Issue details

Decision made and reasons:
The Hemel Garden Communities Project is a proposed major urban extension of Hemel Hempstead, providing 11,000 new homes. This will be delivered in several phases.
The Council have been working with St Albans City and District Council, Hertfordshire County Council, Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and The Crown Estate to deliver the project.
Due to the complexities involved on this ambitious project the Council will appoint Birketts LLP to provide legal advice and support on the planning aspects of the project.
The Council’s costs will be fairly minimal however most of the legal costs will be connected to the S.106 planning agreement and will be payable directly by the developer Crown Estates.
The Council will be awarding the contract via the Crown Commercial Services Wider Public Sector Legal Services Panel Agreement RM3788 which has been awarded in compliance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015. The Council will award the contracts as a direct award under the following justification:
Due to the complex nature of the project the Council’s in-house legal team do not have the relevant expertise. This is a cross boundary project with complex infrastructure delivery which requires urgent legal advice to assist with developing the heads of terms and starting work on drafting the S.106
Birketts scored 100% for both price and quality on the CCS framework and have also come with a strong recommendation from another local authority.