Issue - meetings

The City Deal Executive Board:

a)    AGREED to allocate additional or new resource to:

(i)            Developing up to 12 cycling ‘greenways’ in Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire (£480K for development work over 2 years (2017 – 2019)).

(ii)           City Access project – invest £5.045m to accelerate the delivery of the eight point plan. The need for significant resources was detailed in paragraph 13 of the January 2017 Board report. It enables the parallel and balanced progression of the eight delivery plans, including prioritisation of a parking strategy (£250K) and required staffing resources (£702K).

(iii)          Co-investment in electric vehicle charging points across Cambridge (£100K  one off cost in 17/18)

(iv)         Travel audit to support case for Cambridge South Station and future transport requirements for the Biomedical Campus (£150K one off cost in 17/18).

(v)          Initial feasibility work on South Cambridgeshire Travel Hubs, including on key routes (£100k one off cost in 17/18)

(vi)         Strengthening programme management, governance, strategy and coordination capacity and funding finance and Democratic Services support (£339K over 3 years, mostly up front investment).

(vii)        Strengthening public engagement and communications by investing in better systems, capacity and expertise (£338K over 3 years).

(viii)       One year funding to Cambridge Promotions Agency to transition to fully-funded model (£40K).

(ix)         Greater Cambridge strategic planning and transport framework – towards 2050 (£230K one off cost in 17/18).

(x)          City Centre spaces and movement framework (£150K one off cost in 17/18).

(xi)         Scaling up the Smart Cambridge programme and attracting further investment in data and technologies (£1.640m over 3 years). It will focus on three aspects:(a) Better quantity, quality and use of data to improve information available to citizens, (b) Embedding digital solutions and emerging technology in City Deal work streams to ensure long term sustainable success, and (c) A collaborative approach that uses the power of digital technologies to galvanise  the business, community and academic sectors to work  together  and use their combined strengths to produce better outcomes for Greater Cambridge.

(xii)        Implementation of residents’ parking schemes within Cambridge City (indicative maximum of £1.0m over 3 years).

b)    AGREED to consider later in the year the following indicative request and to develop a detailed business case to enable Board decisions:

(i)    Scaling up original pilot skills work on stimulating business demand for apprenticeships and improving careers advice in schools into second phase of activity and investing in a wider reach (indicative maximum of £2.1m over 3 years).

c)    NOTED:

·         The financial position, including that all partner authorities have agreed to contribute 40% of their respective New Homes Bonus (NHB) allocation from 2017/18 to 2019/20.

·         That if the proposed allocations are approved, this would mean an over-allocation of existing available resources of £4.8m, which would have to be treated as a managed  risk to be offset with either new Tranche 2 funding, other funding, or reductions in agreed schemes in future years. Given over half the Infrastructure Programme budget is forecast to be spent beyond 2020 this is considered an appropriate strategy  ...  view the full decision text for item 7

Tanya Sheridan, City Deal Programme Director presented the report which sought the Board’s agreement to an allocation of resources for 2017/18 and for future years to support the City Deal’s objectives.

Councillor Roger Hickford updated the Board on the discussions which had taken place at the Joint Assembly meeting regarding this item. He informed the Board that the Assembly had raised particular concern regarding:

·         Electric vehicle charging points: The Joint Assembly asked for a further paper to be presented at its meeting in June 2017. Concerns related to value for money and that the charging points would be for taxi use only.

·         South Cambridgeshire travel hubs: It was felt that there was not enough detail regarding where these would be and what these would look like.

·         Strategic planning and transport framework: It was felt that not enough detail had been provided for such a large one-off spend.

·         Scaling up of the Smart Cambridge programme.

The Executive Board discussed the recommendations as set out in the report:

Regarding the cycling greenways project, the Vice Chairman praised the County Council’s cycling team. He informed the Executive Board that each greenway would be 5 to 6 miles long radiating out of the city to the surrounding villages, creating a network of cycling routes. Haslingfield Parish Council had expressed concern that the greenways may look unattractive. It was hoped that extra funding would be leveraged from government grants and other sources. The Board was informed that £480,000 funding would go towards the recruitment of more officers into the County Council’s cycling team to work on projects. This would lead to projects being shovel ready when big investments came forward. It was envisaged that 12 projects would be undertaken in total, with six in the first phase and a further six in the second phase. Deciding upon the location of the greenways would involve much work with parish councils, local communities and potential landowners. The wider benefit of the project would be linking communities and linking homes and places of work.

Regarding the City Access project, it was clarified that this was a commitment of New Homes Bonus funding. Hilary Holden provided a brief overview of the range of projects that this would fund. Funding would also go towards funding 7.4 full time equivalent staff who would be allocated amongst the eight delivery plans that were discussed by the Executive Board at its meeting in January 2017. The Board was informed that the 7.4 full time equivalent staff would be permanent resource within the City Deal team, sitting within partner organisations, but dedicated to the City Deal work. Consultancy resource would cover secondments and support for particular pieces of work, design and implementation.

Councillor Bates expressed support for the City Access project and noting the dramatic fall in traffic during school holiday periods, advised that a starting point be to look at initiatives with schools, such as car sharing around park and ride sites.

