Agenda item

David Mathews (Land and Property Programme Manager) to present the report.

To approve the request to extend the validity period to complete the Grant Funding Agreement by three months to the 1st of October 2026.

Confirm that the Portfolio Director is authorised to take all necessary operational steps to proceed with and complete the Grant Funding Agreement within the extended validity period, subject to customary legal, financial, procurement and governance requirements.

To confirm that the Sub-Committee's approval is valid until 1st October 2026 and should the project not proceed to a signed Grant Funding Agreement by this date, it will be required to return and resubmit the business case to the Sub-Committee for approval.

The report was presented by the ⁠Land and Property Programme Manager.

DECISION

To approve the request to extend the validity period to complete the Grant Funding Agreement by three months to the 1st of October 2026.

To confirm that the Portfolio Director is authorised to take all necessary operational steps to proceed with and complete the Grant Funding Agreement within the extended validity period, subject to customary legal, financial, procurement and governance requirements.

To confirm that the Sub-Committee's approval is valid until 1st October 2026 and should the project not proceed to a signed Grant Funding Agreement by this date, it will be required to return and resubmit the business case to the Sub-Committee for approval.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

To seek the Sub-committee's approval to extend the review date for the Grant Funding Agreement by three months for the reasons set out in the report.

DISCUSSION

Members were reminded that this project had been approved by this Sub-committee at its meeting on 3 October 2025, approving a 6-month validity period to discuss and deliver a grant funding agreement for the project.

It was acknowledged that those requirements could not be delivered within the timetable provided by the Sub-committee, therefore the item was re-submitted in Spring 2026 to receive three additional months to deliver the discussions and receive a grant funding agreement. There was confidence that the discussions could be achieved within three months, but it was confirmed that the discussions had not been completed on this project. Similarly, it was explained that discussions were ongoing on the Gogledd Môn Sites and Premises project, and further discussions had been achieved with the Local Authority on that project.

It was reported that the Freeport Gateway project was now in a procurement process, with the tendering process underway until 7 August. It was noted that the Isle of Anglesey County Council would score the tenders before appointing the successful company before the end of the month. It was elaborated that the hope was to complete discussions with the local authority in September 2026, for the work to commence in October.

It was asked to extend the validity period for three months to allow this schedule to take place, and for the project to proceed.

During the discussion, the following observations were made:-

It was considered that a 3-month extension was not a substantial period of time. The need to ensure that any extension was sufficient to ensure that no need arose to return to the Sub-committee for a subsequent extension was discussed. In response to the observations, the Land and Property Programme Manager emphasised that lessons had been learned in conducting discussions on the Gogledd Môn Sites and Premises project to save time on discussions. Assurances were given that this would be in place for this project, declaring confidence that the project would develop in a timely manner should the extension be approved.

It was confirmed that there was a wish to see this project succeeding, in the hope that the discussions would come to fruition in a timely manner.

The members expressed their thanks for the report.