Decision details

Bath Quays is the Council's priority project for economic Growth within the Bath Enterprise Area. Progression of the scheme in accordance with provisional capital items within the Council's Capital Programme.

The Cabinet Members agree:

1.1  To fully approve Capital Items for Bath Quays totalling £12.057M identified within the Council’s adopted Capital Programme (2016/17), comprising;

(1)   Bath Quays Bridge:  £3.137m for Bath Quays Bridge within Bath’s Enterprise Area and to the development and implementation of cycle schemes to improve links between the Bath Quays Bridge, the Enterprise Area and other areas of Bath.

(2)  Bath Quays North:

i)  £5.27m to fund enabling infrastructure on and off site. (£1.05m for the design element of Bath Quays infrastructure, £1.8m for construction of coach parking at Odd Down, £2.42m for construction of a replacement coach drop off and utility supplies).

ii)  £0.65m to fund design development of Bath Quays ‘pioneer’ office building and multi storey car park as a council investment asset.

iii)  £1m for delivery partner procurement, including set up of a delivery vehicle, for Bath Quays.

(3)  Bath Quays South: £2m to fund design development, land acquisition and planning of Bath Quays South. for delivery of BMT headquarters as a tenant in a Council owned office building and to facilitate a serviced residential plot

1.2  To allocate £250k from the financial planning reserve to support short term revenue losses in the years before the project is able to generate income.

1.3  The Strategic Director for Place in consultation with the Leader, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development and Strategic Director of Resources, with appropriate s151 review and sign off, is authorised to:

(1)  Progress enabling activities encompassing the re-provision of car and coach parking to replace Avon Street, demolitions, highway and strategic utility infrastructure, and related disposal activities in order to bring the site forward for the development of office and other mixed uses in line with the Enterprise Area Masterplan.

(2)  Develop the necessary business cases, submit and enter funding agreements with the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for Bath Quay’s to utilise identified funding sources comprising Economic Development Funding, Revolving Infrastructure Funding and Local Growth Funding.

As part of the City Deal agreement the LEP and the WofE Authorities have set out their growth ambitions. It is anticipated that the EZ and EAs will deliver in excess of 60,000 new jobs by 2030 with the Bath City Riverside EA expected to contribute up to 9,000 jobs. Delivery will be closely monitored by Government who have required interim targets to be set: by 2018/19 it is expected that 1,700 new jobs will have been created in the Bath City Riverside EA and bringing forward Innovation Quay is critical to meeting that target. 

These projects facilitate delivery of the above targets.

Various options for the delivery of the Quays’ programme have been considered and have focused on potential routes for delivering development on Bath Quays North. Options considered have included;

(1)  Do nothing – this would involve leaving the site in its current state. This is not a viable option as it would not realise the Council’s wider ranging strategic ambitions for the site and would not represent an appropriate use of such a strategic property asset.

(2)  Open market freehold disposal – the option for the council to dispose of the freehold of the Bath Quays North site on the open market was considered and discounted early in the options evaluation. The decision not to progress this option was based on an understanding that the Council would be unable to guarantee the timing and form of development on the Quays and could not ensure the delivery of business rates and job creation. Freehold disposal was also viewed not to offer the Council an opportunity to participate in delivery, thereby maximising its potential capital and revenue incomes.

(3)  Direct delivery – wholesale direct delivery of the Bath Quays North site was considered, but has been discounted on the basis that it would expose the Council to significant Capital investment and risk at a point when the Council is already facing significant financial pressures. Direct delivery was also viewed to remove the possibility for the private sector to contribute expertise and for the Council to benefit from this expertise.