Our Ref: CM/DTCR

Direct Dial No: 01324 506278

Date: 29 March 2010

Mr Brian McCabe
The People of Denny & Dunipace

Dear Mr McCabe,

DENNY TOWN CENTRE REGENERATION

Thank you for your letter of 21st March 2010 attaching the petition from members of the
Denny community.

May I say at the outset that the Council recognises the pressing need for the regeneration of
Denny Town Centre and understands the community’s concerns. Please be assured that
we are making strenuous efforts to progress this critical project. However, as things
currently stand, the scheme faces fundamental constraints to its delivery from the original
Masterplan, presented in 2006. These constraints have arisen substantially as a result of
the global recession, which has impacted on schemes such as this across the whole of the
UK and overseas.

As a result of this it is simply not possible to proceed immediately with the regeneration
scheme as currently planned for the following reasons:-

 The Council has entered into a legal agreement with Henry Boot for delivery of the
scheme. Were we to withdraw from this legal agreement we would require to meet Henry
Boot’s costs to date, which have been considerable.

 Commencement of the scheme on site demands an upfront commitment to acquire

the various interests and to demolish the properties. There would also be a need to find
accommodation for the existing businesses (and their employees) that wish to continue
trading in the area. Under the terms of the current scheme, it is anticipated that these
costs could be considerable - in excess of £2m.

 Were the Council to try to proceed on its own, the Council’s Capital programme,
which funds its major projects would need to be radically reviewed. Whilst this is being
given consideration it cannot be done lightly as it would have an important impact on a
severely stretched programme.
  Were the Council to withdraw from its legal agreement with Henry Boot and seek
an alternative developer, it would require conducting a procurement exercise. In
view of the capital costs involved this must be undertaken in accordance with
European legislation and its timescales (usually around 6 – 9 months). However
there is no guarantee at the end of that process that an alternative developer would
be found, (as occurred in market testing of the original scheme).

 Were a new scheme to come forward it would also need to secure planning
consent (involving further consultation and design support). Again this would be
likely to add significantly to the timescales for delivery.

It is for these reasons that the Council’s opinion has been that the readiest means of
progressing the scheme is to work within our legal agreement with Henry Boot, as a “Plan
B” would be likely to delay regeneration even further. This scheme has been developed
with intensive consultation and consensus of the Denny community, gained over a period of
four years. Our approach to its delivery has been carefully considered, involving the
completion of the procurement, preparing designs and determining the logistics of delivering
the scheme while safeguarding the interests of local business and the community.

Working closely with Henry Boot we have been progressing the scheme with actions that
are necessary regardless of current market circumstances and fully recognise the
community’s concerns:-

 An application for outline planning permission for the scheme has been submitted.

 We have started the process of seeking agreement with current occupants to

acquire the various properties including two recent acquisitions made using the
Town Centre Regeneration Fund. It must be stressed that should some
acquisitions fail, there may be a need to proceed to compulsory purchase which
can add considerably to the time delay in implementing the scheme (a recent CPO
in Stenhousemuir took 2 years to complete).

 We have commissioned the traffic light improvement works at Denny Cross

(commencing early May). These will be necessary for the town centre scheme
and are being provided at an earlier stage than envisaged, with the costs met by
the Town Centre Regeneration grant.

I must emphasise that the works relating to the Town Centre Regeneration Fund were
designed to comply with the terms of the grant and the reduced amount that was awarded
to the Council. They are important to the scheme’s delivery and will help to accelerate the
scheme, regardless of how it moves forward.

I have emailed you to suggest a meeting with yourself and a few of your colleagues from the
community to consider these matters more fully and suggest that meeting as quickly as
possible. We will also continue to keep the community advised of progress via the Town
Centre Development Group (which meets regularly and involves representatives of the local
community, elected members, retailers, Henry Boot and Council officials). At important
stages in the scheme in the past we have issued Newsletters to all households and I am
happy to do so again when there is a substantive announcement to be made.

In the meantime we shall continue to place updates on the website and will provide
appropriate information at Denny Library. In that regard may I add that I have sent this
letter to you by email as an interim measure. It would be preferable for me to have your
own address (or a forwarding address) to correspond with, not the Denny Public Library.
Our Libraries are unable to perform the function of receiving correspondence for local
groups – we are happy to convey information via the Library.

I realise that this does not meet the immediate and pressing demands of the Denny
community to see the blocks at Church Walk demolished. However I can give an assurance
that we are doing all in our power to move these proposals forward and that we are keen to
work with you to see a successful scheme delivered. I look forward to meeting with you
where perhaps we can discuss these concerns in more depth.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Craig Martin

Leader of the Council