Time ran out on university deal for health college

A deal on running a health training centre in Dudley collapsed after university chiefs failed to agree legal terms in time it has been claimed.

The University of Worcester dropped out of a three-way arrangement with Dudley College and Dudley Council to run Health Innovation Dudley (HID) which was due to open in the autumn.

The council’s leader told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the university was unable to find answers to aspects of the plan it did not agree with by the time a deadline arrived to finalise the deal. 

Dudley Council leader, Cllr Patrick Harley, said: “The University of Worcester was selected by Dudley College as a partner to the HID project and were due to sub-let the building from the college who in turn were to lease it from the council. 

“Despite regular meetings at a senior level to finalise the terms of the respective legal agreements, which moved from monthly to weekly the closer we got to building completion, the university found themselves unable to agree to the documents or find suitable solutions/compromises to the matters they disagreed with.

“Consequently, a deadline attached to completion and fit out of the building was put in place to get the agreements over the line, and if that was not possible the council would need to explore other options.  Regrettably, the university wasn’t able to conclude and agree on the documents by the deadline.”

The sticking points revolved around how the three partners would take responsibility for reporting on outputs of the project to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) which provided £26m in funding to build the Castle Hill centre on the site of the former Hippodrome theatre.

The search for a new partner to replace Worcester university began and Dudley Council’s cabinet will debate a possible new partner to take on the purpose-built facility at its meeting tonight (October 8).

Cllr Harley added: “Dudley College has been a supportive and engaged partner throughout and, following a short period of strategic review and decision making, has agreed to take on the building with a view to teaching some of their own student cohorts from there this autumn.

“Positively, in parallel with continued discussions with the college, the opportunity was promoted through a network relevant to the use of the building and a potential long-term occupier has come forward. 

“This is currently subject to commercially confidential negotiation but is viewed positively in relation to what the partnership working could offer Dudley learners, residents, and employers.”