Issue - meetings

That:

1)        a pre-let with the operator identified within Part 2 of the report be agreed;

2)        any further related and subsidiary decisions, if required to complete the transaction, be delegated to the Chief Executive in conjunction with the Leader and Executive Member for Regeneration and Communities.

The Executive considered a report outlining a proposal to agree a new lease to a cinema operator on the Elms Field Site.

The Executive Member for Regeneration and Communities reported that a cinema in Wokingham Town Centre was one of the facilities that residents had asked for and that the proposal would deliver a three screen boutique cinema that would not just show films but live performances as well, in conjunction with other events.

Councillor Mirfin informed Members that the Council was in the process of holding a number of meetings with stakeholders about the Elms Field site and hopefully the planning application for the site would be submitted by the end of November.  As part of this operation the Council had sought to secure leases for some of the primary areas on the site and already agreements had been reached with Premier Inn for a hotel to be built at the bottom of Elms Field. 

Members were pleased to note that the pre-contract lease that was being proposed with the contractor was for a minimum of 25 years which was very good given that currently the average lease term that was being secured across the country, particularly in the retail environment, was just over 5 years.

Councillor Jorgensen requested that any agreement would have some form of inflation clause built in.  Councillor Kaiser also wanted to ensure that that if the operator ever decided to pull out or something happened during the lease term that the cinema would revert back to the Council rather than the operator being able to hand it over to another operator.

RESOLVED That:

1)        a pre-let with the operator identified within Part 2 of the report be agreed;

2)        any further related and subsidiary decisions, if required to complete the transaction, be delegated to the Chief Executive in conjunction with the Leader and Executive Member for Regeneration and Communities.