Mill Street decision called in

The decision of Ceredigion Council's Cabinet to appoint a developer for Aberystwyth's Mill Street Car Park Scheme has been 'called in' by backbench councillors.

Under the Council's standing orders, a Cabinet decision can be called back for discussion by the wider Council before being enacted. The Cabinet decided, at their meeting on 13th September, to appoint the highest scoring tender for the site ('Bidder A') using a matrix for deciding competing bids set up by the Council under strict European procurement regulations.  The Cabinet voted to authorise Council Officers to agree and finalise all contracts associated with the development and to authorise officers to also explore any further development opportuniites emerging elsewhere in the town. 

Six councillors are required to sign a call-in request and that number was reached only a few hours before today's 5pm deadline. The wider Council will now discuss the plans atv a meeting within the next couple of weeks, although commercial confidentiality rules will prevent this being held in public. The issue will then go back to the next meeting of the Cabinet who will take on board the views of the wider Council but still have the final say. 

Update:
Following the call-in, the issue will be discussed in a closed session towards the end of  a meeting of the Economic Development, Tourism and Europe Scrutiny Committee on the morning of Wednesday 28th September. The motion to call-in the decision was signed by councillors Ellen ap Gwynn, Alun Lloyd Jones, Ian ap Dewi, Gareth Davies, John Roberts and myself with support from the committee chair, Liz Evans.