Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

No apologies for absence had been received.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 9 June 2016 as a correct record.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 9 June 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record, subject to the inclusion of reference to a question submitted by John Latham in relation to Milton Road under item 11.

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

No declarations of interest were received.

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

Questions by members of the public were asked and answered as follows:

Question by Antony Carpen

Antony Carpen asked what plans the City Deal authorities had in place for organising events specifically targeted at young people, such as children at schools and colleges, and how they planned on improving the coordination of consultations with other important consultations going out at the same time, such as the consultation on devolution in Cambridgeshire and site specific works like the Chisholm Trail.

In addition, he asked whether Councils would be receptive to community groups and individuals that wanted to host consultation events in Council owned buildings and waive booking fees for such public meetings.

Tanya Sheridan, City Deal Programme Director, reported that the City Deal Partnership was using parent mail in respect of young people at schools to ensure that children and parents were aware of the City Deal’s key messages and updates.  Social media was also being used more widely to ensure that a broader audience could be reached.  She agreed that this group of people was a very important audience and said that the Partnership aspired to increase engagement in this respect. 

In terms of consultations, Tanya Sheridan reported that the three partner Councils did liaise with one another in respect of the publication and launch of consultations to ensure that, where possible, they did not clash and that they were coordinated.  She added her support, in principle, to community events but highlighted that there would be costs that needed covering in terms of facilities, especially after working hours.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman of the Executive Board, agreed that there needed to be wider engagement with young people and said that he would be willing to meet with Mr Carpen to discuss putting together an event focussed on young people and how this issue could be taken forward.  Professor Nigel Slater added that the University would support such an event if it took place.

Question by Wendy Blythe

Wendy Blythe referred to the meeting of the Joint Assembly held on 7 July 2016 in respect of the Smart Cambridge project where Dr Ian Lewis of the University of Cambridge was quoted as saying “we will know whether building a bus lane down Milton Road actually improves the journeys of the bus on the road or not”. 

Additionally, Wendy Blythe made reference to a recent public meeting where over 200 people from Cambridge and local villages voted overwhelmingly to support the following motion:

“We have no confidence in the City Deal’s bus lane proposals, and consider the consultations and decision making processes to be flawed and lacking in transparency and the decision making processes to be non-evidential.

We call upon the City Deal to consider instead better, smarter ideas, such as those already suggested by experts and residents.”

Wendy Blythe said that other ideas could include investment in rail, regional travel hubs, smart traffic signals and greater investment in South Cambridge projects to collect high quality data and provide personalised travel information.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To consider any petitions received since the previous meeting of the Executive Board.

No petitions had been received since the previous meeting.

To formally co-opt Mark Robertson, Interim Principal of Cambridge Regional College, onto the City Deal Joint Assembly in place of Anne Constantine as a nominee of the University of Cambridge.

The Executive Board AGREED to the co-option of Mark Robertson, Interim Principal of Cambridge Regional College, onto the Greater Cambridge City Deal Joint Assembly in place of Anne Constantine as a nominee of the University of Cambridge.

The Executive Board APPOINTED Dr Jason Matthews, Director of the Estate Strategy at the University of Cambridge, as the University’s substitute/alternate Member on the Board, in place of Roger Taylor. 

The Executive Board AGREED to the co-option of Mark Robertson, Interim Principal of Cambridge Regional College, onto the Greater Cambridge City Deal Joint Assembly in place of Anne Constantine as a nominee of the University of Cambridge.

The Executive Board APPOINTED Dr Jason Matthews, Director of the Estate Strategy at the University of Cambridge, as the University’s substitute/alternate Member on the Board, in place of Roger Taylor. 

To receive a report on the recommendations of the Joint Assembly following its meeting on 7 July 2016. 

Councillor Roger Hickford, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, confirmed that he would provide a report on the Assembly’s recommendations further to its meeting on 7 July 2016 at the relevant item on the agenda for this meeting.

