Cabinet - Monday 30 March 2026, 9:00am - Buckinghamshire Council Webcasting

Cabinet
Monday, 30th March 2026 at 9:00am 

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  1. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Robert Carington
  2. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  3. David Skinner - Director of Finance and S151 Officer
  4. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  5. Cllr Carl Jackson
  6. Cllr Robert Carington
  7. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  8. Cllr Isobel Darby
  9. Cllr Robert Carington
  10. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  11. Cllr Peter Brazier
  12. Cllr Robert Carington
  13. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  14. Cllr Steve Bowles
  15. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Cllr Steven Broadbent
  2. Cllr Robert Carington
  3. Cllr Steven Broadbent
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  1. Webcast Finished

Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:00:00
Good morning and welcome to this meeting of Buckingham's Council's cabinet today on Monday
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:00:16
the 30th of March 2026. This is an extraordinary meeting of the cabinet that has been called
under various provisions in our constitution due to a time pressing matter which is the
one substantive item of today's agenda, and we will get to that. That's item four, the
disposal of council -owned assets in High Wycombe. We'll get to that shortly. Before I do, can
I just remind members and those members of the public present that today's meeting is
being webcast. Please make sure that you turn your microphone on when you're speaking, members,
and off when you are not. Therefore, everything will be clear. There is a seating area at
of the room for those members of the public who do not wish to be filmed and
therefore you can sit there for that reason. Moving on from that we have
apologies for absence as item one. We have received apologies from Councillor

1 Apologies

Mark Wynne and Councillor Adeosy Bogan and I believe Thomas Broome is en route
but maybe late for the meeting.
Don't think there's any other apologies.
Okay, thank you.
So they are noted.
Item two, declarations of interest.

2 Declarations of interest

Now given this item in particular,
does anyone have any interest they wish to declare, please?
No one has indicated, so thank you.
I will take that as having
no additional declarations of interest.
There is, given this is an extraordinary meeting,
There is a provision for urgent questions, none have been received as confirmed by Democratic

3 Questions

Services and therefore we will move on to the consideration of the substantive item
which is the disposal of council -owned assets in High Wycombe.
This can be found in two parts.
There's a public part and a confidential part.

