Parish poll on Cattle Market design

At a town meeting in the Corn Exchange last week a Bury St Edmunds parish poll was formally requested - the request needed the names and addresses of ten town electors - and procedures set out in electoral law are now being followed.

The Returning Officer at St Edmundsbury Borough Council, Deborah Cadman, is responsible for organisation of the parish poll, including the count. The wording of the question to be put to voters is:

"Is the basic design of the Cattle Market shopping centre, as submitted by Centros Miller, suitable for Bury St Edmunds?"

By law, polling has to take place within 14 to 25 working days of the date on which the meeting calling for the poll takes place. Elections are usually held on Thursdays so the latest date that a poll can be held is 2 December. Electoral law also states the times a parish poll can open - 4pm to 9pm - and that no polling cards can be issued. Electors also have to turn up in person to vote - there can be no postal or proxy votes.

There will be 14 polling stations across the town and the count will take place immediately after the polls have closed, with the result notified to Bury St Edmunds Town Council. Some of the venues have still to be confirmed and details will be available nearer the poll date.

The poll is an opportunity for electors who live in the parish of Bury St Edmunds to express a view on the development's design, but the result has no legally binding power on the local planning authority.

The results will however be fed into the much wider and detailed consultation which will be considered by the Development Control Committee before any planning decision is taken. If the Committee makes a resolution to grant planning permission for the scheme, it is then passed to the Secretary of State for the Environment for a final decision.

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Planning for the future

The Cattle Market redevelopment scheme is the largest project to be undertaken in Bury St Edmunds for many years - perhaps since the time Abbot Baldwin decided to lay out the grid design of the town around the Abbey.

Such a major project needs a huge amount of forward thinking and planning for every eventuality. The planning needs to go on throughout the life of the project, from early consultations, past various milestones - such as signing a development agreement - to the time the project ends, which could be when the development is open, or much earlier if the Development Control Committee does not give the project the go-ahead. The Cattle Market Redevelopment Working Party will be looking at the project's planning at its meeting tomorrow (Tuesday 9 November, 4pm).

Three separate reports cover the project schedule, risk management, and impact strategy.

The project schedule, which uses software specially designed to track progress, sets out dates by which actions or decisions are expected to have happened and the number of days set aside for various stages. For example, set out in the project schedule are the dates of the relevant Cabinet and full Council meetings, dates when planning applications or revisions are expected, times when contracts will be awarded, when changes are made to car parks and so on. The dates on the schedule are obviously subject to change and the software takes these into account, making adjustments to the overall plan when necessary.

Every project, large or small, has risks attached to it. You take judgments about risks all the time - if you're going on holiday, for example, there's a risk that your luggage will be lost along the way. Some people anticipate this risk and make sure they have some spare clothes and a toothbrush in their hand luggage. On major projects such as the proposed Cattle Market redevelopment there are all sorts of risks and they all need to be identified, judged whether they are high, medium or low risks and plans put in place to reduce the risks, or deal with the consequences.

The Cattle Market Risk Register is linked to the project schedule as it assesses risks along the way as the scheme progresses. No organisation could go ahead with a project of this scale without a detailed risk assessment - it is essential management practice to take a wide range of factors into account.

Risks are separated into categories such as economic, environmental, legislative, social and political. The Risk Register describes the risk and the actions which can be taken to reduce it.

Risks that have been identified in the register, (and how they could be dealt with), include:

• disturbance created during any construction process (apply appropriate conditions to any planning agreement and have an Impact Management Strategy);

• possibility of wrong mix of uses could fail to attract anticipated trade, (have a letting strategy which ensures appropriate tenants);
• drawing business from existing town centre, (develop strategy for dealing with vacant premises, including possible environmental enhancements to attract more pedestrians);
• failure of the new public venue to meet expectations, (be honest about what the building can and can't do);
• constructions costs of the underground car park over-run, (tight specifications, continuous financial review and contingency allowances).

As with the project schedule, the register is regularly monitored to ensure it is up to date and that the council is taking every action it can to minimise risks.

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Managing the impact

If the Cattle Market redevelopment goes ahead then work on site is likely to start fairly quickly so plans to deal with any disturbances need to be made if the project is approved.

The aim is to have an Impact Management Strategy which would reduce the effect that major construction work would have on the town centre. This would involve not only St Edmundsbury staff but also representatives from the Chamber of Commerce - to ensure the knowledge and views of businesses are included in any impact planning - the Town Centre Management Group, Town Council and others who provide services in and around town.

The Cattle Market Redevelopment Working Party is being asked to approve the idea of developing an Impact Management Strategy and suggest people who could be involved. Any suggestions for representatives are welcome - please use the contact details below.

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Newsletter: This newsletter is from St Edmundsbury Borough Council, owner of the Cattle Market redevelopment site. Please forward it to anyone you think may be interested in the topic or contact me if you wish to be taken off the distribution list:

marianne.hulland@stedsbc.gov.uk