Agenda item

To consider a report by Councillor Emrys Wynne, Lead Member for Welsh Language, Culture and Heritage (copy enclosed) seeking Cabinet’s support to accept the grant offer towards the cost of the new joint archive facility and commitment to contribute capital match funding, subject to Flintshire County Council confirming their acceptance of the grant and their capital contribution.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

 

(a)      confirms its support for North East Wales Archive to accept the National Lottery Heritage Fund grant offer of £7,371,397, subject to Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet doing the same;

 

(b)      confirms the commitment for Denbighshire County Council to contribute match funding of £2,052,358 of capital funding which would be paid for via prudential borrowing, subject to Flintshire County Council confirming their acceptance of the grant and their capital contribution.  The maximum revenue cost to Denbighshire County Council was expected to be c£136k;

 

(c)      delegates authority to the Chief Executive Officer and Lead Member for Welsh Language, Culture and Heritage, to sign a Collaborative Agreement that covered the construction of the new facility, and operation of North East Wales Archive, and a Heads of Terms for the Lease of the new building, subject to costs being containable within the overall budget of £12,892,294, and

 

(d)      confirms that it has read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix 1 to the report) as part of its consideration.

Having declared a personal and prejudicial interest in this matter, the Leader Councillor Jason McLellan left the meeting for the duration of the item and the Deputy Leader Councillor Gill German took the Chair.

 

Councillor Emrys Wynne presented the report on the next stage of the North East Wales Archive project following its approval in principle by Cabinet in October 2023.

 

The Council had a statutory duty to collect, preserve and make accessible documents of historical importance.  A joint archive service with Flintshire County Council (FCC) had previously been established and work carried out to create a long term sustainable solution for archive storage.  The problems associated with Denbighshire’s archive storage at Ruthin Gaol were reiterated and some years had been spent examining the various options.  That work had concluded the best and most cost-effective option was to work in collaboration with FCC on a new purpose-built net carbon zero building on the Theatr Clwyd campus in Mold and had been supported in principle by Cabinet in November 2020 and October 2023.

 

In October 2023 Cabinet had approved a joint funding bid with FCC to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) seeking a capital grant of £7,371,397 to fund a new purpose-built facility in Mold on the understanding that DCC and FCC would provide match funding contributions of £2,052,358 and £3,078,537 respectively. The application to the NLHF had been successful, and the report recommended Cabinet confirmed its support to accept the grant offer and commitment to contribute to capital match funding, subject to FCC doing the same.  If approved, there would still be a continued archive presence at Ruthin Gaol.

 

The reasoning for the significant spend on the service in the current financial climate was reiterated and the funding explained.  A range of options had been considered for the future storage of archive collections and all came with significant cost and would likely cost more than the current proposal over the longer term.  As the current arrangements were unsustainable and could not fulfil the Council’s statutory duties there was not a “do nothing” option.  Denbighshire’s match funding sum would be funded via prudential borrowing and the proposal would provide an opportunity to acquire a new, fit for purpose archive facility for the next 50 years and long term solution.  Councillor Wynne believed the proposal to be the most cost effective option available and provided the best outcomes for service provision.

 

The Head of Housing and Communities and Joint Archive Service Manager were in attendance.  It was stressed that much work had been carried out over some time to explore all options available for the long-standing project to find the best solution going forward and ensure the safe storage of archive material and efficient service delivery, maximising public access to those materials.  Work was progressing on the collaboration agreement and Heads of Terms for the lease of the building and Cabinet was also asked to delegate authority to the Chief Executive and Lead Member to sign those documents when ready given the timescales involved.

 

Cabinet had discussed the merits of the project on a number of occasions, taking into account the current unsustainable arrangements and statutory responsibilities with regard to archives together with the significant costs associated with the project at a time of unprecedented budget pressures.  Cabinet acknowledged the hard work of all those involved in the project and the successful grant application resulting in around £7m of external funding being secured for a purpose built facility which was desperately needed to safeguard archive materials for the future.

 

Officers responded to questions from Cabinet as follows –

 

·       the original proposal in 2020 had been for a larger, more expensive facility and the grant funding bid had been unsuccessful.  However, the Council had been invited to revisit the project with a view to a further submission at a reduced cost

·       the lack of a ‘Plan B’ had been raised in 2020 and when revisiting the project, the opportunity had been taken to double check whether there were any other more cost effective options which had been outlined as part of the report

·       if authorised by Cabinet, the usual delegated decision process would apply to the signing off of the legal documents which would be shared with all members

·       FCC’s Cabinet would be meeting the following day to consider the proposal

·       there were two phases to the granting funding which covered the development phase and build phase and the Council’s share of the cost would be split over that period to begin in 2024 up to 2028; the length and way of borrowing would be dependent on the structure of the legal agreement, however the maximum amount had been included in the report; small amounts would come into revenue for repayment of borrowing in 2025/26 and 2026/27 with an estimated cost of borrowing around £22k with the majority in 2028/29 of around £136k.

 

The debate was opened up to non-Cabinet members.  Councillors Bobby Feeley, Huw Hilditch-Roberts and Mark Young welcomed the successful grant funding bid and the plans to expand the heritage attraction on the Ruthin Gaol site.  Questions were raised regarding funding available to progress the development of Ruthin Gaol, interest rates and cost certainty with regard to prudential borrowing, and elements within the legal agreement and partnership arrangements.

 

Officers responded to questions and comments as follows –

 

·       assurances were given that the Council was committed to assisting the Heritage Service in utilising space vacated in Ruthin Gaol to develop an enhanced visitor experience by leveraging in external grant funding for that purpose; it was also confirmed that the £60k reserve earmarked in 2020 remained in order to progress the proposed plans for expanding the heritage attraction at the site

·       in terms of the proposed 50 year lease there was a need to balance the investment and securing the use of a long term asset whilst recognising that during that time things could change, and discussions were ongoing in that regard; there would also be a number of break clauses in the agreement

·       the cost of borrowing over the 4 year period could fluctuate up and/or down as could the cost of delivering the project but at the build stage (in around 18 months’ time) there would be cost certainty.  There were no guarantees for borrowing rates which were currently about 5% but there may be flexibility in extending borrowing over a longer period depending on the terms of the lease

·       the joint archive service had been working collaboratively over the last 4 years which gave confidence in those arrangements and the new partnership agreement would further strengthen those arrangements going forward.  It was hoped that in future more staff time could be spent working with communities and greater partnership working with smaller, local archives.

 

The Deputy Leader thanked all those involved with the project and paid tribute to the hard work of both officers and members over a long period of time.  Councillor Emrys Wynne also thanked everyone for their contributions, past and present, in order to reach this latest stage in the process.

 

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

 

(a)      confirms its support for North East Wales Archive to accept the National Lottery Heritage Fund grant offer of £7,371,397, subject to Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet doing the same;

 

(b)      confirms the commitment for Denbighshire County Council to contribute match funding of £2,052,358 of capital funding which would be paid for via prudential borrowing, subject to Flintshire County Council confirming their acceptance of the grant and their capital contribution.  The maximum revenue cost to Denbighshire County Council was expected to be c£136k;

 

(c)      delegates authority to the Chief Executive Officer and Lead Member for Welsh Language, Culture and Heritage, to sign a Collaborative Agreement that covered the construction of the new facility, and operation of North East Wales Archive, and a Heads of Terms for the Lease of the new building, subject to costs being containable within the overall budget of £12,892,294, and

 

(d)      confirms that it has read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix 1 to the report) as part of its consideration.