The Clackmannanshire bridge to ochils

2023-10-18 Cover Paper for MOD SOC

2023-10-18 Cover Paper for MOD SOCDownload

Executive Summary 

This paper requests the approval of the Joint Committee of the Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for the transfer of the Ministry of Defence land at Forthside to Stirling Council in line with the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal Document 2020. 

The purpose of the SOC is to reaffirm the strategic context for the project, to make the case for change, and to explore the preferred way forward. There is therefore not the same amount of detail in an SOC that is usually presented in a City Region Deal Outline or Full Business Case. For the MOD site land transfer, it is expected that the UK Government will approve the project at SOC level. The UK Government expect to return a decision on this iteration of the SOC within the next month. Officers request that Joint Committee members approve the SOC and delegate final approval to the Chief Officers Group following the endorsement by Government and subject to no material changes. 

This SOC primarily focuses on the strategic fit of the project in meeting the objectives of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal, Stirling’s wider objectives and UK and Scottish Government policy objectives. It seeks to demonstrate how redevelopment of the MOD site and the wider Forthside area presents a transformational opportunity for sustainable development and inward investment at a scale for the benefit of the whole city and wider region.

In the Economic Case, analysis of available options for redevelopment of the site is undertaken and a Preferred Way Forward (PWF) is presented. This is a preliminary assessment of options and work to develop the Forthside Masterplan including the redevelopment of the site is currently underway. The output will progress through Stirling Council governance processes.

Financially, the project is able to be delivered through the funding received from the Levelling Up Fund. £16.1 million is allocated to the redevelopment of the site with an additional £3 million allocated for complimentary Active Travel links. This does however come with tight timescales with all funding having to be committed by March 2025.

The transfer of the land is also subject to a successful outcome to the remediation negotiations currently taking place with the MOD. These are progressing positively. The final resolution will be signed off by Stirling Council and MOD.

Author 

Kelly Mathewson, Economic Development Project Manager

mathewsonk@stirling.gov.uk 

  1. Recommendations

The Joint Committee members are asked to:

  1. Approve the MOD Forthside Strategic Outline Case (SOC) at the 18th October Joint Committee; 
  2. Delegate final approval of the SOC to the Chief Officers Group post Government approval and subject to no material changes;
  3. Note that UK Government are currently reviewing SOC and aim to return a decision in the next month
  4. Note that negotiations on remediation responsibilities continue with the MOD. These are progressing positively with the MOD agreeing to undertake additional surveys. The land transfer will not take place until signed off by Stirling Council and MOD. 
  1. Legal & Risk Implications and Mitigation

The Stirling Council Legal team are involved in the MOD transfer negotiations and advise the Forthside Delivery Board.

  1. Background 
  1. The MOD had significant land holding within Stirling, which has gradually been reduced and redeveloped over the last 50 years. The existing MOD Forthside site has been identified as a potential strategic economic development site over the last 20 years.  
  2. In 2018, the MOD published their UK Estates Strategy Review and agreed permanent closure of the Forthside site.  It was then agreed that the land would be transferred to Stirling Council to enable economic development and regeneration, as part of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal (CRD).
  3. The 2018 CRD Heads of Terms Agreement states that: “The UK Government will contribute the value of the land transferred to the Deal, reflected today in the Heads of Terms as £5 million new funding from the UK Government”. 
  4. The 2020 CRD Deal Document states that “at point of transfer, the site will have been surveyed and cleansed of any dangerous contaminants by the MOD” with “dangerous contaminants” to be formally defined. Negotiations between Stirling Council and the MOD regarding remediation are ongoing. The land will only be transferred subject to satisfactory resolution from both parties.
  5. In January, £19m of Levelling Up Funding (LUF) was secured by Stirling Council for the redevelopment of Forthside. This funding has to be committed by March 2025. 
  6. Redevelopment of the MOD site and the wider Forthside area presents a transformational opportunity for sustainable development and inward investment at scale for the benefit of the whole city and wider region.
  1. Considerations 
  1. Strategic alignment
  1. The investment in this project is central to the contribution to the agreed CRD strategic outcomes. The prospect of a large brownfield site on the edge of the city centre becoming available represents a major opportunity for Stirling to ensure the future prosperity of the city and region. 
  2. Through public investment in site preparation and enabling works, the MOD Forthside site can be a springboard for delivering Stirling’s sustainable growth ambitions, redeveloping an underutilised city asset to create a step-change in productivity, with a net zero exemplar development that integrates the city through enhanced connectivity, environment and community engagement. 
  1. Alignment with CRD outcomes

