spring the application coming forward would be accompanied by a Master Plan. That building has some serious material in it, including asbestos, so part of the money will be used to address those issues to make it suitable for development.
• It is crucial to make sure we consider the issues as a whole, I hope the Council makes it clear publicly that the library decant is a temp process.
• The developer must consult the public before the application went in, when did this happen? Answer: It has been trailed in two planning strategies. It has been presented by THRE at a public meeting. There was consultation with stakeholders.

The Chairman noted that opportunities would be available to consult on this fuller. The Board would look to see how best we can take this forward. Things are moving quickly, we need to be flexible.

Cllr Rogers request that the Maltings became a standard item on future Area Board agendas and that the chairman was briefed as we go forward.