Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

John Bridge, representing the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership, submitted his apologies for absence.  Mark Reeve, Chairman of the Enterprise Partnership, was in attendance as Mr Bridge’s substitute.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 1 October 2015 as a correct record.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 1 October 2015 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members of the Executive Board.

No declarations of interest were made.

To receive any questions from members of the public.  The standard protocol to be observed by public speakers is attached.

Questions asked or statements made, together with any responses from Members of the Executive Board or officers, were noted as follows:

Question by Lynn Heiatt

Lynn Heiatt presented the Executive Board with a petition, which had received 3,568 signatures to date, objecting to one of the City Deal proposals to build a two-way bus road across the Coton corridor and through the West Fields of Cambridge.  She said that this was being submitted as evidence of public opinion on option 1(c), now referred to as ‘option 1 South’, as part of the ‘Better Busways’ consultation process.

Mrs Heiatt pointed out that the petition demonstrated, despite early assumptions and public statements to the contrary, that the majority of petitioners did not live in one particular area of the City as responses had been received from all over the United Kingdom and from 33 countries abroad.  She referred to the Board’s ‘call for evidence’ and the sentiment that the public were being urged to come forward with their views.  She therefore asked whether this petition and the signatures and comments contained within it against Option 1 South would be counted in the consultation process.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman, thanked Mrs Heiatt for the petition and welcomed the fact that so many people had shared their views.  He gave an assurance that the petition and any comments included as part of it would be taken into full account as part of the consultation exercise. 

Councillor Herbert emphasised that the Board had not made any decisions on a scheme at this stage.  A report analysing the responses to this initial consultation process would be considered by the Board and he made the point that variations to the options published as part of the consultation documentation, or any other additional options, would be welcomed.  These would be subject to deliverability and assessment and would also be considered by the Executive Board Joint Assembly.

Question by Dr Gabriel Fox

Dr Gabriel Fox referred to the consultation document circulated for ‘Better Bus Journeys’ and claimed that it was materially inaccurate in four respects.  He believed that these inaccuracies would have such a significant impact on the response of consultees as to render the entire consultation exercise worthless.  These were noted as follows:

·         the potential impact on Coton was misrepresented;

·         journey times were inaccurate and misleading;

·         the potential for cycleway improvements had been mis-stated;

·         specific environmental impacts had been ignored.

Dr Fox believed that if consultees were properly informed on the above issues, they would form a different view on the relative strength of options and therefore felt that responses obtained from the current consultation would be unreliable and would not be able to be used to guide decision-making.  He asked whether the Board would agree to distribute additional material to consultees to correct these inaccuracies and allow additional time for responses to be submitted.  Dr Fox also asked if the Board would agree to be more collaborative with other stakeholders, such as Coton Parish Council, in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, will be in attendance to present the recommendations from the meeting of the Assembly held on 7 October 2015.  Councillor Bick’s report is attached.

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the City Deal Joint Assembly, presented his report on the key issues and recommendations following the meeting of the Joint Assembly held on 7 October 2015. 

He reported that the Assembly endorsed the proposal from the Executive Board to co-own the investigation or call for evidence in relation to leading models of traffic management to address congestion in the City of Cambridge, which the Assembly had resolved to conduct at its previous meeting.

It was agreed that Councillor Bick would introduce recommendations relating to items on the agenda for this meeting at the relevant part of the meeting.

The Executive Board NOTED the report.

To consider the attached report by Graham Hughes, Executive Director (Cambridgeshire County Council).

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the findings from the initial assessment and technical study.

(b)        APPROVED public consultation on the illustrative measures as set out in the report and as shown on the accompanying plans, and encourages other ideas and options suggested to be considered.

(c)        AGREED to receive a report on consultation in the Spring of 2016 on a preferred set of measures.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman of the Executive Board, agreed to facilitate the consideration of this item and the following item at minute number 7 in respect of Milton Road as one debate. 

Two reports were considered which set out a range of measures that had emerged from an initial technical study of Histon Road and Milton Road.  The reports explained the background to the development work in each case and sought approval to carry out a public consultation on these measures to inform the development of preferred proposals.

