RECORD OF DECISION TAKEN UNDER CABINET MEMBER DELEGATED
POWERS AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON 4 JUNE 2018
THE CALL IN PERIOD FOR THIS DECISION EXPIRES AT 5.00PM ON 13 JUNE
2018. THE DECISION CANNOT BE IMPLEMENTED UNTIL AFTER THAT DATE.
Present:

Councillor Stuart Hutchinson, Cabinet Member for Resources and
Councillor John Hobart, Cabinet Member for Environment and Heritage
Jennifer Beresford – Lead Democratic Services Officer

Item

Dinosaur Isle – Procurement Of An Investment Partner

Decision reference

06/18

Notice of Decision
Published

Friday, 18 May 2018

Decision taken

THAT with regard to the requirement of maintaining museum
accreditation that the council progress with a procurement under the
Light Touch Regime for Dinosaur Isle as set out in Appendix 1 with a
final document summarising the outcome and any resulting agreement
with a partner(s) to be agreed by the Director of Regeneration and
section 151 officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member for
Resources and the Cabinet Member for Environment and Heritage.

Reason for
decision

Additional reasons

•

Dinosaur Isle is an important facility both in terms of its place at the
centre of the Island as an international centre of palaeontology and
also as part of the wider regeneration of the Bay. It also has a
range of stakeholders keen to see its long term future secured as an
accredited museum.

•

As such it is critical that future of the facility is secured and given the
financial challenges of the council that third party investment is
sought. The soft market testing and stakeholder engagement
meetings have indicated that there are investors and investment
models that need to be explored and to achieve this, a procurement
under the Light Touch Regime provides the best and most flexible
approach to take this forward. This process will also allow the
council to continue to engage with both potential investors and local
stakeholders to enable the best possible outcome.

The process provides the most transparent and equitable basis to
ensure that all relevant matters are taken into account and is
considered the best route to achieving the long term sustainability of
the Dinosaur Isle

 Options
considered and
rejected

1.

Maintain the museum as an in house facility (no change).

2. Dispose of the site to an operator and control activity through the
land transaction.
3. Close the building and dispose of the site on the open market.
4.

Consider the proposal from the Friends of Dinosaur Isle group to
establish a trust and “not for profit” company to seek public funds
and partnership investment.

Representations
Received

None received

Declarations of
interest

None declared

Additional advice
received

None received