Supplementary Agenda
West Dunbartonshire Council · 12 February 2025
Back to Planning Committee — 12 February 2025 and its agenda
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Supplementary Agenda Planning Committee Date: Wednesday, 12 February 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Time: 10.00 ___________________________________________________________________ Venue: Civic Space, Council Offices, 16 Church Street, Dumbarton G82 1QL ___________________________________________________________________ Contact: Committee.admin@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Dear Member ADDITIONAL ITEM OF BUSINESS I refer to the agenda for the above Meeting of the Planning Committee which was issued on 30 January 2025 and now enclose for your attention a copy of the report relating to the undernoted Item 10 which Councillor O‘Neill, Chair, has agreed will be considered as an additional item of business. Yours faithfully PETER HESSETT Chief Executive Note referred to:- 10 ANTONINE WALL PROJECT UPDATE REPORT 51 - 54 AND FUTURE PROPOSALS Submit report by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration advising the Committee of the outcome of the recent funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to take forward phase 2 of the project and its implications for the Antonine Wall project generally and for West Dunbartonshire Council as lead authority. Page 49
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Distribution: Councillor Lawrence O’Neill (Chair) Councillor Gurpreet Singh Johal (Vice Chair) Councillor Ian Dickson Councillor David McBride Councillor Fiona Hennebry Provost Karen Murray Conaghan Councillor Chris Pollock Councillor Hazel Sorrell Councillor Clare Steel Councillor Sophie Traynor All other Councillors for information Date of Issue: 7 February 2025 Page 50
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health Manager Planning Committee: 12th February 2025 _____________________________________________________________ Subject: Antonine Wall Project Update Report and Future Proposals 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to advise the Committee of the outcome of the recent funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to take forward phase 2 of the project and its implications for the Antonine Wall project generally and for West Dunbartonshire Council as lead authority. 2. Recommendation 2.1 It is recommended that the Committee: 2.2 Note the outcome of the funding application; 2.3 Note the decision of the Antonine Wall Steering Group to pursue option 3 as outlined in section 4.7 below; and 2.4 Agree to follow the decision of the Steering Group and further agree that West Dunbartonshire Council will continue to act as lead authority until 30th September 2025. 3. Background 3.1 At its meeting of 10th November 2021 the Council’s Planning Committee agreed to note the progress and achievements of the Antonine Wall Project; to continue to manage the Antonine Wall Project for the next 3 years (until 31st March 2025) and to note that officers would submit a growth bid for capital funding of £10,000 in regards to setting the 2022/23 budget. 3.2 Since that time West Dunbartonshire has acted as lead authority for 5 local authority partners (West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire, City of Glasgow, Falkirk and North Lanarkshire) and Historic Environment Scotland. 3.3 A funding bid for a further phase the “Connecting the Antonine Wall” project was made to the NLHF. On the 21st January the Council received confirmation from the NLHF that our funding bid had been unsuccessful. 4. Main Issues 4.1 It is disappointing that the project was unsuccessful for funding. Feedback from the NLHF was favourable in terms of the quality of the submission but that they advised that due to the level of demand for their funds, they were unable to support all projects. Following the refusal of the funding bid it has been necessary to review the options available to the partners as the funding was required to take the project forward. Without this funding the project is not financially viable. ITEM 10 Page 51
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4.2 An options paper was presented to the Antonine Wall Steering Group meeting on 4th February. This group consists of representatives from all partners. The options available to the group are limited in nature and due to implications for the project team, both in terms of finances to carry out project work and contractual obligations relating to extension or redundancy, a quick decision was required to be made. 4.3 The options paper outlines that there is a credit balance in the Antonine Wall account of £101,660.66. £30,000 of this is partially ringfenced to Historic Environment Scotland due to previous overpayment to the account. 4.4 A summary of each of the 4 options are outlined below. 4.3 Option 1: This option requires that the project ends on 31st March 2025 and to serve redundancy notices on affected staff. This option is the default option from a West Dunbartonshire Council viewpoint as lead authority, as staff contracts sit with the Council and unless one of the alternative options was agreed, this option would apply. 4.4 This option was not preferred by the Steering Group as, whilst it would enable a sum of money (£6,554.65) to be reimbursed to the partners (£36,554.65 to Historic Environment Scotland), it would result in a significant, and sudden, drop off in Antonine Wall activity and will impact our ability to ensure a managed windup of the project assets and activity. 4.4 Option 2: This option extends the contracts to 30th June 2025. This option would allow a more managed wind up of the project and additional time to carry out some limited project activity. Historic Environment Scotland were supportive of this option as it allows time for the management plan to be progressed and time for them to appoint an Antonine Wall Coordinator. 4.5 This option was not preferred by the Steering Group as, whilst it would result in some additional time to manage the project to an end and enable a sum of money (£1,976.64) to be returned to the partners (£31,976.64 to Historic Environment Scotland), a short extension would not allow anything other than some limited project activity to be carried out. 4.6 Option 3: This option extends the contracts to 30th September 2025 This option would be similar in scope to option 2 but allow further time for project activity. 4.7 Whilst this option would not enable any sum of money to be returned to the partners and a reduced amount returned to Historic Environment Scotland (£12,975.91), it was the groups preferred option as it was considered to be cost neutral in terms of payments already made and require no further contribution from any of the partners, whilst still achieving further project work and a controlled closure of the project. 4.8 Option 4: This option extend the contracts to 31st March 2025. This option would enable significantly more project work to be carried out and a controlled handover of the project. 4.9 Whilst this option may seem initially attractive, it was not favoured by the Steering Group as it requires further contribution from the Local Authority partners of £10,000 and all of the Historic Environment Scotland contribution would be used up. 4.10 In all the options outlined above, once the project ends all partners would assume responsibility for projects in their area. From a West Dunbartonshire perspective, due Page 52
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to the available resources, we would be generally limited to the statutory protection as required by the Development Management Process. 4.11 As lead authority, officers recommendation is to continue acting as lead authority until the 30th September, as per the steering groups preferred option, to ensure that there is ability to carry out further project work and a managed wind down of the project. 5. People Implications 5.1 There are implications for project staff, The Project Manager and Project Officer. Failure to agree the officer’s recommendation above will result in current staff contracts ending by ending by 31st March 2025 or as soon thereafter as Council Policies and employment law permits. 6. Financial and Procurement Implications 6.1 As the officers recommendation does not require any further financial funding from the Council there are no financial or procurement issues associated with this report. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 The Antonine Wall project is a high profile project. Failure to ensure a managed and controlled wind down of the project may result in reputation risk to the Council as lead authority and to the project partners 8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 The proposal does not need to be impact assessed, as it relates only to WDC continuing as lead for the project. Previous Equality Impact Assessment work related to the actual delivered elements of the work. 9. Consultation 9.1 Consultation was undertaken with the Antonine Wall Steering Group as set out in this report. 10. Strategic Assessment 10.1 The appeal decision is considered to have been consistent with the following strategic priorities: • Our Environment in ensuring the local environment is protected, enhanced and valued. Michael Mulgrew Planning, Building Standards and Environmental Health Manager Date: 7th February 2025 ______________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: Michael Mulgrew, Planning & Building Standards Manager Email: Michael.Mulgrew@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Page 53
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Appendix: None Background Papers: 1. Planning Committee report – Rediscovering the Antonine Wall Project and Reimaging The Antonine Wall – Phase 2 – November 2021 Wards affected: All Page 54