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the progress to date.

(b)        NOTED the forward plan for the delivery of the first phase. 

(c)        AGREED that Councillor Francis Burkitt and Professor Nigel Slater would lead on this project on behalf of the Executive Board.

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Executive Board with a progress update on the Smart City Management Platform, which formed part of the Smart Cambridge project.

Noelle Godfrey, Programme Director of Connecting Cambridgeshire, presented the report and reminded Members of the Board that the aim of the Smart City Platform was to collect, process and make available data to help improve transport and reduce congestion in Greater Cambridge.  It was emphasised that this project involved use of leading edge technology and as a result the very nature of its work was experimental.  She acknowledged that a vast amount of data already existed which could be collected, with the main problem being that it was neither joined up nor readily available for the public or professionals to use.  The Smart City Platform would therefore seek to resolve this problem by:

·         collecting transport and transport-related data from many existing and new sources;

·         combining and processing this data;

·         making this data readily available to the public, planners and other IT developers.

It was reported that work to date had proceeded well and that the first project stream was already underway and would be complete by April 2017, with a second commencing in January 2017 and scheduled for completion in April 2018.  A project plan and outline timescales were appended to the report. 

Noelle Godfrey referred to a presentation provided by Dr Ian Lewis, Director of Infrastructure and Investment at the University of Cambridge, which he gave to the Joint Assembly meeting on 7 July 2016.  A copy was appended to the report which provided an overview of the development of the Smart Cambridge Platform and the architecture associated with it.  The following approach to achieve the project’s objectives was noted:

·         informing travellers about their travel choices.  A portfolio of ‘apps’ for use by the public would emerge and be provided by the Smart Cambridge Platform itself through collaborative contributors in the region including the University of Cambridge and commercial partners;

·         supporting intelligent planning of the transport infrastructure.  The Smart Cambridge Platform was already collecting the data necessary for a detailed practical analysis of the impact of transport schemes and the richness of information would grow with time.  The University of Cambridge would also exploit this data for research analysis, which could benefit the region;

·         providing the framework within which the digitally connected city would evolve.  There was ongoing discussion regarding other sensor data that would inevitably become available in the region, from air pollution data to cycling and footfall sensors and other traffic data.  The platform was designed from the outset to accommodate additional sources as they became available.

Councillor Roger Hickford reported that the Joint Assembly had considered this report at its meeting on 7 July 2016 and that the officer recommendations had been overwhelmingly supported.  Members of the Assembly had questioned whether data could be sold the interested third parties and also questioned whether the relatively small amount of funding in the context of the City Deal programme  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board:

(a)        APPROVED the following three work packages:

(i)            Researching and data-gathering about why people make specific transport choices in the Greater Cambridge area.

(ii)           Investigating the current legislative, commercial and other barriers and opportunities with regards to integrated ticketing and on-line ticket purchase in Greater Cambridge.

(iii)          Conducting an initial feasibility study on the potential of running autonomous vehicle trials, using the unique aspects of the guided busway.

(b)        NOTED that in early 2017 the Board will be recommended to approve a fourth work-package, to support better digital way-finding in the City and to improve the experience of the travelling public for leisure, business and tourism purposes.

Consideration was given to a report which sought approval to pursue three research and investigative work packages at a cost of £90,000 to inform future thinking and highlighted a fourth work package for which a separate proposal would follow in early 2017.

Noelle Godfrey, Programme Director at Connecting Cambridgeshire, presented the report and highlighted that intelligent mobility had been defined as ‘the convergence of digital industries, transport infrastructure, vehicles and users to provide innovative services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management’ and that this work was separate to but complemented the Smart City programme.

It was proposed that the following three work packages were undertaken in the first instance, which spanned the key aspects of intelligent mobility noted as being access, automation, demand and supply and integration:

·         researching and data-gathering about why people made specific transport choices in the Greater Cambridge area;

·         investigating the current legislative, commercial and other barriers and opportunities with regards to integrated ticketing and online ticket purchase in Greater Cambridge;

·         conducting an initial feasibility study on the potential of running autonomous vehicle trials, using the unique aspects of the guided busway.

