An urgent meeting has been called to consider the proposed sale of a building that houses a nursery for children with special educational needs.
The Jeanne Saunders Centre is based in the four-storey Penny Gobby House, in Palmeira Avenue, Hove, but the building has no lift.
The nursery is expected to move to the Annexe, in Connaught Road, Hove, with Penny Gobby House due to be sold by Brighton and Hove City Council.
At a meeting next Monday (18 September) councillors are being asked to give permission for the sale of the property at 31 Palmeira Avenue on behalf of the Penny Gobby House charity.
The council is the sole trustee of the charity and the proposal is to be decided by the council’s Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Urgency Sub-Committee.
The sale is expected to bring in more money than required to buy the Annexe and any surplus would be ringfenced to support the charity’s aims to support young people with special educational needs.
The urgency sub-committee is likely to meet again to discuss the property deals and how to deal with any surplus.
A report to councillors said: “The council needs to establish a suitable process for dealing and managing the potential conflict of interest between the council in its capacity as trustee of the charity and its capacity as landowner.
“All decision-making processes need to be fully documented to show that the council acted in an appropriate and informed way to manage this conflict of interest.
“The urgency sub-committee will act on behalf of the council, in its capacity as sole trustee, and shall only have regard to the interest of the charity.
“Members of this urgency sub-committee will not be involved in the decision of the council as landowner to dispose of the Annexe. This avoids the same members making decisions on both sides of the proposed transaction.
“The legal work to be carried out in relation to the disposal of Penny Gobby House and the acquisition of the Annexe at Connaught Road by the charity will be dealt with by an external firm of solicitors on behalf of the charity.
“The council’s in-house legal team will only deal with disposal of the Annexe at Connaught Road on behalf of the council as landowner.”
The Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Urgency Sub-Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 11am on Monday 18 September. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