4 Disposal of Council-owned asset in High Wycombe

The public elements of the report is on pages 3 to 28, and then confidential appendices go on from there.
I will shortly ask Robert Carrington as the relevant cabinet member for resources to introduce the report,
and we also have David Skinner, our Section 151 officer, and Sylvia Mofri -Brookman, the corporate director for resources, in the room,
here to answer any technical details.
What we will do, members, is discuss the public report.
And of course, please be mindful any questions or discussion
on the confidential appendices will happen
in private session should we get there.
Any decision, though, will be made
when we restart the webcast and return
to the public session in due course.
So again, moving through to those items,
This is a significant item that for reasons that Robert will probably go into
we have to consider in this meeting today and obviously given his council and assets and and the
Proximity of this to the centre of how we come it is of some public interest
So Robert, I know just how hard you've been working on this item. So over to you to introduce please. Thank you very much leader
Cllr Robert Carington - 0:03:32
and
We are here today
to discuss a report concerning the proposed disposal
of the council -owned site at Queen Victoria Road,
High Wycombe QVR.
This follows the cabinet decision on the 9th of September,
2025, to dispose of these offices.
The site was then widely marketed with JLL
and Chandler Garvey appointed as agent,
and the marketing ran in the early part of this year
and finished very recently in March.
Several bids were received and considered.
And as a reminder, all of the bids were evaluated using a number of considerations,
which were the net capital receipts, allowing for deductions, timing of the receipt,
risk associated with conditional offers versus unconditional offers,
relationship between bidders and their JV partners,
funding and approvals obtained by bidders,
the bidding party, private, public,
and what they wish to do with the site.
And I think in my view, and obviously this is an area
which has been touched upon a lot
during the debate on this site,
the final one, place -making and other regeneration ambitions
are set out in the court proof brief
from the original cabinet paper.
In particular, the retention of the facade of Building A.
this very much in recognition of the feeling on the facades
and I had some very useful discussions behind the scenes
with local ward members who have been very diligent
and very helpful and not resulting
to noisy pointless protests.
Once we've sort of gone through all that, the focus was then
as ever to secure best value offer overall as per obligations under section 123 of the
Local Government Act 1972 and make certain that it meets the minimum budget requirement
for the Denmark Street project.
While on the Denmark Street project, this is a question I've been asked many a time
in this room in council by colleagues and I always refer them to read their papers,
but just for their benefit, I will stress again
that the receipt for the sale of QVR is,
will help fund the Denmark Street development
and any excess we consider corporately.
So if I am asked that question again,
I will then refer them to this comment,
but just for clarity.
So now going to this paper.
The paper recommends that the offer received
from the preferred bidder is accepted by cabinet.
The preferred bidder has put forward the highest financial offer on an unconditional basis,
provided that the transaction completes by the 31st of March, 2026.
So as mentioned by the leader, the reason why we are having this meeting and the reason
for the urgency and why they put forward this date.
So the preferred bidder's bid has been recommended because it is the highest offer and it meets
all of the criteria which I have listed off.
And on the time of the 31st of March, 2026,
this bidder is a public body,
and they have secured funding
only for the current financial year
ending the 31st of March, 2026.
Although they have demonstrated internally a clear need
and provided full financial, economic,
and social justification for the proposed acquisition
in order to secure approval to this funding,
the nature of their financial constraints
within their organisation means that this budget
will not be available to them in the next financial year,
regardless of the strength, the very strong position
of their business case.
So for that end, that is why we are now having
this discussion.
It is also important to note that the preferred bidder has, we've drawn up a memorandum of
understanding between the council and the bidder, setting out their ambition to also
deliver residential development on -site within their control around High Wickham, including
the QVR site.
So, but following all of this, we have obviously taken advice from our agents and have reviewed
and considered all offers received during the full marketing process and have determined
that the benefits of the bidder's proposal justify adopting an accelerated approach to
governance and decision -making in order to consider their bid, hence why we're here today.
And there's also one final bit on this, which I stressed during while listing the sort of
criteria, they have made it very, very clear that they are acknowledging the significance
of the facade in Building A and have confirmed they have no intention to make any changes
to the facade, and this is also reflected in the contract documentation.
So the reason I stress this is that this is incredibly satisfactory, as it shows that
our approach of a sensible and firm negotiation has put paid to a sensible offer, which has
has listened to our concerns, our wishes,
all of which were covered in the brochure and in the paper,
and shows that sensible negotiation over angry protest
will always achieve the result.
So I would say, again, as I have said in this room
many times, it is this council which fully believes
in Wickham and has an ambitious regeneration plan
which respects the town's historic heritage,
and I fully believe that this offer shows that and reflects that.
So to that end, I recommend this paper to Cameron.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:09:41
Thank you, Robert, for outlining that, both the context and the nature of what we're looking at.
There are a number of bids that we need to consider today, and obviously you've outlined some of the rationale through the paper about those bids
and why there is the detail as given on a preferred bidder,
which is the normal way of the way that we operate.
I do note as with any bid who wishes to make change,
any future changes to the site
will be subject to planning.
But I do note your comments about the importance,
as you said, as reflected by commentary from local members
on the facade of Building A.
And if people are wondering,
even page eight of the brochure,
which is page 18 of the pack,
highlights how, I know you and officers
were very upfront about that,
by saying there was a preference
for the facade to be retained,
even though, because it is a non -designated,
but nonetheless heritage asset.
And that is something that needed to be considered
by all bidders.
We will go into the specifics and various pros and cons, if there are any, of each of
