Council's commercial project is now non-commercial

EXCLUSIVE by EWAN LAMB

A design statement produced by Scottish Borders Council for the authority's flagship Inspire Academy project was factually inaccurate and has had to be withdrawn, meaning the 'private commercial enterprise' has become a 'non-commercial education programme' within the space of two weeks.

As we reported only last week, the council has lodged a planning application with its own planning department seeking a change of use for part of the ground floor of a new office building at Tweedbank, near Galashiels. The rest of the block is due to be occupied by CGI, the local authority's IT providers.

When the application was lodged on February 11th, the supporting design statement left readers in no doubt the establishment of the Inspire Academy would be a profit making concern.

The document stated: "The proposal is to occupy one area of the ground floor with a private commercial enterprise.

"The business is an LLP [Limited Liability Partnership] and is a partnering project between Scottish Borders Council and Inspire. The purpose of the business is to equip their clients with digital skills to enable them to fortify their digital business abilities, personal software skills and teach others how to use this technology. Their demographic includes: local businesses, teachers and people who wish to expand on their personal abilities to use digital solutions for everyday activities.

"It is proposed that clients may access the space with pre-agreed booking. The business will be set up to enable research by the clients into new products and provide them with instruction in a workshop type environment. The proposed layout of the space will include a workshop area, a meeting room, focus area and exhibition space."

In fact the LLP, named SB Inspires was set up by the council itself last November. But a number of councillors have told Not Just Sheep & Rugby they had not been provided with full details and proposed function of the new business.

But it has now transpired that a completely different version of the design statement has been drawn up to replace the original report. The replacement statement was lodged with the planners on February 24th.

It states: "The Proposal for this building is to occupy one area of the ground floor as a base for the award-winning Inspire Learning Programme. The pioneering programme seeks to transform learning in Scottish Borders and the building will provide a physical base for the Inspire Learning team to allow the programme to grow and expand its horizon. 

"The vacant space in the new office building provides an exciting opportunity for this. The purpose of the space is to is to provide a hub for developing digital skills, enabling users to learn how to effectively use technology in learning. Potential users of the space include: SBC teaching staff, young people, families and local businesses. It is proposed that the space could be booked for education events and courses and accessed via pre-agreed booking. 

"The space will enable Inspire Learning, and SBC, to keep it’s place at the forefront of education. transformation at a time where it forms an important part of the national conversation around education. It will also provide the potential for developing relations with other local authorities and education projects The proposed layout of the space will include a workshop area, a meeting room, focus area and exhibition space. 

"The Business Inspire Learning is an SBC Education programme and, as such is non-commercial. The variety of spaces within the building will facilitate workshops and digital skills development courses, co-working spaces for developing content, and the ability to host education events, both virtually and in person. In future the building could also host activities which are of a commercial nature, and could potentially be profit making. It is anticipated the maximum number of occupants within the area will not exceed 80 and would typically be around 45 (including 15 staff members)."

We asked the council to explain why there had been a complete U-turn from 'commercial' to 'non-commercial' in less than a fortnight. And we also asked: "It is now apparent that SBC will be funding the venture. We did ask previously for costs associated with the project, but none were provided. So can we again request details of the cost of the project and how it will be paid for?"

There was still no detail concerning the level of expenditure required to set up the academy. But according to a spokesperson at SBC: “The initial design statement was submitted in error and was removed due to its factual inaccuracy. This has now been replaced with an updated brief which more accurately reflects the nature of the proposal.

“Funding for the project will be sourced from the Council’s Capital education budget.”

The council's Capital Investment plan for 2022/23 includes a figure of £453,000 under the heading Inspire Academy although there is no confirmation that this will be the amount needed for the project.

One elected member told us: "Councillors have yet to receive a Business Plan for this project and they have no idea of the total cost. There has been no approval given".

That view was echoed by a second councillor who contacted us. The member remarked: "We have not seen any of this information: it’s clearly being kept amongst a few. The council did agree to ‘commercialise’ opportunities presented from the Inspire Learning programme but there was little or no detail."