Agenda item

For Discussion.

The Chairman advised Members that the Provost had identified a particular academic to write the biography of Thomas Gresham, and the estimated cost had increased from £150,000 to £200,000. The Deputy Chairman highlighted that the positive budget variance reported earlier in the meeting could be used for this project, but proposed that the City support up to £75,000 with a similar figure from the Mercers. Any additional funding would be met by the College itself.

The Chamberlain advised that Finance Committee and Policy and Resources Committee would query value for money and whether there were alternate sources of funding, but Members agreed that this was a worthy and important project and should be of special consideration and take account of the uniqueness of the project. The matter would be discussed further between the City Side and the Mercers at the Joint Grand Gresham Committee that same day.