Knowle relocation project >>> a case built on assumption... or, how did we get this far without a business case?

The District Council have just released the latest 'tranche' of documents around their relocation project on their website:
Moving and Improving - East Devon
Project Document Archive 4 - East Devon

One in particular is from September last year:
6-project-report-20-300915.pdf

There is the issue of most of the appendices being either illegible or missing:
Illegible and incomplete Knowle relocation documents - a Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council - WhatDoTheyKnow

And there is the issue of how much is being assumed about the relocation project - as reported by the East Devon Watch blog:

CURRENT COST OF NEW EDDC HQ AT HONITON/EXMOUTH – NEARLY £10M AND ALL MEETINGS ASSUMING PEGASUS GETS ITS PLANNING PERMISSION ARE ALREADY SCHEDULED

4th February 2016

Relocation cost so far:

£9,726,455

http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/1468420/6-project-report-20-300915.pdf
page 5

Further on in the report:

The project has
7 “red risks”
32 “orange risks” and
8 “blue risks”

They already have a pretty good idea of when the planning meeting for Pegasus will be and have scheduled it

12 July 2016 (page 12)

and have already fixed an Extraordinary Cabinet Meeting
on 27 July 2016
and a similar Full Council meeting for
3 August 2016
with works in Exmouth to start on 4 August 2016.

Of course, all these meetings take place in the major summer holiday period.

Relocation to Exmouth Town Hall will take place on
20 June 2017
and full relocation to both sites will be achieved by
25 September 2017.

Thereafter the report consists of various cost breakdowns.

It appears that, for some reason, Appendix C is missing

One thought on “Current cost of new EDDC HQ at Honiton/Exmouth – nearly £10m and all meetings assuming Pegasus gets its planning permission are already scheduled”

Paul F says:
4 Feb 2016 at 2:55pm

And let’s not forget that this project has no business case (see my FoI request on WDTK). How can EDDC run a project which is going to cost at least £20m – with almost £10m already spent – without a business case????!!!!

Current cost of new EDDC HQ at Honiton/Exmouth – nearly £10m and all meetings assuming Pegasus gets its planning permission are already scheduled | East Devon Watch

When it comes to the business case, there doesn't seem to be any:
Relocation from the Knowle - a Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council - WhatDoTheyKnow

This is from the chair Town Council himself, speaking at an extraordinary District Council meeting last March:

John Hollick, Chairman of Sidmouth Town Council, spoke on behalf of his Council. 

He said that Sidmouth Town Council had consistently opposed the relocation project due to the impact of the move on the town’s economy and its businesses and due to the loss of open space and parkland. Loss of business to the town would be to Sidmouth’s detriment. Developing part of the site would damage the parkland, would put the character of the town at risk and deter visitors. 

He said that the business case for the move was full of contradictions. 

The development of the Knowle site should only be on the current built footprint. The Knowle land had been handed to the district by Sidmouth Urban Council and disposing of the site was asset stripping Sidmouth and, although may be legally allowed, was not morally right. He did not accept the proposals as they stood.

250315-extra-ordinary-council-mins-relocation.pdf
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