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, reported that the Assembly had considered both reports at its meeting on 7 October 2015 in relation to Histon Road and Milton Road and made the following points further to discussion by Assembly Members:

·         an amendment to recommendation (b) of both reports was agreed to capture the commitment that ideas other than those offered in the consultation would be properly considered.  This sought to add the words ‘and encourages all other ideas to be properly considered’ at the end of recommendation (b) in respect of both schemes;

·         in terms of the impact of anticipated loss of trees and vegetation, the Joint Assembly resolved to invite an expert or consultant on landscaping in urban transport infrastructure schemes to a future meeting in order to orientate and inform Members of what could be possible in situations such as the potential changes to Histon Road and Milton Road by way of greening;

·         officers had agreed that further clarity needed to be provided in the consultation documentation, including the meaning of dotted lines on maps relating to potential bus routes, definitions of ‘advisory’, ‘mandatory’ and ‘segregated’ cycleways, and that the focus of the projects was for cycling as well as bus use.

Councillor Bick confirmed that, subject to the above comments, the Joint Assembly had agreed that the options defined were appropriate to release for public consultation and supported the recommendations contained within both reports, taking into account the suggested amendment to recommendation (b) in both cases.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman of the Executive Board, supported the amendment to recommendation (b) and, as he had pointed out in answer to public questions earlier at this meeting, reiterated that alternatives to the options published as part of the consultation would be welcomed.  He therefore proposed adding the words ‘and encourages other ideas and options suggested to be considered’ to recommendation (b) on both reports, which was agreed by the Board.

Councillor Herbert also supported the proposal from the Joint Assembly to seek more information on landscaping in urban transport infrastructure schemes and agreed that further clarity should be added to the consultation around the points identified by the Assembly.

In discussing costings, it was noted that at this stage of project development it was difficult to give a precise idea of the cost of delivering each set of proposals.  Very high-level costings had occurred to date and at this stage there was no certainly over how much each  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider the attached report by Graham Hughes, Executive Director (Cambridgeshire County Council).

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the findings from the initial assessment and technical study.

(b)        APPROVED public consultation on the illustrative measures as set out in the report and as shown on the accompanying plans, including consideration of further walking and cycling improvements at Mitcham’s Corner, and encourages other ideas and options suggested to be considered.

(c)        SUPPORTED the consideration of changes to the Science Park-Cowley Road junction following the completion of a wider A10 corridor transport study.

(d)        AGREED to receive a report on consultation in mid-2016 on a preferred set of measures.

This item was considered and debated as part of the previous item at minute number 6.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the findings from the initial assessment and technical study.

(b)        APPROVED public consultation on the illustrative measures as set out in the report and as shown on the accompanying plans, including consideration of further walking and cycling improvements at Mitcham’s Corner, and encourages other ideas and options suggested to be considered.

(c)        SUPPORTED the consideration of changes to the Science Park-Cowley Road junction following the completion of a wider A10 corridor transport study.

(d)        AGREED to receive a report on consultation in mid-2016 on a preferred set of measures.

To consider the attached report by Graham Hughes, Executive Director (Cambridgeshire County Council).

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the progress of the Smarter Cambridgeshire workstream to date.

(b)        AGREED, in principle, to support the investment of up to £280,000 to implement a Smart Technology Platform subject to a more detailed investment proposal in early 2016.

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Executive Board with an update on the progress of the Smarter Cambridgeshire workstream and outlined a proposal for the implementation of a ‘smart’ technology platform to facilitate the Smart Cities approach within the City Deal programme.

Noelle Godfrey, Connecting Cambridgeshire Programme Director, presented the report and highlighted the following updates from the workstream:

·         the Smarter Cambridgeshire Project Board, comprising officers representing the five participating organisations, had been established and was now overseeing the multiple strands of the Smarter Cambridgeshire work stream;

·         the wider Smarter Cambridgeshire Advisory Group, with representation from both Universities and local technology companies, had met and further workshops were planned;

·         a successful ‘hack’ event, to encourage wider community engagement in the Smart Cities agenda, was held over the weekend of 31 October and 1 November.  The event included talks and demonstrations as well as teams coming together to work on solutions to City challenges using digital technology.  There were more than 50 participants overall, with 8 potential solutions pitched to judges at the end of the event;

·         work was progressing in support of a number of demonstrator test bed work packages, including:

-       a planning workshop for identifying the key components for a ‘Smart A14’;

-       outline agreement for station gateway way finding improvements;

-       enabling work packages to support the development of a dynamic journey planner;

·         a collaborative joint bid had been submitted for the ‘Innovate UK Internet of Things’ competition, which involved joint working with Milton Keynes and Leeds City Councils with support BT and the involvement of several other commercial organisations, and had reached the second round in the process.

