Councillor Coxshall, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, introduced the report which set out options for the refurbishment and development of the Civic Offices in Grays.

He continued by explaining the project had been delayed and halted since 2013 thus now showing commitment as a Council to the overall Grays Regeneration Project. It would also give the Council an enhanced presence in the High Street, which he felt was badly needed in the Grays South area.

The Portfolio Holder highlighted a key point of the report which was the new entrance of the Civic Offices, to be located on the High Street instead of where it was currently. Councillor Coxshall described the current entrance as poor, inappropriate and outdated like something from the 1980s which had not kept up-to-date. He continued by stating once complete the new entrance would give a fantastic welcome to residents and out of town visitors leaving the train station.

Members heard that the Council had received £11million in funding from the Government towards the regeneration of the new station area and foot crossing.  The restoration of the Civic Offices enabled a single point of customer related services for residents, along with the possibility of a new library which was expected to be heavily used by students of South Essex College.  It was further commented that the Police and Job Centre Plus had expressed interest in working from the new building which would assist in reducing the cost to the tax payer in the long term and therefore offering a better service to residents.

Councillor Coxshall finally commented that by relooking at the budget and finding an extra £380,000 the customer serving areas could be updated, giving the Council more for less.

Councillor Halden commented it was encouraging to see the regeneration of so many of the overlooked communities in the borough coming forward. Within the last six months Members had seen the Purfleet Regeneration project confirm a new partner was in place; Tilbury had a completed Master Plan to provide holistic regeneration to the whole of Tilbury and the regeneration of Grays, which had been stalled since 2013, was now beginning to take place. He stated this was regeneration across the borough, getting results.

Councillor Coxshall replied that for the last 18 months he had been unable to announce anything and now month after month he was finally able to confirm updates within the different projects.

The Deputy Leader echoed the thoughts of Members and mentioned the project was started in 2013 under the previous Chief Executive where £3.7million had been spent on the inside of the Civic Offices rather than the resident used services, such as the reception area.  This was now being completed and in addition could offer accommodation to key public sectors.

Resolved that Cabinet were requested to:

1.    Authorise officers to proceed to the detailed design stage of an extension to CO2 and the refurbishment of the ground floor of  CO2

2.    Authorise officers to prepare detailed plans for the redevelopment of CO1 and consider delivery options. 

3.    Note the high level costings in paragraph 4.2 and that a detailed business plan for the CO2 extension and redevelopment of CO1 will be prepared as part of the detailed design stage. 

Reason for Decision – as stated in the report

This decision is subject to call-in