the bids in the private session.
I do think it is worth noting any questions we have now in the public forum, and particularly
bringing out the point that these bids, the bid deadline received by the 16th of March.
So just to show how quickly we've had to respond to this given the fact that that public body
budget, as you said, will evaporate as it were by the end of March, given the nature
of their funding constraints.
So I do want to put a record of my thanks to you, Robert, and the officer team to make
sure we're able to at least consider these bids at this opportunity.
I will look around for questions, but just before we do that, I think it was probably
sensible to just cheque in with our Section 151 officer relating to the finances to say
if there's anything in particular, Mr. Skinner, that you wish to comment upon at this stage.
David Skinner - Director of Finance and S151 Officer - 0:12:09
Just in terms of the financial position, then the preferred bidder was the highest outright
taking account of the factors that Councillor Carrington has set out and as
noted in the report then exceeds the anticipated amount through the MTFP as
well but the other points I think are well made and potentially we'll get into the
detail in the confidential session. Thank you for that clarification I think
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:12:32
that's really helpful on the nature of the bid and it well of all the bids but
particularly the preferred bid that's outlined in the paper.
Questions then, please.
Carl, maybe introduce yourself.
Yeah, thank you, Lita.
Carl Jackson, cabinet member for education
Cllr Carl Jackson - 0:12:51
and children's services.
Two questions, I suppose one internal, one external in a way.
And internally, we obviously have got proposed sale,
proposed accelerated timeline.
What's the likely impact on the transfer of staff
to Denmark streets and how's that gonna work
for the staff who are currently based there.
And thinking more externally perhaps what, if any,
is the impact on the mayoralty.
Thank you very much for those questions.
And as I'm answering the first one, first obviously,
Cllr Robert Carington - 0:13:22
as alluded to in my opening statement,
this very much goes hand in hand with the construction,
the refurbishment of the new offices at Denmark Street,
which the forecast is, the plans are for 2027 for that to be up to a standard for us to go into.
The preferred bidder is very aware of this and have stated that they are very prepared for us to continue the use of QVR until Denmark Street is finished.
and they have agreed to that and that will be covered in the negotiations on that front.
On the second point, on the mayoralty, we're very conscious this has been another topic
which has been stressed a lot publicly and a location has been identified for the charter
trustees and the mayoralty and as per their normal processes, this will be discussed and
I understand, I think they have a meeting coming up next month where they will finalise this.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:14:36
Thank you. I think that civic use point is a very important one and I know local members,
particularly Councillors Clark and Hussain with it being an award, who are also part of the
Charter Trustees there, will be very interested in making sure whatever decision is made with any of the bids today,
that that is covered given the unique heritage we have and cherish there in Wickham.
So thank you for that, Robert.
Isabel.
Thank you very much, and thank you, Robert.
Isabel, can you introduce yourself?
Oh, sorry.
Cllr Isobel Darby - 0:15:07
Isabel Darby, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing.
Apologies.
I note that in the report, it mentions
that if this goes through, then the current tenants will
transfer to the new owner.
And obviously, that has an impact on this council
in not receiving that income.
but I'm assuming that, I'm right in assuming that that will be outweighed by the fact that you then have a capital receipt earlier than expected.
Cllr Robert Carington - 0:15:38
Yes, you're absolutely correct there, but just to clarify, currently we have no third party tenants in buildings B and C.
Building A, there is an option to extend the third party leases on a rolling six month basis.
All of these are outside the 1954
or renewal provisions.
As you have covered very eloquently,
the intention is to transfer these tendencies,
and yes, that will be a loss of rental income,
but this will be outplayed by also the fact that,
if we bear in mind we did discuss this in September,
that we are, the operating costs alone of QVR
are above our budget, and so we run into a loss there,
so we will also be using that,
which will then be transferred to Denmark Street.
So you actually answered your own questions.
Well, I'll just add the supporting evidence.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:16:28
Thank you.
Any other questions at this stage
before we discuss all the bits?
Yes, Councillor Brazier, please introduce yourself.
Thank you.
Peter Brazier, I'm Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure.
Cllr Peter Brazier - 0:16:43
Just going back to a previous post
when I was in charge of community safety,
The CCTV room is, the county's CCTV control room is housed there.
It's an obvious question, but you've obviously taken that into account and
taken into account the complexities of moving that elsewhere.
Thank you very much for your question, and
Cllr Robert Carington - 0:17:09
I know this is one we have discussed a lot.
Yes, no, if you can pull your mind back to the September meeting,
this is covered extensively in the September briefing pack in the agendas. I
think it's under item 10 and as mentioned this function will be
relocated elsewhere in the council's estate and more information will be
released in due course once we know. Very important, thank you.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:17:40
Excellent, thank you. Steve? Sorry, yeah just to pick up on that point.
Cllr Steve Bowles - 0:17:44
I think that the, oh yeah, sorry,
Steve Bowles, cabinet member for communities,
just picking up on the CCTV room point,
Gideon Springer, head of community safety,
and the team are actually looking at locations
for that to be rehoused, possibly in the Owsbury area.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:18:10
Okay, thank you for that clarification.
I think at that stage then, given the meat of this is to discuss the various bids, and
for obvious reasons, there is commercial sensitivity doing so.
Therefore, I think we should move into the confidential session to have that discussion.
For members of the public watching, we will come back to make a decision after having
that discussion.
So, the item, it requires me to read out a statement.
So, it is to resolve that under the local authorities executive arrangements meeting
and access to information England regulations 2012, regulation 42B, the public be excluded
from the meeting for the following item of business.
On the grounds they are likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined
by Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.
And this is the disposal of council -owned assets in High Wycombe.
Paragraph 3 has information relating to the financial and business affairs