In terms of the Smart City technology platform, it was reported that an outline proposal had now been developed for the implementation of a platform to support the delivery of the Smarter Cambridgeshire workstream within the City Deal programme.  This comprised a city management network, a data hub and sensor deployment plan and was the result of work undertaken to create a smart architecture blueprint.  Further details relating to the platform were set out in the report.  The £280,000 of further investment being sought was to set up the foundations in order to allow the platform and related aspects of the workstream to develop further. 

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, provided the Board with an update following consideration of this report by the Assembly on 7 October 2015.  The Assembly had welcomed the report but Members requested that future reports specified what the requested funding would actually be spent on, noting that in this case it was for the procurement of necessary hardware and software.

Noelle Godfrey acknowledged the comments and reported that a detailed proposal would be submitted to the Joint Assembly and Executive Board for consideration in February and March 2016, respectively. 

Councillor Herbert thanked Noelle Godfrey and her team for the work that had gone into preparing the joint bid, which had now reached the last six submissions,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To consider the attached report by Chris Malyon, Chief Finance Officer (Cambridgeshire County Council).

The Executive Board NOTED the financial position, as at 30 September 2015.

A report was considered which set out the City Deal’s financial monitoring position for the period ending 30 September 2015.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman of the Executive Board, reminded Board Members that a comprehensive budget report for 2016/17 would be submitted for consideration in the New Year.

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, provided the Board with an update following consideration of this report by the Assembly on 7 October 2015.  The Assembly had requested that future reports included the additional locally-sourced capital funding, such as developer contributions, that had been committed in principle to supplement the Government’s City Deal grant.  A commitment had been made by officers to include this information in the 2016/17 budget report.

The Executive Board NOTED the financial position, as at 30 September 2015.

To consider the attached report by Alan Carter, Head of Strategic Housing (Cambridge City Council).

The Executive Board NOTED the report.

The Executive Board considered a report which provided an update on progress with the Housing workstream. 

Alan Carter, Head of Strategic Housing at Cambridge City Council, presented the report which outlined governance around the Housing Development Agency that had been established, together with information on schemes and anticipated numbers of new housing.  A supplementary report was also considered, setting out the latest developments with regard to affordable housing in light of radically changing national housing, planning and welfare policy. 

It was reported that the requirement for registered providers and stock retaining local authorities to reduce rents by 1% per annum each year for four years was in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill going through Parliament, with a view for the rent reductions to be implemented from April 2016.  Other government proposals, such as the extension of the Right to Buy to tenants of housing associations funded by the sale of high value Council housing, would either be introduced by Regulation or in a Housing Bill scheduled to be published in October 2015.  Mr Carter explained that the consequence for Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council was dramatic, with significant projected losses for both authorities from their long-term housing business plans. 

It was noted that the Shadow Officer Board for the Housing Development Agency had recently met for the first time.  It had concluded that a ‘soft’ approach to the establishment of the Housing Development Agency as a shared service would be favourable at this stage.  This would entail current employees remaining with their respective employers with a view to moving direct to a company model by the end of 2016.  The Officer Board had welcomed the establishment of a Member Reference Group to oversee development of the Housing Development Agency.

Discussing the target of delivering 1,000 additional affordable homes as part of the City Deal programme, Mr Carter said that officers were already confident of securing immediate schemes and pipeline schemes that would contribute to achieving this objective.  He reminded Members that Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council had their respective housing programmes in place, the County Council had its aspirations and land assets with regard to housing development, on top of the establishment of the Housing Development Agency. 

Councillor Tim Bick, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, provided the Board with an update following consideration of this report by the Assembly on 7 October 2015.  He reported that the Assembly had noted the changed environment for local authority social housing provision, together with the revised and more cautious approach to the establishment of the Housing Development Agency.  It had also requested more information in future reports, which had been agreed by officers.

Discussing the short-term risks set out in the report under paragraph 15, Members felt that the risk should be highlighted as significant in view of the consequences of the Government’s latest announcements regarding welfare reform and housing.  Mr Carter accepted these sentiments but said that the current environment was testing and stretching  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To consider the City Deal Executive Board’s Forward Plan, as attached.

Future meetings of the Board are scheduled to be held as follows:

3 December 2015 – 2pm

15 January 2016 – 2pm

3 March 2016 – 2pm

8 April 2016 – 2pm

16 June 2016 – 2pm

22 July 2016 – 2pm

8 September 2016 – 2pm

13 October 2016 – 2pm

17 November 2016 – 2pm

15 December 2016 – 2pm

The Executive Board NOTED the Greater Cambridge City Deal Forward Plan.

The Executive Board considered and NOTED the Greater Cambridge City Deal Forward Plan.