Councillor Roger Hickford, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, reported that the Joint Assembly had considered this report at its meeting on 7 July 2016 where it received overwhelming support. 

The Executive Board:

(a)        APPROVED the following three work packages:

(i)            Researching and data-gathering about why people make specific transport choices in the Greater Cambridge area.

(ii)           Investigating the current legislative, commercial and other barriers and opportunities with regards to integrated ticketing and on-line ticket purchase in Greater Cambridge.

(iii)          Conducting an initial feasibility study on the potential of running autonomous vehicle trials, using the unique aspects of the guided busway.

(b)        NOTED that in early 2017 the Board will be recommended to approve a fourth work-package, to support better digital way-finding in the City and to improve the experience of the travelling public for leisure, business and tourism purposes.

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED that the November six monthly report will share the findings from the interim evaluation and ask the Board to consider the future funding position for the service.

(b)        NOTED the significant changes that are due from April 2017 with respect to the transformation of apprenticeships (the shift from apprenticeship frameworks to employer led apprenticeship standards) and the introduction of the employer apprenticeship levy.

The Executive Board considered a report which set out progress of the City Deal Skills Service to date and its achievement against key performance indicators.

Neil Darwin, Chief Executive of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership, presented the report and highlighted that the aim of the Skills Service was to help to achieve the City Deal objectives of promoting an additional 420 apprenticeships over the first five years of the Deal in areas aligned with the City Deal’s growth sectors and generally support the employability of young people.  Mr Darwin highlighted that significant changes, introduced by the Government, would shortly be made to apprenticeships and would essentially see apprenticeship schemes become employer led rather than led by the provider community.  The devolution proposal for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough also had the potential to introduce further changes, together with an Area Review that had recently been undertaken involving further education and how colleges worked.  These factors therefore had fundamental impacts on how providers would work and operate in the future in respect of delivering and supporting apprenticeships in the Greater Cambridge area.  

Mr Darwin emphasised that more engagement would be required with businesses in order to promote the benefits of apprenticeships and help employers better understand where apprenticeships could fit into and benefit their businesses.  He envisaged working with the Joint Assembly’s Skills Working Group to consider how the City Deal could influence employers in this way.

It was noted that the Skills Service contract commenced on 1 September 2015 and was approaching the end of the first year of delivery, which focussed on the following areas:

·         delivering events and activities that provided young people with information on the local economy and expectations of employers;

·         delivering apprenticeships events and providing information relating to apprenticeships to employers, young people, parents and staff in school;

·         engaging employers and connecting them to schools and apprenticeship providers;

·         supporting the development of strategic relationships between schools and employers.

Mr Darwin reported that Form the Future was reporting good progress against the key performance indicators in the contract for the Skills Service, meeting all targets and in some cases meeting them comfortably.  The report included a table for frameworks or sector subjects included in the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 academic years, with the 2013/2014 data being used as a baseline on the basis of this reflecting a full academic year prior to the establishment of the City Deal Partnership. 

Councillor Roger Hickford, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, reported that the Joint Assembly had considered this report at its meeting on 7 July 2016. He reported that the recommendations contained within the report received unanimous support, but that the Assembly saw the target of 420 apprenticeships as a minimum and expected many more to be achieved.  A concern was raised at the meeting in respect of dropout rates and it was noted that there was currently a 71% completion rate of apprenticeship schemes in the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough area.  It was noted that Members of the Assembly also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board:

(a)        RESTATED its support to seek achievement of 1,000 additional affordable homes and asked officers to bring forward a report on this issue at its next meeting.

(b)        AGREED to consider the introduction of a stretch target after the Local Plans had been adopted.

