Agenda and decisions

To receive declarations by Members and Officers of the existence and nature of any pecuniary interests or any other significant interest in matters on this agenda.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 10^th July 2023.

Cabinet agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 10^th July 2023 were a true and correct record of the proceedings.

To consider a report on the Oxford Street Programme including the Business Case and proposed draw down of additional funds from the programme budget

Cabinet approved the following recommendations:

1.     Approve the full business case for the Oxford Street and Oxford Circus projects;

2.     Approve the draw-down of £7.767m from the OSP budget for Stage 2 of the Oxford Street project, Stage 1 of the Oxford Circus project and all associated costs for both.

Reasons for decision

A new full business case has been prepared, which considers the costs and benefits of the Oxford Street and Oxford Circus projects and confirms the case for investment in consideration of the proposed funding strategy.

Expenditure is required to progress the Oxford Street and Oxford Circus design which forms the basis for engagement with local communities and other stakeholders.

To consider the NCIL application from Greenhouse Sports Centre

Cabinet approved the following recommendations:

1.     Approves in principle £0.45m of NCIL funding to Greenhouse Sports.

2.     Delegates authority to the Executive Director of Innovation & Change to produce a final funding agreement in conjunction with the Director of Law and Governance that ensures value for money and safeguards the investment for community benefit.

Reasons for decision

Allocating £0.45m to Greenhouse Sports will provide 10% match funding for the total cost of the scheme, meeting a funding shortfall. This will make sure that service delivery is not put at risk and enable Greenhouse Sports to develop and grow its offer to the local community, supporting the delivery of the council’s Fairer Community strategic outcome.

These improvements to the Greenhouse Centre deliver on the priority in the council’s CIL Spending Policy Statement to support community facilities, and will contribute towards creating an enhanced sports centre to meet the anticipated additional demand for local facilities that will be created by local development, in particular the nearby Church Street regeneration scheme.

This decision, and supporting grant agreement, will ensure robust and effective expenditure and reporting in line with the Planning Act (2008) and the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 (as amended) and in accordance with the council’s strategic priorities, the revised CIL Spending Policy Statement (2022), and the council’s frameworks for resource allocation and management.

To consider the outcome of, and the next steps from, the Citizen’s Climate Assembly

Cabinet approved the following recommendations:

1.     Notes the final recommendations from the Westminster Citizens’ Climate Assembly, as set out under Appendix 1 of this report.

2.     Approves the initiation of a programme of cross-council work, led by individual Cabinet Members, to develop responses to each recommendation of the Climate Assembly, identifying what action is possible or where the Council may need to influence stakeholders to take them forward.

3.     Approves that all recommendations brought forward for implementation will be subject to further financial and legal consideration and, where necessary, individual Cabinet or Cabinet Member decisions will need be undertaken.

Reasons for decision

The Westminster Citizens’ Climate Assembly was commissioned as part of the Council’s efforts to address climate change, strengthen the citywide response to the climate crisis and improve representation of residents’ views on how to tackle the climate emergency. The Assembly has now delivered its final recommendations, please see Appendix 1 of this report.

The Council has committed to working together with Westminster residents to respond to the climate emergency. The Assembly forms part of this process. The Council will continue to work in partnership with Assembly participants to review progress in addressing the outputs of the Assembly and collectively develop further work to help tackle the climate emergency in Westminster.

All Assembly recommendations will be considered and assessed individually with a view to determining a response. This will have due regard to the council’s ability to deliver on recommendations directly, in partnership with wider stakeholders, or via external engagement (where actions sit outside of the council’s direct control). Where required, further financial and legal consideration will have to be undertaken before implementation.