5 Exclusion of the public (if required)

of both the bidders and the item at hand.
And obviously, there's a confidential appendix for us to consider.
Are we so agreed?
We are agreed.
Thank you.
then I will now pause to wait for the webcast to be turned off.

4 Disposal of Council-owned asset in High Wycombe

Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:19:36
Thank you. After that pause in confidential session, welcome back to the Cabinet
meeting of Buckinghamshire Council today, the 30th of March. We have had an in -depth discussion
about the disposal of council offices
at Queen Victoria Road in High Wycombe known as QVR,
going through all the bids and arrangements.
And we have discussed both the preferred bid
and the other bids.
I think before we come to a decision,
I'll go back to Robert Carrington
just to put forward the recommendations.
and it will take a decision and go from there.
So Robert, back to you please.
Thank you very much, leader,
Cllr Robert Carington - 0:20:31
and we have three recommendations in front of us.
The first one is that cabinet approved the disposal
of the council -owned asset in High Wycombe
to the preferred bidder who is a public body
in accordance with their proposal,
is sat out in Confidential Appendix 1,
and the heads of terms Confidential Appendix 2,
the disposal.
Recommendation 2 is cabinet delegates' authority
to the corporate director for resources and consultation with a cabinet member for resources
to finalise the legal documentation to give effect to the disposal.
Recommendation three, cabinet delegates authority to the corporate director for resources
in consultation with the cabinet member for resources to exchange
and complete documentation to give effect to the disposal including service of notices.
Cllr Steven Broadbent - 0:21:17
Thank you, Robert. So let's take the vote. Are people in favour of the recommendations as putt?
If you could indicate please. I hear agreement and see hands up from everyone around the cabinet
table today. So that is unanimously passed. I think this is a fantastic opportunity for
High Wycombe and for the county. Obviously we will now have to conclude,
outpace the legal processes to complete that, but we have accepted the preferred
bidder and I just want to put on record thanks to Robert in particular and our
officers for bringing this forward. It also shows though for the watching
residents that our long -term plan for the regeneration of our town centres is
is very much alive and well. And through the use of the Denmark site, Denmark street site, to not
only reshape Tesco but put in there the county archives and in due course move the council
offices into there, then by releasing Queen Victoria Road we have a very exciting future
for that site that I'm sure the people of Wycombe will welcome, as well as maintaining the and
delivering against the commercial interests of the council to get best value for the taxpayer.
Absolutely right that we do that. Sometimes change can be, you can fear change, but actually
doing so and making good long -term prudent use of our assets shows that here those two sites that
will be transformed over time in High Wycombe that will be of benefit to everyone. I do just also
want to just remind people in this pack, it showed that the timescale on relative works
between them will mean there'll be no immediate change on the Queen Victoria site, and in
fact the Queen Victoria Road site, and in fact that it's mid -2027 when we would expect
to move. So of course, given the public interest, given the work with the other public body,
there will be more information flow in the coming days and months. And of course, when
that transfer does happen of corporations, then that will be communicated to residents
as well because it's important people know where they can access council services.
So between now and then, then obviously you continue to access Queen Victoria Road in
the same way that people already are doing.
So that being said, I think this is good news.
Thank you for pulling together this extraordinary cabinet meeting and for your attendance.
That does conclude today's business.

7 Date of next meeting

And the next cabinet meeting, as I've announced previously, is scheduled to be the 21st of
April, starting at 10 o 'clock back here in the Oculus.
So thank you all for your time.
Meeting concluded.
Webcast Finished - 0:24:24
Thank you.