(c)        NOTED progress towards delivery.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman of the Executive Board, invited Councillor Bridget Smith to put forward a statement on this item. 

Councillor Smith referred to a number of historical supporting documents and press releases relating to the City Deal commitment to provide 1,000 additional homes and noted that key words in each of the publications were ‘commit’, ‘affordable’ and ‘for local people’.  She felt that when local Members were asked to sell the City Deal to their residents, the big headline for those in South Cambridgeshire was that the Deal itself would deliver 1,000 additional, affordable homes on rural exception sites for local people.  She was therefore disappointed that the report was seeking the Board to renege on that deal so that the 1,000 additional homes were not delivered by the City Deal and that they would not be affordable, exclusively on rural exception sites or for local people. 

Councillor Smith was of the opinion that the report manipulated the figures and the long accepted definition of rural exception sites, which she assumed was in order to tick off a target.  She did not believe that the recommendations in the report, or the alternative suggestion put forward at the meeting of the Joint Assembly on 7 July 2016, would stand up to legal challenge, believing that this would cause irreparable damage to the reputation of the City Deal.  Councillor Smith therefore called for the Executive Board to stick firmly to the vision and principles of the City Deal which were originally signed up to.

Councillor Herbert in response to the question said that this issue would be debated by Members of the Board as part of considering the item.

The Executive Board considered a report which set out how a commitment in the City Deal to provide 1,000 additional dwellings on rural exception sites by 2031, in addition to the accelerated delivery of 33,480 homes, was progressing and the way it would be monitored. 

Stephen Kelly, Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development at Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council, presented the report and explained that the City Deal commitment was to provide 1,000 additional units above the Local Plan allocation.  In terms of a methodology, officers had identified a process for monitoring those additional homes which should be included.  Mr Kelly referred Members to the appendices of the report which set out a list of eligible sites, as published in housing trajectory for 2015, together with predicted completions from eligible planning permissions permitted since the housing trajectory up to June 2016.  It was noted on this basis that 430 homes on top of planned housing growth could now be included towards the City Deal’s commitment of 1,000 additional dwellings, with a further 170 dwellings having recently received planning permission that would also be eligible. 

Mr Kelly reflected on the meeting of the Joint Assembly held on 7 July 2016 where this issue was debated and a suggestion was made to include solely those affordable homes of the developments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board NOTED the report.

The Executive Board considered a report which provided an update on progress with the establishment and development of the Housing Development Agency.

Alan Carter, Managing Director of the Housing Development Agency, presented the report and gave Members a presentation which provided information on the Agency’s objectives, the changing environment as a result of the introduction of the Housing and Planning Act, achievements since the summer 2015 and the way in which the Agency operated in terms of its customers, its geography, how it added value and its unique selling point.  It also set out the land, scheme fees and operational budget and the Agency’s approach to the recruitment, retention and deployment of staff capacity, knowledge, skills and experience that it needed. 

Mr Carter took this opportunity to introduce the Executive Board to the following members of his team:

·         Sabrina Walston – Assistant Managing Director;

·         Gill Anderton – Housing Development Manager (South Cambridgeshire District Council);

·         Nicola Hillier – Housing Development Manager (Cambridge City Council);

·         Sarah Lyons – Housing Development Officer;

·         Mark Wilson – Housing Development Officer;

·         Amelia Norman – Trainee Housing Development Officer.

The presentation included a flowchart which illustrated the structure of the Housing Development Agency team.  

Mr Carter reported that the existing programme up to 2018/19 consisted of approximately 800 to 820 homes, with progress in relation to those schemes set out in the appendix to the report.  Section 8 of the appendix outlined the strategy for delivering these schemes based on the following four themes:

·         working with strategic housing and planning colleagues to understand the range of new housing needed in terms of tenure;

·         optimising partner land opportunities;

·         working on funding models and testing the viability of mixed tenure schemes;

·         working with partners whose ambitions were aligned with the Greater Cambridge ‘growth’ agenda including other landowners.

