17.
MINUTES
RESOLVED :
THAT the Minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 21 May 2003 be confirmed.
18.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Interests were declared in the following matters:
Mrs S A Smart and Mr H Rees declared a prejudicial interest
in Minute No 19 - Surrender And Renewal Of Lease – Riverside Centre, Newport,
Including Quay House, Newport as members of the Board appointed by the Council
and left the room for the discussion of the item
Mr M Cunningham declared a personal interest in Minute No
19 - Surrender And Renewal Of Lease – Riverside Centre, Newport, Including Quay
House, Newport as a member of the Board appointed by the Council
19. SURRENDER AND RENEWAL OF LEASE – RIVERSIDE CENTRE, NEWPORT,
INCLUDING QUAY HOUSE, NEWPORT
(Having
declared an interest, Mrs
S A Smart vacated the Chair. Mr G S
Kendall took the Chair).
Due to the interests declared by Mrs S A Smart and Mr H Rees, the meeting became inquorate. As a result, a formal decision could not be made and members discussed the options available to them. They decided that unless they became quorate for this item during the course of the meeting the matter would be deferred to the next meeting of the Executive.
20. WIGHT LEISURE EXTERNALISATION
(Mrs
S A Smart resumed the Chair)
The Executive considered the future of the project to
externalise Wight Leisure in the light of the recommendations received by Tony
Hall from the Institute of Public Finance, following his review of the process
adopted in the project. Members were
advised that the Monitoring Officer and Chief Financial Officer intended to
undertake a short investigation to establish the amount and legitimacy of
spending on the project to date and whether any recommendations could be made
to the Council in relation to the externalisation process.
The main recommendations contained in the report were noted. Some members expressed reservations over the
composition of the proposed Project Board. Advice was received from the
Monitoring Officer that there was no barrier to the Board being established as
recommended. The Executive discussed the options relating to the restart of the
externalisation process and whether this should be commenced prior to the
conclusion of the investigation by the Monitoring Officer and Chief Financial
Officer.
RESOLVED :
(i)
THAT
the project in its present form be stopped with immediate effect
(ii)
THAT
the project be restarted, using a revised process, to externalise Wight Leisure
to a management developed NPDO as soon as the investigation referred in
paragraph 25 of the report was completed
(iii)
THAT
a Project Board, with terms of reference reflecting paragraphs 8 to 12
inclusive, as described in the report, be established to oversee the
externalisation process in a new project.
(iv)
THAT
the actions of the Monitoring Officer and Chief Financial Officer (set out in
paragraph 25 of the report) be endorsed
(v)
THAT
the externalisation process be completed by end of March 2004
21. MEMBERS’
QUESTION TIME
Questions were put to the Chairman as follows :
Mr B C Buckle asked a question relating to
the Isle of Wight Music Festival (PQ15/03
Copies of the questions and replies given are contained in
the Members' Question Register.
CHAIRMAN