This infrastructure focused investment leading to a successful regeneration of the MOD Forthside site will contribute to the CRD outcomes in the following ways:

  • increased employment opportunities, with key access routes for our communities; 
  • increased productivity and pay through more, and better quality, higher value jobs;
  • fostering a thriving business community that can benefit from agglomeration and increased investment;
  • improved perception of place (amenity benefit), starting a cycle of attracting inward investment, potentially from new sectors;
  • amenity benefits for surrounding commercial and residential properties, and for the wider community by opening up the site as public realm, improving access to the river and enhancing the natural environment; 
  • increase in non-motorised transport (cycle and pedestrian) flows, increasing mode shift and associated health and journey quality benefits;
  • sustainable and affordable housing provision available to a wide demographic range;
  • increased resilience / sustainability of the Forthside area to social, economic and environmental shocks;
  • direct land value uplift from a more efficient use of land, that contributes to lifting the wealth of the region;
  • cost avoidance of managing remaining unsafe buildings and contaminated land, including risk of worsening;
  • reduced crime due to creating a safer area and routes around and across the site;
  • development of a successful exemplar project can be the catalyst for future schemes.
  1. Forthside Masterplan
    1. The analysis of available options for redevelopment of the site at SOC stage is broad and indicative, and indicates a preferred way forward.
    2. The Masterplan in the SOC is at a very high level and work has continued on the development of this. The Masterplan will progress through Stirling Council Governance processes as it develops.
    3. Additional key stakeholder consultation will take place as part of the masterplanning process.
  2. Levelling Up Fund
    1. The Stirling LUF bid focused on the redevelopment of Forthside – building on the momentum gained through the City Region Deal. The Council successfully secured £19m of LUF funding. 
    2. £16 million of the £19m LUF funding is allocated to the redevelopment of the MOD site. The remaining £3 million will go towards complimentary active travel projects to better connect the site. 
    3. Costs included in the bid for the MOD site include: demolition of buildings and clearing the site, decontamination of the land (beyond that of MOD), site planning, land remediation, new infrastructure and enabling services. 
    4. The Levelling Up Funding must be committed by March 2025 and spent by March 2026.
  1. Finance Implications
  1. Redevelopment costs 
  1. Turner & Townsend Cost Management produced a high level cost plan based on known assumptions as part of the LUF bid. 
  2. This assumes the MOD will be responsible for the radioactive elements and discarded ordnance and remediation associated with these. 
  3. The cost plan included inflation and contingency. A high level of optimism bias – 44% was then applied to this. This is to account for the estimates being subject to uncertainty as well as construction price inflation. 
  4. The total costs set out in the plan were:
Cost Description  Total Costs (£) 
Planning and design £579,004.75 
Site clearance and remediation £10,233,695.23 
New Infrastructure – Access roads, footways and utilities £3,768,312.98 
Contractor costs, preliminaries and contingencies  £1,497,213.16 
Total £16,078,226.12 
  1. Resource Implications  
  1. A Forthside Delivery Board has been constituted to provide strategic oversight of the identified work streams. 
  2. A multi-disciplinary consultancy service has been procured to help deliver the project. 
  3. Stirling Council staff will work within their current roles to cover client project management roles. 
  4. Brian Roberts is Senior Responsible Officer for the project, Steven MacDonald is Project Lead and Kelly Mathewson is Project Manager (client).   
  5. The Project Board and Working Group will also include staff from Infrastructure, Planning, Environmental Health, Legal, Finance and Sustainability. 

Exempt Reports 

  • (Not applicable at this stage).  

Equalities Impact

  • (Not applicable at this stage).  

Legality

  • (Not applicable at this stage).  

Sustainability and Environmental Issues 

  • Sustainability and environmental issues will be considered throughout the project and feed into the Masterplan process. This includes but is not limited to:
    • Active Travel links to site
    • Active Travel corridors on the site
    • Links to District Heat Network
    • Consideration of retention and re-use of existing buildings and materials.

Policy Implications  

  • None.

Consultations  

  • Consultations will take place as part of the master planning and subsequent Planning Application processes.

Background Papers   

  • n/a

Appendices   

  1. MOD Forthside Strategic Outline Case
  2. Appendices

Approved by:   

Ann Jacob-Chandler, Head of Economic Development, Planning and Climate Change, Stirling Council.