Mr Carter provided photographs of schemes that had been completed at Latimer Close and Stanesfield Road in Cambridge, Fen Drayton Road in Swavesey and Meldreth Road in Shepreth, some of which fell under the definition of affordable housing and were located within windfall sites in the city or rural exception sites in South Cambridgeshire.  Members of the Board were impressed with the quality of the developments that had been completed and noted that the Virido development in the Cambridge Southern Fringe had commenced.

The Executive Board NOTED the report and presentation.

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the position of the Operational Budget and the Programme Budget for the 2015/16 financial year.

(b)        APPROVED the proposed Operational Budget to be carried forward into the 2016/17 financial year, as set out in section 4.2.1 of the report.

The Executive Board considered a report which provided Members with the outturn monitoring position for the financial year ending 31 March 2016.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the position of the Operational Budget and the Programme Budget for the 2015/16 financial year.

(b)        APPROVED the proposed Operational Budget to be carried forward into the 2016/17 financial year, as set out in section 4.2.1 of the report.

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the financial position as at 31 May 2016.

(b)        APPROVED the increase in the budgetary provision for the current financial year as set out in section 4.2.4 of the report.

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Executive Board with the financial monitoring position for the period ending 31 May 2016.

Councillor Francis Burkitt referred to paragraph 4.2.4 of the report and asked, in the context of the Smart Cambridge project team consisting of 0.7 fulltime equivalents, who and how many officers were supporting the transport aspect of the City Deal programme.  It was noted that a written response to this query would be provided to Councillor Burkitt.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED the financial position as at 31 May 2016.

(b)        APPROVED the increase in the budgetary provision for the current financial year as set out in section 4.2.4 of the report.

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED that it agreed at its June meeting to adopt the consultation and engagement principles of the County Council.

(b)        CONFIRMED the establishment of Local Liaison Forums for each significant City Deal scheme, to develop the detailed proposals for consultation prior to statutory consultation on the Traffic Regulation Orders.

(c)        CONFIRMED that all local elected Members from the three partner authorities, whose Divisions or Wards are within the geography of the scheme(s) in question, will be invited to be members of the Local Liaison Forums, as set out in the published terms of reference for Local Liaison Forums.

(d)        CONFIRMED that local elected Members and members of the public will be able to ask questions in respect of Traffic Regulation Orders at meetings of the Joint Assembly and Executive Board.

(e)        AGREED to invite the Chairman of each Local Liaison Forum to speak at the Joint Assembly and Executive Board when consideration is being given to that particular scheme.

The Executive Board considered a report which set out the proposed process to be adopted to ensure consultation took place with local residents, local elected Members and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of powers delegated by Cambridgeshire County Council as the Highways Authority.

The Executive Board:

(a)        NOTED that it agreed at its June meeting to adopt the consultation and engagement principles of the County Council.

(b)        CONFIRMED the establishment of Local Liaison Forums for each significant City Deal scheme, to develop the detailed proposals for consultation prior to statutory consultation on the Traffic Regulation Orders.

(c)        CONFIRMED that all local elected Members from the three partner authorities, whose Divisions or Wards are within the geography of the scheme(s) in question, will be invited to be members of the Local Liaison Forums, as set out in the published terms of reference for Local Liaison Forums.

(d)        CONFIRMED that local elected Members and members of the public will be able to ask questions in respect of Traffic Regulation Orders at meetings of the Joint Assembly and Executive Board.

(e)        AGREED to invite the Chairman of each Local Liaison Forum to speak at the Joint Assembly and Executive Board when consideration is being given to that particular scheme.

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board NOTED the progress report.

The Executive Board NOTED the progress report.

To consider the Greater Cambridge City Deal Executive Board’s Forward Plan.  Amendments made since the last meeting are purposely set out in tracked changes.

The Executive Board NOTED the progress report.

The Executive Board NOTED the progress report.