Electric vehicle charging points were discussed:

The Head of Environmental Health  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7

The Joint Assembly RECOMMENDED that:

1.    The Executive Board agrees to allocate additional or new resource to:

(i)    Developing up to 12 cycling ‘greenways’ in South Cambridgeshire (£480K for development work over 2 years (2017 – 2019)).

(ii)   City Access project – invest £5.045m to accelerate the delivery of the eight point plan. The need for significant resources was detailed in paragraph 13 of the January 2017 Board report. It enables the parallel and balanced progression of the eight delivery plans, including prioritisation of a parking strategy (£250K) and required staffing resources (£702K).

(iii)  Co-investment in electric vehicle charging points across Cambridge (£100K  one off cost in 17/18).

(iv) Travel audit to support case for Cambridge South Station and future transport requirements for the Biomedical Campus (£150K one off cost in 17/18).

(v)  Initial feasibility work on South Cambridgeshire Travel Hubs, including on key routes (£100k one off cost in 17/18).

(vi) Strengthening programme management, governance, strategy and coordination capacity and funding finance and Democratic Services support (£339K over 3 years, mostly up front investment).

(vii)Strengthening public engagement and communications by investing in better systems, capacity and expertise (£338K over 3 years).

(viii)               One year funding to Cambridge Promotions Agency to transition to fully-funded model (£40K).

(ix) Greater Cambridge strategic planning and transport framework – towards 2050 (£230K one off cost in 17/18).

(x)  City Centre spaces and movement framework (£150K one off cost in 17/18).

(xi)Scaling up the Smart Cambridge programme and attracting further investment in data and technologies (£1.640m over 3 years). It will focus on three aspects:(a) Better quantity, quality and use of data to improve information available to citizens, (b) Embedding digital solutions and emerging technology in City Deal work streams to ensure long term sustainable success, and (c) A collaborative approach that uses the power of digital technologies to galvanise  the business, community and academic sectors to work  together  and use their combined strengths to produce better outcomes for Greater Cambridge.

2.            That the Executive Board considers later in the year the following two indicative requests and to develop detailed business cases to enable Board decisions:

(i)    Implementation of Residents’ Parking Schemes within Cambridge City (indicative maximum of £1.0 m over 3 years).

(ii)   Scaling up original pilot skills work on stimulating business demand for apprenticeships and improving careers advice in schools into second phase of activity and investing in a wider reach (indicative maximum of £2.1m over 3 years).

3.    That the Executive Board notes:

·           The financial position, including that all partner authorities have agreed to contribute 40% of their respective New Homes Bonus (NHB) allocation from 2017/18 to 2019/20.

·           That if the proposed allocations are approved, this would mean an over-allocation of existing available resources of £4.8m, which would have to be treated as a managed  risk to be offset with either new Tranche 2 funding, other funding, or reductions in agreed schemes in future years. Given over half the Infrastructure Programme budget is forecast to be spent beyond 2020 this  ...  view the full decision text for item 7

The City Deal Programme Director presented the Budget Setting 2017/18 report which Joint Assembly members discussed.

Councillor Cuffley commented that investment in the Smart Cambridge programme seemed low and asked if the budget could be reviewed. The City Deal Programme Director advised that the investment would do much to support the smarter aspects of the transport strategy and that for the time being, this was the investment that was needed. The Joint Assembly was informed that the £1.6 million investment had the potential to leverage further funding, including EU funding, and that further proposals coming forward would not be ruled out.

In response to a question from Councillor Smith, the Joint Assembly was informed that:

·         The revenue to fund the strengthening of City Deal programme management, governance, strategy and coordination capacity and funding finance and democratic services support, would come from the new homes bonus.

·         The operations and infrastructure budgets were kept separate.

·         The Gateway Review referred to in the report would be an economic assessment by the Government on City Deal and development schemes.

·         It was agreed in November 2016 that there should be allocations for finance and democratic services support for the City Deal.

·         Officers clarified that some schemes could go into either the operations or infrastructure budgets.

In response to concern raised by Councillor Smith regarding the short term nature of interim support to the City Deal, the City Deal’s Interim Chief Executive informed members that part of her remit was to look at the long term fit for purpose structure, and to plan for the future.

Councillor Smith requested an up to date list of all City Deal officers and their contact details be provided to Joint Assembly members.

Chris Tunstall was introduced to the Joint Assembly as the City Deal’s Interim Transport Director.

Councillor Smith pointed out that the risk of achievability of S106 receipts was only marked as amber on the risk register.

In response to Councillor Bick’s question regarding government triggers, the Joint Assembly was informed that the triggers were:

1.    Whether the City Deal was on track and on budget according to final business cases.

2.    If anything had already been delivered, whether it had delivered the benefits that were outlined in the project’s final business case.

3.    Whether investment and infrastructure delivered had delivered economic growth. The Government acknowledged that this was hard to measure.

In response to a question from Councillor Kavanagh, the Joint Assembly was informed that the £100,000 investment would deliver four electric vehicle charging points and that the City Council had put in place a strategy for affordable and convenient electric vehicle charging points strategy. Joint Assembly members expressed surprise and concern at the cost of the four charging points, which would only be for use by taxis. In response to this concern members were informed that the initial £100,000 investment would trigger further funding, which would result in 19 fast and 21 rapid charging points. Members were informed that the City Deal and City Council would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7